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[K7WCB]

I'm not sure if this is worth doing and I'm hoping a Coax Ninja can help me with this. My current VHF antenna setup is a straight run of RG-58U from my Icom V-8000 to a Diamond F-22A vertical on a 20' mast. I have been given (5) 20' sections on virgin RG-8 with UHF Male connectors on each end. My thought is to use 2 barrel connectors and a lightning arrestor to form an 80' run, and then change out each end for a PL-259 for the radio and antenna connections. Is this idea worth the effort or will my loses in the connectors cancel out my upgrade in coax?

[N3OX]

Connectors have almost no loss even on VHF. You would be hard pressed to measure it, let alone notice it on the air.

As long as the connector splices don't cause you weatherproofing problems, the RG-8 will be a much better choice.

[WD4ELG]

Another thread described some really poor construction with some of the barrell connectors.  Make sure you are using Amphenol.  Those are top rated.

[K7WCB]

Thanks for the quick answers! I will make sure and get some high quality hardware and weatherproof the connections.

[WA7PRC]

DX Engineering sells top-shelf connectors and adapters.  I've used their UHF male plugs, jacks, and F-F, M-M, and Right-Angle adapters. It's very nice stuff w/o the ridiculously high Amphenol price. The only bad thing is, they have a $20 minimum.  So, order some plugs and/or cable that you'll eventually need anyway.

vy 73,
Bryan WA7PRC

[K7WCB]

Thanks for the heads up! I'll check them out.

[K2DC]

Just to put some numbers to it -  Once before retiring I needed to know the insertion loss of coaxial adapters for a link budget analysis.  So I went to the lab and hooked together a string of about 10 in-series and between-series adapters, with a mix of Type N, BNC, TNC, UHF - whatever I happened to find.  These were not new items, they were just pulled out of work drawers and some of them were probably around 30 years old. I had to let the analyzer integrate for minutes to settle the noise out of the measurement, but the average measured insertion loss per connection was 0.0016 dB per connection at 1300 MHz.  So at HF to UHF, as long a they are of reasonable quality and inside or properly weatherproofed, adapters are nothing to be afraid of.

73,

Don, K2DC

[WB6BYU]

And to put another number on it, changing the feedline effectively doubles the
radiated power from the antenna.

[N6AJR]

And join a local club and see if anyone has some coax  you could have to "help clean up their shack" for them.  I personably have given away coax, antennas and even radios.  So find a local club and  let folks you could use some help.  folks did this for me way back when and now I can do it for others.

[WA7PRC]

And join a local club and see if anyone has some coax  you could have to "help clean up their shack" for them.  I personably have given away coax, antennas and even radios.  So find a local club and  let folks you could use some help.  folks did this for me way back when and now I can do it for others.

It helps to look poor.  As a 14 yo kid in a big family, I didn't have to act the part.  One of my donors gave me several lengths of RG-59B/U cable which I carefully spliced (sans connectors).  It worked FB on HF with my DX-60B xmtr.

vy 73,
Bryan WA7PRC