October 24, 2012

Antenna Coaxial Cable Conduit Fill Considerations

Conduit fill is the percent of the area inside the conduit taken up by cables.  Conduit fill is an important consideration when selecting and planning your antenna projects since it is not possible to use 100% of the conduit's area.  There is no sense in going through the expense and effort of trenching, laying conduit, and pulling your antenna coaxial cable only to find later that the conduit is too small to support the area consumed by the cables.
We recently ran across two handy Internet resources related to conduit fill: Conduit Fill Chart and Conduit Fill Calculator.


Here is an example of the conduit fill calculators output:

The conduit fill is: 17.9%

Based On:
Conduit Type: Rigid PVC Conduit, Schedule 40
* Conduit Size: 2 inch(es)
Internal Diameter: 2.047 (in.)
Conductor #1: 3 conductors with an outside diameter of .5 inches.
Conductor #2: 0 conductors with an outside diameter of 0 inches.

**Warning: There is some probability of jamming.


73,

NJ2X