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tower mounted booster
- Thread starter exces3
- Start date
Basically NO. You could weather proof and mount an amp with built in preamp,power supply etc, but contrary to what you think the cost would be far more then using decent coax cable to minimize losses. How long a coax run would you have?
coax run would be, approaching 100 feet.
what I would eventually like to have,
is hardline for, HF, and VHF horiz polarized,
switched at the top
and, completely separate,
2M and 440, FM vert polarized omni antenna.
options for the latter would be...
tower mounted booster, no such animal.
rx pre-amp and some type of kludge arrangement.
spend more money than I want to on good coax.
hardline is what?, 3 bucks a foot?
what I would eventually like to have,
is hardline for, HF, and VHF horiz polarized,
switched at the top
and, completely separate,
2M and 440, FM vert polarized omni antenna.
options for the latter would be...
tower mounted booster, no such animal.
rx pre-amp and some type of kludge arrangement.
spend more money than I want to on good coax.
hardline is what?, 3 bucks a foot?
Hardline (really called heliax) if it was as high as $3/ft would be $300 + another $100 for connectors if all bought new. You are not going to put together an amp/preamp and power supply for it for $400. You may get lucky and do it for that price but you still need something for coax cable so subtract that cost from any perceived savings. I would look around at some ham flea markets as there is always someone selling half inch heliax cable for bargain prices often as cheap as new RG-8 cable. I have seen brand new reel ends for $1.25/ft and good used for $0.75/ft with good used connectors for $5.00 each. The difference in losses between half inch LDF4 heliax and RG-213 is only 2 dB at 100 feet at 2m. While that 2 dB may be nice to have especially for 2m weak signal work it is hardly worth the effort and expense of trying to offset it by trying to kludge together gear and tower mounting it versus looking around for some bargain heliax cable. Heliax on HF is WAAAAY overkill BTW. I do use half inch LDF4 heliax here on all my runs, HF thru 6m and 2m BTW but I worked in broadcasting for 22 years and was able to acquire some over the years as towers/antenna systems were decommissioned. I understand your desire to use it but I suggest you look for used cable and forget the tower mounted gear route. Tower mounting is usually only used in the GHz range where losses are HUGE and low power is all that is needed due to using very high gain dish antennas.
Although going with all that Hardline is Expensive..
Bought new can indeed add up quickly.
Tower mounted Pre amps indeed work Great..
To do what you are looking to do though..
If all done in new gear..
Be Prepared to spend Lots.
On Plus side..
Yes would Work Excellent.
Minis side..Loss of a lot of $$$
Is it Really Needed ?
Only you can say.
Myself i have to Redo my Antenna farm..
Lost it all to Hurricane Sandy..
My Antennas are all twisted metal junk basically..lol
and i had my antennas well guyed
(it survived many bad storms in past)
Bought new can indeed add up quickly.
Tower mounted Pre amps indeed work Great..
To do what you are looking to do though..
If all done in new gear..
Be Prepared to spend Lots.
On Plus side..
Yes would Work Excellent.
Minis side..Loss of a lot of $$$
Is it Really Needed ?
Only you can say.
Myself i have to Redo my Antenna farm..
Lost it all to Hurricane Sandy..
My Antennas are all twisted metal junk basically..lol
and i had my antennas well guyed
(it survived many bad storms in past)
BJ radionut
Supporting Member and 6m addict
At 100 feet or less on 80m-20m the difference between BELDEN RG8X and LMR400 is basicaly not worth the money?
I used both...Run Legal limit through RG8X on 40m for years on a dipole up top of tower around 50+ feet....worked the world never had issues....
People get way to crazy spending money for high end coax below 30mc....unless the runs are 150+ feet....you are wasting big dollars at todays prices....
LMR400....$1.50+USD per foot is INSANE....
Glad I keep 1000ft spool of BELDEN RG8X and 500ft/ 8214 instead of giving it away....Think I've still got some 9913f7 also???
All the Best
BJ
AND NO IT'S NOT FOR SALE!
I used both...Run Legal limit through RG8X on 40m for years on a dipole up top of tower around 50+ feet....worked the world never had issues....
People get way to crazy spending money for high end coax below 30mc....unless the runs are 150+ feet....you are wasting big dollars at todays prices....
LMR400....$1.50+USD per foot is INSANE....
Glad I keep 1000ft spool of BELDEN RG8X and 500ft/ 8214 instead of giving it away....Think I've still got some 9913f7 also???
All the Best
BJ
AND NO IT'S NOT FOR SALE!
What frequency range and transmitter power level? RX preamps ( good quality) meant to be used with a transmitter and bypassed automatically are made to cover specific freq. ranges and specific power levels.
Cpt. KW
at minimum, I would like it to have
RX pre-amp for 440-450,
plus a 'thru' for Tx 50w or so for 2M/440.
the switching for 440 would need to be automatically switched.
2M pre-amp would be nice.
Rx pre-selection filtering for HAM FM bands only, would be nice,
but that is probably asking for too much.
at minimum, I would like it to have
RX pre-amp for 440-450,
plus a 'thru' for Tx 50w or so for 2M/440.
the switching for 440 would need to be automatically switched.
2M pre-amp would be nice.
Rx pre-selection filtering for HAM FM bands only, would be nice,
but that is probably asking for too much.
antenna mounted Pre-Amps do work Very Well.
You do need to be sure however.
Transmit power does not Exceed what pre amp is designed for.
If you are using power of radio only.
Then likely a non issue.
If though you add a linear / amp
then it might be an issue depending on pre amps ability to handle said power
You do need to be sure however.
Transmit power does not Exceed what pre amp is designed for.
If you are using power of radio only.
Then likely a non issue.
If though you add a linear / amp
then it might be an issue depending on pre amps ability to handle said power