Always double check...

[LoTech]

Two years ago when I first set up my dish, I went to WalMart to buy some cable that was on sale: 50 ft Audiovox RG6 for $9.00. I purchased it and eventually got my dish working.

I've always been plagued by somewhat low signal, but could never figure out why... until 3 days ago. The coax had RG6 printed on it in white letters, but I noticed when I was running cable from an OTA antenna that the coax running into my satellite receiver had RG59 stamped into the sheath. I double checked, and sure enough RG6 was printed in white, but RG 59 was stamped in the plastic.

I guess it always pays to double check. Maybe that's why it was on sale.

 

[TRG]

Two years ago when I first set up my dish, I went to WalMart to buy some cable that was on sale: 50 ft Audiovox RG6 for $9.00. I purchased it and eventually got my dish working.

I've always been plagued by somewhat low signal, but could never figure out why... until 3 days ago. The coax had RG6 printed on it in white letters, but I noticed when I was running cable from an OTA antenna that the coax running into my satellite receiver had RG59 stamped into the sheath. I double checked, and sure enough RG6 was printed in white, but RG 59 was stamped in the plastic.

I guess it always pays to double check. Maybe that's why it was on sale.

So did you change the cable to RG6 and get any extra extra SQ?

 

[LoTech]

Not yet. It works OK, and I don't relish the idea of crawling back under the house. Maybe this weekend.

 

[Dishman Dan]

Not yet. It works OK, and I don't relish the idea of crawling back under the house. Maybe this weekend.

I do not know how the cable is run under your house but...

Is there a way to hook a replacement cable to the "junk" one and pull the thing through without crawling underneath???

 

[turbosat]

Lotech that stuff they sell is some pretty bad stuff. I bought a 50' roll with pre-formed connectors on it from them about two years ago, to run from one room to another. When I cut off the pre-formed connectors the insulation and shielding was almost like tissue paper, center conductor was so tiny I couldn't make a connector stay on it. Tossed it. Cable is one area to always go for the best you can afford.

 

[Mr Tony]

Theres a reason I buy 500 foot boxes of RG6 and compression connectors instead

 

[B.J.]

Not yet. It works OK, and I don't relish the idea of crawling back under the house. Maybe this weekend.

Don't be surprised it you don't see much difference. For 50' of cable coming from an amplified source (the lnbf), there typically won't be much difference between RG6 and RG59. For longer runs, yes there will be a difference, but that's a pretty short run. A few years ago, I had my receivers where I had about a 175' run to the dish, but moved my receiver to where I needed an additional 75' of cable. Rather than run to the store and buy RG6, I used a 75' piece of RG59, and it worked fine. I later exchanged that with RG6, and hardly noticed any difference.

Of course there is good RG59 and bad RG59, just as there is good RG6 and bad RG6. Someone above mentioned RG6 with the thin foil. The stuff I hate is the coax where the foil is almost painted on the dielectric. It's sort of an extremely thin material that's glued on. I like to peal back foil so that the connectors make double contact with it, but you cannot peal this stuff back at all. Perhaps this is the same stuff being described above? It's really terrible coax. I'm not sure where I got it.

 

[Dishman Dan]

Don't be surprised it you don't see much difference. ...

Brain Fart time!!!...

I thought that the coax had to be swept to at least 2GHZ for satellite TV???...

RG59 will do???

 

[LoTech]

To be honest, I only see a couple quality points difference between at the dish with a short piece of RG6 and inside the house with RG59. Sometimes, though that couple points makes a difference when it's raining hard.

 

[Cadsulfide]

Using RG59 for sat signals is like asking your mechanic to use Harbor Freight tools to fix your car with.

Enough can go sour even with good cable.

 

[ikki]

Real men use wave guides between the dish and the receiver.

 

[Stargazer]

Reminds me of coax I saw at a flea market earlier this year. The packaging says RG-6 and the cable itself was stamped RG-59. I only use RG-6 for everything.