Coax Question

[Murphy625]

Hey guys,

I'm building a double cross antenna for NOAA satellite reception and have a question about the coax cable.

Looking around for some RG58 for use inside the antenna (I'll feed it with RG8/U to the radio), I came across the randl.com (R&L Electronics) that has RG58 (Jetstream JT1958) for 20 cents a foot.

Their price seems low and I'm wondering if anyone has any comments on the Jetstream cable. Is this good cable?

I was going to use some LMR240 but I have to coil up a few wraps inside my 4 inch box and the LMR240 is too stiff to make that small of a loop.

This is for 137 Mhz stuff.

 

[fyrfyter33]

It’s their “in house” branded stuff. It’s just fine. There are many thousands of hams that get their cable locally or buy it at Hamvention every year and use it without problem.

R&L is the local Ham radio shop for Cincinnati/Dayton area.

 

[prcguy]

Are you building two dipoles at right angles to each other over a ground plane? If so you usually use two critical but equal lengths of 75 ohm coax to make a power divider to combine the two dipoles. Some designs are circular pol where you would have specific but unequal lengths of coax between the dipoles so one is delayed 90 degrees to create circular polarity.

Otherwise if the design requires 50 ohm coax, Jetstream brand or most any brand will do for such a short length.

Hey guys,

I'm building a double cross antenna for NOAA satellite reception and have a question about the coax cable.

Looking around for some RG58 for use inside the antenna (I'll feed it with RG8/U to the radio), I came across the randl.com (R&L Electronics) that has RG58 (Jetstream JT1958) for 20 cents a foot.

Their price seems low and I'm wondering if anyone has any comments on the Jetstream cable. Is this good cable?

I was going to use some LMR240 but I have to coil up a few wraps inside my 4 inch box and the LMR240 is too stiff to make that small of a loop.

This is for 137 Mhz stuff.

 

[Murphy625]

Its a double cross dipole that is right hand circularly polarized. Plans call for 50 ohm coax.

Looks like I'm going to order the jetstream stuff.