Does Coiling Coax Cable Hurt Your SWR?

Here's one "radio wive's tale" put to rest. One note I forgot to mention is that if cable gets kinked, that can hurt the signal/SWR. Another nuance with this is the diameter of the coil. Like I mentioned in the video the diameter of the coils I made were about 4" diameter which is representative of someone coiling the cable around his or her hand to tuck it away somewhere as extra. The inductance of an inductor (which in its simplest form is just a coil of ware) depends on the diameter of the coils, the number of coils, and a few other factors (these parameters determine the amount of magnetic flux stored, etc) so coiling this coax to 1" diameter may have had a drastically different effect. Additionally coiling up cable that tight may cause internal rupturing of the conductor or insulation, which could cause the SWR to go to crap regardless of the coil size.

Another important thing to remember is that while you may choke off a minuscule amount of power by doing this, your main concern should be preventing a high SWR. A high SWR indicates reflected power coming back to your radio or amplifier, which could cause damage.