OTA Cabling: RG-6, RG-59, RG-11, Twin-Lead, Crimping, Other Tips

[stampeder]

For OTA we are only handling frequencies between 54MHz and 806MHz (and its shrinking from that in the future) so unless you are also planning to run satellite gear on the same coax then the "swept to X MHz" doesn't matter.

RG-6 and RG-6/U are the same thing in today's consumer market.

Quad shielding is very rarely worth the extra money. You would need to be located almost right on top of an OTA broadcast antenna farm to require quad.

[rob50312]

Its made by philips and the extra shielding was worth it for me to shield out strong Toronto FM stations from my fm antenna feed and allow co-channel reception of buffalo fm stations.The regular RG6 was allowing the Toronto fm in with just the cable connected no antenna.

[mr weather]

I don't quite understand. Unless you've got a super direction FM antenna you're going to get undesired FM signal ingress regardless of cable type.

What extra shielding will help with is reducing signal attenuation which becomes problematic on long coax runs at UHF and above frequencies.

[stampeder]

Coaxial cable relies on its internal conductor to handle the signal. In today's consumer grade RG-6 the conductor is solid 1mm copper.

Any signal losses (about 6 dB every 100 feet) occur on that conductor. If I wrap a 100 foot length of RG-6 in additional shielding I will still have the exact same line loss of about 6dB.

The shielding is only just that - shielding.

[stampeder]

Reply to post in the Ottawa Reception thread:

Originally Posted by TECHNOKID

can anyone tell me if RJ45 through coax converters would be a viable option?

I don't know the comparison of the actual wire from twinlead to Cat5e but TV amps and tuners are sensitive to the wire's velocity and other factors so I cannot say if its a one-for-one swap.

Where something like Cat5e through RJ45s would be problematic is with interference - it would be hard to trace to a single location over a long run. There is such a thing as shielded Cat5e but its expensive and hard to work with, so I'd say just stick with coax and standard F-fittings.

[DarKYiNe]

hi
ive been coming over to this forum to try to set up an OTA antenna but there were some questions i couldnt find an answer to

how much of a signal loss will i suffer if i use RG59 instead of RG6?
are we talking about 2-3 channels lost or is it gonna be more than that?
and should i use an amplifier since my cable is going to be about 80-100 feet?

thanks

[stampeder]

DarKYiNe, this table from HDTVPrimer compares the loss rates of RG-59 and RG-6, with the industrial-grade RG-11 too:



Go with RG-6 all the way if you can, especially since you're talking about an 80 to 100 foot length.

[intravino]

Hello,


What is very good (the best) coax cable for OTA?

Is quad-shield rg-6 good or that is just a gimmick?

What is the difference between 60 % and 90 % Braid coax?

What about RG-11 and Hardline 7/8, can we use it for home OTA?

Is it important to put quality connectors compared to generic Addison connectors?

What are some good stores for purchasing quality stuff in Montreal or online?


Thanks for your time,

Intravino

[Tom.F.1]

The best usually isn't practical. I used RG-11 from the roof to the ground block, and RG-6 quad for everything else.
I used Digicon11 connectors and borrowed the ($200) crimp tool from an installer.
For all recent mods, like my sat dish multiswitch, I used Ideal snapnseal type connectors, bought the cutter/stripper/crimper kit from home depot and Phillips Quad RG6 from walmart.
There was a recent post with a chart about the differences in cable.

[Jase88]

Further to above relating to best cable to use:

I always go with a white coloured sheath on my cable. Resistance increases the hotter the cable gets. Therefore, using a light coloured cable improves performance in hot/sunny conditions.

[intravino]

Can you run RG-11 inside the house until the Tuner or is that too much of a Pita?


And compression connectors are they really better the regular crimp connectors?


I love the numbers on CATV Hardline; 0.5 db loss over 100 feet. I'm sure the connectors are expensive and hard to get. I would love to run that from the CM7777 to the grounding block.


Intravino

[stampeder]

You can run RG-11 anywhere, but it is overkill because RG-6 performs almost the same at smaller lengths and RG-6 is much more flexible. Crimping the ends on RG-11 also requires different tools and parts.

[intravino]

Stampeder,


What about RG-6UQ Quad-Shield?

Is it really better then Rg-6?

And the difference between 60 % braid and 90 % braid?


Thanks,


Intravino

[stampeder]

To me quad-shield is also overkill unless you are stringing your coax through/past areas of high EMF interference, which is very rare in a typical home.

Having said that, other members have pointed out that some stores sell it as their basic RG-6 type so if the price is good I don't see any harm in it. If you are going to crimp it yourself you'll have to be careful with how you handle that extra shielding so that you don't void it or cause a short.

Some RG-6 comes with a "messenger wire" that is stiff wire bonded to the outside of the coax. This type is not as flexible as standard RG-6 but some people use it to have a chassis ground on all their linked OTA gear, including the ATSC tuners/TV sets. It is not suitable for lightning protection or proper grounding, it just establishes a steady 0V to drain off any static electricity buildup.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by stampeder

Some RG-6 comes with a "messenger wire" that is stiff wire bonded to the outside of the coax. This type is not as flexible as standard RG-6 but some people use it to have a chassis ground on all their linked OTA gear, including the ATSC tuners/TV sets. It is not suitable for lightning protection or proper grounding, it just establishes a steady 0V to drain off any static electricity buildup.

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't that "messenger wire" actually for telephone pole mounting to take the strain off of the conductors when stretched from pole to pole?