Best coax for HF monitoring?

[Mex]

Good day,
I recently bought a YouLoop antenna that in my opinion is a good antenna for HF listening. However I would like to put this antenna outside but I need some coax for it. The coax that comes with the antenna (RG402 18 Ghz) isn't long enough to run outside. From a deep google search I wasn't able to find anyone selling RG402 coax so this makes me question: Is RG402 the best for HF monitoring? If so, where can I buy it from? If not, what coax is better?
Thanks in advance

 

[mmckenna]

Good day,
I recently bought a YouLoop antenna that in my opinion is a good antenna for HF listening. However I would like to put this antenna outside but I need some coax for it. The coax that comes with the antenna (RG402 18 Ghz) isn't long enough to run outside. From a deep google search I wasn't able to find anyone selling RG402 coax so this makes me question: Is RG402 the best for HF monitoring? If so, where can I buy it from? If not, what coax is better?
Thanks in advance

What's the length you need?

RG-6 is probably just fine, inexpensive and easy to terminate. I've got about 75 feet of it on an end fed antenna feeding a shortwave radio in my garage, runs just fine. If you are not transmitting, and it's a reasonable length, RG-6 has low loss. Sure, you can run larger coax, but the difference in signal loss gets pretty negligible.

 

[Mex]

I'm looking to run 25-40 ft of it. Would RG6 direct burial work just as good? Something like this?:

https://www.amazon.com/50-Feet-Meter-Connectors-Waterproof/dp/B07BLJZSWF

 

[WA8ZTZ]

For your purposes just about any RG-6 would work OK.
You should be able to find it at most any hardware store.
You may need to find adapters to allow the F connector on
the RG-6 to mate with your antenna and radio.

 

[mmckenna]

I'm looking to run 25-40 ft of it. Would RG6 direct burial work just as good? Something like this?:

https://www.amazon.com/50-Feet-Meter-Connectors-Waterproof/dp/B07BLJZSWF

Direct Bury cable will work fine if that's what you have.
If you are not putting it underground (even in a conduit), then you don't need the extra cost/mess of dealing with it.
Regular Home Depot grade RG-6 will work just fine.

If you are going to put it under ground, even in a conduit, then yes, direct bury rated cable will work.

 

[13dka]

RG-402 is a semi-rigid coax used for specific purposes only. Is there any specific reason why you want RG-6? It's a 75Ohm cable and pretty fat (8,5mm?), therefore not the best stuff to fit SMA connectors and on the coax comparison site I use it's more expensive than e.g. H-155 5mm 50 Ohm cable with a slightly better shielding factor than the quality RG-6 they sell on that site. The shielding factor of cheap, no-name 75 Ohm sat coax may be worse/unknown/not trustworthy. Are you using a preamp with the YouLoop?

Please keep in mind that the YouLoop is a (very) lossy antenna. Even though the small mismatch and cable losses are probably not an issue (unless you use really thin, crappy coax), long runs of coax from an unbuffered YouLoop can be bad due to the possible noise pickup on the way. Imagine the signal coming out of the loop is very, very small and if your coax passes a noise source, the noise pickup through the shielding maybe low by itself, but still considerable in relation to the very, very little signal from the loop, which then both will be amplified in your radio, making the little noise picked up on the way quite noticeable. Using a preamp at the feedpoint of the YouLoop will help with that though, or maybe the coax will not pass anything noisy where you use it.

 

[Mex]

RG-402 is a semi-rigid coax used for specific purposes only. Is there any specific reason why you want RG-6? It's a 75Ohm cable and pretty fat (8,5mm?), therefore not the best stuff to fit SMA connectors and on the coax comparison site I use it's more expensive than e.g. H-155 5mm 50 Ohm cable with a slightly better shielding factor than the quality RG-6 they sell on that site. The shielding factor of cheap, no-name 75 Ohm sat coax may be worse/unknown/not trustworthy. Are you using a preamp with the YouLoop?

Please keep in mind that the YouLoop is a (very) lossy antenna. Even though the small mismatch and cable losses are probably not an issue (unless you use really thin, crappy coax), long runs of coax from an unbuffered YouLoop can be bad due to the possible noise pickup on the way. Imagine the signal coming out of the loop is very, very small and if your coax passes a noise source, the noise pickup through the shielding maybe low by itself, but still considerable in relation to the very, very little signal from the loop, which then both will be amplified in your radio, making the little noise picked up on the way quite noticeable. Using a preamp at the feedpoint of the YouLoop will help with that though, or maybe the coax will not pass anything noisy where you use it.

I just bought RG-6 for this a few days ago and its working out way better than I originally thought. I'm gonna stick with RG-6 on this one

 

[prcguy]

I just realized the YouLoop is passive. You really don't want to invest much in a passive antenna, they will pick up some stuff and they will null some but they are numb when it comes to receiving. Invest in an active loop and you can then use the cheapest coax like RG-58 because the internal amplifier will more than make up for any cable loss and you will have a lot more signals and stronger ones to play with.

I made a 3ft dia passive shielded loop and it nulls great but its not very sensitive. I use it with a 15dB gain preamp and its better but my W6LVP active loop is much better.

Please keep in mind that the YouLoop is a (very) lossy antenna. Even though the small mismatch and cable losses are probably not an issue (unless you use really thin, crappy coax), long runs of coax from an unbuffered YouLoop can be bad due to the possible noise pickup on the way. Imagine the signal coming out of the loop is very, very small and if your coax passes a noise source, the noise pickup through the shielding maybe low by itself, but still considerable in relation to the very, very little signal from the loop, which then both will be amplified in your radio, making the little noise picked up on the way quite noticeable. Using a preamp at the feedpoint of the YouLoop will help with that though, or maybe the coax will not pass anything noisy where you use it.

 

[jazzboypro]

I have a youloop (i don't use it anymore) The feedline connector broke at the antenna end and all connections had a tendency to loosen up over time. I think it's a nice antenna for experimenting and portable operation but i would definitely not use it as an outdoor antenna and certainly not for a permanent installation. I have replaced it with W6LVP loop mounted on a rotator about 8 feet above the ground with LMR400 feedline. I'm pretty happy with the results.

 

[merlin]

For any of the looper's, RG-6 will be hard to beat at 100 foot. RG-8 perhaps.
The brunt if my HF work was a T2FD sloper antenna with ladder line into the shack and balanced tuner. then 20foot of RG-8 to the preselector.
That fed 3 receivers.