"Ian Jackson" wrote in message
...
In message , Owen Duffy
writes
"Wayne" wrote in
:

I am using a whip antenna mounted on a metal patio cover. Results are
good on 10 and 12 meters, and contacts have been made down to 40
meters. (Matches were not obtained on 15 or 30 meters) The whip is 8.5
ft long (a longer whip is under consideration). It is fed through an
antenna tuner and about 25 feet of RG-58. I'm about to replace that
with RG-8.

It is obviously advantageous to use the lowest loss coax you can lay your
hands on. As, in cable TV systems, long coaxial trunk lines have now been
superseded by optical fibers, I would suggest that a cable TV operator
might be persuaded to donate some nice chunky coax (preferably "as thick
as a horse's prick", as one of my bosses once described it). Failing that,
just go for the best you can get.
--
Ian

Way too much time and money is being wasted in the change over from the rg58
coax. Even with a 20 to 1 SWR the rg-58 will loose about 3 db of signal due
to the large mismatch. the rg-8 will still loose atleast 1 db. This 'big'
gain of 2 db is hardly worth it. More time and money should be put into a
beter antenna. Maybe one of the trap type verticals that is 30 or more feet
tall. You gain by a beter radiation efficency and at the same time cut the
loss in the coax due to the beter match. Even the screwdriver type antenna
would probably be much beter. With that you get rid of the losses in the
antenna tuner.