Which type of coax?

[twotie4]

I am planning to put a scan only antenna on my roof. The cable will be attached to a GRE 600.The total cable run will be between 50 and 60 feet. I understand that there is transmit cable loss but is there any loss on the receive side? In other words could I use RG58/59 or would RG 8 be best? Thanks.

 

[Skypilot007]

The loss in the feedline works both ways, receive and transmit. If the RG8 is managable with your particular setup I'd use it over the RG58. There are plenty of other more expensive options for feed line. I think the RG8 will do you just fine. Even RG8X isn't so bad on short runs of 50ft or less. If you monitor any 800MHz stuff go with the best feedline you can afford as the looses in the feedline increase as the frequency increases.

 

[vdubb16]

i think the last time i bought lmr-400 from an ebay seller 80 foot cost me 50 + shipping. i use it for both scanning and CB. with runs in excess of 70ft with good results.

 

[Thayne]

As long as you are going for receive only, I would use quad shield RG6.
It is way cheaper and works very well. We have been using it for GPS receivers that we used to use hardline for (100 Feet) and the signal level is just as good. You can get BNC's or whatever you want for it too.
Because of the impedance mismatch not worth a crap for transmitting.

 

[N1BHH]

Feed line loss is negligible if you run quality coaxial cable. RG-58/U is poor, RG-59/U is better, RG-6/U is just a bit better, but I personally wouldn't go with anything beyond the quad shield stuff. It isn't really worth it.