New Coax for HF, 2m, and 70cm Ham bands

[Firemantincan]

I'm working on a new shack set up and am trying to select new coax for my HF and 2m/70cm rigs. I'm looking for some good reliable low loss American made cables. Probably a 100' run.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ArloG]

LMR400 or equivalent.

 

[mmckenna]

I'm working on a new shack set up and am trying to select new coax for my HF and 2m/70cm rigs. I'm looking for some good reliable low loss American made cables. Probably a 100' run.

Thanks in advance.

Kind of depends on your budget.
You'll hear "LMR-400" recommended a lot. It's a good cable, but not the right one for all applications.

Probably the biggest decider is your budget. We can recommend all kinds of cables, but if it's outside your budget, there's really no point.
Also, knowing if you are going to do the terminations yourself or not, and do you have the correct tools?

For HF, LMR-400 would probably be just fine for most uses.

For VHF/UHF, it can depend. I'd not want to run a UHF system on LMR-400 if I was expecting really high performance/weak signal work. You may want something better. For VHF only, it's probably good enough for a 100 foot run.

 

[Omega-TI]

I used Belden 8214 or 9913. The 9913 was a little spendy, but was low loss and did a great job. Of course this is for your 2m/440 rigs.

 

[900mhz]

On most of my VHF/UHF, I use 1/2 inch Heliax, this includes 6 meters. It all depends on your budget. For HF, RG213.

 

[mmckenna]

On most of my VHF/UHF, I use 1/2 inch Heliax, this includes 6 meters. It all depends on your budget. For HF, RG213.

Yeah, if I was looking for good performance, especially on 70cm, and 100 foot run, I'd go with Heliax. Won't be cheap, and the connectors are expensive, but it'll perform well. If that's a bit outside your budget, look into LMR-600. It's a bit cheaper. Just be aware that these higher tier cables have some wide bend radii, and you'll have a challenge running them in a residential application.