RadioBanter - View Single Post

January 12th 06, 03:30 PM posted to rec.radio.shortwave

On 12 Jan 2006 06:53:33 -0800, wrote:

Robert11 asked:
Was wondering if one can consider the vinyl
coating on coax these days as being water and snow "proof" ?

It's good for a couple of years.

It depends on the environment, but in many cases sun and ozone can do a
lot more damage to the cable than snow and rain will. (You talk about
snow, so you're not in Southern California, but sun and ozone did awful
things to plastic and rubber material there, rarely lasting more than a
year or two.)

Or, it would be a bad assumption, and I
better go with some buried emt type
of plastic rod buried a foot or so in the ground rather
than just laying the coax across some
garden beds on the surface, etc. ?

If you're going to bury it, go deep, deep enough that whatever
gardening tools you use won't get to it. A roto-tiller or lawnmower
will pretty much just cut through metal EMT (making a lot of noise
etc., not good for the blade or crankshaft either!), you probably won't
even notice the plastic stuff if you hit it.

Tim.

I've had Radio Shack RG-58/U lying in blazing sunshine, on top of my
roof in the San Gabriel Mountains for many years. It remains pliable
and intact.