Coaxial Cable

[KC9CXO]

Hi all. I am in the process of setting up a new station. I would like to buy a 500' spool of coaxial cable to service (each run is about 155') 3 differnet antennas from the shack. They would include HF, 2m & 70cm. Of course, money is a factor, (thats why one reel of cable at a cheaper price) but so is loss. Well with this wealth of knowledge, what model number and/or brand would each of you suggest for a good balance of loss vs. cost?  Thanks for any input.

[KC0FDE]

I use and like rg 8u or a better coax would be rg 213. I have alot of the rg 8u due to ham fest selling it for little to nothing.I just tend to pick up at ham fest whatever I can find that has a low loss to it and that is priced right You would be suprised at what good deals and what rip offs you can find under the same roof at a ham fest Hope this info helps.

[KD5VHF]

I know this is a late reply but I only use Bury-Flex even in mobile app.s http://www.davisrf.com/ham1/coax.htm Nice stuff and easy to work with.

[KE4ZHN]

If you plan on running 155 ft of any coax, your going to have high loss on vhf/uhf. You should run hardline for your vhf uhf arrays for that long of a run to the antennas. On HF youll be ok because losses arent nearly as high so long as you keep the swr within reason. Some good 1/2 hardline or larger will minimize your losses on the high bands although it is much harder to work with and expensive. The cost may well be worth it though, as you would be losing significant power especially on uhf (probably 35% or more!) due to the length of the run and cable type(RG-213 or 9913). As good as those cables are, the loss on uhf is very high over any runs greater than 100 ft. Even with a dead flat match, the dielectric losses are the problem, not the swr alone.

[W6TVK]

May I suggest Times Wire LMR-400.  It has lower loss than RG-8 or 213, and is usable to well over 450 mHz.  It's pretty flexible, too.  Diameter is same as RG-213.  Type  N and UHF connectors are available.

Belden 9913 has about the same or slightly higher loss than LMR-400, and is easily damaged.  
 
When you buy LMR-400 in 500' spools, it can cost less than RG-213.  If you can't find it at a ham dealer, check out www.tessco.com.    

[WB2LCW]

It depends on how your tower/antenna placement looks
when plotted on graph paper! If you are running to four different corners of your property with the shack in the middle then you have to use more coax!

You can buy surplus/used runs of hard line for about two dollars a foot..see the ham classified ads in QTH.com.

Davis FR buryflex is excellent coax and its all I use at the present time.It is my choice for HF at up to 100 feet or so for ten meters but for 160 thru twenty meters you can go much futher with no problems.

You can run hard line to your VHF/UHF anteena tower and have a high quality remote rf switch (Transco,Sage,RLC and others)there to feed the HF antennas.

73 Mike