[BC] about STL dishes and jumpers

[Miltron]

Your experience seems to be just the opposite of mine.
There are several factors to consider:
The black jacket and tape helps things to get extremely hot in the sun; most flexible jumpers will be very stiff after a few years from this cooking; long enough, and you can hear the dielectric cracking if you bend them.  Life is dependent on the quality of the RG-8,-213, or whatever. White jackets would probably give them longer life. The high-priced stuff with the teflon(R) dielectric would likely last until the jacket and shield rotted away.

Tower convicts, as you aptly call them, don't usually strap things down too well, often leaving flexible jumpers flapping in the wind, or, if no jumper,  leaving long spans of coax unsupported to vibrate in the wind and fail when the solid shield cracks at the connector from metal fatigue. I'm sure they like repeat business..<g>
M

-----Original Message-----
>From: Cowboy <curt at spam-o-matic.net>

>On Wednesday 10 November 2010 10:55:09 am Miltron wrote:
>>  Every connector is a
>> potential point of failure; why would you want twice as many ? Where do
>> these wrong-headed ideas come from ?
>
> Almost every ( 99 out of 100 ) failure I've seen, is lack of a soft jumper.
> Yes, connectors *might* fail, but a non-braid shield to the back of the
> dish WILL fail, every time. Guaranteed 100%. 
> Somewhere between 1 and 5 years. Very rarely more.
> Superflex is no help. It's still a non-braid shield.
>
>-- 
>Cowboy
>