Best brand coax and F connector for HD cable?

lnh wrote:

Exactly. Nothing special, but experience here shows quad is better. Even
the incredibly cheap cable company was forced to use it

Let's have a part number with manufacturer for the cable and a cable
company name. I have yet to see documentation of a major cable company
using quad for standard installs. There have been newsgroup myths to
that effect however.


Quad shield is a waste of time and money over good quality foil and
braid cables like Belden duofoil.

Your opinion. And that would be an expensive mistake here. Just ask the
electrical contractors who used the wrong cable. And do a little
research about cable companies that are fined for leakage by the FCC.

Not just my opinion.

Most major cable companies use foil and braid cables, not quad shield.
The reason? Quad is a waste of time and money.

There is cheap low spec cable that will leak. I dare say there is even
some cheap quad that does not preform as well as quality foil and braid.
Don't use cheap low spec cable.

For CATV/DBS usage I look for 100% foil and at least 90% braid coverage.
For RG6 the attenuation per 100' at 1000 MHz should be less than 7 Db
and return loss 5-1000 MHz at least 20 Db.

If you follow these specs, properly install SNS connectors, use good
quality passive/active components (splitters, amps, etc) and ground
properly you shouldn't have problems with signal leakage as defined in
FCC part 76.

A decent discussion of Part 76 Multichannel Video and Cable Television
Service leakage can be found he

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/ca...i-leakage.html

If instead you are talking about leakage into the system you must
realize that the difference in signal attenuation between the cable I
specified above and the most shielded cable available will be
meaningless when connected to any consumer grade TV, VCR or DVR. The
input stages of these devices are quite poorly shielded and may exhibit
interference problems before the cable is attached.

Additionally realize that consumer electronics (TV/VCR/DVD/Computers
etc) connected to the cabling system leak RF. Even on a well designed
and installed system either poorly designed devices or a large number of
connected devices could result in unwanted attention from the cable
company concerning signal leakage.


Well, my hex crimps will hang a TV, so they are fine. I seen enough bad
Snap and Seal connectors that I automatically cut them off and
reterminate.

My experience over thousands of F connectors is the exact opposite.

Please post a link to a bad SNS connector. I have yet to see one when
installed to specification.

At my the shop we have a wall of shame, and it has both types. My point
is neither is perfect, and both can be badly installed by dweebs. Since
the new rage is snap n seal connectors installed by the untrained, they
are usually defective. When you do this for a living, you learn what
will save time.

And snap and seals are not inherently water proof.

This is where you blow your credibility.

http://www.tnb.com/contractor/docs/snapnseal.pdf

WHAT MAKES SNAP-N-SEAL
CONNECTORS UNIQUE?
• 100% waterproof - superior environmental seal prevents
any moisture from entering the connection
• 15 year industry track record - more than 1 billion
sold with no recorded performance degradation
• True 360° compression onto cable ensures superior RF
shielding performance, -95 dB effective shielding (typical on
60% bonded foil cable).
• Simple and quick to install requiring the industry’s
lowest hand compression force on the installation
tool

Anyone that would "I automatically cut them off and reterminate" all SNS
connectors with hex is not someone I would want on a job.


Again, he is lucky, and use of those cables here (and elsewhere) WILL
result in VISIBLE leakage.

No. He isn't lucky, he did the engineering and his system preforms as
designed.

Knee-jerk "you must use quad shield or bad things will happen" is not
engineering. It is relying on prejudice, myth and word of mouth from
questionable sources such as yourself.


Yeah, I've only been doing installs for 30 years, so what do I know? I
know what I have been trained on and what are best practices. Lots of
things will work, but that is not what I will recommend.

Same here. I have been doing installs for 30+ years but I threw away the
hex crimp stuff 10 years ago. You appear to be living in the past.


I think I'll stick with Mr. Halstead.


O.K.

We agree!

Ed Nielsen wrote in
:

Don't get w_tom started!!!


CIAO!

Ed N.


I wouldn't worry, I didn't use the dreaded 's**ge s*pp*ress*r' term !!

DanS wrote:
I wouldn't worry, I didn't use the dreaded ....

Did somebody call?

In article ,
Lewis Gardner wrote:

lnh wrote:

Exactly. Nothing special, but experience here shows quad is better. Even
the incredibly cheap cable company was forced to use it

Let's have a part number with manufacturer for the cable and a cable
company name. I have yet to see documentation of a major cable company
using quad for standard installs. There have been newsgroup myths to
that effect however.

Well, if you are in the business, you should know who TVC is. Call them
and ask them what they sell to Time Warner Houston.

