[Milsurplus] A Cable Question

[Nick England]

The 1945  NAVSHIPS document I mentioned earlier has an interesting
section on solid-dielectric coaxial cable.
http://www.hnsa.org/doc/waveguide/pg027.htm
The old CASSF-50-1 type had a polyisobutylate insulation which had
several problems (loss, cold flow, low voltage, etc.). To get around
this the Navy sponsored construction of two new plants to make a new
material, polyethylene, which was used in all solid dielectric cables
since the plants came on line in July 1943. The new polyethylene types
are the RG-x/U series (evidently RG-8 has *always* been 0.405 OD) and
this 1945 doc says to scrap all the old stuff since loss goes up
steadily with age.
The old stuff could be recognized by a white or amber insulation which
was soft to the touch. Fascinating, Captain

Anyway, sounds like John's found the problem - his connector needs to
be reamed out.

cheers,
Nick K4NYW

On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 11:01 PM, Jim Whartenby <antqradio at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> John
> I just checked TM11-487 dated 2 October 1944 for information on WW2 coax.  On
> page 492 is the data on RG-8 which is still listed as 0.405 inch O.D.
>
> Looking further, for the CASSF-50-1 you mentioned I found that it indeed cross
> references to RG-8/U and is called out in the column headed as "Replaces Old
> Cable Number".  Other numbers listed as replaced by RG-8/U are:  PT5, WC543,
> WC549.
>
> So I would assume that the jacket is butted up to connector but does not connect
> to it as is with modern constant impedance connectors.
> Regards,
> Jim