How do you tell if a cable is RG-59, RG-59U or RG-6?
If there an harm if these cables are used together? In other words, if the able from the outside to the outlet is RG-6 and from the outlet to the VCR is RG-6 and from VCR to TV is RG-59U, will this cause problems? Is RG-6 the best? I am not sure what the difference is, but I am getting bad images on some channels, and wonder if I would be using different cables and if this can cause problems?
Thanks in advance,
O
Hi, Not in that kind of application. Tony
As Tony said, no, you should see no difference or ill-effects from mixing.
Telling the difference: Mostly by thickness, although it is not a huge difference. 59 is about a quarter inch, 6 is a "fat" quarter inch. If you have crimp on connectors for both, and you look down into them (as the cable would enter) you'll see the difference, there's a bigger area between the outer and inner edges, more room for the extra shielding material. I don't have much experience with screw-on connectors, so I don't even know if they're a "one-size-fits-all" or ???.
Oh yeah, besides thickness, sometimes you get lucky and it is marked on the outer jacket .
As others have said, a short length of RG-59 should not really cause problems. RG-6 is preferred for RF applications, and is certainly better for digital cable and satellite applications. It has lower losses at high frequencies, and often has better shielding.
If you have poor reception on the same channels on all your sets (if you have more than one) it may be a problem with the company's feed. Try connecting your tv directly to the cable after is enters the house (after the lightning arrester) with a short length of RG-6. If you have poor reception there, call your provider.
It is common on analog cable systems for signal strenght to vary a little from channel to channel, so if you have cable problems, or too many splitters, or old, low frequency splitters, it often shows up just on some channels. Testing right at service entry eliminates all those potential causes.
I have also had problems with the cheap, short little patch cables with push-on connectors.
HTH,
Paul
Some "store bought" short cables are terrible so far as shielding is concerned. They may not be marked. I cut some of these open and the shielding was just a few wires with 2mm gaps (plenty of room for outside frequencies/TV stations to invade the cable). A good quality cable (RG-6) will have a 100% metal wrap and a fine wire mesh (inside). It will say RG-6.
Get *all* your cables from your cable TV provider - every inch. You may be able to stop by their office and get a few cables for free.
Or you can get a hex crimping tool, RG-6 cable, and RG-6 crimp connectors, then make your own cables.
More...
The most common problem with home-made TV Cable connections is poor contact or no contact of the braided shielding to the body of the screw-on or crimp-on connector. With bad contact, the picture looks like garbage or worse. RG-59 connectors and RG-6 connectors are very similar, but have different diameter and you really have to have the right ones.
-B
May be I should make my own cables then.
I am getting bad reception on some channels, but each TV varies. One channel that is bad on TV set 1 is good on set 2. Also, with the number of devices at each TV set (I got the cable from the wall going to VCR, from VCR to TV), So I need to do some investigation. I do have a lot of those "push-in" cables may be I need to replace them and see.
The problem is I am usually pretty handy but I have a hard time making those connectors. I tried every screwed on types and none of them work (or should I say I tried and practiced and was not happy with any I made). I have a heavy duty criming tool from Radio Shack, I just don't like the connection I make, looks like shit. Some of those I made got "beard"hanging out!
O
If it's not a major pain in the butt, do some swapping. Try swapping the cable(s) from one location with the other, see if the problems stay with the location or move with the cables. If it's REALLY not a pain in the butt, try swapping TV's, or at least the most portable of the two. This could be in the "fixed" wiring by the cable co, or just in the TVs themselves.
While the beard might look like hell, it is not a problem in an electrical sense. Biggest thing you want to watch out for is that no "wild hairs" from the outer shield make their way past the dialectric and touch the center conductor, and make sure you're not damaging the center stinger when you strip it. Don't leave more than 1/4 of an inch sticking out past the edge of the connctor, actually about 1/8 is all you need. Sometimes it will be what you are connecting to that is the problem, maybe invest in a can of contact cleaner and spray those female f connectors on the VCRs, TV's, wall cable outlets. Just thinking out loud here, trying to give you oter possible solutions.
As someone else mentioned, RG-59 is to be used for very short runs. I wouldn't even bother with RG-59, just use RG-6 everywhere.
You might want to consider signal loss as described here:
-- Himanshu
Stop being a Neat Seeker jerk. RG-6 is overkill in many situations, nothing but a waste of money. Get off your high horse and realize people do not necessarily want to throw their money away for nothing.
Oops, typo. Should be "Heat Seeker." As in: equipment/technical snob who must always own/use/recommend the biggest/fastest/newest hottest/most expensive thing out there. Heat Seekers like to kill mice with .357 Magnums.
Someone named "I-zheet M'drurz" Proclaimed on
4 Oct 2004 04:34:47 GMT,
Actually the cost difference between Rg-6 and Rg-59 is negligible.
-Graham
Remove the 'snails' from my email
The cables, by themselves, will not produce the symptoms you describe. If different TVs have problems with different channels, it is not just the cables. A lot depends on how you have everything configured. Are you on CATV or antenna? Do you have cable outlets that are not connected to anything? Don't have any outlets or cable ends that do not have either a TV, VCR or similar on it without having a terminator on it.
Charlie
Bullshit. If there is 1 cent difference, there is still a difference, and the connectors cost more as well. Stop blowing smoke up people's asses. If there was no difference there would be no RG-59 cable on the market.
The one thing no one seems to have mentioned is the U suffix. This usually indicates underground. It may have a thicker jacket but should also have a flooding compound under the jacket. The flooding compound is a greasy goo similar to vaseline. It does wonders to stop corrosion damage if the jacket is nicked during the burial. It also is a supreme pain to clean off the shielding and can cause bad connections if you don't clean it off.
Use the U if you are burying the cable but avoid it for indoor applications.
Just picked up a 500' roll of RG6 and connectors. Connectors were nine cents more than RG59 for the same quality/quantity (25) and the cable was $3.48 more for the 500' roll. Counts as negligible in my book. Gas to pick it up cost almost as much as the difference.
Jeff
Noble Pepper wrote:>
What you describe is sometimes called "flooded braid" cable, but it's pretty uncommon. The /U suffix doesn't mean underground - one source I found says it means "universal". Most coax will have a /U on it if it's marked at all, but almost none of it is flooded braid. An RG designation is supposed to mean it meets government standards, but there's lots of RG- cable out there that's far from gov. standards. A major brand is more likely to be good cable but even Belden makes some cheap grades.
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