[bars] Good price on RG8X coax at Home Depot

[gmm]

RG-8X is great coax for your “Car” radio.
If you use 25 feet on 2-meters, your loss will only be about 1.2 db

However the loss at 2-meters is too great to use 100 feet in your shack.
It’s also limited to 350 watts on HF.

Again for a car radio, RG-8X coax is great.

For a House HF setup “SIZE” matters.
All RG-8 “.400” inch coax will have similar losses, because of the SIZE 
and materials.
Size is the biggest factor.
The greater the diameter of the coax, the LESS loss and higher voltage 
capacity.


For HF, I run a full 1,500 watts.
1,500 watts is actually too “High” for RG-8, so I use LMR-500 for HF, 
which can handle 3,000 volts+.
That way I don’t have to worry about HF power loss or melting the coax 
on HF FM at 1,500 watts.

Since I was a satellite geek, I wanted to have the loudest signal on the 
band!
I was successful.
I used LMR-400 Ultra flex to go around the Rotors for the satellite bands.
The feed from the Shack to the rotor is LMR-600!

The coax loss for LMR-600 is so low on 2m/440 that I Just don’t think 
about it.

My estimated ERP on 2-meters was 12,800 watts, and 4,800 watts on 440.

Miles

Life is too short for QRP


On 2/2/2023 9:04 AM, Craig Davidson via bars wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have been playing with wire antennas and planning coax feeds and 
> stumbled across what I think is a good deal on RG8X coax. Home Depot 
> is currently selling 500 ft for $153 and free shipping. It's usually 
> pretty easy to get an additional 10% discount at Home Depot via a 
> coupon or Military/Veteran discount, which makes the deal even better: 
> Link is here: 
> https://www.homedepot.com/p/Tram-RG8X-500-ft-Roll-Flex-Coaxial-Cable-8X-B/310787197
>
> I am in no way affiliated with home depot, the coax vendor, or have 
> any other interest in this coax, other than thinking it's a pretty 
> good price. Ham Radio Outlet sells RG8X for $ 0.6/ft or so, so that's 
> why I think the price is pretty good. If anybody knows of better coax 
> deals I would also be interested in hearing about it.
>
> I can't vouch for the quality, but can answer questions after I test 
> some of it when it arrives in a few days. The good thing about Home 
> Depot is the easy return policy if the coax happens to have poor quality.
>
> Of course, RG8X is not the lowest loss option, but for stuff below 
> 30MHz or so and moderate power it's an acceptable option.
>
> If anybody is interested in this coax, and needs a 10% discount, I can 
> probably help you out with that, since I get that discount as a veteran.
>
> 73,
>
> Craig K1CWD
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> bars mailing list
> bars at w1hh.org
> http://mail.w1hh.org/mailman/listinfo/bars_w1hh.org
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