# RG6 Cable



## dimented (May 21, 2003)

Where is a good place to pick up RG6 cable and the tool to put the connectors on with?


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## gastrof (Oct 31, 2003)

Radio Shack?


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## Markman07 (Jul 18, 2001)

Menards or Home Depot??


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## l2bengtrek (May 31, 2006)

home depot has a pretty good selection of cables and tools. The good ones are expensive though...$50. but it's well worth it if you do your own wiring.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

Radio Shack has a good heavy duty crimping tool. You can get RG6 at any home supply or electrical supply store as well as Radio Shack. If you plan on running lots of RG6 then you can get it in bulk rolls of 1000' for about $125-150 at an electrical supply store. You can buy anodized crimp connectors in bulk packs of 100 for about $15 on-line (check ebay).


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## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

Lowe's has a good inexpensive compression tool. I got the RG-6 from a local electronics store (12 cents/foot).


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## dimented (May 21, 2003)

JimSpence said:


> Lowe's has a good inexpensive compression tool. I got the RG-6 from a local electronics store (12 cents/foot).


What section was it in? I couldn't find one at my local Lowes.

I am thinking about this deal. Is it good or is that too much money for what I get?

http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=325&sku=29834


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## ebonovic (Jul 24, 2001)

How much "cable" work are you going to be doing?

Crimping is nearly the worst way to put the connectors on now adays (next to the screw-ons)

Snap connectors are pretty much the norm (and best) way to do it.
But the tool is semi-expensive (about $70), and the connectors are a little more expensive.
But so worth it if you are doing a lot of them.


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## zardoz007 (Dec 31, 2005)

You need to check out this place.

http://www.deepsurplus.com/


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## dimented (May 21, 2003)

ebonovic said:


> How much "cable" work are you going to be doing?
> 
> Crimping is nearly the worst way to put the connectors on now adays (next to the screw-ons)
> 
> ...


Not a lot. I have 2 runs I need to do and then I would like to have the tools so that I have them when needed. for example, I got a lightening surge last week and the Coax going into my amp from my antenna got fried and needs a new end, I had to call the company that installed it because I don't have the tools to put the new end on.


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## dagap (Dec 5, 2003)

Lowes and Home Depot have cable, connectors, and tools near the electrical stuff. Might be one aisle over - with the phone jacks and what not.

I bought a $30ish kit that had a coax stripper, a compression tool, and 10 connectors. I'd suggest the same for light duty.


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## ebonovic (Jul 24, 2001)

Ahh... for that little amount of work...

You will probably be fine with one of the kits (as dagap suggested) from Lowes or Home Depot.


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## Dirac (Oct 18, 2002)

For connectors, the best I've used are the Thomas and Betts / LRC Snap-n-Seal. They seal tightly, keep out the weather, and don't have the reliability problems that crimp-on connectors do. I'm sure that applies to the other compression connectors out there, but LRC seem to be an industry standard. Do a web search and find a good price.


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## dimented (May 21, 2003)

One of the connections will be going to my HD Tivo which will go to a pojector. Anything to worry about quality wise there?


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## ebonovic (Jul 24, 2001)

One other thing to note about the Snap-Seals.

If you get the right connector tool... you can also get BNC, RCA, and other type "snap on endings" for the RG-6 cables...


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## ebonovic (Jul 24, 2001)

For Example.... this type of connector

http://www.dbs-online.com/items.asp?FamilyID=427&this_Cat1ID=266&Cat2ID=38&Cat3ID=31

I have been looking for something like this to make a water tight connection between two cables... when I had my AT9 installed, they had to run more cable out side, so I have an exposed connection point....


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

There's nothing wrong with using crimp connectors as long as they're crimped properly. Snap connectors are good but they're overkill for most purposes, not to mention too expensive for occasional use. You can buy a 500' roll of RG6 for what the crimp tool costs alone. Check out the 278-238 crimp tool ($17.99) at RatShack. I've been crimping connectors with this tool for years and never had a bad connection. I'm on my second 1000' roll of coax and probably my fifth or sixth bag of connectors so that should give you a hint as to how many times I've used it. Any connectors exposed to the weather should be sealed using Coax-Seal (RatShack #278-1645). I'd also recommend getting a coax stripper such as the RatShack 278-248 ($13.99). It makes preparation of the cable ridiculously simple.


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## Pralix (Dec 8, 2001)

You can get a 50 pack of Thomas & Betts snap seal connectors for $10 on eBay. Lowes has the snap tool for under $20. All you need is a stripper. I picked up a 500' roll of RG-6 Quad shield for $59 at Home Depot.


