[Moon-net] 2M EME coax routing

[John Fridenstine]

Hi Bob,I also rotate polarity mechanically.  The coax runs at right anglesto the driven element regardless whether it drops from the boom or runs forward or backward along the boom.  I believe you are right in avoiding coax in line with the driven element. You might gain a tenth or two dB because of shorter coax runbut supporting the power divider at the back of the array is a problem.  Rotating polaritywill also cause tension on the coax and the reflector end of the antenna booms.  I run my coax forward to vertical mast then along the crossboom to a four way power divider.  I could mount my power divider at the backend of the antennas and cut my feedline loss in half.  Each of my feedlines has .2dB loss so I would halve that on each antenna.  Because of the mechanical requirements, I don't believe it is worth the effort.  I will be interested in what you come up with.73 GL,John W8PATDear Moon-net,

I am wondering if it is worthwhile to reroute the coax on my 2 antenna
system, and would appreciate the consensus opinion of moon-net.

Currently the coax is routed along the bottom of the booms, forward from
the driven, to approx 6 inches from the cross boom, then down to the
power divider on the mast, with a bit of slack. I have heard from a
number of good sources that the "right" way to route the coax is
straight down from the driven elements, then over to the power divider.

My problem is that I suspect that the "right" way will not be right for
me. It is fine when my antennas are horizontally polarized, but I
mechanically rotate polarity. If the coax were hanging down from the
driven, if I rotated to vertical, the coax would be next to, and
parallel to the driven, perhaps even touching. This does not seem like a
good idea to me.

I suspect that I should reverse the connectors on the antennas and route
the coax along the bottom of the boom to the back end of the antennas,
past the reflector. Then drop the coax to the power divider.

Two questions- is that the right way to go, and how many tenths of a db
performance improvement should I expect compared to the current
configuration?

Thanks!

73,
Bob
KD3UY