Rodent damage, well, it is a real problem where I live. Midwest and next to a forest preserve. Every year between fall through winter I lose several RG6 cable?runs from rodents gnawing on the cable. In some cases they cut right through it. I use the self sealing RG6 but it doesn't?help when they chew the cable repeatedly. My runs are between 50 to 200 feet. My only recourse has been to have a ready supply of RG6 connectors and splices and extra cable. They seem to prefer the coax to the power control cables, but I have had them damage the power and control cables. With regard to the length of the cable and pick up issues, I usually do buy the ferrite cores and put them on the line at both ends of the run; and at the antenna end and one before entrance into the shack.
On Fri, Jan 14, 2022 at 3:07 AM Chris Wilson <
chris@...> wrote:
Thanks for all the replies everyone.
I was hoping for more like 75 or more yards, are such things as line amplifiers available for such long runs? If I could get the loop or vertical dipole 75 yards from the radio I would be a reasonable distance from all properties nearby. I could get much further but the cable run would start to be Beverage (sp?) like.
?As to chokes the blurb on the LZ1AQ web site suggests winding several turns of internal wire from CAT5e cable,? ?each conductor pairing having their own windings. He shows a small toroid used for these multiple windings. I reckon using a 230 sized toroid you could get a lot of turns on. He also says to ground the shield with as short a lead as possible, meaning the toroid has to be at ground level, near the antenna, and possibly another at ground level nearest the shack end. The choke? advice seems more geared to using a small vertical dipole than a loop, but also he infers the dipole is superior at LF / MF.
Tell me about rodent damage! I have repaired enough vehicle wiring looms where rats and mice have done thousands of pounds worth of damage to cars wiring. The damned things even have their favourite insulation types! I reckon an enterprising fella' could sell bits of insulated loom wire as mouse trap bait... ;) We have outdoor aviaries here so grain is always about, which means rats, squirrels and mice are never far away outside, but burying the feeder in heavy woodland would make a real mess, and probably destabilise some trees. We lost a load in the last wind storm.
Having seen the noise reduction just moving the loop 50 feet or so I am keen to see if I can't do better still (either I'm never satisfied or I'm
striving for continual improvements, not sure how you'd describe it!)
Thanks again 2E0ILY
