Coax Antenna Lead
 

I am building a new house. I need two coax runs inside the house for
two uses. First, for 2 meter, 440 MHz dual band. Second for 2-30 MHz
HF. I am considering using RG213/U for both runs. I know this coax is
suitable for 440 MHz on runs less than 100 feet. Would there be any
problems for the 2 meter or HF using this coax? Or are there any
suggestions for this project?

Thanks, jimbo

Yes I just installed a 100' run and a 50' of 9914F "direct bury" coax for
VHF and HF respectively. This coax is lower loss than 214 and much more
robust in it's environmental qualities and can be buried directly. I
purchased ready made coax assemblies with silver-plated Amphenol PL259's
attached from RadioBooks Radio Ware

1. http://radiobooks.com/products/ca9914f.htm

9914F is very nearly as lossless as 9913 but is more flexible and can be
directly buried.

--

Charlie
Ham Radio - AD5TH
www.ad5th.com
Live Blues Music
www.492acousticblues.com




"jimbo" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am building a new house. I need two coax runs inside the house for
two uses. First, for 2 meter, 440 MHz dual band. Second for 2-30 MHz
HF. I am considering using RG213/U for both runs. I know this coax is
suitable for 440 MHz on runs less than 100 feet. Would there be any
problems for the 2 meter or HF using this coax? Or are there any
suggestions for this project?

Thanks, jimbo

"jimbo" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am building a new house. I need two coax runs inside the house for
two uses. First, for 2 meter, 440 MHz dual band. Second for 2-30 MHz
HF. I am considering using RG213/U for both runs. I know this coax is
suitable for 440 MHz on runs less than 100 feet. Would there be any
problems for the 2 meter or HF using this coax? Or are there any
suggestions for this project?

Thanks, jimbo


It sort of depends on how much loss is acceptable to you. 9913, for example,
will have about 50% of the loss that 213 gives you at VHF/UHF frequencies.
Remember, that the worse the mismatch (SWR) the higher the loss -- the
tables you see assume a 1:1 SWR, so real world losses are always higher than
what the tables show.

To directly answer your question -- if you are happy with 213 for 440, you
will be happy with it at 144 since the losses will be lower at a lower
frequency.

Not that it is likely to be relevant, but I use 9914 BuryFlex here since to
make my wife happy, I run the coax underground. It should be pointed out
that I don't have an antenna for anything above 6m.

Good luck

Paul AB0SI

Hey Charlie, thanks for your reply. Well, my cable will be inside
walls, not buried in the ground. So, it seems that the RG213 will have
a little less loss and be a little less expensive?

Thanks, jimbo

"jimbo" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hey Charlie, thanks for your reply. Well, my cable will be inside
walls, not buried in the ground. So, it seems that the RG213 will have
a little less loss and be a little less expensive?

Thanks, jimbo


Jimbo:

More loss but less expensive. If the run is short and the mismatch is not
too bad, you can save a few dollars by going with the 213 and accepting
slightly higher losses. Just talk louder.:)

Paul AB0SI

Ah, shortsighted Jimbo:

Consider these: Damage to one of the coaxes, for example. And what about rotator cable? Or suppose you get interested
in another band or mode? My advice to people building new homes is to run conduit wherever you are going to need it,
and make it as big as practical. Then you can pull whatever coax you need, and upgrade when you feel like it. Or at
least be sure there are accessible pull wires wherever they might be needed. And coax has a limited lifetime anyway.

--
Crazy George
Remove N O and S P A M imbedded in return address
"jimbo" wrote in message oups.com...
I am building a new house. I need two coax runs inside the house for
two uses. First, for 2 meter, 440 MHz dual band. Second for 2-30 MHz
HF. I am considering using RG213/U for both runs. I know this coax is
suitable for 440 MHz on runs less than 100 feet. Would there be any
problems for the 2 meter or HF using this coax? Or are there any
suggestions for this project?

