To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, November 21, 2009 7:31 PM
Subject: Re: [Liveaboard] VHF ant
> Skip, there's something you might want to check before you condemn the
> cable: the end fittings. In my experience, those fail about 20x more
> often than the cable itself. Ran across one in Puerto Rico that was
> really interesting: a radio that "bled over" into lots of other channels
> when transmitting. While I was fiddling around with the antenna
> connector, I found what looked like a tiny grain of salt sitting between
> the shield and the signal wire... removing it solved the problem. I've
> also learned not to trust any RF connections that I haven't personally
> made or at least inspected.
>
> On a related note, whenever I have to pull one or more wires up a mast,
> I also run a length of 50'-test fishing line alongside of it. Then, if
> I ever need to pull another wire, it's easy: attach the new wire and
> another length of fishing line to the end of the line already in the
> mast, and haul away. Makes life much easier.
>
> I can't take credit for inventing it, though: I was an alarm installer
> in a previous life, and this is standard practice for tough routing
> jobs. Came in handy when I was pulling network cable, too.
Hi, Ben, and list,
Funny you should say that. I've made it a practice to pull fish lines (not
fish, fish, but something to pull with) on any wire run I do, whether by
attachng it to the end I laboriously work along, or pulling with a fish
tape, or dropping a "heavy noodle" (I'm sure you know what I mean from your
background - I didn't do it - other than helping clients and my own work -
but I taught it) as I did when I installed the new wiring for my OrcaGreen
and cat5 lines up top..
So, if I decide to upgrade the cable (this time, continuous, rather than the
several segments currently installed, cuz we'll never unstep the mast, and
if we do, I'd just cut it and make new ends with a connector), I'll be using
the fish line I left up there when I pulled up my cat5 for the WiFi :{)) -
and pull another with it. The radar cable already has/had one when I did the
replacement recently, left over from the installation of the new one at the
time (wrong cable, which was what caused all the trouble for the first 3
years! - supplied by the vendor, finally replaced after I showed him the
smoking gun from the manual specs).
However, WRT checking out the cable (and the related junctions/extensions),
if the antenna I'll substitute works, I'll leave it at that. If not, a new
cable isn't all that much, and I very much expect, as it's at least 15, if
not 30, years old, that the original isn't as stout as what I'd use from
scratch.
More "however," I *think* (not having done one yet) that I just wind the
collar back and then look at everything under it, right? I've already
corrosion-blocked the connections when I had them apart to install the L
bracket standing off the VHF and WiFi antennae from the mast.
Aside from unsoldering and redoing every connector, is there anything else I
should look for?
L8R
Skip
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
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