Roy Lewallen, W7EL, wrote:

I measured 80% velocity factor, so if our respective
measurements are good, the velocity factor of your piece should be
around 72%.

Ok, my curiosity got the best of me, and I decided to
to measure the velocity factor. My VNA software has
a "distance to fault" feature, and I "worked backwards",
which is to say that I measured a length of the
BuryFlex with a tape measure (27' 2"), and adjusted
the VF on the distance to fault tool until I obtained the
same physical length. The far end of the cable was
terminated with an open circuit.

I happened to start with the measurement frequency set
to 1 MHz. Lo and behold, the VF needed to compute the
same physical length was 72%, as you suggested.

My own understanding is that VF should be constant with
respect to frequency, so I decided to vary the test frequency.
I should have left well enough alone.

I picked 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 MHz. For those frequencies,
I measured the following VFs:

1 MHz = 72%
2 MHz = 73%
4 MHz = 75%
8 MHz = 80%
16 MHz = 79%
32 MHz = 79%

I'm rounding the VF to integer values, since I don't think that any more accuracy
can be claimed in this setup.


Since that result was a little surprising, I grabbed some mini 8 (8X)
that was nearby, about 51.25 feet. The published VF is 78%, and
I measured the following, at the same test frequencies:

1 MHz = 78%
2 MHz = 78%
4 MHz = 79%
8 MHz = 79%
16 MHz = 80%
32 MHz = 80%

With this cable, the VF appeared much more constant across the
1 to 32 MHz range.

Is there an explanation that fits with my measurements?

Greg, W8WWV