Tinned RG8X

[Yellow Ballad]

Does anyone know a source in the UK now Salty John has stopped trading? I was planning on rewiring the mast whilst fitting conduit and thought it would be a good idea to do the coax at the same time.

I suppose the same question about Metz antennas as well.

 

[Lucy52]

Bureaux Riddell supply RG58 tinned copper conductor. Best phone and ask.

50 ohm Coax Cable Black

 

[john_morris_uk]

If you Google “tinned RG58” you’ll get lots of suppliers. Take your pick.

 

[Yellow Ballad]

Thanks both but it was RG8X I was after rathar than RG58. I can see I can get 100ft plus lengths from Amazon but I'm not a huge fan of Amazon and it's also more then I need.

 

[john_morris_uk]

May I ask, “Why?”
RG8 is good for high power low loss, but for Marine VHF IMHO it’s not worth the hassle in the sheer unwieldyness of running the cable and the limitations on radius of curvature of corners etc. You won’t notice the couple of db’s in loss difference.

 

[TernVI]

A lot of better RF cable will be silver plated not tinned.
It's often the case that installing fat cable gets you nowhere because the tight bends affect the SWR.
An extra dB of loss is only 1% of your dynamic range.
It's counter-intuitive, but sometimes things work better with a dB of loss between transceiver and aerial!

 

[Yellow Ballad]

May I ask, “Why?”
RG8 is good for high power low loss, but for Marine VHF IMHO it’s not worth the hassle in the sheer unwieldyness of running the cable and the limitations on radius of curvature of corners etc. You won’t notice the couple of db’s in loss difference.

I already have a run of tinned RG8X from the VHF to mast base but whilst I was doing the mast wiring it makes sense to replace the coax. When I do a job I tend to go a bit ott on spec if I can, even if it's seems pointless to some (the whole boat has been rewired with tinned cable which some argue isn't needed) but for the extra bit of money it's peace of mind. When I do work on the boat, I try to buy quality stuff with the hope I'll never need to do it again, or at least for a long time. Lastly though I consider my VHF one of the most important pieces of kit on the boat, I don't think it's an area to just make do.

 

[PaulRainbow]

The vast majority of boats have RG58 coax from the factory. Mass produced VHF antennas, such as Shakespeare etc are supplied with RG58. Many mass produced antennas cannot be fitted with anything else. RG58CU (Mil spec) has a stranded inner conductor and braided shield, both tinned, and is perfectly OK.

 

[Yellow Ballad]

The vast majority of boats have RG58 coax from the factory. Mass produced VHF antennas, such as Shakespeare etc are supplied with RG58. Many mass produced antennas cannot be fitted with anything else. RG58CU (Mil spec) has a stranded inner conductor and braided shield, both tinned, and is perfectly OK.

Thank you Paul, if I get stuck I'll bear the RG58CU stuff in mind.

 

[john_morris_uk]

The vast majority of boats have RG58 coax from the factory. Mass produced VHF antennas, such as Shakespeare etc are supplied with RG58. Many mass produced antennas cannot be fitted with anything else. RG58CU (Mil spec) has a stranded inner conductor and braided shield, both tinned, and is perfectly OK.

I agree. It’s not a matter of ‘making do’.

 

[Momac]

I used the following supplier . Search for RG58 MIL - 50p per metre
Coax (loose)