Is Your Coax Cable Stealing 40 to 50% of Your Power? Jim, W6LG Uses Bird Watt Meters, RigExpert AA35

Jim, please keep up the quality videos. Theory over product endorsement, always is refreshing. You sir are a gentleman and a scholar.

I think Rigexpert sets the gold standard. The same Bird wattmeters are still pursued and praised.

The kind of simple, bite sized, hands on teaching that so many new--and old--hams need.

Thanks, Jim. I so appreciate you and your videos.

Thank you for sharing the results of your RigExpert. I rebuilt my station over the past few years and my feedline( >100' RG8) is the last of the old stuff. I've been procrastinating, rooftop trips more difficult every passing year.

Another great video Jim! I have watched all your resent videos (past two years) and used your suggestions wherever I could. Can't wait for the one on chargers, wall worts and unnecessary shack noise!! Thanks for all you do for us!! Ron VE7BFM

11 MAR 2023 - I’ve been in contact with Jim. he is currently in the ICU at a California Hospital battling an infection. Jim says hi and he is looking forward to getting back to the Shack and on YouTube again soon! Please keep Jim W6LG in your prayers!

Thank you for taking the time to make this video, as always lots of good info. Have a great 2023

Another well done video. Many people don’t realize this.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL: JIM I loved your video & I must say well said. Many people just don't get it when it comes to coax cable. Unfortunately it all comes down to money in the end. Many people are always looking for a so-called deal especially at swap meets. Please take care of your health sir we need you desperately, TMP from N.J.

50 foot LMR 600 for VHF/UHF, 50 foot LMR 400 for my CB and 10M antennas, and 75 feet of 8u to my all band HF vertical. All four main feedlines are barely long enough to reach the radios, fixed by attaching Palomar "pipe bomb" chokes at the terminating end in the shack, letting a few short LMR 400 jumpers finish the jump. And certainly, I do enjoy good power out, and high reception in. 50 foot and 100 foot rolls of premade 8x are now kept for experiments and when I hook up 80 meter short hanging wire. I've heard a few people talk about their poorer setups. "Its just 3db". Astounded that people think that the loss of that much transmit/receive is just nothing. Yet, you hear it all the time. Hope you are doing well through your medical troubles.

So if you are worried about ice build up on your line, RG8x is the way to go :) Thanks for the video Jim, always learn something. I have an older model AA-50 and agree that RigExpert is a good company with good products. BTW Good luck on your treatment. I'm on cancer #2 and it was surgery this time. Went better than I thought and it looks like they got it all but I'll find out for sure in a week or two. Shuffling around the house but have a perfect excuse to binge watch videos :)

I must say, this is a beautifully streamlined demonstration and presentation. It's quick to the point, and crosses over the the theoretic, and practical measured with two levels of equipment and technical instruments. I have so much to say on this subject, but I'll leave it to these further comments. The online loss calculator really opened my eyes, even more so when it comes to ERP. You mentioned Heliax as basically being close to lossless, and when you have an antenna with, say, 9DbD of gain, the benefits of running such a coaxial cable really does come into the picture. You've invested so much of your hard earned money and effort, so why skimp on the coax? You're simply strangling the system, and at the end of the day, it's just false economy... which makes no sense. Brilliant, concise stuff. Proof!

Jim, this is the first video by you that I have caught, I have to admit that I was shocked to learn how much loss that I'm getting with my RG8X, so I guess I'm going to be raiding my coin jar to purchase some RG213 or LMR 400. You explained the differences so I easily understood what you were teaching us so thank you.

Jim, it's painful to hear about what you are going through, but thank you for sharing everything. We should not shy away from pain, especially to share it with another. As I wrote in one of my infamous cat essays, "Pain is a marker of life, not death." Of course that's easy to say when you are not experiencing it. I just wanted to share with you in return man. I'm just one little fan out here in the ether, but know that one anonymous schmuck is listening. You are not alone. In the same essay I recalled what a old trail cowboy told me at around 5 years old. He was waiting for a demonstration ride at our little small town rodeo circa 1958, when the circuit was still active. He was "too broken up to do anything competitive" anymore, and too far down the road to be on the trail. He gave me some gems that day, saying the movies had it all wrong about "us cowboys". He told me that generally trail hands did not get "drunked up and shoot things", but were comtemplative men, often reading and sometimes writing prose and poetry and music. 'Fuzzy' Carlisle told me he got the nickname due to keeping his head shaved. And he described how age and hard knocks had brought him to the rodeo circuit out West to make a few bucks doing demo rides and roping. When I asked him if it was hard to endure all that had happened to him, he just quipped "We cowboys have a sayin' - If'n I can feed pain then I ain't dead yet." At 5 I had no clue, but it sounded important so I stuck that thought away in the recesses of my brain for later use - as I did with every word that fell from his lips that cool sunny day in Yuma, Arizona. As he hobbled away to his ride Fuzzy turned his whole upper body - neck being stiff and beat up - and out of the corner of his smiling mouth came this salutation, "Happy trails, cowboy." I was near to crying and did not know why. Man I don't want to minimize ANY of what is happening to you, but I felt the need to holler at you - just in case it gives you even the thought of something beyond your space right now. You are a kind and intelligent man, not unlike Fuzzy Carlisle. He came to mind when hearing from you about chemo and all. And you share your knowledge like no other here. You give us gems like a old cowbow - with grace and no BS. They ain't no better way Jim. You have made a difference in the world.

Good evening Jim enjoyed your video. Looking forward for the power supply test. I think that will be interesting. And happy new year to you and your family. WD5ENH Steve

Well Said, Jim! Better coax is always a good investment. Get the best coax you can afford. Its an integral part of your antenna system. Another advantage is, in my experience, better coax will also last longer before needing replaced. I'm retired from the communications electronics field, and I've had to replace a lot of cheap coax over the years. 73 -mike

Hi Jim, This really makes good sense. I'll have to control my frugal nature when it comes to coax. I never want to experience what happened to your equipment in the Hole in one video. Your videos that really took me to school are your db loss from connectors as I really thought there would be significant loss and your grounding / bonding videos. Thanks again All the best to you !

I have a 175 foot run or so. I was on RG8X and people were umm commenting on it. So I found the RG213 that I had around in pieces from a swap meet and put connectors on. Unfortunately, I got water ingress in the middle chunk, so that section went back to 8X. I have an order ready to go at Messi & Paolini for ONE piece of their cable that measures better than LMR400 without going really big, like hardline. I dual purpose the line, so some loss in the duplexers to push / pull 2m & 70cm using the same coax as HF as well as DC control of the remote coax switch. I agree. These antennas receive really small signals and can't afford to lose bits and pieces all over the place. That and my power output.

Thanks for this. I've thought for years I could do with checking my losses and your video reminded me. I have an inverted vee with about 40' RG58U for 60m and attic dipoles for 20m, 17m and 15m with about 20' of RG8U. As I run QRP at 5 Watts or less I don't want to lose R.F. in my cable. Everything here is BNC connectors. I'll be using a 50Ω dummy load and oscilloscope, good to 25 MHz. H.F. is very forgiving and a little R.F. goes a long way. A Pixie at 350 mW out on 5.262 MHz got me an SWL report from 220 miles away when I had a QSO at 180 miles so I wonder how much I might have been putting out. G4GHB.