The commercial companies have literally unlimited monetary resources when putting up a system. You do it once, you do it right, and you don't spare the money. The smart broadcast companies don't fool around. They know better. You short change on anything, and you pay the price down the road. I've seen that happen, and I've had to clean up the previous engineer's mess. Not a pretty sight.
You can't compare that to an amateur setting with limited money. Connecting Heliax to an antenna directly in amateur use is just plan senseless. A jumper works pretty much every time, especially if it's done correctly. You can certainly make the point that other cables are cheaper up front. I don't see how "connecting Heliax to an antenna directly in amateur use is just plain senseless." It makes very good sense. I have seen plenty of jumpers used at height that worked fine for many years. The loss in the additional connectors and the smaller jumper cable is truly negligible. Using a jumper isn't necessarily wrong, it just isn't necessary. Don Kerouac K9NR E-mail message checked by Spyware Doctor (6.1.0.447) Database version: 6.13260 http://www.pctools.com/en/spyware-doctor-antivirus/
