Coax question!?

Evening all. 

Looking again to pick your brains!

I’m looking at upgrading the coax upto 213 from the old rg58 but was wondering whether there’s a difference between running the wire along the ground or keeping it off the ground and putting it along the wall?

It makes a difference of 12 or so feet extra to run along the wall or 60 feet compared to 45 feet!

Any thoughts on the subject and shared experiences would be helpful. 

Cheers in advance. 

John

12 additional feet isn't something I would be worried about. Total additional losses of 12 feet of good quality RG-213 is like 0.126 dB, or next to nothing.

If possible I would run it so as little as possible is exposed to sunlight, and any coax connection is well sealed from the rain.

If the option is to run said coax on dirt, you should get the type of coax you can bury, and do so.  If you can't bury it get some biodegradable yard stakes to hold it down until the grass (if present) gets to holding it down naturally.  You don't want your shiny new coax to get eaten by your lawnmower.

With the better quality coax, your SWR might go up.  This is normal, and assuming you are using the same antenna, you may have to re-tune it to get a good match.  Lower quality coax often gives the appearance of a better SWR than is actually present.


The DB

Hi The DB

Many thanks for the answer. 
Much appreciated. 

This is one of the projects I gave myself for the lockdown to help keep me busy. 
I’m sure the wife will have a few to add to my list too!
With the weather changing I thought it would be a good idea to get it done in a lovely autumn morning. 

All the best guys. 
Stay safe

A bit of advice....spend some money and get some decent PL259s for your main antenna coax run. 

Expensive but I can recommend Amphenol 83-1SP ones. Machined exactly to spec to the point that if you prepare your RG213 to the way that Amphenol say to and it doesn't fit then it's your coax that's not to spec. Proper silver plating and they're a joy to solder to - you can solder the braid to the shell through the four holes without melting the coax. You just need two of them, one for each end of the run. 

https://uk.farnell.com/amphenol-rf/83-1sp/rf-coaxial-uhf-straight-plug-50ohm/dp/1463089

I use LMR400 almost everywhere, but I can second the recommendation to use decent connectors,  and not eBay/Chinese crap.

These days, I nearly always crimp, but I still use genuine Amphenol from mouser.com most of the time, even for patch leads and portable stuff where I go to thinner RG223, RG8x or RG400, depending on the use.

HF isn't lossy, but crappy connectors sure as hell can be.