Jeff Liebermann wrote:
. . .
I'm partial to seat-of-the-pants testing for RF loss using a microwave
oven. In general, if it gets hot in a microwave oven, it's going to
be lossy. . .

If it gets hot in a microwave oven, it's going to be lossy at 2.4 GHz,
but it isn't necessarily going to be lossy at HF or even VHF. However,
if it *doesn't* get hot in a microwave oven, it's probably pretty low
loss at any frequency up to 2.4 GHz.

There is, of course, a problem with reducing loss to a binary quantity
of "lossy" or "not lossy". A relatively high amount of loss can easily
be tolerated at points of low electric field strength, such as an
insulator at the feedpoint of a half wavelength dipole. On the other
hand, you need very low loss for some other applications like potting
high Q inductors or for feedline insulators when the feedline has a very
high SWR.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL