Just wondering

[cbrrider06]

I have just changed all of my coax to lmr400 and I must say to myself what took so long. BUt here is my question? With the lmr400 being so large and stiff would I be damping my signals by making about 14'' jumpers out of rg58 to go from service point at my window to my radios??????

 

[OceanaRadio]

I have just changed all of my coax to lmr400 and I must say to myself what took so long. BUt here is my question? With the lmr400 being so large and stiff would I be damping my signals by making about 14'' jumpers out of rg58 to go from service point at my window to my radios??????

You can make 6' jumpers out of RG-58 and it would take equipment that cost as much as a new car to measure the loss, and even if you had ears as good as a dog's, you could never tell the difference.

Jack

 

[blueangel-eric]

You can make 6' jumpers out of RG-58 and it would take equipment that cost as much as a new car to measure the loss, and even if you had ears as good as a dog's, you could never tell the difference.

Jack

That's funny the way you word it, but yes I agree.

Eric

 

[fuzzymoto]

Anyone have a good source for such custom built jumpers? I want to do the same with my LMR-400, but I'd be looking for some odd jumpers.

N-type female to BNC male
N-type female to BNC 90-degree male
N-type female to SMA 90-degree male

And perhaps somthing a little larger like LMR-100 or RG6 Quad

Any sources for these?

 

[fuzzymoto]

I guess that's a no?

 

[fineshot1]

Try these out

For RF cables and equipment I sometimes deal with this company

https://www.ridgeequipment.com/store/index.html


For computer network cables and equipment I sometimes deal with this company

http://www.gruber.com/

 

[fuzzymoto]

Thanks I'll check it out. Looks like they already have the female N-type to SMA 90-degree male. I'm not sure what "High Quality Radiall 6 foot cables" are as far as coax type

What coax-type is everyone using for these patches? I've seen discussion of LMR-100 but I've never handled it enough t say how flexible it is.

 

[DPD1]

I'm hoping that we'll be doing custom cables and cable in general pretty soon. I've been putting it off because we've been so busy. I know everybody is dead set on LMR400, but there's equally good multi strand flexi cables out there that have pretty much the same specs, but are a lot more flexible and easy to work with. That's one way of avoiding the physical issues of a large single center conductor cable. But the flexi type still might be a little too much for a handheld. RG8X is nice and flexible for patches. That's what I would use otherwise.

Dave
http://www.dpdproductions.com/
Antennas & Accessories for the RF Professional & Radio Hobbyist

 

[Alliance01TX]

LMR 400 and Jumpers

Just a note and thoughts.....that typical LMR 400 Cables are-not meant to have a 'tight bend radius'....the normal (total 360 degree) bend radius that is tighter (smaller) than about 12 inches can (over time) hose up the cable and induce more 'leakage' or otherwise said promote Noise ingress into your radio systems....also hope you are indeed using specific LMR connectors vs PL-259 too....

And since LMR is really made for mostly longer runs (and often at higher RF Freq's) the above post recommending RG Type (I would use smaller gage) as the loss (again by above post) would likely be extremely less than a radio receiver would process.....

LMR is great if you have a Tower and long runs to/from of >100 feet...otherwise investments in a better Antenna (or multiple Antennas to specific bands) might be a good choice to ponder.........

Reference Site for LMR Cables: http://www.timesmicrowave.com

 

[fuzzymoto]

I'm hoping that we'll be doing custom cables and cable in general pretty soon. I've been putting it off because we've been so busy. I know everybody is dead set on LMR400, but there's equally good multi strand flexi cables out there that have pretty much the same specs, but are a lot more flexible and easy to work with. That's one way of avoiding the physical issues of a large single center conductor cable. But the flexi type still might be a little too much for a handheld. RG8X is nice and flexible for patches. That's what I would use otherwise.

Dave
http://www.dpdproductions.com/
Antennas & Accessories for the RF Professional & Radio Hobbyist

Thanks Dave...hopefully you do start to make patch cables also. That will make my ordering easier and I can get some patches when I order my DPD antenna.

I'm re-doing my shack and in the end (still about 8-months to go) I'll start using my LMR-400 coax already in place, my new scanner, two new antenna (at least one maybe two DPD) and some new patch cables.

Please keep us posted. It seems more and more people are using LMR-400 so more and more people will need custom patch cables.

 

[rodmaster48429]

Check this company out.Theres a configurator,design it yourself. Ive bought from them twice.http://www.citruscables.com/Home/tabid/117/Default.aspx

 

[fuzzymoto]

Cool...I haven't compared prices yet but $30 for an RG-8X 3-foot with N-female & SMA Male 90-degree seems a little high....I DO like the configurator though.