{"id":909,"date":"2023-03-04T07:20:14","date_gmt":"2023-03-04T01:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/?p=909"},"modified":"2024-02-07T21:41:21","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T16:11:21","slug":"can-you-use-tv-coaxial-cable-for-amateur-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/can-you-use-tv-coaxial-cable-for-amateur-radio\/","title":{"rendered":"Can you use TV coaxial cable for Amateur Radio?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Can you use TV coaxial cable for Amateur Radio?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>TV coaxial cable typically has a characteristic impedance of 75 Ohms while the output impedance of an Amateur Radio is 50 Ohms. So if you use a TV cable for amateur radio there will be feeder losses. Ideal would be to use a cable like RG 213 with characteristic impedance of 50 Ohms. As a disclaimer, I was using TV cable for my solid state VU2VWN QRP and 3 x 807 hybrid QRO, both homebrew. But at that time I did not have access to RG 213.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, as a rule, vacuum tubes were more tolerant to mismatches than the current day solid state devices. Though I never had my 807s going QRT, I had lost may BD 139s which were used as final for the solid state QRP. I kept on replacing them and sometimes even cooling them with a small aluminum dish with ice, kept over the BD 139 as a homebrew heat sink! When I bought a VHF base station later, I could get RG 213 cables. That VHF base station is working even today after 25 years, even though it has some snags, obviously as it was kept idle for the past 10 years!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can you use TV coaxial cable for Amateur Radio? TV coaxial cable typically has a characteristic impedance of 75 Ohms while the output impedance of an Amateur Radio is 50 Ohms. So if you use a TV cable for amateur radio there will be feeder losses. Ideal would be to use a cable like RG [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-amateur-radio-ham-radio","category-antenna-and-propagation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Can you use TV coaxial cable for Amateur Radio? - Johnson&#039;s Techworld<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/can-you-use-tv-coaxial-cable-for-amateur-radio\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can you use TV coaxial cable for Amateur Radio? - Johnson&#039;s Techworld\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Can you use TV coaxial cable for Amateur Radio? TV coaxial cable typically has a characteristic impedance of 75 Ohms while the output impedance of an Amateur Radio is 50 Ohms. So if you use a TV cable for amateur radio there will be feeder losses. Ideal would be to use a cable like RG [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/can-you-use-tv-coaxial-cable-for-amateur-radio\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Johnson&#039;s Techworld\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-04T01:50:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-07T16:11:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/TV-Coaxial-Cable-for-Amateur-Radio.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"830\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Johnson Francis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Johnson Francis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/can-you-use-tv-coaxial-cable-for-amateur-radio\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/can-you-use-tv-coaxial-cable-for-amateur-radio\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Johnson Francis\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6201c843e80ccd3578e6196b1d007027\"},\"headline\":\"Can you use TV coaxial cable for Amateur Radio?\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-04T01:50:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-07T16:11:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/can-you-use-tv-coaxial-cable-for-amateur-radio\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":206,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6201c843e80ccd3578e6196b1d007027\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/can-you-use-tv-coaxial-cable-for-amateur-radio\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/TV-Coaxial-Cable-for-Amateur-Radio.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Amateur Radio (Ham Radio)\",\"Antenna and Propagation\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/can-you-use-tv-coaxial-cable-for-amateur-radio\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/can-you-use-tv-coaxial-cable-for-amateur-radio\\\/\",\"name\":\"Can you use TV coaxial cable for Amateur Radio? 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Originally licensed as VU2JFP with Grade 1 license in 1985. Upgraded to Advanced Grade in 1988 and was allotted new callsign to VU2JO\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/@johnsonstechworld\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/author\\\/jf\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Can you use TV coaxial cable for Amateur Radio? - Johnson&#039;s Techworld","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/can-you-use-tv-coaxial-cable-for-amateur-radio\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Can you use TV coaxial cable for Amateur Radio? - Johnson&#039;s Techworld","og_description":"Can you use TV coaxial cable for Amateur Radio? 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