Mini-8 Warning
Compliments of Firestik® Antenna Company Technical Support Team
Copyright © 2014 Firestik® Antenna Company
|
WARNING: Beware of ANY co-phasing harness (for dual antennas) that is made with RG-8X or Mini-8 coax
RG-8X, often refered to as Mini-8, coaxial cable is 50 ohm coax and should NEVER be used for dual CB antennas .. EVER! We do not recommend using pre-made RG-8X/Mini-8 cophasing harnesses or two individual RG-8X/Mini-8 cables connected at or near the radio with a common T-connector. Doing so creates a system mismatch and performance suffers greatly.
Dual antennas require 75 ohm, RG-59, RG-59U or RG-59A/U coax. No exceptions! In the past we heard of end users installing dual antennas and mistakenly using 50 ohm coaxial cable but of lately, some manufacturers are actually marketing and selling such a product commercially. DO NOT BUY IT!! Rather than doing a proper installation or fixing flaws in the installation, the use of 50 ohn coax on a dual antenna installation simply masks the problems and EVERY standing wave ratio reading is false .. all of them. The system is so out of sorts that the mismatch in the coaxial cable consumes most of the radios power. By doing so, very little energy makes it to the antenna thus leaving little left for the SWR meter to spot as problematic reflected power. Less than 25% of the radios potential will be available. Using 50 ohm coax in a dual antenna system never has been and never will be an acceptable solutuion for dealing with a faulty installation and is as silly as buying a vehicle with a V-8 engine and cutting off the fuel to six of the eight cylnders. Anybody who tells you different is either grossly ignorant or a liar. Updated May 30, 2014 |
