Jeff,
My own 'rule of thumb' is that 2 dB less loss in your coax is worth it,
1 dB is not worth the money or trouble.
You will have to figure the relative loss for your highest band of
operation, your cable length, and your SWR on the line. All of those
factors should be considered.
In other words, the worst RG-8 listed in the ARRL Antenna Book has a
loss of 1.9 dB per 100 feet at 100 MHz - so your 50 foot length will
have only 0.85 dB loss at 100 MHz (less at lower frequencies). The loss
will not go below 0.0 dB in any case, so by my 1 dB 'rule', it is not
worth replacing.
OTOH, if you are running that RG-8 at a 5:1 SWR, The loss will increase
by 0.7 dB which gives you a total loss of 1.5 dB at 100 MHz - still not
enough to be gained to make it worthwhile for me, especailly if used on
HF. YMMV.
Note: I have a 150 foot run of coax before I reach the antenna field or
go up a tower or mast, so it only takes a small reduction in loss at
that length to make me think about a change, but for a 50 foot run, I
would not bother.
73,
Don W3FPR
J S wrote:
I've read that Davis Bury Flex is very good (low loss) coax. I have
Cable X-Perts RG-8 (50 feet of it) as my feedline right now. Is it
worth my time and $ making a change to Davis Bury Flex or something
similar?
Jeff
K6ATT
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