is G6 coax cable good to use for Police scanner's out side antenna ?
Coax cable
- Thread starter scannerprogrammingofLvKs
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RG-6? sure. 75-ohm cable is fine. many/most scanners will handle 50-ohm/75-ohm cable just fine.
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As long as you're only receiving and the line is not that long and you are not primarily dealing with 700-800 MHz I think RG6 is okay if that's all you can afford. I'll let the experts take over now.
Kind of kidding around, you always want the lowest loss coax that you can find depending on what it is that you are dealing with and how long your run is, but I would assume that would be 700-800 MHz systems. You could do worse and you certainly could do better.
You'll get some good suggestions here I hope.
K4EET
Chaplain
Well, that begs two questions. How long of a coax run do you have from the scanner to the antenna? What is the highest frequency that you will be regularly scanning? Then we can see how much loss your RG-6/U coax will have. Knowing the exact nomenclature of the cable would be a plus. For example, you might have RG-6A/U.
Ubbe
Member
It's probably fine for transmit as well. It's a SWR of 1,5:1 and are a 0,2dB loss at both ends, if a 75 ohm coax are connected to a 50 ohm load. But antennas are usually not holding 50 ohm over it's whole frequency range.
/Ubbe
Thanks for the reply's , i use my WS 1040 in my truck & the coax is no more than 15'' long from my scanner to the top of my truck
K4EET
Chaplain
In other words, a short piece of coax. LOL!
I was thinking this might be at your home and have 50 to 75 feet of coax between the scanner and the antenna. While you will be OK using what you have now in the configuration that you have in your truck, if you were to do a home installation with any appreciable length of coax, you should revisit this question before using RG-6/U or similar. This brand of RG-6/U coax at 900 MHz has 6.96 dB of loss per 100 feet. In contrast, Times Microwave LMR-400 at 900 MHz has 3.9 dB loss per 100 feet. Not to mention that the LMR-400 is a better impedance match (50 versus 75 ohm of the RG-6/U) to the scanner's 50 ohm antenna connection.
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mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
If this is a mobile install, why are you using RG-6?
An NMO mount, either permanent or magnetic, should have RG-58 or better.
Or are you using a custom mount?
An NMO mount, either permanent or magnetic, should have RG-58 or better.
Or are you using a custom mount?
Ubbe
Member
RG6 isn't suitable for a vibrating enviroment or to flex back and forth in a moving vehicle. It's too stiff for that and will eventually fail. Use a much more flexible coax like RG58.
/Ubbe
K4EET
Chaplain
If the length of the RG-6/U coax is really 15 inches, I figure the scanner must be mounted on the headliner and the antenna must be a NMO mount or similar in the middle of the cab's roof. If that is the case, the coax is going to be pretty much immobile being sandwiched above the headliner's insulation. But still, @mmckenna is right, the OP should be using RG-58/U which is more flexible as @Ubbe stated.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
That, and I've never seen an NMO with RG-6. I've seen models with an N or UHF connector at the base that you just screw the connector into. Still, unless this is some weird mount, a length of RG-58 will be just fine. No way anyone could hear the difference in loss between RG-6 and RG-58 over 15 inches.
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