Feedline Question

KF5BRI

KF5BRI

Member
I have 100 feet of RG-213 coax. I'll be putting up an 80 meter dipole 31 feet high. Looks like I'll only need about 75 feet of coax to feed the antenna. It will drop straight down to the ground and buried 3 inches below ground level as it leads to the radio shack.

My question is ~ "Should I use the 100feet of coax as is, or , cut it to the actual length needed?". 😃

The 80 meter Dipole antenna is a Princeton bare wire at 123 feet long, and is equipped with a 1:1 balun at the feed-point.

Thanks Sage
 
Sage

unless you are running very low power, i would just leave the line intact--losses on 80M are pretty low in general--with the added length you will have something to prune with, if you need to try to get the SWR down to a range the transmitter likes--

but then i am not an antenna expert 😊

73
jerry-----k5psh
 
Thanks Jerry; That's good to know. I believe I will do just that. 😊

I also found out that wrapping the surplus coax around a 5"dia piece of plastic pipe will act as a 'CHOKE BALUN', and that won't hurt anything either.

73's Larry kf5bri
 
Larry

that choke balun is a good idea--i use one on a center fed tuned doublet that hangs low over the house (sort of a NVIS antenna) keeps the shack clean of RF --
it also works in receive--had TVI on the local cable--(our cable at that time was notoriously leaky, lossy, and a prime example to poorly maintained product)-TVI was on my set only--soooo i wound a choke around an oatmeal box and voila;; no more TVI--the XYL was truly happy :p

73
jerry---k5psh
 
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