foam filled cable or not

[NOSMO]

Hi folks,
Can you tell me your thoughts on best cable to get, is foam filled dielectric cable the way to go or is there something better dont need long runs but dont want to keep upgrading. I have found a company called tlc-direct who sell pf100 for 39p per metre+ vat.

Does anyone know of anyone in Spain who produces this type of cable or other good companies in uk. Many thanks

 

[rolfw]

I personally prefer foam dialectric cable and have been using it for years, Televes make a good foam cable T-100 which should be widely available in Spain _http://www.televes.com/inting/noticias/pdf/oct09-reels.pdf

 

[PaulR]

Foam filled cables are a lot better than in the 1970s when I remember that all the old foam filled stuff that was used for Band I/III TVs was found to be very lacking in performance for the new UHF transmissions.

The type that was produced then was called semi-airspaced and consisted of a cellular construction holding the centre wire in the - errr - centre. Air was considered to be the best dielectric and semi-airspaced had less of the plastic supporting material than foam. The semi-airspaced cable, however, had the distinct disadvantage of kinking when curved round too tight a radius.

Both types have improved so that today semi-airspaced will curve better without kinking and foam filled has less loss. I suppose that I'm still influenced by the past and prefer semi-airspaced but I know that there are plenty here that prefer foam filled!