Re: [Repeater-Builder] Helix / Connectors

2010-03-31 Thread no6b
At 3/31/2010 05:20, you wrote: >I'll take copper any day. As Jeff said, one site visit to fix a bad >aluminum cable connector on the top of the tower and you've lost all >that you saved plus more. > >Jope Aluminum hardline was once banned at one mountaintop site I rent from. Bob NO6B

Re: [Repeater-Builder] Helix / Connectors

2010-03-31 Thread Joe
The use of aluminum cable seemed to became popular when the cost of copper was sky high. It became cost effective for some companies (according to the bean counters) to use aluminum. Supply of copper was beginning to become a problem, so some coax manufacturers were promoting aluminum as a vi

RE: [Repeater-Builder] Helix / Connectors

2010-03-30 Thread Jeff DePolo
> > When you're pricing out 440 feet of coax, the pennies add up > to quite a > few dollars. Depends on how you look at it. The difference becomes insignificant when you look at the big picture. The price of 440 feet of line is a small fraction of the total project cost once you add in connec

RE: [Repeater-Builder] Helix / Connectors

2010-03-30 Thread Kris Kirby
On Tue, 30 Mar 2010, Jeff DePolo wrote: > Aluminum-shielded cable isn't anything new. It's pretty much the > standard in CATV, and was quite common in two-way back in the day as > well. Andrew, Prodelin, Phelps-Dodge, et al made different flavors of > it, both corrugated and smooth-wall, jacke

RE: [Repeater-Builder] Helix / Connectors

2010-03-30 Thread Jeff DePolo
pper). --- Jeff WN3A > -Original Message- > From: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com > [mailto:repeater-buil...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Bill Smith > Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 3:54 PM > To: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com > Subject: Re: [R

Re: [Repeater-Builder] Helix / Connectors

2010-03-30 Thread Bill Smith
It's what Andrew calls Heliax 2.0  AVA, Andrew Virtual Air and AVAL Andrew Virtual Air Aluminum. They are using a new lower density foam and thinner copper to get slightly improved attenuation. Stay away from the aluminum stuff, the corrugated shield is too thin and brittle. It's hard to install

Re: [Repeater-Builder] Helix / Connectors

2010-03-30 Thread Joe
The Andrew connectors came with a small tube of grease, presumably silicon, that was to be used only on the O rings. Some of the newer connectors seem to come with no grease. I don't remember having a hardline connector seize up, except if it had serious water contamination. In that case, th

Re: [Repeater-Builder] Helix / Connectors

2010-03-30 Thread wd8chl
On 3/29/2010 9:16 PM, Joe wrote: > I don't think I would use any kind of compound on RF connectors. I went > to the RFS aluminum CELLFLEX®Lite training and no compound was > recommended. Now, I'm not a fan of aluminum cable, but if it's going to > be used I would use only manufacturer recommended

Re: [Repeater-Builder] Helix / Connectors

2010-03-29 Thread DCFluX
I'll have to ask a cable guy what they do, but all of the connectors for the aluminum hardline I have seen are aluminum as are the housings of the amplifiers, so the dissimilar metals issue does not exist 95% of the time in the cable TV world. In the RF world that is another story, I just took the

Re: [Repeater-Builder] Helix / Connectors

2010-03-29 Thread Joe
I don't think I would use any kind of compound on RF connectors. I went to the RFS aluminum CELLFLEX®Lite training and no compound was recommended. Now, I'm not a fan of aluminum cable, but if it's going to be used I would use only manufacturer recommended connectors, no compound, torque the

Re: [Repeater-Builder] Helix / Connectors

2010-03-29 Thread DCFluX
The connectors should be fine, I wouldn't trust the aluminum feedline. You may want to try using an anti-oxidation compound, such as No-Ox or Aluminum Ox-Gard during assembly. On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 2:36 PM, Eric Lowell wrote: > > > > > > LDF4 with the non-plated connectors, well waterproofed,

Re: [Repeater-Builder] Helix / Connectors

2010-03-29 Thread Eric Lowell
@yahoogroups.com Sent: Mon, March 29, 2010 2:10:56 PM Subject: [Repeater-Builder] Helix / Connectors   Andrews LDF4: Any thought, comments about L4TNF-PS vs L4PNF-RC? -RC is a captivated pin connector which is gold and silver, the other connector is bronze inner, trimetal housing. I&#

[Repeater-Builder] Helix / Connectors

2010-03-29 Thread Kris Kirby
Andrews LDF4: Any thought, comments about L4TNF-PS vs L4PNF-RC? -RC is a captivated pin connector which is gold and silver, the other connector is bronze inner, trimetal housing. I'm thinking that the less potential metal interaction, the longer the coax will last. I've also seen Trilogy li