[R-390] SWL antenna

[Tim Shoppa]

Transmaster <22hornet at gmail.com> wrote:
> You know something that is a excellent idea.  I happen to be
> rebuilding my transmission HF dipole antenna and am looking through
> all of the possible designs and I found Fair Radio sales has twinax
> cable. here is the catalog description; .
>
> Twisted Twin Axial RF cable with braided silver shield Both conductors
> are 24 gauge with 19 strands per conductor. Cable rated at 77 ohm
> impedance. Light blue jacket. #WT-24, $25.00/100ft; $95.00/500ft.

This cable is great for receiving, but for transmitting don't try
going beyond a few tens of watts because those conductors are really
really skinny and the insulation is not very thick either. If you've
got a really really low SWR and no standing nodes anywhere you might
get lucky!

Now, getting good balance on transmission is a good thing if you've
got stray ground currents running around your house making RFI, but
otherwise I would recommend using more heavy-duty coax.

The more heavy-duty TV twinlead (do they even still sell it? I guess
so!) is good to the hundred watt or so level, and above that if you
want balanced line for transmission you either go to open line, or
to two-wires-in-a-hollow-circular-jacket stuff.

Tim.