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There is lots of bad advice on the web.

roadrage

roadrage

Active Member
Aug 3, 2011
497
109
38
In the middle of nowhere. Central/northern Maine
It is unreal the amount of bad advice there is coming from people. I read a thread on another forum where a senior member insists that the newbie uses LMR240UF for a standard FCC type Uniden PC78 LTW in a mobile. It was stated that RG58 wouldn't be a good idea to use. Ironically, I've seen this same member talking about how good the Wilson 1000 was (the Wilson 1000, of course, uses RG58).

With the .25 db gain on an 18' run, using a 4W radio....I can see S-meter needles bending now. I hope the poor guy don't waste $30 for .25 db.
 

I have found that a lot of sites have "sponsors", and oftentimes answers are geared towards helping those "sponsors" sell gear. Regardless of whether it's right for the user's needs or not. One of many reasons that I prefer this radio forum!

73,
RT307
 
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well, i guess i'll play devils advocate since no one else will. ;)

im curious as to the content of the thread you read this in.

was the OP having an issue with RF getting into his vehicles electrical system?
was he having an SWR issue?

there are other reasons to upgrade to LMR240 besides the loss factor.

the shielding on LMR coax is far superior to that of RG58 coax, which is among the most cheaply made, and mass produced coaxial cable out there.

for example, the RG58 coax that you used to get from Radio Shack about 20 years ago was so bad that you could see the dielectric underneath the shield braid very clearly.

i dont know whether or not its the same now because i stopped buying their coax the minute i saw that.

anyway, just wanted to put that out there, that there are other reasons for upgrading one's mobile coax run.
LC
 
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loosecannon said:
well, i guess i'll play devils advocate since no one else will. ;)

im curious as to the content of the thread you read this in.

was the OP having an issue with RF getting into his vehicles electrical system?
was he having an SWR issue?

there are other reasons to upgrade to LMR240 besides the loss factor.

the shielding on LMR coax is far superior to that of RG58 coax, which is among the most cheaply made, and mass produced coaxial cable out there.

for example, the RG58 coax that you used to get from Radio Shack about 20 years ago was so bad that you could see the dielectric underneath the shield braid very clearly.

i dont know whether or not its the same now because i stopped buying their coax the minute i saw that.

anyway, just wanted to put that out there, that there are other reasons for upgrading one's mobile coax run.
LC
Click to expand...

There were no problems to remedy, it is a brand new install from scratch. The guy was inquiring if the Uniden 78 LTW was a decent radio to match with a Hustler 102" whip. Then out came the "you are going to need some LMR240 UF." I am all about upgrading to fit the needs of the system. That just wasn't the case here.
 
Last edited:
roadrage said:
There were no problems to remedy, it is a brand new install from scratch. The guy was inquiring if the Uniden 78 LTW was a decent radio to match with a Hustler 102" whip. Then out came the "you are going to need some LMR240 UF." I am all about upgrading to fit the needs of the system. That just wasn't the case here.
Click to expand...


I have seen people run 12 ft of RG 213 in their mobiles to "safely" run Gray 300 amps.
 
'Bad advice' comes in several 'flavors'. It runs from misinformed to misinterpreted to 'I want your money'. RG-58 coax has a bad reputation because of all of those reasons, and because it can be had in several different 'grades'. All manufacturers of RG-58 cable make more than one 'grade'. They will make it in any 'grade' that the buyer wants. What the buyer does and says about a particular cable is then the responsibility of the buyer, not the manufacturer. RG-58 can and is used for various things besides RF transmissions, audio for just one. That 'sparsely' shielded RG-58 makes for fairly respectable audio cable for instance. It's used for RF purposes by several manufacturers but in that instance it's typically a 'better' grade of cable. It has a much greater power handling capability -IF- particular attention is paid to how it's used and with what the load's 'shape' is. But, if that particular attention isn't 'paid', then you can certainly end up paying for it.
All that certainly doesn't mean that anyone should immediately change to using RG-58 cable. There's nothing wrong with LMR-200 or LMR-240 cable either!
Have fun...
- 'Doc
 
roadrage said:
There were no problems to remedy, it is a brand new install from scratch. The guy was inquiring if the Uniden 78 LTW was a decent radio to match with a Hustler 102" whip. Then out came the "you are going to need some LMR240 UF." I am all about upgrading to fit the needs of the system. That just wasn't the case here.
Click to expand...


LMR240 is excellent coax and it will handle 1200 watts average, unlike Mini 8 which handles less than half that.
 
RG8 mini aka RG8X can handle 1500 watts at 10 MHz or 800 watts at 50 Mhz so it will handle somewhere in between that on 27 Mhz.

I just looked it up. Then again it could be one of those sources of bad info. :laugh:
 

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