LOL

w_tom wrote:
DanS wrote:
I wouldn't worry, I didn't use the dreaded ....

Did somebody call?

On Tue, 02 Jan 2007 19:32:54 GMT, robert casey wrote:
I did a less severe case of this, CATV cable (just the usual stuff from
Radio Shack) routed thru the 2nd floor/ 1st floor ceiling space between

Radio Shack has sold both RG-59 and RG-6. Very different cables, both
"75 ohm CATV cable" according to most of the staff. Any idea which you
used?

sdb
--
Wanted: Omnibook 800 & accessories, cheap, working or not
sdbuse1 on mailhost bigfoot.com

sylvan butler wrote:

On Tue, 02 Jan 2007 19:32:54 GMT, robert casey wrote:

I did a less severe case of this, CATV cable (just the usual stuff from
Radio Shack) routed thru the 2nd floor/ 1st floor ceiling space between


Radio Shack has sold both RG-59 and RG-6. Very different cables, both
"75 ohm CATV cable" according to most of the staff. Any idea which you
used?

sdb

I'd have to dig into things to see for sure, but it was RG59 or some
sort. I did have to place F connectors on it, so I would have seen what
quality the coax was. Was decent coax, not the really crappy stuff.

Both can be shielded equally as well but the thicker gauge of the RG6 is
better suited for longer runs in delivering quality signal.

robert casey wrote:
sylvan butler wrote:

On Tue, 02 Jan 2007 19:32:54 GMT, robert casey
wrote:
I did a less severe case of this, CATV cable (just the usual stuff
from Radio Shack) routed thru the 2nd floor/ 1st floor ceiling
space between


Radio Shack has sold both RG-59 and RG-6. Very different cables,
both "75 ohm CATV cable" according to most of the staff. Any idea
which you used?

sdb

I'd have to dig into things to see for sure, but it was RG59 or some
sort. I did have to place F connectors on it, so I would have seen
what quality the coax was. Was decent coax, not the really crappy
stuff.

BruceR wrote:

Both can be shielded equally as well but the thicker gauge of the RG6 is
better suited for longer runs in delivering quality signal.


Of course. It was a short run, and we get a huge OTA signal strength
here. Once was measured, 27000 microvolts of New York City channel 4.
This gets split several times thru the house. My brother bought the
biggest Radio Shack VHF antenna they had (a big mother) back in the days
when we had a vacuum tube color TV that turned out to have a few dead
tubes in the IF strip. We have line of sight of the Empire State
Building 14 miles away.

"Lewis Gardner" wrote in message

Yeah, I've only been doing installs for 30 years, so what do I know? I
know what I have been trained on and what are best practices. Lots of
things will work, but that is not what I will recommend.

Same here. I have been doing installs for 30+ years but I threw away the
hex crimp stuff 10 years ago. You appear to be living in the past.

Haven't been doing crimping for 30+ but I can attest that a SNS connection
made by an rank amateur like me is better than any hex crimp I can perform.
Part of the reason is that a good SNS connection looks good - you can see
pretty quickly if it's not done right. Not so evident with hex crimps.
I've seen more than one pro crimp pull out over time, especially if the
cable has aged a bit and lost some of its plasticity

On the issue of QS, maybe it's overkill from a signal leakage POV, but it
seems the thicker the overall shielding, the more resistance it has to
physical damage from nicks, cuts, scrapes, rodents and other mishaps.

Part of the reason I bought a compression crimper for the small amount of
cabling I do is to gain a slight edge on reliability. It seems most people
believe SNS delivers. That "reliability edge" is also why I use QS for
outside and "trunk" cabling - it's heftier, but not very much more
expensive.

I'll readily admit whatever extra protection I believe I gain is physical
and not electrical, and maybe not even physical, but only psychological, but
that's good enough for me!

I think there's an added benefit for tyros like me. There's so damn much
braid and foil on QS that it's nearly impossible for even an amateur to
accidentally remove too much from the end of the cable before pushing the
connector in. I'm sure someone's managed it, but not me. At least not yet.

Removing too much braid accidentally is something I seem to do quite often
with the thinner RG-59 for CCTV use, especially, the 80% braid that's done
like an open basket weave. (-:

The only thing I don't like about the SNS connectors, aside from price, is
that my Ideal connector wrench (screwdriver handle with an open hex wrench
on the end) won't fit on them - the SNS connectors are too big so I end up
tightening them by hand. If anyone knows of a good wrench to tighten RG6QS
SNS connectors, I'd love to hear about it!

--
Bobby G.