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Posted by George on January 1, 2008, 9:02 am
Pete C. wrote:
> George wrote:
>> Pete C. wrote:
>>> Nate Nagel wrote:
>>>> I need to pull some coax through my house; I'd like to add a cable drop
>>>> in the living room for my cable modem and wireless router, also cable
>>>> drops in the bedroom so we can watch TV upstairs. I thought that what I
>>>> wanted was "RG-6 quad shield" but after a quick web search I see that
>>>> Belden 7916 (quad shield) is actually swept to only 3 GHz while the
>>>> Belden 1694A is swept to 4.5 GHz but is only dual shield. I ASSume that
>>>> I want to pull the best product available for less loss and future uses
>>>> that I don't even anticipate yet, but the question is, what is the
>>>> "best?" Good places to buy? Best crimp tools and connectors? Any
>>>> advice would be greatly appreciated.
>>>>
>>>> thanks,
>>>>
>>>> nate
>>> Belden coax will empty your wallet rather quickly.
>>>
>>> When I worked at the cable company we used Times Fiber Communications
>>> (Amphenol) coax specd. to 1GHz. While I've been out of the cable biz for
>>> a while, I don't believe any systems are running over 1GHz and I don't
>>> expect they ever will due to the change to digital transmissions which
>>> are much more tolerant of signal loss.
>> He may be also thinking of using it for satellite. Those systems operate
>> from 950-2150 MHz.
>
> I haven't looked at the current tiny dish digital stuff closely, but I
> suspect it may be using an even lower intermediate frequency band. Even
> if it isn't, the coax just has higher losses at the upper frequencies,
> which for the digital signals is less critical than it was for the old
> analog signals.
They all pretty much start at 950 MHz. I suspect they may have done that
to allow the use of diplexers.
>
>>> Your local cable company will in all probability sell you a spool of
>>> their coax (1000'), connectors and splitters at a reasonable price if
>>> you ask, this is pretty common for home builders who prewire houses.
>>> Since the cable companies are required to keep signal leakage from their
>>> cable system within FCC limits, they have an interest in providing those
>>> pre-wiring houses with quality components.
>>>
>>> 1000' of coax may sound like a lot, but since you should home run
>>> everything from a central point where you locate the splitter or
>>> splitters, that length will get used up pretty rapidly. Never use more
>>> or larger splitters than necessary since every split results in
>>> increased signal loss (3.5db per split). Always orient the splitters
>>> properly as well (in port to cable system) since the loss between two of
>>> the output ports if you connect the splitter incorrectly is 2x the loss
>>> you get the proper way.
>>>
>>> If you have a cable modem, always connect it with a 2 way splitter at
>>> the start of your splitters and feed your other splitters from the other
>>> port. Downstream signals are strong enough to handle a number of splits,
>>> but upstream signals are a bit weaker so you don't want excessive losses
>>> there.
>>>
>>> Crimpers depend on the connector type you get. The compression type
>>> connectors seem to be the most popular these days (were just coming to
>>> market when I left CATV). I've seen crimpers for the compression
>>> connectors at Lowe's so you should be able to get suitable ones there or
>>> probably Depot as well.
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