WT4 Millimeter Waveguide System: Waveguide Installation

The buried portion of the WT4 waveguide system is a coaxial twin pipeline composed of three main elements: waveguide, compliant supports attached to the waveguide, and sheath. 1 When waveguide is installed by the insertion method, described more fully in the sections which follow, the sheath is constructed to completion (including restoration of the right-of-way and acceptance testing of the sheath line) in entire repeater or multirepeater spans before waveguide is installed from access points located at convenient places on the route. The installation of the sheath is an operation resembling so closely the construction of a conventional pipeline that the familiar equipment and techniques of the pipeline industry have been adopted.2 In contrast, the flange splicing and push inserting of waveguide required new developments of tools and methods. The particular tools and methods evaluated during the field evaluation test are described in detail in the following sections. Design of a new waveguide insertion system based on the results of the field evaluation test experience is also discussed. 1923