[FidelC]

RG6 cable: how to choose?

Hi everybody! Its my first time here. The name came from my old cdfreaks account
I wonder if somebody can tell me, or link to the thread on how to choose a good TV cable. I need about 14 meters of it to run from a regular UHF antenna with no amplifier so to minimize signal losses, do I need to look for a CSA mark on it, UL (?). There are also cables marked as RG6/U... Please share your experience. Thanks!

 

[stampeder]

Hi, I've merged your post into this thread that covers cabling for OTA, so have a read through it and you'll get great info.

Generally if you can buy Amphenol, Belden, Leviton, or even RCA brand RG-6 you will be very pleased with its quality and it will do fine as an antenna downlead into your home. Most people do not need "quad shield" but if you intend to run your coax cable inside or against any heating ducts you should consider "plenum" quality. You can pick some up for a reasonable price at Rona or Home Depot.

Also here is a link to the forum dealing with cables of all sorts, and you'll find some threads in which we've discussed RG-6 labels and codes:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=97

 

[Tom.F.1]

Hi everybody! Its my first time here. The name came from my old cdfreaks account
I wonder if somebody can tell me, or link to the thread on how to choose a good TV cable. I need about 14 meters of it to run from a regular UHF antenna with no amplifier so to minimize signal losses, do I need to look for a CSA mark on it, UL (?). There are also cables marked as RG6/U... Please share your experience. Thanks!

walmart sells RG-6 quad. 15 or 30 meter. with a connector on each end.
or home depot

 

[FidelC]

All roads lead to walmart I'm surprised they sell quad, gotta check it out when we get LESS snow.

Thanks guys, I will look through those cable posts. Cheers.

 

[stampeder]

Just remember that quad-shield is a waste of money for the vast majority of people.

Which brand is mallwart selling?

 

[FidelC]

Found Quad at home depot for $o.98 a meter. swept to 3Ghz, so I guess thats the one I will get unless I find the same kind in white colour.

 

[frontpl8]

Just remember that quad-shield is a waste of money for the vast majority of people.

Which brand is mallwart selling?

Walmart is selling Phillips brand Cable.

 

[stampeder]

Okay thanks, that's outsourced cable from China then, but it should be okay.

 

[mr weather]

Walmart? Outsourced goods? Say it ain't so!

 

[frontpl8]

RG6 Cable

What does swept to 3 GHZ mean? Is this better than the ones I have seen that are 2.4 ghz? Is the higher number better, or lower number not sure. Also whats the difference between RG6, and RG6U? Looking to use for OTA/Digital cable.

 

[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]

Quad shield at Walmart

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]

OTA over LAN cable & adapters?

Reply to post in the Ottawa Reception thread:

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]

RG-59 vs. RG-6?

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]

What is best cable for OTA?

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.