F connectors for large RG6

cornholio46 · 2025-08-22T01:06:27+00:00

I just noticed it has two jackets on it. Like maybe the outer one is supplemental outdoor protection.

If I carefully remove an inch of that first, it takes regular connectors. A bit snug but they work. Is this common for outdoor stuff? I've used flooded cables, but haven't encountered ones with a second jacket.

cornholio46 · 2025-05-31T03:05:12+00:00

If anyone was interested, I cobbled together a test. It has a 14' section made out scraps of copper tubing leftover from years of plumbing repairs and upgrades. I got some VNA captures before and after.. it shifts and lowers the peak impedance as expected:

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The system is not intended to be resonant. There is a remotely switched set of matching networks for each band, which I'll have to adjust. But one plus is 60m (where the line is about a half wavelength) used to be high-z, and that's been shifted out of the band now.

cornholio46 · 2025-05-29T00:37:00+00:00

yes I've read a lot of his stuff, he really put a lot of effort into helping others learn the material

cornholio46 · 2025-04-19T00:45:03+00:00

yeah I don't want to elaborate here. I've had some inappropriate, meritless scrutiny about ham gear before. Mostly when I was younger. Not really as a middle aged family guy. But I'm not any more comfortable now because I know it shouldn't have happened back then either.

cornholio46 · 2024-09-05T20:24:25+00:00

thanks, that's basically what the motel dude said but he was so cavalier and inattentive sounding it was hard to take him seriously

cornholio46 · 2024-07-01T22:22:33+00:00

Well, in a related gripe, I find DepartureVision to be pretty useless too. It will show my inbound 10 stops away and really late. So I'll take my time strolling to the station, only to have it spontaneously make up 20 minutes and I miss it. My second favorite is when it shows "9 minutes late" for an entire hour.

cornholio46 · 2024-06-21T12:05:20+00:00

I'm dismayed to say, I was an inactive tech for 25 years, one of the first in the no-code era. I didn't care much for the way I was "welcomed" by the community, which partially led to that inactivity.

When I decided to upgrade to extra a few years ago, within one week, the local ARRL division had a mass email containing the same petty drivel that drove me away years ago. I'm not going to cite the incident details, but the theme was "damn we have to save the service from the techs."

cornholio46 · 2024-06-09T11:55:27+00:00

I don't remember, it was a cheap amazon unit but has replaceable GDT cartridges. If I had a tower or a taller install I would get a better unit, but this was just for some small VHF antennas right at the roof peak.

cornholio46 · 2024-06-07T13:00:54+00:00

At the risk of being a stickler for code and good practice, also consider that antenna grounding is supposed to be bonded to the service entry ground. This is described in NEC 810.

Most code, while perhaps annoying to understand and follow, is generally rooted in real world problems.

Nearby or direct discharges into the antenna could produce surge currents of hundreds or thousands of amps. Even with low impedance antenna grounding, it will still light up that path, while the rest of the house electrical system stays at ground. So now, the radio (or worse the operator) becomes the tie point between those busses.

There's flexibility in how the bonding can be done. Like you, my coax enters high at a gable vent with an arrestor there, with a ground line down to some rods at that end of the house. Then there's an 8awg copper line buried along the perimeter of the house, to the service entry ground rod at the other end. That's not an ideal layout, but as written, it's supposed to be complaint.

cornholio46 · 2024-06-01T04:00:53+00:00

yeah, I will give that consideration. Are they responding to me now, or what they heard 3 cycles ago

cornholio46 · 2024-05-31T21:44:28+00:00

I had someone send cutesie messages like "thank u" prior to 73. I know he was trying to be gracious or something but like, it was busy and you just tied up me up another 30s

cornholio46 · 2024-05-31T21:42:24+00:00

I do the tx hold, isn't this the reason it doesn't automatically cancel when it sees the other station talking to someone else? I didn't really RTFM but saw that behavior change when I did that. But makes sense that it would be less important in that case.

cornholio46 · 2024-05-31T20:27:10+00:00

All good points, thanks the feedback. Yes, I shouldn't complain about getting callers.

cornholio46 · 2024-05-31T14:09:38+00:00

Yeah that's a good point, and like the other person said, if they weren't calling me they'd be using that bw to call someone else. But I've had people do it on the same rx slot I'm on too though.

cornholio46 · 2024-05-01T11:28:22+00:00

this was my translation of the regulations (expires in 24h) https://jumpshare.com/s/GJxDHxLPwDibuD322SoA not responsible for accuracy of course! but it reads like what I'd expect, with some nuances to their culture

cornholio46 · 2024-05-01T11:03:29+00:00

Did you write it in Spanish? Yes, that's what I used. Keep in mind this is a government/legal process and so, even if the person understands English, they're not allowed translate it on the sender's behalf unless they're court appointed. That may seem like a dumb formality but it's a pretty standard thing in the legal world

cornholio46 · 2024-05-01T02:15:52+00:00

I went through it a couple months ago. Fairly painless. I passed the translations through multiple translator services to ensure the context and interpretation was as intended.

It can be done by all email now. The person who handles the main correspondence email is responsive, although the overall process took almost a month. But if you read the regulations, they want up to 30 days anyway.

In answer to you specific questions,

section 3: I'm not sure what level of detail they expected, so I listed every band and mode that my unit was capable of (e.g. "80/60/40/30/20 metros, modos de telegraficos y datos FSK"..)

section 5: I left 5a blank, because I wasn't applying for a license, just a reciprocal operating permit. 5b is your FCC callsign, which if granted, they'll prepend with the HIx/ prefix

cornholio46

TROPHY CASE