Distance & Type of Cable Runs

1. Distance

  • 216 ft house to trailer
  • 72 ft trailer to tower base
  • 74 ft base to tower top + 6 ft wrap allowance = 80 ft base to antenna

2. Cable Types

2.1 Initial Cables

  1. HF transmit coax house to tower base.  335 ft.:  Low loss 50 ohm with >3 kW power capability.  Should be direct burial.  (Ordered 1/2″ Heliax LDF4-50A with PL-259 connectors)
  2. HF transmit coax tower base to antenna, 80 ft:  Low loss 50 ohm flexible with > 2 kW power.
  3. HF antenna rotor, 415 ft total:  4 wires (2 large wires for motor and 2 smaller wires for rotation sensor counter).  Run from house to tower base should be direct burial. (cable in conduit)  Purchased:Wireman part # 305 Rotor cable 2×12 and 2×16 Quantity 500 ft  @ 0.715 / ft = 357.50
  4. Tower raise/lower control, 70 ft trailer to tower base: 6 wires: Direct burial.  (cable in conduit)
  5. 120 vac extension cord, 50 ft, from power pedestal to tower base for tower raise/lower.
  6. Ethernet cat 6 direct burial cable 216 ft from house to trailer for computer data and control.  (cable in conduit)
  7. 2nd low-loss 50 ohm coax house to trailer, 216 ft.  Direct burial.  For future expansion, but put into trench initially due to difficulty in pulling big/stiff cable at later stage.  Possibly used to feed HF wire antennas.  (Ordered 1/2″ Heliax with type N connectors)

2.2 Future Cables in House-to-Trailer Conduit

  1. VHF/UHF moderate loss (~10 db) house to trailer 270 ft:  Assumes Linear amp/LNA combo is either in trailer or mounted at antenna with transceiver in house.
  2. Many-conductor rotor cable for Az/El control of VHF/UHF antennas (or control may be via ethernet from house to trailer)

  3. TBD timing cable(s).  Possibly moderate loss @ 10 MHz.

  4. TBD control of Microwave antenna Az-El

  5. TBD Coax house to trailer for use of microwave gear with moderate loss at TBD IF frequency.

3. Coax notes

Coax Cable Notes from Times-Microwave
     LMR – Flexible Low Loss
     LMR-DB  Watertight   -Flexible Low Loss
     LMR-Ultraflex    -Repeated flexing
     LMR400 Ultraflex 0.5 dB/100 ft @ 10 MHz, 0.8 dB/100ft @ 30 MHz
     LMR400-dB     0.7 dB/100ft @ 30 MHz.
     LMR600-dB    0.4 dB/100 ft @ 30 MHz.
     LMR600-UF    0.5 dB / 100 ft @ 30 MHz
Other Notes
     Bury-flex davis RF buy from the Wireman part #103A $0.85/ft 0.6 dB/100ft @ 10 MHz, 1.1 dB/100ft @ 50 MHz.,
          Do not bury PVC jackets.  Use PE jacket.
     CQ “super 8’ part #106 0.8 dB/100 ft @ 30 MHz.
     CQ 113PE  0.8 dB/100 ft @ 30 MHz
Heliax (formerly by Andrew, now Commscope) and appears to have competitors although heliax is trademarked.
       3/8″ LDF2-50  0.56 dB/100ft @ 30 MHz
       1/2″  LDF4-50  0.36 dB/100 ft @ 30 MHz
      5/8″  LDF4.5-50 0.254 dB/100 ft @ 30 MHz
      7/8″  AVA5-50FX 0.191 dB/100ft @ 30 MHz
Issues:  Connectors & attachments
      To put connectors on heilax see
           www.davisrf.com/articles/Heilax-Instll-Tips.pdf
           I ordered connectors on cable.
      To assemble Amphenol 83-1SP (PL-259 UHF for BuryFlex, etc)  see
           www/davisrf.com/articles/Amphenol-Install-83-1SP.pdf

4. Sources

davisrf.com
www.thewireman.com
dxengineering.com
theantennafarm.com
rfparts.com
L-com.com
thedxshop.com (England but has useful web site for heliax
www.timesmicrowave.com (LMR coax)
Andrews or commscope makes heliax