Thanks, jimbo

On Sat, 29 Jan 2005 22:34:53 -0600, "Crazy George"
wrote:

Ah, shortsighted Jimbo:

Consider these: Damage to one of the coaxes, for example. And what about rotator cable? Or suppose you get interested
in another band or mode? My advice to people building new homes is to run conduit wherever you are going to need it,
and make it as big as practical. Then you can pull whatever coax you need, and upgrade when you feel like it. Or at
least be sure there are accessible pull wires wherever they might be needed. And coax has a limited lifetime anyway.


Excellent point(s). Except, how do you pull 7/8" Heliax through
conduit? Best to lay in 3 or 4 runs ahead of time.

jimbo wrote:
Hey Charlie, thanks for your reply. Well, my cable will be inside
walls, not buried in the ground. So, it seems that the RG213 will have
a little less loss and be a little less expensive?

Please take a look at LMR-400, another possibility.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp


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Conduit sounds like a good idea. Would you use metal or PVC?

jimbo


Crazy George wrote:
Ah, shortsighted Jimbo:

Consider these: Damage to one of the coaxes, for example. And what
about rotator cable? Or suppose you get interested
in another band or mode? My advice to people building new homes is
to run conduit wherever you are going to need it,
and make it as big as practical. Then you can pull whatever coax you
need, and upgrade when you feel like it. Or at
least be sure there are accessible pull wires wherever they might be
needed. And coax has a limited lifetime anyway.

--
Crazy George
Remove N O and S P A M imbedded in return address
"jimbo" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am building a new house. I need two coax runs inside the house
for
two uses. First, for 2 meter, 440 MHz dual band. Second for 2-30
MHz
HF. I am considering using RG213/U for both runs. I know this coax
is
suitable for 440 MHz on runs less than 100 feet. Would there be any
problems for the 2 meter or HF using this coax? Or are there any
suggestions for this project?

Thanks, jimbo

On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 12:49:20 -0600, Cecil Moore
wrote:

jimbo wrote:
Hey Charlie, thanks for your reply. Well, my cable will be inside
walls, not buried in the ground. So, it seems that the RG213 will have
a little less loss and be a little less expensive?

Please take a look at LMR-400, another possibility.

When I upgraded my antennas (6 and 2 meter) I also upgraded the coax
from 213 to LMR-400-flex due to the lower loss. At 70 cm the 213 is
~6dB of loss and that is rather significant in my estimation,
especially when LMR-400 or 9913 is ~ 3dB. Considering the effort and
dollars that goes into putting up a decent antenna I feel the extra
cost of the coax is worth it.

jimbo wrote:
I am building a new house. I need two coax runs inside the house for
two uses. First, for 2 meter, 440 MHz dual band. Second for 2-30 MHz
HF. I am considering using RG213/U for both runs. I know this coax is
suitable for 440 MHz on runs less than 100 feet. Would there be any
problems for the 2 meter or HF using this coax? Or are there any
suggestions for this project?

Thanks, jimbo

I did the same thing when I put in the ham shack but I ran 8 runs of
LMR400 cable and also two runs of 8 conductor cable for rotor's.
The outside panel is under the eve of the house and I have another
panel on the wall of the shack.
Tye LMR 400 Ultra Flex is what I used.

How many of the eight runs do you use at one time? And I guess the
other runs are spares? Did you consider conduit, so you could replace
cables if required rather than spare runs?

Thanks, jimbo

Bill wrote:
jimbo wrote:
I am building a new house. I need two coax runs inside the house
for
two uses. First, for 2 meter, 440 MHz dual band. Second for 2-30
MHz
HF. I am considering using RG213/U for both runs. I know this coax
is
suitable for 440 MHz on runs less than 100 feet. Would there be any
problems for the 2 meter or HF using this coax? Or are there any
suggestions for this project?

