F connectors

Son wanted to do a "proper job", so alongside his RJ45 patch panel under the stairs, he installed an RF/Video panel full of F connectors.

He has run the cables which are RJ59 and similar, and bought upmarket F connectors to plug it all up. These connectors don't use the cable itself, but have a crimp centre pin. I think they are made by Canare.

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His problem is that however hard he pushes, the cable won't go into the centre pin.

I've been in touch with the various suppliers without getting very far.

As far as I can tell, the connectors are designed for cable with a

0.59mm centre core, whereas RG59 is usually 0.65mm (although there does seem to be some RG59 available in the US which is 23AWG, which is about 0.57mm).

Has anyone ever used F connectors with a centre pin with RG59 cable, or can anyone point me to a supplier of matching parts?

If he'd asked me I'd have pointed him to bnc's. F connectors are after my time.

Reply to
Bill
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Cut the end of the solid core at an angle to the axis to help insert it.

NB AFAIK BNC connectors don't have the frequency range to be used for satellite tv type signals.

Reply to
Bob Minchin

Can you not file the cable core so that it will fit in the centre pin.

I have quite a large collection of normal F Plugs attached to WF100 cable. They have worked fine for me. The F plug diameter has to be matched to the cable being used, otherwise they can be rather hard to fit. Much better than the normal terrestrial TV aerial plugs.

Reply to
Michael Chare

You mean RG59, I guess. The term 'RG59' is now meaningless. It was originally a military spec. There are cables sold as RG59 that are suitable for UHF and SAT, but there are also some that are too 'lossy' for those applications. Some are really only suitable for CCTV. These have a solid dielectric. They are no good for SAT and not very good for UHF.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

The rolls Royce of F-connectors...

The 'cable' (MATV & CATV) industries use the RG designations very lazily to mean "a cable with an outer conductor diameter vaguely similar to the corresponding US MIL-C-17 spec. 'Proper' RG59B/U is a solid-polyethylene dielectric cable with an inner conductor diameter of

0.58 mm. Cable-industry 'RG59' is generally a foam-dielectric cable with an inner diameter of around 0.8 mm - which may explain the no-go situation.

No personal experience, of Canare - the WF-series cables and Cabelcon connectors from Webro are probably the most popular choice in the UK, for high-quality S..

Does the Canard cross reference table

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help?

Reply to
Andy Wade

In message , Bob Minchin writes

Is this in relation to pushing it into the crimp pin, or for use with a connector with just the core as the connector? I can see it might help.

Thanks for triggering me to check.

Reply to
Bill

In message , Michael Chare writes

I have tried scraping the central core, but not filing. I wondered if there was some simple tool like a wire stripper that would close with an appropriate hole size over the short exposed cable core and then be pulled off to reduce the diameter. The RG59 cable turns out to be Labgear from Screwfix and the core is copper plated steel. :-( The dual cable from CPC has solid copper core

I think there may be a need for some satellite distribution, but the prime objective is to get the house ready for security cameras and cabling for video conferencing as well as standard data. I think this is why he wants easily repluggable F connectors for ise with the patch panel, hence the choice of ones with central pins.

Reply to
Bill

Thanks, Bill. Yes I meant RG59, and he has installed it already.

I have been surprised, when looking for specs, to find that RG59 doesn't always have the same diameter core. I would have thought that was a basic "standard" for any cable designation.

Reply to
Bill

In message , Andy Wade writes

Thanks for all the info that I've snipped.

I've found the Webro website and saw a reference to an adapter that seems to turn a standard F plug into a centre pin version for regular plugging/unplugging. That might be a way forward.

The Canare cross reference table does look useful, but the problem is that he has wired the house without asking for any advice.

Next weekend when he is here I'll try to go through all this with him.

Reply to
Bill

the latter. maybe I misunderstood the question/problem

Reply to
Bob Minchin

I'd never considered trying to find an F connector with a centre pin as why have an extra connection if not needed?

However, like all crimps you need the correct terminal for the cable size.

You'd need to check if there is a BNC suitable for the frequencies involved. On pro equipment they seem to stop at VHF with anything higher using a different type.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

No, it's a much abused and thus meaningless term.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

No. They are not suitable for permanent use. They are meant for non-critical test equipment use. The can be lossy and they are not very secure.

I hope he hasn't used a cable meant for CCTV or some other low frequency application. It's a very common mistake.

Take a look at my website page:

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Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

Actually, that's good news. Copper plated steel is OK. Nasty to work with, but not lossy.

Why use the fancy plugs if the cable has a steel inner?

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

Thanks, that's reassuring.

Do I understand that the steel core makes it robust enough to be able to survive a reasonable number of re-pluggings?

The other thing that still worries me is how do I know that the centre core will make good contact through the connector, bearing in mind that these RG59B/U cables all seem to have different sizes of core conductor.

The patch panel is, I believe,

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so, as there is no detail of the F Connectors, can I assume all F Connectors are the same? Is the centre socket tapered?

Labgear don't seem to feature this cable in their on-line catalogue, but Screwfix say

" Semi-flexible, copper clad steel conductor. Copper screen. PVC sheath. Foam gas injected polyethylene insulation. Ideal for CCTV.

1 Year Manufacturer's Guarantee Suitable for Broadcast CCTV and Security Systems"

Does this mean it has foam insulation rather than solid and should it be OK? The primary use is for CCTV, but he will want to distribute some RF.

I told him to put it in trunking, but young people don't listen. He will be back here at the weekend so I can look at it all with him then.

Thanks Bill for all the help.

Reply to
Bill

Yes. TBH copper is OK as long as you're habitually careful (which you become if you do this every day).

Not normally. Personally I'd be using normal screw-on f conns (£0.06 each). I mean how often in reality will he change his connections? And it's the work of a moment to remake an end and refit an f plug if there was a problem. To put a perspective on this, many installers don't bother with the quick plugs and they connect/disconnect many times with a normal plug.

That's the important bit. The 'insulation' or dielectric as it really is. Foam is OK. The copper screen is very encouraging. Did you see my webpage?

Ideal for CCTV.

Yes it sounds OK. It sounds like a CT100/H109F clone. That's really a UHF/SAT cable but it's fine for CCTV. Presumably the OD is about 6.5mm? Are there any signal loss figures? They need to be something like 18dB per 100m at 860MHz, 29dB per 100m at 2050MHz.

No problem.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

In message , Bill Wright writes

We looked at this today and he will use the normal F connectors. We have "offered them up" with the two types of cable and they feel as if they are going to work!

Yes, thanks for the webpage. I've looked and I passed the url on to him.

I've now looked at the actual cable rather than the Screwfix catalogue, and it is not as described in the catalogue - it isn't foam, but appears to be the type A in your list of cable types.

There don't seem to be any signal loss figures and, as it's not what it says in the catalogue, I don't think I would trust them anyway. We have tried to keep the cable free from kinks and sharp bends.

Thanks again for the help and to the other people who responded.

We are now on to a copper pipe size problem that the plumber has unveiled. I may well reappear in yet another thread.

Reply to
Bill

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