Dunno what frequencies you DX Joe, so here is a table of nominal losses for RG174:
MHZ DB/100' 1 1.9 10 3.3 50 5.8 Assuming you are only using 20 or 30 feet of coax and DXing mostly MW-160-120-90-80-60 meter bands, you should have losses less than half a dB. If you have longer coax runs and / or higher frequency, you'll either have to go to a better mini-coax like RG316 or a bigger coax. Unfortunately the second choice for mini coax (RG187) has a little more loss than RG174. If you're a real perfectionist you may want to consider RG316. It is 95% shielded, while Belden's garden variety RG174 is 90%. Chuck Hutton -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Mark Clark Sent: Friday, July 11, 2003 8:15 PM To: Joseph Strain; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [HCDX] Beware of "Slinky Antennas" RG-174 is rather lossy above 5mhz so it could really mess up your DX efforts. I try to use RG-58, RG-59, or RG-6 unless I'm trying to receive above 50 mhz or so, then it's RG-8, RG-213 or some of the Flexi-9913. The homemade balun sounds interesting-could you comment more about it? 73 Mark Clark N3IRJ Phoenixville, PA - 20mi(32km) NW of Philadelphia ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joseph Strain" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, July 11, 2003 6:53 PM Subject: Re: [HCDX] Beware of "Slinky Antennas" > I have a 13' mas o menos telescoping fiberglass crappie pole with a 9 inch > aluminum Gutter-Nail in the bottom to poke it into the ground . > > My slinky is glued to a JUNK CD at each end with SHOE-GOO. The hole in one > CD is opened up to an inch and the hole in the other is closed off to 3/8" > with scrap plastic and shoe goo. > > I just stick the telescoping pole up thru the slinky/CD, telecope it up and > I ahve a slinky-imitation of a St. louis Vertical (receive only) Bottom > extension is tensioned with a clip at the bottom of the pole, shoe-gooed on > of course. Cram the aluminum spike at the base of the poLe (EPOXIED IN) > into the ground. > > Still working with the home made balun for best performance, but if one of > you 'speriments as well perhaps we can get a poor man's buddy-pole > > i told you that story to ask you this ? > > Traditional coax si a PIA to haul on a camping trip.... I found some about > 1/8" very thin flexible coax...My eyes are too poor to read...I think its RG > 174/U...is this stuff any good for reception only. In experiments with it at > home, I cant seem to get any signal with it . > Yodar > > > > > ;>) > Yodar > More STUFF! > > > > > > ----Original Message Follows---- > From: "Gary Crites" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [HCDX] Beware of "Slinky Antennas" > Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 16:47:17 -0400 (EDT) > > > I know this is a DX site but I thought you might all get a laugh out of this > one. I like to drive out to some remote area and string a wire but lately > I've been using a toy Slinky clipped to my car under pretty high tension. > The advantage of the Slinky is that if I get too close or too far from the > pole I clip to the Slinky is always tight and straight. > > Of course it's only a matter of time before some unsuspecting old lady hiker > comes walking down the railroad tracks not looking where she's going and... > KA-WAM! Yes, the Slinky pulled loose and hit her right in the face! She > wasn't too happy. > > I'm in the process now of building a loop antenna for MW. > > > > 73's > Gary Crites > Eureka, California > > _______________________________________________ > Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com > The most personalized portal on the Web! > > ---[Start Commercial]--------------------- > > World Radio TV Handbook 2003 is out! Order it now! > > http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0823059677/hardcoredxcom > > ---[End Commercial]----------------------- > ________________________________________ > Hard-Core-DX mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www2.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx > http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ > _______________________________________________ > > THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed > and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License > published by Michael Stutz at http://dsl.org/copyleft/dsl.txt > > _________________________________________________________________ > Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. > http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail > > ---[Start Commercial]--------------------- > > World Radio TV Handbook 2003 is out! 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Order it now! http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0823059677/hardcoredxcom ---[End Commercial]----------------------- ________________________________________ Hard-Core-DX mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www2.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ _______________________________________________ THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License published by Michael Stutz at http://dsl.org/copyleft/dsl.txt