Aerospace 50 ohm coax cables

[Lowboy23]

Some companies like Harbour Industries and PIC make 50 ohm coaxial cables marketed to the aerospace industry and not to ham/land mobile professionals. Quite a few of these cables have very good attenuation figures, outshining even the best cables of makers like Belden and Times Microwave. Yet these cables are overlooked or ignored by hams, hobbyists and even land radio industry. Why is this? Surely it is not the quality. Is it the price? If anybody knows and also knows more about these cables, come now.

 

[mmckenna]

Price of the cable and price of the connectors.

While coaxial cable is very important, there are other parts of the system that can be tweaked. Getting hung on a fraction of a dB usually isn't worth it for hobby/ham use unless you are doing stuff well up in the GHz range. For the average user, there's excellent cables out there. Usually if someone needs something better than Belden or Times Microwave, you step up into the Heliax products. Plenty of those that will work, and it's widely accepted in the industry.

I'm sure there are some qualities of the high end aerospace stuff that isn't necessary unless you are installing it in an aircraft with less than ideal environmental conditions. My grandfather used to design aircraft electrical systems, and some of the stuff he taught me is really cool, but not usually applicable to most of the work I actually do.

 

[Lowboy23]

So what are the prices, say for like the low loss RG58 and RG8X types? Those are two sizes I noticed that Belden and Times Microwave got whipped by the aerospace guys.

 

[majoco]

One of the problems on aircraft is that there are many items crammed into a small space in the avionics bay including a lot of navigation and computer equipment - also a lot of electrical switching gear which sometimes have very high currents, such as the inrush current on a starter motor contactor. So not only do the coax cables have to have the normally accepted qualities like impedance and attenuation but also have better shielding both to stop interference getting in but also to stop RF energy being introduced into the other cabling. Also consider that everything tends to move and vibrate in an aircraft so all cabling is run in tight cableforms laced together and so the outer layers have to be made of a material that resists chafeing. Also built in the the price is the inspection and paper-chase prices - everything that goes on an aircraft must be traceable back to the manufacturer or an overhaul facilty with signatures at every step of the way. If the aircraft is involved in an "incident" - not necessarily a crash - then the faulty item, if there is one, can be traced right back to Joe's workbench where he didn't cross that T or dot that i. Many things are actually checked twice - once by the guy doing the job and then by another who had nothing to do with it so has an open mind and may see something that Joe missed - this is why the maintenance log is not carried on the aircraft. The cost of the cable may not be necessary in a normal domestic environment and in fact would just be a waste of money.

So you ask "what are the prices" - if you have to ask the price - you can't afford it!

 

[prcguy]

The cable used in the assys sold by Harbor Industries and many other cable houses are made by Belden, Times Microwave and other common cable mfrs. The high price comes from cable that has silver plated braid and center conductor and Teflon dielectric and outer covering and the price fluctuates with the cost of silver. I have a bunch of RG-214 double shielded silver plated that used to cost about $2 per foot and it went up to $10 per foot for awhile when silver prices shot up.

The most common coax for aircraft use is RG-400 which is doubled shielded silver plated Teflon with stranded center conductor. From a US mfr its about $3 to $6 per foot depending on quantity and the solid center conductor RG-142 version is a little less. From a Chinese mfr the same coax runs about $1.50 to $3 per foot.

I'm a ham and use these cables all the time, I have spools of many types of Teflon coax and drawers of mating connectors to match and I make my own cables. Not a big deal and I thought every hamster used this stuff.

Some companies like Harbour Industries and PIC make 50 ohm coaxial cables marketed to the aerospace industry and not to ham/land mobile professionals. Quite a few of these cables have very good attenuation figures, outshining even the best cables of makers like Belden and Times Microwave. Yet these cables are overlooked or ignored by hams, hobbyists and even land radio industry. Why is this? Surely it is not the quality. Is it the price? If anybody knows and also knows more about these cables, come now.

 

[StaticDischarge]

So you ask "what are the prices" - if you have to ask the price - you can't afford it!

So to say "If you have to ask the price - you can't afford it" is... Well, a VERY STUPID AND IGNORANT THING TO SAY or to follow for that matter!
It would be well advised to ask the price to ensure the saying "a fool and his money are soon parted" is not included in a persons spending habits or engraved upon his/her headstone...

Over a simple question the OP asked: "Yet these cables are overlooked or ignored by hams, hobbyists and even land radio industry. Why is this?"

A simple explanation would have sufficed which giving you credit, you started to do but then continued with your analogy that this man/woman cannot afford it... Yeah, you are just the guy I want as a friend, for sure!!! (Sarcasm very much intended if you couldn't figure that out on your own.)

 

[Lowboy23]

I was beginning to think this topic on the forum was ignored as much as the cables. Maybe FAA manufacturing standards also have something to do with the high price, which may be what Majoco is talking about. Speaking about price-it is not as simple as going to a manufacturer or dealer website and looking up the price. Generally you have to call or email them. But if you keep searching you can find some prices. One particular cable from PIC which is a little smaller than RG8X size, a dealer was selling it for $27.24 a foot. Harbour makes a cable about the same size but I could not find a price for it. I am betting it is over $30.00 a foot. Both of these cables are flexible and have very, very low attenuation. These cables would make excellent mobile installs for 800/900 Mhz users, but it's that darn price.

 

[jwt873]

If you want to pay an arm and a leg for cables, you need to get into the audiophile speaker cable racket... AudioQuest Mythical Creature Series Dragon ZERO Full-Range / Treble Speaker Cable (Good thing this outfit doesn't make coax)..

 

[littona]

If you want to pay an arm and a leg for cables, you need to get into the audiophile speaker cable racket... AudioQuest Mythical Creature Series Dragon ZERO Full-Range / Treble Speaker Cable (Good thing this outfit doesn't make coax)..

Just like the Monster Cable products from back in the day. Who seriously needs gold plated contacts on a power strip?

 

[prcguy]

There are audible differences in speaker cables, audio interconnects and even AC power cables. I've been at a few A/B comparisons and its surprising how you can hear the differences on a really high end system. Most of us don't have equipment that can reveal the differences so it doesn't make sense to spend the $$. But for some it can really get your system to the next level.

Just like the Monster Cable products from back in the day. Who seriously needs gold plated contacts on a power strip?

 

[Lowboy23]

prcguy-What you are saying about Times Microwave making the aerospace cables for other companies makes total sense. The part numbers for Times Microwave Times Commercial Air(TCA) and many Carlisle Interconnect cables are similar and the specs are the same. For instance TCA311501 and Carlisle 311501.

 

[prcguy]

I worked in aerospace at Hughes Aircraft many years ago and had to order cables for projects. Common companies I used were Belden, Alpha, Times, Carol and many others I forget.

prcguy-What you are saying about Times Microwave making the aerospace cables for other companies makes total sense. The part numbers for Times Microwave Times Commercial Air(TCA) and many Carlisle Interconnect cables are similar and the specs are the same. For instance TCA311501 and Carlisle 311501.