Ed wrote:


It's marine-grade RG-8x. The antenna is at the top of the mast, 36 ft
above the cabin top.




My thought, in asking this questions, was replacing the current coax
with two of smaller diameter, since you said the current hole in the mast
was too small to add one. Commerically, we often use a RG-58 type coax
that has a white Teflon jacket, commonly referred to as Motorola White
Teflon coax. It is considerably smaller than RG-8X and I would hazzard to
say you might be able to pull a pair of them up, using the original RG-8X
as a pull line. You will need to obtain connectors with the proper size
ferrule for it as it is smaller than RG-58. Good Luck.

Ed K7AAT


Ed,

Had a major case of memory corruption - my coax is RG-58, not the larger
8X ;-). I think I'll admit defeat and just find a way to shoehorn
another coax up the mast. Maybe I'll just drill thru the cabintop and
epoxy a stainless threaded SO-239 nipple thru it so the balsa core of
the fiberglass won't suck up moisture like a sponge. Then just make
another run up the mast.

The problem with drilling a larger hole in the mast step is that it's
harder to seal against moisture when you have lots of cables in a
relatively large hole. Water inevitably gets in...

Had a major case of memory corruption - my coax is RG-58, not the
larger 8X ;-). I think I'll admit defeat and just find a way to
shoehorn another coax up the mast. Maybe I'll just drill thru the
cabintop and epoxy a stainless threaded SO-239 nipple thru it so the
balsa core of the fiberglass won't suck up moisture like a sponge.
Then just make another run up the mast.

The problem with drilling a larger hole in the mast step is that it's
harder to seal against moisture when you have lots of cables in a
relatively large hole. Water inevitably gets in...



Let me reiterate, the Motorola white Teflon jacketed RG-58 type coax is
slightly smaller in diameter than regular RG-58 coax, but not any more
loss. Plus, the Teflon jacket is very slick, making pulling it in tight
quarters easier. I'd still suggest you use the original coax as a pull
line and pull up two of these Teflon jacketed coaxes.


Ed

Ed wrote:
Let me reiterate, the Motorola white Teflon jacketed RG-58 type coax is
slightly smaller in diameter than regular RG-58 coax, but not any more
loss. Plus, the Teflon jacket is very slick, making pulling it in tight
quarters easier. I'd still suggest you use the original coax as a pull
line and pull up two of these Teflon jacketed coaxes.

Teflon RG-303 is 0.170" in diameter.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp


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Let me reiterate, the Motorola white Teflon jacketed RG-58 type
coax is
slightly smaller in diameter than regular RG-58 coax, but not any
more loss. Plus, the Teflon jacket is very slick, making pulling it
in tight quarters easier. I'd still suggest you use the original
coax as a pull line and pull up two of these Teflon jacketed coaxes.


Teflon RG-303 is 0.170" in diameter.


Yup, .023" smaller than standard RG58. That, plus the slick Teflon
jacket may well allow him to pull up two Teflon cables in place of his
RG58.


Ed