Hello:

Have started running cvoax from a receve-only antenna to the house.
The coax has a Polyethylene (PE) Outer jacket.
With this PE jacket, it's upposed to be buriable.

It's becoming a real job for me at my age to dig a slit trench, even a
shallow one.
But, I can easily just lay the coax on the surface, without any reql danger
of anyone
stepping on it, etc. It's in a pretty out of the way area.

I realize that burying it is undoubtedly best, but in a practical
sense, how well does a PE outer jacket stand up if just laying on the ground
?
Would be subjected, of course, to rain, and also buried in snow during the
winter.

Again, it's receive only.

Thanks,
Bob

On Tue, 18 Apr 2006 15:45:32 -0400, "Robert11"
wrote:

Hello:

Have started running cvoax from a receve-only antenna to the house.
The coax has a Polyethylene (PE) Outer jacket.
With this PE jacket, it's upposed to be buriable.

It's becoming a real job for me at my age to dig a slit trench, even a
shallow one.
But, I can easily just lay the coax on the surface, without any reql danger
of anyone
stepping on it, etc. It's in a pretty out of the way area.

I realize that burying it is undoubtedly best, but in a practical
sense, how well does a PE outer jacket stand up if just laying on the ground
?
Would be subjected, of course, to rain, and also buried in snow during the
winter.

Again, it's receive only.

Thanks,
Bob

Just keep the skateboarders off it and you'll be fine. You'll still
need a well earthed grounding block where it enters the building.

Robert11 wrote:
Hello:

Have started running cvoax from a receve-only antenna to the house.
The coax has a Polyethylene (PE) Outer jacket.
With this PE jacket, it's upposed to be buriable.

It's becoming a real job for me at my age to dig a slit trench, even a
shallow one.
But, I can easily just lay the coax on the surface, without any reql danger
of anyone
stepping on it, etc. It's in a pretty out of the way area.

I realize that burying it is undoubtedly best, but in a practical
sense, how well does a PE outer jacket stand up if just laying on the ground
?
Would be subjected, of course, to rain, and also buried in snow during the
winter.

Again, it's receive only.

Thanks,
Bob

Other than being damaged by ground traffic in the yard, the main issue
is exposure to sunlight which can age the coax faster than being buried.
If you can't find a way to get it buried a few inches down, install the
coax in some kind of protective tubing. This could be a hose or several
sections of plastic PVC tubing, like the kind used for domestic
plumbing. You don't have to glue the sections together. I like to
install the coax in PVC tubing before I bury it. The tubing protects the
coax from being damaged by objects in the ground which can cut the outer
jacket, allowing water to get inside. This is particularly a problem in
climates where the ground freezes in the winter. It's called frost
heaving. I've had rocks come to the surface in the lawn from frost
heaving. There's a lot of pressure involved with this process and coax
can be damaged if it's in contact with a sharp rock or other object in
frozen ground.

Get a step-on lawn edger, which is a blade attached to a handle, and you step
on it to make a slit in the dirt.

Step, wobble it a little to open it up, and make a nice slit, and work the
coax down into it, alternating slit and pushing down.

Just stomp around to close the slit again.

Easiest after a rain.

I bury just plain ordinary coax and it works fine, by the way.

(You can find the coax again with a portable AM radio. Put radio on the
ground tuned to a weakish station, and aim the radio to null out the
station. Drag the radio across the area the coax is in in that orientation,
and the station will pop up as you cross the coax.)

--
Ron Hardin


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

RH - Nice Tip on "How To" find Buried Coax Cable
using a 'portable' AM Radio as a Detector ~ RHF

On Wed, 19 Apr 2006 09:38:00 GMT, Ron Hardin
wrote:

Get a step-on lawn edger, which is a blade attached to a handle, and you step
on it to make a slit in the dirt.

I use the Hound Dog "Steppin' Edger" from the gardening section of
Lowe's Home Improvement. Basically, it's a 12-inch butcher knife with
a foot plate on it. Great for laying radials or whatever in the back
yard.

bob
k5qwg


Step, wobble it a little to open it up, and make a nice slit, and work the
coax down into it, alternating slit and pushing down.

Just stomp around to close the slit again.

Easiest after a rain.

I bury just plain ordinary coax and it works fine, by the way.

(You can find the coax again with a portable AM radio. Put radio on the
ground tuned to a weakish station, and aim the radio to null out the
station. Drag the radio across the area the coax is in in that orientation,
and the station will pop up as you cross the coax.)

Ron Hardin wrote:
Get a step-on lawn edger, which is a blade attached to a handle, and you step
on it to make a slit in the dirt.

Step, wobble it a little to open it up, and make a nice slit, and work the
coax down into it, alternating slit and pushing down.

Just stomp around to close the slit again.

Easiest after a rain.

I bury just plain ordinary coax and it works fine, by the way.

(You can find the coax again with a portable AM radio. Put radio on the
ground tuned to a weakish station, and aim the radio to null out the
station. Drag the radio across the area the coax is in in that orientation,
and the station will pop up as you cross the coax.)

I paid a guy $300 to find wires for the sprinkers in the front yard and
then buried a plastic 24oz cup upside down right next to them, Funny now
the dirt is covered them but I have some idea what area they are in.

Metal dectecting one time I found a year old quarter about 2' down in
the dirt in a park that was built 20+ years ago, gotta wonder how that
got there.

I think the cable will become one with the earth................