Cheap and Easy Braided Ground Strap

In looking for a braided ground strap for my CB antenna mount, I realized that what I was looking for was virtually unavailable either locally or even online. After trying numerous auto parts houses, I ended up at my local Rat Shack. The old man behind the counter said they had nothing, but he gave me an outstanding piece of advice. He said: "Back in the day, we'd just take an old chunk of RG-8 coax, strip out the center conductor, then use the shield to make our strap". BRILLIANT! It's so ridiculously simple it's not funny! Not having any RG-8, but (since having moved several times over the years) I had plenty of random lengths of RG-6 laying around, I used that. Here's the lowdown-

Cut connector off one end flush. Make sure to spin the blade/cutter around as you cut so it doesn't crimp which will make it harder to pull through later. I apologize in advance for some of these pics, but my camera liked to focus on the carpet rather than the subject, plus the afternoon sun coming through the window wasn't helping with contrast.

Good cut-



Bad cut-



Measure out a few inches longer than you'll need for safety then cut the other end off, but leave the center conductor intact-



Wrap the conductor around a pair of needlenose pliers to make it easier to deal with-



A second person comes in handy here, but if your strap length is short enough, here's a quick solution-



Pull the outer insulation up and off the cable. In doing a couple of these, I noticed that one of them whizzed the conductor right out with no problem. The other one didn't want to budge so I had to slowly work the insulation off in stages working it up from the bottom. Kind of like trying to pull your socks up without being able to grab the top. Anyhoo, here's the shield without the conductor or outer insulation-



And all the pieces once everything's apart-



Determine which size/style connectors are needed, then yank/cut the insulation off of it (makes soldering easier later)-



Carefully (so you don't snag/miss any of the strands) insert the shield through a piece of heat-shrink then into the lug. I highly recommend soldering this rather than just crimping to make sure you're getting full contact from all strands with the lug. And no, I didn't solder this on my living room rug, I took it outside for that-



Solder it up, do the other end, shrink the tubing and yer ready to roll. One cheap, custom-length braided grounding strap ready for install-

 

Well done. Bravo!

 

Almost forgot... Installed-

 

That looks trick Good job!