DPD 800 MHz antenna installation

[spectrumwatcher9736]

Thank you! How did you choose to go from LMR 400 to LMR240uf? As far as what adapter, and how did you make it look neat coming into the house? Thanks!

The LMR400 is pretty stiff cable and I figured that using a more flexible jumper cable for the actual connection to the radio would put less stress on the bnc female connector. It's a small jumper -- 2ft -- and the LMR240UF is more forgiving with its flexibility. It's also thinner and easier to fold or shape. 2ft is a tiny piece so the small loss in signal strength is negligible

 

[galligan122]

The LMR400 is pretty stiff cable and I figured that using a more flexible jumper cable for the actual connection to the radio would put less stress on the bnc female connector. It's a small jumper -- 2ft -- and the LMR240UF is more forgiving with its flexibility. It's also thinner and easier to fold or shape. 2ft is a tiny piece so the small loss in signal strength is negligible

Thank you. Do you remember what kind of adapter you used, and is there much difference between adapters as far as how much loss they have?

 

[spectrumwatcher9736]

For the main run of LMR400 I used Times Microwave cable with Times Microwave connectors. For the jumper it was LMR240UF TImes Microwave cable and the connectors were RF Industries (male bnc on one end and n female on the other).

As far as loss with connectors, yes it's important to an extent. The most important thing is to make sure they're attached correctly.
Some other good connector brands besides the ones I mentioned are: Amphenol, Belden, Ventev, Diamond, Lands Precision and probably many more.

 

[galligan122]

For the main run of LMR400 I used Times Microwave cable with Times Microwave connectors. For the jumper it was LMR240UF TImes Microwave cable and the connectors were RF Industries (male bnc on one end and n female on the other).

As far as loss with connectors, yes it's important to an extent. The most important thing is to make sure they're attached correctly.
Some other good connector brands besides the ones I mentioned are: Amphenol, Belden, Ventev, Diamond, Lands Precision and probably many more.

Thank you!! And how did you tidy things up as it came into your wall? Like with a wall plate or something similar to make it look nice coming into your house?

 

[spectrumwatcher9736]

Thank you!! And how did you tidy things up as it came into your wall? Like with a wall plate or something similar to make it look nice coming into your house?

Yeah pretty much; it was a simple multi purpose polyethylene box with a screw-on cover; the same kind that you sometimes see hams use to hold wound toroid baluns. I just modified it for my purposes

 

[galligan122]

Typically a no ground "plane" antenna will use the coax shield as the "other half" of the antenna. In most cases a ground "plane" can improve their performance.

I would use N or PL259 connectors on everything and a small cable (RG316 or174) jumper to go from the LMR400 to the radio SMA(?).

BILL

With my cable run, my LMR400 will come into my garage via a vent with N male connectors until I reach the interior wall where it will go from the garage to the house. I am using an N female to N female adapter at the house entry location, which will then connect to a short LMR 240uf N male to BNC male cable to get from wall to scanner.

I’ve been reading about lightening arrestors and it seems they are strongly recommended. I really don’t want to cut my LMR400, add the arrester and then reconnect the N male connector. I’m not sure I’m skilled enough to do that without adding a lot of loss. Would there be any downside to putting the arrester in at the same point where I’m already running my cable from the garage into the house?

 

[prcguy]

With my cable run, my LMR400 will come into my garage via a vent with N male connectors until I reach the interior wall where it will go from the garage to the house. I am using an N female to N female adapter at the house entry location, which will then connect to a short LMR 240uf N male to BNC male cable to get from wall to scanner.

I’ve been reading about lightening arrestors and it seems they are strongly recommended. I really don’t want to cut my LMR400, add the arrester and then reconnect the N male connector. I’m not sure I’m skilled enough to do that without adding a lot of loss. Would there be any downside to putting the arrester in at the same point where I’m already running my cable from the garage into the house?

One goal for a lightning arrestor is to have a short straight run to the house main AC entry panel using at least 10ga copper wire. If you can install the lightning protector where the double N female is then it can satisfy NEC. In reality if you get a direct lightning hit on your antenna its going to destroy a lot of stuff, but at least the antenna will be at AC mains ground potential and NEC legal.

 

[galligan122]

One goal for a lightning arrestor is to have a short straight run to the house main AC entry panel using at least 10ga copper wire. If you can install the lightning protector where the double N female is then it can satisfy NEC. In reality if you get a direct lightning hit on your antenna its going to destroy a lot of stuff, but at least the antenna will be at AC mains ground potential and NEC legal.

Thank you!