--- Jim Lux <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snip> > A dedicated microwave/UHF experimenter will probably be the > first to use > fiber. They're already used to putting RF hardware at the > antenna, and low > loss coax at 500 MHz and up isn't all that low loss, and is > expensive. I > have seen surplus fiber gear starting to show up, and the > raw cable is > quite cheap. Running fiber is a heck of a lot easier than > rassling with > LMR600 or, even worse, waveguide.
I've been thinking about different scenarios exactly along these lines for several years now. I've concluded that garden variety SC or LC fiber cable like used for 100Mb/1Gb Ethernet applications will get the job done quite inexpensively (such a fiber run would be less expensive than a single run of 7/8" hardline). It would require running it through a conduit of some kind for mechanical protection though, - I have lots of bushy tailed tree rats here that like to chew on things (even 3/4" aluminum CATV hardline :-( ). So far those critters have left my 1-5/8" 50-432 MHz feedlines alone. My near term plan for getting my 902-3456(+) MHz tower mounted transverter/PA gear on line involves 2 coax runs for the 144 MHz IF lines and then a multitude of control and switching lines plus power. With a fiber/Ethernet based solution that could conceivable be reduced to just a power cable and a single run of fiber. In that case tower mount a PC/SDR as the IF radio and then just feed the data back to the shack PC for user I/O and UI. In the end I think such a design approach promises to be less expensive and easier to maintain in the long run. So this is yet another reason why I'm so keen on a new PowerSDR architecture that will allow for an Ethernet layer in the middle somewhere to accommodate the separation of the "RF" HW from the operating position HW. In this case the "remote" distance is just a 100 or so feet away and up the tower. Duane N9DG __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
