"Robert11" wrote in message
. ..
Hello:

Don't have a good feeling for the significance of this:

For a receive only application, using coax from the Balun of a simple
outside antenna to the receiver,
is a loss of, e.g., 2.5 db "meaningful" ?

Specifics would be 100 feet of RG 58 at 30 MHz

Or is it worth the extra $ to go to a less lossy coax (application would
always be for receive only)

BTW: R/S Coax a decent quality ?

Thanks,
B.



The answer is, maybe. If the signal level of the stations you wish to hear
are strong, then -2.5db will not mean anything as receivers have a lot of
gain, but if the signals are weak then -2.5db can mean the difference
between hearing or not hearing a signal. Be aware that the loss figures for
coax are for a matched system, that is 50 ohms in/out. If the load is not 50
ohms, then the loss of the cable will be higher and the worse the miss match
the higher the excess loss will be. It can be allot. I've seen for severe
miss match excess loss of up to 20db.
As for R/S coax is not known for being of high quality nor is it consistent
in its quality.


--
John Passaneau, W3JXP
Penn State University