[BC] about STL dishes and jumpers

[Michael Patton]

I have to side with Don on this one--I've seen many hardlines screwed 
straight into dishes last til they came down for other reasons.   When 
we do installs, we generally plumb 1/2" straight into the dish, but we 
use a jumper for 7/8" or larger.  And if we use a jumper outside it is 
3/8" or 1/2" superflex, which I've never seen a breakage problem with 
when done even close to right.

I wonder if the part of the country one is in makes a difference?  Don 
and I are both in the Sunny South, where temps never get very low, and 
the wind only kicks up high-high during hurricanes (at least here in 
South LA).  I've seen more braided jumpers rot off than properly-secured 
"hard" coaxes break--although I certainly have seen that, too.

It's funny how two fully competent and qualified folks like Cowboy and 
Don can come to such different conclusions from living in the same 
industry at the same time, but I've seen some version of that over and 
over.  It's almost a cliche that three engineers will give you three 
mutually-exclusive opinions as to what some problem is caused by, and 
all of them will swear on their mother's grave that theirs is right and 
only a "ignorant, pusillanimous SOB" could ever think otherwise.

Mike Patton, owner, Michael Patton&  Assoc.
12231 Industriplex Blvd, Ste C, Baton Rouge, LA  70809
225-752-4189 ofc     225-266-9745 cell     www.michaelpatton.com

On 11/10/2010 8:10 PM, donroden at hiwaay.net wrote:
> Sorry....... I've seen direct male 7/8 N rigid connectors on the back
> of STL dishes last the life of the antenna. Maybe the ones I have seen
> were secured to the mounts and legs of the tower in a manner that
> prevented any strain or vibration.
>
> Don Roden
>
> Quoting 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
>>
>>
>
>