What Coaxial cable is best for making fpv antennas or antennas extensions? 
I see many options such as rg405, rg402, rg142, etc

RG405 or similar is used for most antennas, RG402 is used with Pagoda as it has a thick exposed outer shield which the antenna PCB solders to.

Wow, looks like a lot of RG405 is tri-sheild. To those of you who have worked with this cable how do you prep it? with wire strippers, or a knife, or a specific cable prep tool like the ones used on RG6/11 in CATV installations?



seems like this tiny cable would be difficult to prep well, especially with 2 layers of braided shielding.

My RG402 has a single tin soaked, copper braided shield over a rigid PTFE dielectric which surrounds a solid, silver plated copper conductor.

If you're looking at the google link to a PDF at emc-rflabs.com that shows three outer shields, it's just a misleading picture - the construction data table further down the document shows that layers D and E don't actually exist!

I cut the shield with a very sharp knife, taking care not to distort the dielectric and then strip the dielectric with properly sized wire strippers.

Note that the only difference between RG402 and RG405 is the diameter of the cable. Both are semi-flexible, but the RG402 is .141" and the RG405 is .085".

(25-Aug-2017, 09:42 AM)unseen Wrote: My RG402 has a single tin soaked, copper braided shield over a rigid PTFE dielectric which surrounds a solid, silver plated copper conductor.

If you're looking at the google link to a PDF at emc-rflabs.com that shows three outer shields, it's just a misleading picture - the construction data table further down the document shows that layers D and E don't actually exist!

I cut the shield with a very sharp knife, taking care not to distort the dielectric and then strip the dielectric with properly sized wire strippers.

Seems much more realistic to prep!

(25-Aug-2017, 10:05 AM)Carl.Vegas Wrote: Seems much more realistic to prep!

No problem at all. I'm not sure if a coax stripper like the one in your picture will work with the tin soaked braid though - it's pretty hard.

it certainly wouldn't. that one is made for RG6 which is the kind of cable going into the back of your TV. It probably wouldn't even be able to get the jacket off with the smallest part of the blade, it just wouldn't fit right.