Connection box suggestions sought for outdoor transmission lines.

[wb1cdn]

Hello. New here but not new to ham radio. Been inactive for decades and very rusty.

I'm setting up a ham shack in my garage and I'm looking for an elegant but relatively inexpensive scheme for running pl259 coax through to the outside wall. The shack is in the garage so the installation doesn't have to be especially neat but I want a good, waterproof, half-way professional looking installation. I've looked around for contractors who do this sort of work with no luck. Haven't found any advice on junction boxes designed specifically for ham use although they must be out there.

Any ideas, tips, advice and so on would be greatly appreciated. I'm in Portland, Oregon if you know anyone who does this sort of work. I'm now a very old men, finances are tight. Thanks very much in advance!

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Since you should ground those cables where they enter the home (directly to the utility ground rod) I would suggest an aluminum bulkhead panel, ~1/8 inch thick with surge protectors (example below) as your connection point. It should be in a weatherproofed enclosure.

Surge protectors come with Type "N" and SO239 connectors and have specific operating frequency ranges"

https://www.polyphaser.com/type-n-surge-protector-1ghz-blocking-cap-gas-tube-is-b50ln-c2

 

[wb1cdn]

Thanks very much for taking the time to respond!

Do you have a picture of a suitable panel with the cover opened/removed so I can see how the surge protectors should be mounted?

I was think some sort of plastic enclosure that is inexpensive and non-conductive and running two coaxs into it through the rear garage wall. Then some sort of a watertight fitting to clamp on to the coax as it leaves the junction box toward the antenna(s). Something simple, inexpensive, legal and safe.

I envision one feed line for 2M and the higher bands. I already have a splitter so one feed line should be plenty.

Rather than erect a tower I plan to use dipoles for a few of the popular HF bands. I'm thinking one feed line from the junction box into the shack connected to a multiplexer switch in the junction box. It will be a little clunky switching from one dipole to another but as I said, I want to at least get back on the air on the cheap.

I do have an old Drake 4 rig that hopefully still works. I plan to do most of my QSOs on CW.

 

[cavmedic]

While this is a tad overkill for you, similar principle.

This isn’t up to R56 standards, and I should switch the solid #12 out for stranded #6, but it’s what I had on hand at the time and I haven’t made time to change it up.


Bond your outside connections to power neutral before they enter.

Depending on how many feed lines you plan on using, and paying attention to the bending radius of your coax , a simple NMEA box would work, or even a demarcation box that a cable company uses.

I happened to use a multiple dwelling unit box that is used for apartment or commercial buildings

But you can get a “bus bar” with UHF female-female and use that for your bond point.

I would be careful on using certain surge protectors if you plan on using any remote switchers that insert voltage on the lines as it could cause a short, or even pop the surge protector ( happened to me with an ameritron 4 port remote coax switch)

 

[WA8ZTZ]

An appropriately sized NEMA 3R PVC junction box is probably what would suit your needs.
If you are not equipped to drill through the garage wall, most any electrical contractor could do the job.
Be sure to observe proper grounding and bonding of your installation.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

"Bond your outside connections to power neutral before they enter."

I will take exception to the above. The neutral is already bonded to the ground bus bar inside the main panel. Where the OP needs to ground is the copper ground conductor from the panel going to the utility ground rod. NEVER disconnect the utility ground or neutral conductor!!! Instead use an appropriate bronze clamp to add your antenna ground system to the utility ground rod or conductor. Some older homes use the water main as utility ground. You can, and probably should supplement that ground with am 8 foot ground rod. Same precautions apply.

If the location where your ground system exists and where your antenna surge protection exists is far, like over 10 feet, then drive a ground rod at that new location and bond to utility with a #10 AWG or greater solid copper conductor and ground rod between every 16 feet of horizontal separation.

 

[cavmedic]

I didn’t mean for him to disco anything. He could do like you said with ground rod clamp or he could split bolt it to the existing ground wire or if newer house, tie into the ground distribution block.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I didn’t mean for him to disco anything. He could do like you said with ground rod clamp or he could split bolt it to the existing ground wire or if newer house, tie into the ground distribution block.

I was just clarifying on the neutral which is 1) largely inaccessible, in meter can or inside main panel lugs. unsafe to mess with. 2) not necessarily at ground potential (sub panels). 3) The best place is the bare conductor to utility ground rod at service entrance.

These questions get asked so often there needs to be a "sticky" with the complete accurate answers. Or simply read NEC, NFPA, R56 and fall asleep. The ARRL has a book now, I dont know how accurate it is so cant recommend.

Every question leads to another. A tech once wanted to see if he had "5 ohm" ground at a transmitter site. He lifted the ground to stick a meter in. The phases floated and wiped out $250K of gear.

 

[cavmedic]

I was just clarifying on the neutral which is 1) largely inaccessible, in meter can or inside main panel lugs. unsafe to mess with. 2) not necessarily at ground potential (sub panels). 3) The best place is the bare conductor to utility ground rod at service entrance.

These questions get asked so often there needs to be a "sticky" with the complete accurate answers. Or simply read NEC, NFPA, R56 and fall asleep. The ARRL has a book now, I dont know how accurate it is so cant recommend.

Every question leads to another. A tech once wanted to see if he had "5 ohm" ground at a transmitter site. He lifted the ground to stick a meter in. The phases floated and wiped out $250K of gear.

