Cable type

[jrv331]

Knowing what involved with "standard installation" I want to do most of the wiring my self. I know R6(or is it RG6) is the perferred wire to use,but I have several hundred feet of R56 at home. Will this work as well. The only reason I ask is that I see some of the ads saying that they use your existing cable lines.
Thanks
John

 

[beast37799]

when i orginally got my dish 500 installed that what they did they tied into where the splitter for the cable was and it worked fine i have rerecntly changed 2 of those lines from r-59 to r-6 and it inproved singal strengh but thats about it so its shouldnt be a problem

 

[KKlare]

RG-6 and RG-59 (1/4 inch) and RG-11 (1/2 inch) are 75-ohm impedance cables. Do not mix them with RG-58 or RG-8 50-ohm cables. Never use RG-174 or RG-175 miniature cables except on circuit boards.

RG-6 has a foam dielectric core and a larger solid center conductor with lower resistance/better conductivity. It should have a foil under the braid to better shield high frequencies. Double braid is nice but any braid that is just not loose will do unless you put it next to a power line.

RG-59 is solid polyethylene with much more high-frequency loss. It is a little more flexible because it is slightly smaller and the wire is not as stiff.

Use RG-6 for cables over say 10 feet or on the >900 MHz satellite side of your receiver. RG-59 is OK for short OTA signals and RF to the TV.

As many DTV OTA channels are UHF they need the better RG-6 cable.

 

[aperry]

If you are gonna buy a bunch of cable, then use RG-6 throughout. It may not be necessary for short runs as KKlare mentioned, but the few pennies (or dimes) you will save are not worth it IMHO.

 

[Kagato]

Go for the RG-6, as say specifically says RG-59 will not work with DishPro. My guess is they advertise that existing wire works because most cable companies have been installing RG-6 for about a decade. Odd are that the house is pre-wired with RG-6.

If you can, get a nice tri-shield RG-6, and use quality compression fittings. Best deals on cables I've found is comercial electrical companies. Most have "city desks" where you can buy small (250-500ft) spools of coax, usually at 25-50% less than your local builder store. Greybar and Viking and two national companies I use. Just tell them you're a indie installer as they typically don't want to deal with the public. Many DBS installers are indie and have to buy their own cable and parts anyway so they are used to it.

 

[Mainstreet]

Knowing what involved with "standard installation" I want to do most of the wiring my self. I know R6(or is it RG6) is the perferred wire to use,but I have several hundred feet of R56 at home. Will this work as well. The only reason I ask is that I see some of the ads saying that they use your existing cable lines.
Thanks
John

Did you mean RG59? If you really have RG56 cable, you DO have "RG6". The two terms refer to the same guage of cable.

RG59 smallest guage wire
RG56 "aka RG6" larger guage wire
RG11 largest guage wire

RG is the millitary designation for coax cable, and stands for Radio Grade.

RG59 usually has a 22 guage center conductor
RG56/RG6 usually has an 18 guage center conductor.
RG11 usually has a 14 guage center conductor.

Basically, you should be good to go!

 

[gpflepsen]

Plus... if you ever need to escape the second floor, I'd rather have the bigger RG6 to scale down with.