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Base Station Coax ???

9C1Driver

9C1Driver

Sr. Member
Aug 13, 2008
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Right now I am running an IMAX 2000 on 20' of mast. I just bought a 32 foot tower, ham IV rotor, and a Moonraker 4. This spring I plan to get this all going with the IMAX on top of the beem.

My question is what coax should I run with all this? I will need 3 runs total, should I just use RG 8x, RG 213, or LMR 400. I don't plan on running ever more then say 400 watts.
 

8X would work just fine.

213 is good, but you'd never be able to tell the difference.

LMR400 is best left for VHF and up.
 
Peddler said:
I run 60ft of RG8X...no problems
Click to expand...
But what you don't see is the problem, I'm sure there is considerable loss, I would use nothing less that rg-8u or if you were to use rg8-x you might consider the double shielded stuff.

Don't get me wrong, 8x is good up to a kw it's just the loss in a long run I don't like.
 
LMR400uf or belden 9913F7 or davis bury-flex is about as good as it gets untill you go to hardline . since youre gonna use a beam and rotor id suggest something with a stranded center because its better with flexing and turning with a rotor .
 
It generally boils down to how long is a typical run of feed line going to be. At 100 - 150 feet, and under 30 Mhz, there's just not enough practical differences between RG-8x, RG-8u, and RG-213 to make a whole lot of difference (except in cost). The 'best' would probably be RG-213, maybe. And until you get to really long runs at HF, 9913 and LMR-400 is just a whole lot of over-kill. They are great at VHF/UHF though. Same for hard-line. Just no point on HF frequencies for typical/normal use. Sort of like 'Mickey Thompson' mags on a lawn mower. Might look good, but that's about as useful as they'd ever get... rather spend it on beer.
- 'Doc
 
A. I don't have a long run
B. Minimal loss for what I'm running.
C. Easier to fool with
D. Less cost.
E. I'm satisfied
F. Did I say I'm satisfied?
 
9C1Driver said:
Right now I am running an IMAX 2000 on 20' of mast. I just bought a 32 foot tower, ham IV rotor, and a Moonraker 4. This spring I plan to get this all going with the IMAX on top of the beem.

My question is what coax should I run with all this? I will need 3 runs total, should I just use RG 8x, RG 213, or LMR 400. I don't plan on running ever more then say 400 watts.
Click to expand...

With a 100 foot run at 27 MHz the differance between the best (LMR-400) and the worst (RG-8X) is only 0.9 dB. Whatever you choose you will never see a differance.You have to remember that when comparing cables it is not the TOTAL lose but rather the DIFFERANCE that you are looking for.Go with whatever floats your boat. Some people get far too wrapped up with a dB or so of lose but once you really understand dB's and how they relate to real world losses you will feel much better about things. Believe me I do not take cable losses lightly and in fact run Andrew LDF4-50 (check out the specs on that) but only because I run VHF/UHF and got the cable for nothing.
 
With multiple antennas on one tower, a remote coax switch might be what you need. Ameritron makes a good variety of them.

I've been using the RCS-8V for about 15 years for switching between bands with my quad. Works great.
 
Leave the Imax in a tree somewhere. The mast going vertical through the Moonraker will ruin it's gain and pattern.
 
Another .02

Make one run of a heavy cable like 213U to a remote coax switch up on the tower and run feeds from the switch box to each antenna.

Sometimes this can save some money depending on the run length.

I run all 9913 and I'm planning what would be four full runs worth at a bit under 100 feet, by the time I pay for all that...it will pay for the remote switch. I may even go hard line to the switch, though I'm setting up for VHF/UHF in this case.
 

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