Lostgallifreyan wrote:

Yes, if I was using for UHF and perhaps VHF as they sell it for. But as far
as I know the older UG59 used a braid with better physical coverage and was
specified for HF as well. I'd rather get something this time that has good HF
shielding as priority, so I'm not convinced that RG6 is the right choice. A
bit of extra loss isn't as bad as poor shielding.

The standard for cable tv and satellite instalations is RG6 "quad shield",
which has a less dense braid, but a (almost) 100% aluminum foil shield.

The question is how do you connect to it? Commerical applications use special
crimp on connectors, you can solder it with the proper flux.

A friend brought some Radio Shack screw on PL-259 connectors that work fine
with it, but they are $6 each in the US, and unavailable here.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
New word I coined 12/13/09, "Sub-Wikipedia" adj, describing knowledge or
understanding, as in he has a sub-wikipedia understanding of the situation.
i.e possessing less facts or information than can be found in the Wikipedia.

"Geoffrey S. Mendelson" wrote in
:

Lostgallifreyan wrote:

Yes, if I was using for UHF and perhaps VHF as they sell it for. But as
far as I know the older UG59 used a braid with better physical coverage
and was specified for HF as well. I'd rather get something this time
that has good HF shielding as priority, so I'm not convinced that RG6
is the right choice. A bit of extra loss isn't as bad as poor
shielding.

The standard for cable tv and satellite instalations is RG6 "quad
shield", which has a less dense braid, but a (almost) 100% aluminum
foil shield.


As far I can tell from advice on HF, the thin foil doesn't shield as well at
HF as a thicker braid with good physical coverage.

The question is how do you connect to it? Commerical applications use
special crimp on connectors, you can solder it with the proper flux.

A friend brought some Radio Shack screw on PL-259 connectors that work
fine with it, but they are $6 each in the US, and unavailable here.


I found an RG6 at low cost with copper braid and Al foil (more likely
metalised plastic film) so I can solder ok with that, but I'm going to be
using this for HF, not UHF, and if anything, I want to include MF signals so
as I mentioned in other posts, I'm not convinced that RG6 is the best choice,
unless it's the only RF cable in the shop.

On Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:59:06 +0000 (UTC), "Geoffrey S. Mendelson"
wrote:

Lostgallifreyan wrote:

Yes, if I was using for UHF and perhaps VHF as they sell it for. But as far
as I know the older UG59 used a braid with better physical coverage and was
specified for HF as well. I'd rather get something this time that has good HF
shielding as priority, so I'm not convinced that RG6 is the right choice. A
bit of extra loss isn't as bad as poor shielding.

The standard for cable tv and satellite instalations is RG6 "quad shield",
which has a less dense braid, but a (almost) 100% aluminum foil shield.

The question is how do you connect to it? Commerical applications use special
crimp on connectors, you can solder it with the proper flux.

Compression fittings. Easy to install, strong, water proof, and about
50 cents each.


A friend brought some Radio Shack screw on PL-259 connectors that work fine
with it, but they are $6 each in the US, and unavailable here.

And a waste of money.
The problem with the compression fittings is you need a compression
tool to install them although a pair of the "duck billed" vise grips,
or even pliers could be adapted to do the job. You only need hold the
front and back of the connector and then push the pack part with the
seal into the front part...a distance of maybe 1/8" (4mm) . The
commercial tools are kinda pricey, but you can make one up out of a
pair of pliers and a bit of ingenuity.

73

Roger (K8RI)


Geoff.