Thanks, jimbo

I did the same thing when I put in the ham shack but I ran 8 runs of
LMR400 cable and also two runs of 8 conductor cable for rotor's.
The outside panel is under the eve of the house and I have another
panel on the wall of the shack.
Tye LMR 400 Ultra Flex is what I used.

"jimbo" wrote in message oups.com...
Conduit sounds like a good idea. Would you use metal or PVC?

jimbo

Well, it depends on a lot of factors. You have to use lubricant to pull long runs of PVC insulated coax through PVC
conduit, while metal is slicker, and sometimes it will pull without. Metal will provide little additional shielding,
and bending big stuff requires special benders, while PVC can be formed with a heat gun and a lot of care. For
individual runs, you could use this corrugated PVC stuff which has become very popular for pulling fiber optics, but I
have never seen it in real large sizes, and it will need to be held down more if it has a lot of turns.

--
Crazy George
Remove N O and S P A M imbedded in return address

jimbo wrote:
How many of the eight runs do you use at one time? And I guess the
other runs are spares? Did you consider conduit, so you could replace
cables if required rather than spare runs?

Thanks, jimbo

Bill wrote:

jimbo wrote:

I am building a new house. I need two coax runs inside the house

for

two uses. First, for 2 meter, 440 MHz dual band. Second for 2-30

MHz

HF. I am considering using RG213/U for both runs. I know this coax

is

suitable for 440 MHz on runs less than 100 feet. Would there be any
problems for the 2 meter or HF using this coax? Or are there any
suggestions for this project?

Thanks, jimbo


I did the same thing when I put in the ham shack but I ran 8 runs of
LMR400 cable and also two runs of 8 conductor cable for rotor's.
The outside panel is under the eve of the house and I have another
panel on the wall of the shack.
Tye LMR 400 Ultra Flex is what I used.


I have seven antennas up right now so there is only one spare run and
one spare run for a rotator.
I would guess conduit would be ok but for what I have it's not needed.
I can replace a run here by soldering the center and outer shield to the
new piece and pull it through with out any problems, if the cables had
been run other than the way they are now then conduit would have made
things easier.

I'd run lower loss coax for the UHF/VHF than RG-213/U, e.g. LMR400, Belden
9913F, etc, unless the run was less than 25 feet or so, maybe 50ft. For HF
thru 10m (or even 6m) though the RG-213 should be just fine. It may be
cheaper though to just buy a spool of the low loss and use it for the HF too
than to buy two types of coax.

Like the conduit/EMT idea (make'm BIG and run a couple). Also, now's the
time to run a *dedicated* circuit to the shack for a 240V amp supply. if not
needed, it could be connected to 120V instead and the receptacle changed,
but power only a single outlet box w/ it so you can easily switch to 240 V
(duplex vs single breaker and new recepticle).

"Bill" wrote in message
.. .
jimbo wrote:
How many of the eight runs do you use at one time? And I guess the
other runs are spares? Did you consider conduit, so you could replace
cables if required rather than spare runs?

Thanks, jimbo

Bill wrote:

jimbo wrote:

I am building a new house. I need two coax runs inside the house

for

two uses. First, for 2 meter, 440 MHz dual band. Second for 2-30

MHz

HF. I am considering using RG213/U for both runs. I know this coax

is

suitable for 440 MHz on runs less than 100 feet. Would there be any
problems for the 2 meter or HF using this coax? Or are there any
suggestions for this project?

Thanks, jimbo


I did the same thing when I put in the ham shack but I ran 8 runs of
LMR400 cable and also two runs of 8 conductor cable for rotor's.
The outside panel is under the eve of the house and I have another
panel on the wall of the shack.
Tye LMR 400 Ultra Flex is what I used.


I have seven antennas up right now so there is only one spare run and one
spare run for a rotator.
I would guess conduit would be ok but for what I have it's not needed.
I can replace a run here by soldering the center and outer shield to the
new piece and pull it through with out any problems, if the cables had
been run other than the way they are now then conduit would have made
things easier.