Spent the last 25 years in the Cable industry. It was always referred to Bonding to the PN, not grounding. Guess some bad terminology habits are hard to brake. 😁

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Spent the last 25 years in the Cable industry. It was always referred to Bonding to the PN, not grounding. Guess some bad terminology habits are hard to brake. 😁

Well the CATV lines are pretty much at same potential I would hope!

 

[wb1cdn]

Thanks so much for the great information! Yes, your setup is way overkill for my purposes CavMedic. I'm a Gamewarden if that means anything to you. USN TF-116.

I was thinking about this box which is inexpensive on Amazon. I don't know how I can avoid a sharp 90 degree bend in the coax exiting the exterior wall and going into the utility box.

Is there a split cable gland for RG8U? I'm sure there must be but I couldn't find anything on the Internet. I don't want to desolder and then resolder the PL259s.

You advise bonding the coax shielding (the outside of the PL259/surge protector) to neutral? That makes no sense to me. I planned on driving a copper stake into the ground right below the box and using that to quell EMI/RFI noise and as lightning protection. I looked around and most everything (cable, etc) is grounded using a very thin wire connected to a painted aluminum gutter downspout. The downspout goes into a PVC drain so from what I can see, this stuff isn't grounded at all. The utility main has a solid earth ground some distance from where the shack will be and I understand that it's unwise to use that ground for RF coax and antennas. I'm having an electrician install a couple of 20A GFI lines to power the rigs since that requires a permit. But I'd prefer to do as much of the rest as I can myself.

I plan on a single RG8U feed line to start with. I'm ready to go on 2m with a Kenwood TS-2000 that has some problems. Sent it back to be repaired and was told they have no parts... can't be repaired. Ham radio has changed a LOT since I got into it in 1962. I never heard of a ham rig that couldn't be fixed. Story for another day but the Kenwood brand is radioactively toxic to me now. I'll be using a very old Drake for my HF work. I'm not into voice that much and I'm especially not into ham frequency CBs. No offense to those who are.

Once I get the basic installation done I want to put up a dipole or two and work something in the 6/10/15 meter range. If that works out I'll punch out a second feed line improving it based on what I learned doing the first one. My long term plan is a three element beam that's high enough to DX but not high enough to get the neighbors on my case. I've been inactive for a very long time and have been busy getting my CW speed back up to where it was.

 

[cavmedic]

Well the CATV lines are pretty much at same potential I would hope!

Until the nuetral drops and the house is carried on the RG6 shielding

 

[cavmedic]

Thanks so much for the great information! Yes, your setup is way overkill for my purposes CavMedic. I'm a Gamewarden if that means anything to you. USN View attachment 146863TF-116.

I was thinking about this box which is inexpensive on Amazon. I don't know how I can avoid a sharp 90 degree bend in the coax exiting the exterior wall and going into the utility box.

Is there a split cable gland for RG8U? I'm sure there must be but I couldn't find anything on the Internet. I don't want to desolder and then resolder the PL259s.

You advise bonding the coax shielding (the outside of the PL259/surge protector) to neutral? That makes no sense to me. I planned on driving a copper stake into the ground right below the box and using that to quell EMI/RFI noise and as lightning protection. I looked around and most everything (cable, etc) is grounded using a very thin wire connected to a painted aluminum gutter downspout. The downspout goes into a PVC drain so from what I can see, this stuff isn't grounded at all. The utility main has a solid earth ground some distance from where the shack will be and I understand that it's unwise to use that ground for RF coax and antennas. I'm having an electrician install a couple of 20A GFI lines to power the rigs since that requires a permit. But I'd prefer to do as much of the rest as I can myself.

I plan on a single RG8U feed line to start with. I'm ready to go on 2m with a Kenwood TS-2000 that has some problems. Sent it back to be repaired and was told they have no parts... can't be repaired. Ham radio has changed a LOT since I got into it in 1962. I never heard of a ham rig that couldn't be fixed. Story for another day but the Kenwood brand is radioactively toxic to me now. I'll be using a very old Drake for my HF work. I'm not into voice that much and I'm especially not into ham frequency CBs. No offense to those who are.

Once I get the basic installation done I want to put up a dipole or two and work something in the 6/10/15 meter range. If that works out I'll punch out a second feed line improving it based on what I learned doing the first one. My long term plan is a three element beam that's high enough to DX but not high enough to get the neighbors on my case. I've been inactive for a very long time and have been busy getting my CW speed back up to where it was.

This would work perfectly fine

Amazon.com

 

[chief21]

I want a good, waterproof, half-way professional looking installation.

You may be interested in something like this (below). Weatherproof, easy to route coax into/out of, includes a plate to mount suppressors and ground connection, plus room for future lines. You could even mount it on your exterior wall and route the lines through the back of the box into your interior space.

DX Engineering DXE-UE-2P DX Engineering Utility Enclosure Kits | DX Engineering

Free Shipping - DX Engineering Utility Enclosure Kits with qualifying orders of $99. Shop Grounding Plates at DX Engineering.

www.dxengineering.com

 

[AK9R]

I have one of those DX Engineering boxes. It seems kinda flimsy to me. Oh, they'll work OK for keeping dust and rain off of your connections, but they aren't water tight.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I have one of those DX Engineering boxes. It seems kinda flimsy to me. Oh, they'll work OK for keeping dust and rain off of your connections, but they aren't water tight.

I have a similar box for cable TV, replaced twice. They are indeed flimsy.