RG-58 coax for Base Antenna

[G8YMW]

At home I have a 20 metre run of coax from my colinear to the radio.
I had originally RG213 coax but then swapped it for Ecoflex15 , UHF seemed livelier afterwards.

My advice, get the best you can afford. I don't subscribe to the notion of cheap when you have shelled out good money on a radio and aerial. ( Perhaps that's why there is all this tosh about VHF being "line of sight" all the signal has been mopped up by the string with a Bobby Charlton comb over)

[W8JX]

In any event, to each their own. My thought is that 58 just doesn't have the durability for all that much and should not be used where there is even a chance of too much flexing--and failure. 

I worked with a LOT of 58 style coax in R&D and flight test fir DOD for many years in past and never had any durability problems with cables when connectors were properly installed. It was actually quite superior to R213 type coax in that it was far more flexible and easier to route and placed less strain on connectors. And on a aircraft, reliability is very important.

[G8YMW]

Several issues with that,
Firstly on an aircraft there is a finite amount of space to play with, with sharp(ish) corners. On the ground, no such constraints.

In an aircraft ( or any PMR systems) you are dealing with solid contacts, in the Amateur setup you are dealing with possibly marginal contacts so any help you can get etc

No comments on the durability as you are quoting from experience.

 As an aside, a friend was listening to the Civil Aircraft Band to the ATC at RAF Waddington with a handheld, he was hearing aircraft solidly that the ATC was struggling with.

[W8JX]

Several issues with that,
Firstly on an aircraft there is a finite amount of space to play with, with sharp(ish) corners. On the ground, no such constraints.

This was large test bed aircraft like KC/EC135 and C141. Some had massive patch panels that were reconfigured in flight at times and frequencies used were from 1mhz to ghz range.

In an aircraft ( or any PMR systems) you are dealing with solid contacts, in the Amateur setup you are dealing with possibly marginal contacts so any help you can get etc

Actually the need for solid contacts places stiffer requirements than amateur service.

No comments on the durability as you are quoting from experience.

Reliability is everything here.

As an aside, a friend was listening to the Civil Aircraft Band to the ATC at RAF Waddington with a handheld, he was hearing aircraft solidly that the ATC was struggling with.

Lot of variables can cause/explain this with LOS communication.

[K1CJS]

Get used to it Tony.  No matter the subject, 'JX is ALWAYS right and everyone else is ALWAYS wrong.  That's why he's back on 'ignore' as far as I'm concerned.

[W8JX]

Get used to it Tony.  No matter the subject, 'JX is ALWAYS right and everyone else is ALWAYS wrong.  That's why he's back on 'ignore' as far as I'm concerned.

 I have installed more connectors on 58 type cable than I can begin to count and many many times what most hams do in a life time. Most were TNC and BNC and then some 259's for ham radio stuff. The stiffer/bigger the cable the more strain it can potentially place on the connector and its backshell. We also have those that are obsessed with line loss, like a extra DB or two so of line loss is a deal killer and it is LMR400 or nothing. I never bought into this line of thought or drank that koolaid. Because of that I am sometimes targeted. I never openly start a attack on someone or get personal when I disagree with someone but there are those that may be insecure and do otherwise.

[KG7BJM]

I'm a newbie ham and was wondering about this, can I run RG-58 coax to an Diamond X-50 antenna or do I need to run RG-8 coax?

It just so happens that I installed the very same antenna (NA version), and I chose LMR-400 for the 55 feet I need to cover. The stiffness was not really a problem, and the last length into the HT is delivered by a few feet of RG58 (fully braided!). Installation was not easy but very doable with some planning, and now that it is done, I am very glad that I went this route.

KK4NZO, what did you end up doing?