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WA2ISE > TECH 10.12.20 21:17l 2 Lines 1321 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 10882_AL0Y
Read: GUEST
Subj: Using old 10base5 thicknet Ethernet coax for radio work
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<IK5FKA<IK5FKA<PE1RRR<K5DAT<AL0Y
Sent: 201210/2017Z 10882@AL0Y.#NNJ.NJ.USA.NOAM BPQ6.0.20
Just a quick note that if you happen to see any of this stuff at a hanfest, or maybe the IT guys at work haven't gotten around to throwing it out yet. 10base5, dates back to the 80's, so if your place of work dates back to then, maybe... Sometimes found under newer cables in trays above drop ceilings. It's just well shielded RG-8/U foam 50 ohm coax. Under the outer jacket is a layer of braid, then foil, then another layer of braid and then under that another layer of foil atop the foam dielectric. Usually yellow jacket, orange is teflon. Usually has N connectors, but you can use UHF PL259s on it, just be careful you don't melt the foam dielectric when you solder it. I usually have to file off the nickel plating of some of these connectors at the shell's solder holes to get solder to wet it right, without roasting the dielectric. Check the coax for holes where "vampire" taps were installed. These holes may not much matter on HF, but may be an issue on UHF. I usually just cut the cable at these holes and made use of the resulting lengths for shack patch cables and such. I've used long runs of this stuff on HF, and 2 meters, and even some short segments on 2.4GHz wifi antennas. Attenuation over 100 feet is 0.37dB @ 5MHz and 3.04dB @ 400MHz. And with 6 feet of it on 2.4GHz, attenuation is about 0.6dB.
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