I was browsing through the local Salvation Army Thrift Store (where I sometimes go looking for low-priced antique treasures), and stumbled across a 50-foot length of RG-8-type coax cable. At the asking price of $6.00, I couldn't pass it up.
It has Amphenol male "UHF" connectors. And absolutely NO markings on the cable itself indicating manufacturer or type. The OD of the cable varies from point to point, but averages about .405 inch, which puts it in the RG-8b family. It is quite flexible, and clearly stranded center conductor, not solid. Capacitance of the 50 foot cable was measured 1155 pF, or 23.1 pF per foot, which eliminates some RG-8 flavors that have 30 pF per foot. The only distinguishing feature of the cable is that there appears to be a wire would spiral-wise (1/2 turn per inch) outside the standard foil shield and under the exterior rubber sheath. I've never need that construction before on any RG-8 cable. (I haven't cut it open to verify the construction, because I don't want to have to de-solder and reconnect the Amphenol connector.) I attached the cable to my dummy load and to the HF output of my K3. Keying the transmitter at 12 watts produces an SWR of 1.05:1 (external SWR meter) on all bands up to 6 meters, and continuity checks confirm that the cable has neither short circuit between shield and cable nor open circuit. In other words, it appears fit for duty. Two questions; 1. Anything else I can or should do to check the cable and make sure it's OK to use? (Unfortunately, I do not own or have access to an antenna analyzer.) 2. Based on the "spiral winding" between the shield and outer coverk does anyone have an idea what specific cable this might be? Thanks, and 73 Lew K6LMP ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
