RG-58U for external antenna

RG-58U (solid center) with foam dielectric is 0.57dB/meter RG-58C/U (stranded center) with foam dielectric is 0.90dB/meter. RG-58A/U (solid center) with polyethylene dielectric is 1.5dB/meter.

I'm too lazy to convert to feet so just assume 1 meter = 3ft. Close enough. Don't forget to add about 0.5dB loss per connector pair if using TNC connectors and about 3 times that for crappy BNC connectors.

For reference, 6dB loss is half your range. 12dB is 1/4th your range.

Try again. CATV is 75 ohms. It's probably RG-59/u (crap) or RG-6/u. If you search Google Groups, you'll see some of my postings on using RG-6/u for wi-fi and for 10base2 ethernet. It works but there are limitations. If it's RG-59/u, forget it.

No logarithms involved. If it's 38.9dB/100ft, then it's 1/100th of that per foot or 0.389dB/ft.

It would be an odd multiple of a 1/4 wave electrical line section with an impedance equal to sqrt(Z1 * Z2) where Z1 and Z2 are the load and line impedances. For 50 ohms to 75 ohms, that's 61 ohms. At 2.4Ghz, building one of these is tricky as the velocity factor of the matching section is not very well defined for random pieces of junk coax.

If it's good quality RG-6/u satellite grade coax, just use it directly with no matching section. Going from an F connector to a TNC is possible with adapters. The 1.5:1 mismatch loss (2 * 0.18dB) will be less than the extra connector (0.5dB) losses.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann
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What kind of loss can I expect if I use about 3 feet of RG-58U cable to connect an external antenna to an 802.11b radio? I have a lot of it lying around from a cable TV hookup and would like to use some it if possible. I think the characteristic impedance of RG-58U is 50 Ohms, so that seems good.

This link shows 38.9dB per 100 feet at 2400 MHz. Am I correct in thinking that the attenuation would be 0.389 dB per foot. I've not yet made complete peace with logarithms - is it ok to just divide here?

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Also, if I use some other kind of cable with a different impedance, how would I match it to the antenna? What would the circuit look like and how would I implement it?

Thanks in advance for any help, Bruce

Reply to
bjs555

Thanks again Jeff. Your knowledge and willingness to share it are very much appreciated.

Bruce

Reply to
bjs555

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