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Posts : 49 Times Thanked : 0 Join date : 2022-05-10 QTH or Location : belfast Equipment Used : none yet Age : 57
Subject: Coax types .. Thu May 12, 2022 2:51 pm
is the coax still the same from years gone by or are there new fancy types out now ? i will be using about 60 to 70 foot of coax do i need something special or just go with normal coax ? will be using crt ss 6900 v7 ... thanks guys ...
Alan Pilot Major contributor
Call Sign : 163-CT-220...MW7TTA Posts : 2516 Times Thanked : 69 Join date : 2019-11-19 QTH or Location : Anglesey North Wales Equipment Used : Yaesu FT-991A,,Yaesu FTDX-10,,Icom ic-7300,,Anytone AT-D878UV PLUS",,LINCOLN II+. Age : 150
Have a play with this, might help you decide regarding losses:
Some of the very top end stuff is very pricey though and some need special connectors which add even more cost.
Some people use 75ohm TV coax to good effect too btw.
rg 213 BX or UBX ? it does say it's a lot better when you use the calculator ....
GaryWilson CT Directors
Call Sign : 26-CT-1836 Ham 2E0GGQ Posts : 4182 Times Thanked : 350 Join date : 2019-06-27 QTH or Location : Redcar, North Yorkshire. Equipment Used : Radios & Wires & Stuff! Age : 59
I use RG58 for HF it's always been good enough for me.
73's Gary.
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Wireless Major contributor
Posts : 350 Times Thanked : 12 Join date : 2021-11-19 QTH or Location : Shrewsbury Equipment Used : kit
Subject: Re: Coax types .. Fri May 13, 2022 8:15 am
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Last edited by Wireless on Wed Aug 17, 2022 10:38 am; edited 1 time in total
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Victor CT Directors
Call Sign : 26-CT-3228 / M7VIC Posts : 5803 Times Thanked : 352 Join date : 2019-11-10 QTH or Location : Bedford Equipment Used : Various
Subject: Re: Coax types .. Fri May 13, 2022 9:58 am
There's always "new fancy" something with plenty of 'salesmen' to push it!
Use whatever you've got, can get, begged, borrowed or .... OK, not stolen.
You'll never notice the real world apparent differences in most of the stuff anyway as the numbers are pretty small. I've used everything from RG6 TV stuff to RG11 satellite/video feed, (your rig will never notice the 75 ohm and your SWR meter might show a 1.5:1 reading), to good old RG58 which is cheap as chips and available from almost anywhere.
The best stuff I've used was good quality RG11 that some cable installer gave me a 'scrap/partial' reel of from his van. Must've been 60-70 feet worth on there!
OK, I might not run 60 foot worth of RG174 but I wouldn't bat an eye with shorter runs.
Tim, G5TM, did a good video recently about coax that might be worth a watch :-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1772xTn7BM
(About 9 mins in he covers CB aspects but worth watching all of it.)
When it comes to it in the end just buy what you can afford or justify spending on and are happy with.
The most important thing is to get on air.
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Andy2490 New Member
Call Sign : 108-CT-345 Posts : 30 Times Thanked : 1 Join date : 2022-05-01 QTH or Location : Newcastleton Equipment Used : Bearcat 980/ TTI 881
Agree, especially in the financial climate we live in today any savings made on equipment etc makes a difference, I would say so long as your not damaging your gear in any way anything goes. I like antenna construction, experimenting with different materials especially on dipoles, I don't think I've ever bought anything, always found the stuff or reused it. Certainly gets the old brain matter ticking over.
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Wireless Major contributor
Posts : 350 Times Thanked : 12 Join date : 2021-11-19 QTH or Location : Shrewsbury Equipment Used : kit
Last edited by Wireless on Wed Aug 17, 2022 10:39 am; edited 1 time in total
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Ivy Mike Major contributor
Call Sign : 26CT4113/G1HWY Posts : 465 Times Thanked : 12 Join date : 2021-05-16 QTH or Location : IO90uv Equipment Used : ICOM radios/antenna farm Age : 69
Subject: Re: Coax types .. Sun May 15, 2022 6:25 am
Messi and Paoloni nut here, not cheap but very low loss and very flexible.
On VHF and above I used to use Westflex 103 but it don't bend well where as M&P Ultraflex 13 easily goes round a rotor. Have 30metres from shack up to the Create Logperiodic at 10metres.
On the two HF ants I use Ultraflex 10, might as well have no real loss.
All my patch leads from my entry panel are Ultraflex 7, tad bigger than RG58 but super flexible for what it is.
Yesterday at 8:49 pm by SangueG
Subject: Coax types .. 
