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Re: How to Isolate 2nd Transceiver in two Radio Base Station (WU6R / Mark)

Posted by Roger-3 on Jan 01, 2019; 2:45pm
URL: http://elecraft.85.s1.nabble.com/How-to-Isolate-2nd-Transceiver-in-two-Radio-Base-Station-WU6R-Mark-tp7647564p7647566.html

Mark,

it mainly depends on the "between port isolation" of the switch that you are
going to use and the output power. There are some minor things to pay
attention too like a poor quality (= poor shielded) interconnection cable. A
10 ft coax with poor shielding can pick up enough energy (especially under
high power conditions) to put your receiver/s on risk. The higher the
frequency and the higher the power you are running the higher will be the
picked up power with all other variables constant.

A typical laboratory grade switch will have an isolation of 100 dB or more.
That’s how good the shielding of your cable has to be in order to take
advantage of the switch´s isolation. A typical ham radio coax switch (DAIWA,
Ameritron, MFJ, ALPHA Delta and alike) has about 60 dB at best and sometimes
only 40 dB at 28 MHz. With one kilowatt on the port in use you  have 100 mW
(S 9+93!!) leaking thru to the unused ports. How much it is exactly depends
on the length of the cable connected to the unused port and the termination
(radio on or off etc.)

If 2 radios to one antenna (or vice versa) is all you need then a  two-way
coax switch could provide some extra relief as you can terminate the unused
port with 50 ohms and get another few dB of isolation. Multiport switches
for 3,4,5 or more ports with isolation more than 80 dB are hard to get and
EXPENSIVE!

Roger/DL5RBW



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