coax question

[mountain777]

Well it been a long road I bought a scantenna antenna mounted it on a 30 antenna tower. The bc 350 now will pick up some things.Iam in the process of buying a pro 2006 radio shack. Question about coax?? What coax?? and how do you cut it and put new ends on it ??Trying to get the scanner into my computer room probably need 50 ft of coax...Thanks

 

[Voyager]

Well it been a long road I bought a scantenna antenna mounted it on a 30 antenna tower. The bc 350 now will pick up some things.Iam in the process of buying a pro 2006 radio shack. Question about coax?? What coax?? and how do you cut it and put new ends on it ??Trying to get the scanner into my computer room probably need 50 ft of coax...Thanks

You should be able to find a 50 foot piece of RG-8 with connectors already on it. I don't know if you can buy this, but a short RG-58 jumper (a couple feet) would also be handy. A second choice would be a 50 foot piece of RG-8X with connectors on.

Joe M.

 

[Spleen]

I learned the hard way that after the antenna, the most important part of the setup is the cable quality (if the run is more than a few feet). Spend a little more now so you don't have to later, especially if you're looking at a +50 foot run, and especially if you plan on doing a lot of 800MHz (or higher) trunkscanning.

I got lucky and found a great deal at a local show on LMR400 cable, but I have an especially long cable run and a tolerant, if not oblivious, landlady; not everyone needs that kind of low-loss capability.

 

[DSYCUTTER]

Just checked through my local supply house, They have Belden 9913 for $0.67 per foot. Im not sure if thats my price or retail but it sounded good to me.

Right now Im using regular RG6, i use F crimp connecters and F to BNC adapters, I have had no real complaints as of now.

 

[N_Jay]

I learned the hard way that after the antenna, the most important part of the setup is the cable quality (if the run is more than a few feet). Spend a little more now so you don't have to later, especially if you're looking at a +50 foot run, and especially if you plan on doing a lot of 800MHz (or higher) trunkscanning.

I got lucky and found a great deal at a local show on LMR400 cable, but I have an especially long cable run and a tolerant, if not oblivious, landlady; not everyone needs that kind of low-loss capability.

I would say that the antenna location, then the cable may even trump the antenna for the "most important part"!

 

[Spleen]

I would say that the antenna location, then the cable may even trump the antenna for the "most important part"!

Yer right, I prolly should have clarifed that. I didn't weigh it heavily, because my outside antenna locations are pretty much restricted to two possibilities: One would have a short cable run but be below building height and crippled on three sides by brick/steel/stucco, the other of course is on the roof of the building, a good 20 or 25 feet higher than the window.

So I'm screwed either way, unless I take the top apartment, keeping the height and cutting my cable run in half.

But on a good note, replacing the RG-series cable with the LMR-400 vastly improved my reception on frequencies below 400MHz.

 

[VegasCorbin]

...Trying to get the scanner into my computer room probably need 50 ft of coax...Thanks

Take it from my past experiance, unless you actualy messured it at 50 Feet get extra coax. When you add up all the little bends and twists you will end up with, that 50 feet won't go as far as you think.

If you buy cable with the ends on it, you can just add a splice connector and add more cable. If you are buying bulk cable (no ends) you may find that it is cheaper to buy 100 ft rather than 50 ft.

Double check your length before you buy the cable. One thing I do is run some rope along the path I intend ro run the cable to check the length needed.

Hope this helps.

VegasCorbin

 

[K0ATC]

If you go with a high quality coax such as the LMR series, have the connectors put on professionaly, there are special tools needed and one little screw up could cost you a few points on the s-meter. I have a 50ft run of LMR 600, you cant beat it! Found an awsome deal on ebay with N connectors already on the cable. You cant find much better then LMR 600 and still be able to manage the cable.

RS