StormgrenAug 22, 2023

Got the control cable feedthrough gland put in and attached the MOV block to the entrance ground and the control cable pulled through and hooked up.

Only big downside is that it's direct-burial telecom cable, and that stuff has silicone grease throughout as a moisture barrier/displacement. Godawful stuff (better than the blue drippy goo that used to be in direct-burial TV coax, that stuff is VILE), but removable with isopropyl and a paper towel.

Tomorrow I'll get the manual tuner trigger together and see what happens with applying some RF to the cable!

#HamRadio #AntennaDIY #hamr

Show threadJevidLAug 22, 2023
@Stormgren Why did you install the caps after the block?
Show threadStormgrenAug 22, 2023

@jevidl They're not caps, they're Metal-Oxide Varistors (MOVs) so I can hopefully surge-suppress the control lines in case the event of Very Exciting Electricity happens in the backyard. Same beasties as the ones in your AC surge suppressor strip, but I bought these with a much lower forward voltage and an absurdly high current rating.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varistor for those who don't know what part I'm talking about.

And depending on your point of view, they're also "before" the block too, esp as the tuner's wire is on the same post as the MOV. 😛​

Really, it doesn't matter where they go, as long as they're connected to ground so surge currents shunt that-a-way when they need to kick in.

Honestly they got positioned that way so they weren't banging into the ground bar, and so the spade lugs on the shack-side control cable would attach to the terminal block cleanly. 😁​

Varistor - Wikipedia

Show threadJevidLAug 22, 2023
@Stormgren Thanks!
Show threadStormgren
@jevidl You know I'm always good for some infodumping. 😋​
Aug 22, 2023 at 1:22amWeb