Thread: RG-6 for HF?
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Old January 1st 08, 12:55 AM posted to rec.radio.shortwave
Telamon Telamon is offline
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First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Jul 2006
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Default RG-6 for HF?

In article ,
David wrote:

Telamon wrote:
In article ,
"Brian" wrote:

I finally got a house out in the woods on five acres and I'm going
to set up a couple of pretty long wires and my Wellbrook ALA-1530.
I've pretty much decided on RG-6 for a couple of 150 ft. runs
because the stuff's dirt cheap and I can pick it up at the local
Home Depot. Is the impedance mismatch here going to be negligible,
or should I just bite the bullet and go with RG-8 or a similar 50
ohm coax?


I would not buy cable with the wrong impedance especially on the
Wellbrook because I don't know how well the amplifier at the head
end stands up to reflections. Some amplifiers become less stable
into a load other than what it was designed for. Why don't you fire
off that question to them.

On the wire antennas you will take a hit on performance depending
on frequency unless you use transformers on both ends.


I'd give it a try. I doubt modern active devices will have any
trouble with such a small difference.


"I'd give it a try" is meaningless to me in this context because it is
going to work. There is no question that it will work. What is in
question is how well will it work.

Here there would be no harm in "trying" if he already had the coax but
he doesn't. He has to buy the coax and he may be able to save a few
bucks. Then again he may not save any money.

If the transmission line is not properly terminated on both ends then it
will have resonances that may interfere with his reception.

This is not much different than putting regular in a high compression
engine that needs premium gas. The engine will still run OK it's just
that you will not get the full performance that the engine can give you.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California