Today's aerial botchery

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Bill

wrote in message
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http://hometown.aol.co.uk/wrightsaer...age/photo.html

Bill

It looks like the coax is crushed so much that there may well be a
short, at the very least the impedance will be reduced at that point,
creating a mismatch.
Changing the subject, why do some aerial erectors use insulating tape to
secure the coax to the mast, insulating tape deteriorates with UV from
sunlight?
A lightly tightened cable tie should be used, IMO.
Regards Mike.

"Mike GW8IJT" wrote in message
...


Changing the subject, why do some aerial erectors use insulating tape to
secure the coax to the mast, insulating tape deteriorates with UV from
sunlight?
A lightly tightened cable tie should be used, IMO.


I disagree, rarely will one ever have any problems with 'good-quality' PVC
tape supplied by aerial wholesalers, and even more than 30 years on it can
take a hammer and chisel to try and make an impression on some of the old
fabric based adhesive tape!

I've found that it's the cable ties that were fitted several years ago,
which are now beginning to go brittle and disintegrate.


Regards Mike.

In article , Phineas
Phreak writes

"Mike GW8IJT" wrote in message
...


Changing the subject, why do some aerial erectors use insulating tape to
secure the coax to the mast, insulating tape deteriorates with UV from
sunlight?
A lightly tightened cable tie should be used, IMO.


I disagree, rarely will one ever have any problems with 'good-quality' PVC
tape supplied by aerial wholesalers, and even more than 30 years on it can
take a hammer and chisel to try and make an impression on some of the old
fabric based adhesive tape!

I've found that it's the cable ties that were fitted several years ago,
which are now beginning to go brittle and disintegrate.

Also it's very difficult to tighten a cable tie enough that it won't
slide down the cable, but not too much so that it starts to compress the
cable.
--
Tim Mitchell

Changing the subject, why do some aerial erectors use insulating tape to
secure the coax to the mast, insulating tape deteriorates with UV from
sunlight?
A lightly tightened cable tie should be used, IMO.
Regards Mike.

I very much prefer insulating tape. Good tape doesn't deteriorate
significantly. In fact it's a nuisance to get it off a mast even when
it's years old.

Ties worry me because if you leave them loose enough to not deform the
cable they always weem as if they might slip down the mast. I use a lot
of ties for the fixing of bunches of cables in places where tape is
difficult to apply, however.

None of this was of much concern to the installers of the cable in the
photograph I suspect, who left the dish cables hanging between the LNB
and the rear of the dish.

Bill

In article , Tim Mitchell
writes
In article , Phineas
Phreak writes

"Mike GW8IJT" wrote in message
...


Changing the subject, why do some aerial erectors use insulating tape to
secure the coax to the mast, insulating tape deteriorates with UV from
sunlight?
A lightly tightened cable tie should be used, IMO.


I disagree, rarely will one ever have any problems with 'good-quality' PVC
tape supplied by aerial wholesalers, and even more than 30 years on it can
take a hammer and chisel to try and make an impression on some of the old
fabric based adhesive tape!

I've found that it's the cable ties that were fitted several years ago,
which are now beginning to go brittle and disintegrate.

Also it's very difficult to tighten a cable tie enough that it won't
slide down the cable, but not too much so that it starts to compress the
cable.

Cable ties are fine on cables like RG213 and larger, like the Andrews
Heliax series for Pro use, but for domestic stuff like CT100 or the
string sold in DIY sheds, PVC tape is much better......
--
Tony Sayer

I would think most professionals would use tape. Even with 25+ year old
aerials it can be a real pain to get the tape off, whereas I doubt cable
ties would last that long before they corroded and snapped.

"Mike GW8IJT" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
oups.com...
see
http://hometown.aol.co.uk/wrightsaer...age/photo.html

Bill

It looks like the coax is crushed so much that there may well be a
short, at the very least the impedance will be reduced at that point,
creating a mismatch.
Changing the subject, why do some aerial erectors use insulating tape to
secure the coax to the mast, insulating tape deteriorates with UV from
sunlight?
A lightly tightened cable tie should be used, IMO.
Regards Mike.

-GB-Carpy wrote:
I would think most professionals would use tape. Even with 25+ year old
aerials it can be a real pain to get the tape off, whereas I doubt cable
ties would last that long before they corroded and snapped.

IME cable ties used outside go brittle in just a few months, (indoors they last
forever (probably))

--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

Mark Carver wrote:
-GB-Carpy wrote:

I would think most professionals would use tape. Even with 25+ year
old aerials it can be a real pain to get the tape off, whereas I doubt
cable ties would last that long before they corroded and snapped.


IME cable ties used outside go brittle in just a few months, (indoors
they last forever (probably))


When we built the first Pebble Mill Sat truck we used some UV proof
cable ties. They never seemed to go brittle.

I tend to distrust cable ties used to fix cables in place!

Some years ago, BT came along to PM and re-terminated the audio cables
into the Comms Centre bays. They used cable ties to fix the pairs along
the lacing bars.

Soon after we found odd things happening to the music circuits - hum,
crosstalk low level. It took a lot of investigation, including
reporting all the ccts involved to BT, who always said they were clean.

A diligent Comms Engineer discovered that the BT cable gang had pulled
the cable ties so tight that they had caused the insulation to get
either broken or actually stripped.

The solution? A couple of retired BT wiremen were contracted to replace
the terms with tape and good old fashioned string lacing. Wonderful to
see it done, took me back to my Wood Norton T.A. course!

In article , Mark Carver
writes
-GB-Carpy wrote:
I would think most professionals would use tape. Even with 25+ year old
aerials it can be a real pain to get the tape off, whereas I doubt cable
ties would last that long before they corroded and snapped.

IME cable ties used outside go brittle in just a few months, (indoors they last
forever (probably))


Well thy don't Mark, and I've used a lot of them on transmission sites
over the years and they do hold together. believe me:!.....
--
Tony Sayer