tom:
without knowing the manufacturer or exact type of rg8x that you have, it'll 
be hard to figure out if it is jacketted for burial.
not all rg8 style coax cables are designed for burial and only a select few 
have the right kind of outer jacket to withstand moisture and the PH balance 
of the soil they'll be buried in.
however, that said, coax used for antenna feedline should be changed every 
few to several  years anyway because of degradation factors.
straight from the manufacturers, they say 5 years is about as long as you 
want to use coax cable before it can potentially start degrading and thus 
entering more loss and altered impedance into the feedline.
So, I think that your coax will be just fine sitting on the ground, as far 
as moisture and all that goes.  It's not buried, so you really don't need to 
take into account soil PH levels etc that can break down the jacket and then 
get into the copper braiding.
Regular coax jacketting is designed to withstand rain and snow and all that 
good stuff, so having snow on top of the coax won't degrade it beyond normal 
wear and terr anyway.
5 years of sitting on the ground before replacing it won't change a thing I 
don't think just bassed on the factors.
I think if you were burying it, you would definitely have to account for 
different factors, but these don't apply when the coax is above or at ground 
level  and exposed to the air and regular weather.
as far as animals goes, yeh, you might want to get it up off the ground so 
that small critters don't nibble on it and create havoc.
is there grass that needs to be cut in that area? if so, you'll have to 
consider how you string up your coax to allow access to grass cutting 
equipment.
if not, than some garden stakes spaced out every few feet should be totally 
sufficient.
73
Colin, V A6BKX
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "tom behler" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, October 02, 2010 6:50 PM
Subject: coax feedline question


> Hi, again, folks.
>
> I have a question regarding my new Alpha Delta DXCC installation, that I
> need some honest feedback on.
>
> Today, when my help installed the RG8X feedline for the antenna, they did 
> it
> in a way that makes it necessary for about ten to fifteen feet of the coax
> to lie on the ground.  This portion of coax runs  between my house and the
> garage, on which the center of the antenna is mounted.  This is not an 
> area
> where people walk, so I don't believe it is an undue tripping hazard.
>
> However, having the coax run on the ground concerns me for another reason.
> Am I correct in suspecting that, over time, the part of the feedline which
> is lying on the ground will absorb moisture, and eventually fail?
>
> My dilemma here is that I don't want to be ungrateful or overly demanding,
> but I don't want to create problems for myself later on.  At the same 
> time,
> if running the coax along the ground is something that many people do
> without problems, maybe I should just leave well enough alone.
>
> The coax run I'm using may have enough excess coax so that we could run 
> the
> coax overhead between the house and garage, but I am not totally sure of
> that at this time.
>
> I suppose I could also get a piece of conduit and run the coax through it,
> but that is harder to do now that the feedline is already installed 
> between
> the antenna feed point and my ham shack window feed through pannel.
>
> Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.
>
> 73 from Tom Behler:  KB8TYJ