Yes, Window Line Can Be Spliced - If You Must

摘要

Q Larry, VE3GT, asks: I have a situation in which I need to splice two lengths of window line. I wonder if the traditional Western Union wire splice would be a good choice for this application. There is also a commercial splice arrangement available that uses ring terminals and screw connections to bring together two ends of the window line - would this be a better solution? A Before discussing methods, let me say it is always best to use continuous lengths of transmission line, if possible, for both electrical as well as mechanical reasons. A Western Union (WU) wire splice (see Figure 1) is a good, strong way to join two wires end to end. Having a short section of line with an effectively thicker length of wire will reduce the characteristic impedance (Z_0) a bit, but it shouldn't be noticeable on frequencies below around 144 MHz, and especially won't matter at all in the typically unmatched applications most hams use window line for.