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## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

The compression tool I got from Lowe's was in the section for RG-6, TV accessories and antennas. It is made by Ideal. There are several but I bought the least expensive one, about $18 or so. I also bought the tool the strips and prepares the cable in one motion. The connectors were 50 for $29, also made by Ideal (#89-055). More expensive than the crimp ones but IMO much better. I went through and replaced all of my crimp connections with compression. 
Here's the compression tool: http://idealindustries.com/IDEAL-EZ/products.nsf/ItemMasterLookup/p30-633?OpenDocument
The connectors: http://idealindustries.com/IDEAL-EZ/products.nsf/ItemMasterLookup/p89-055?OpenDocument


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## tzphotos (Jul 21, 2006)

I just finished installing my new dish and receiver.

I used the compression type of connectors and they were great.

I went to a local electronic store, which supplies to installers but will also sell to the general public. I got a very good price on the supplies and they also let me rent the stripper/compression tool.

Any future coax work I do will be with the snap/compression type connectors.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

After pondering this discussion for a while I decided to check out ebay to see what the connectors and tools were going for. I was surprised to find that prices had plummeted from what I had seen a while back, which is why I had stuck with the garden variety crimp connectors, although I stick to the heavy duty anodized connectors and not the cheap RatShack chrome plated variety that are prone to splitting and cracking.

50-packs of Thomas & Betts connectors averaged about $15 and compression tools ranged from about $10-50, depending on the type of tool. Some tools were strictly for RG59 and RG6 whereas the higher priced models had dies for various types of connectors. I opted for the RG59/RG6 model since I rarely have a need to crimp any other type.

I picked up 500 Thomas & Betts RG6 compression connectors for $65 and a Zenith crimp tool for about $17 with shipping. I'll be replacing a few connectors when I receive them. Ironically, all of my crimp connections are humming along just fine with my HDTV and HDTivos even though DTV says they only endorse the compression types. Crimp connectors work fine as long as you crimp them properly and use the right tools. Unfortunately, there are lots of cheap connectors out there and Mickey Mouse crimp tools that do a piss poor job.


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## Double-Tap (Apr 18, 2002)

Since the satellite coax connector discussion is in force, I'll throw in a couple of questions about the coax itself. The first has to do with indoor vs. outdoor ratings on coaxial cable. I recall reading that some indoor coax has increased fire protection for in-wall use and hence an indoor rating. Is it the quality of the pre-installed weather-sealed connectors on the coax ends that make it an outdoor (or indoor/outdoor) rated coax? Any other differences between the two ratings?

I've seen some "quad shield" RG6 that says it passes the signal up to 3x better (less loss) than other brands of coax. Is this sales talk borrowed from the folks at Monster Cable or a valid claim for satellite dish installations?

One last question. Does a run of satellite coax ever need to be replaced due to age alone (say 12+ years of use), other than degraded video signal or noticeable cracks on the cable? TIA.


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## DeDondeEs (Feb 20, 2004)

I just used the twist on connectors for some indoor stuff and they worked fine. I haven't had any problems with them. I bought a crimper tool and I had the most difficult time getting a crimp that would hold the f-connector on. As far as cable quality and sheilding goes. Isn't the signal coming from the dish digital? Meaning either you get the 1's and 0's coming across or you don't?


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## rminsk (Jun 4, 2002)

I think you may be confusing indoor with plenum rated cable. For fire code plenum cable must be run in plenum areas. A plenum cable will burn slower and not release toxic fumes.

Quad shielded cables may be worse for the applications we use them for and they are less flexible making harder to run. If you have a very very long run I would just get a bonded foil with 95% braid. For shorter runs I would just use bonded foil with 65% braid. For satellite applications it is better to get a copper center conductor. How long are your runs?

See http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=638067


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## gastrof (Oct 31, 2003)

ebonovic said:


> ...Crimping is nearly the worst way to put the connectors on now adays (next to the screw-ons)...


No! Like screw on ones! Easy! Like! Like!


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## xsirenonthe101x (Jul 10, 2006)

Definately go with the compression ends. Grab a decent tool, and a good coax stripper and you should be fine. Steer clear of the plastic tools.


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## captain_video (Mar 1, 2002)

> Isn't the signal coming from the dish digital? Meaning either you get the 1's and 0's coming across or you don't?


The signal coming off the dish is in the RF band. The tuner demodulates the signal from the carrier frequency and splits out the digital stream where it's processed by the receiver. I believe the original signal coming off the sats is in the GHz region but the LNB downconverts it to less than 2MHz.


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