Hacker News Reader

A common issue with outdoor coax cable is when the connectors are not sealed well, water seeps in and causes gain reduction from water being in the cable. Especially with diy sealed cables, I've run into this. The giveaway is weirdly high SWR ratios.

View on HN

Another problem, one that I experienced as I was new and unschooled: It was a long run to the antenna and I left too much slack before the transmission equipment. I just bunched the slack into a jumble and then hooked it up. Of course the engineer that lectured me about conductivity, magnetic fields and SWR remains a memory. He neatly coiled the coax and my problems disappeared. Even something as simple as coax benefits from experience and a small bit of knowledge.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com