Free source of Belden CATV RG6 coax cable.

[Lone Gunman]

Belden cable is made by West Penn Wire, which is owned by Belden. Friend of mine manages a local Electrical supply store. I do all his computer repair work and back about 2 years ago I called him looking for some solid copper core coax. He told me he had some at home that he would bring me. The next week he showed up here with a near full spool of RG6 solid copper core coax made by West Penn Wire and GAVE me the whole spool. He said that he only used what was needed at his house to install Dish so there was probably over 900 ft still on it when I got it. Here's a pic of what's left now.

 

[Tyralak]

The RG6 Belden coax from Rogers does work OK on my sat installs. I have compared it to sat quad cable side by side over a 50 foot run. The STB Q reading is the same. The cable may be conservatively rated to 1GHZ, but it obviously excedes the rating.
Also works great with my OTA antenna.

The STB won't tell you anything. You would need a meter like a Super Sat Buddy to get any real information. What you would be looking for is dB loss on transponders with a frequency higher than 1ghz, which is most of them. At the high end, if you end up with a dB loss greater than -50 dB, then you have issues.

 

[Slartibartfarst]

That cable is fine for short jumpers but runs of any length, go get yourself some decent 3ghz RG6.

 

[jorgek]

The LNBF converts the sat signal to approximately 950-2000mhz and sends it down to the STB. No need for coax rated to 3ghz. I don't have any issues with the Belden cable. If it ain't broke........

 

[Tyralak]

The LNBF converts the sat signal to approximately 950-2000mhz and sends it down to the STB. No need for coax rated to 3ghz. I don't have any issues with the Belden cable. If it ain't broke........

If it works for you, by all means. There is a considerable tolerance, sometimes up to 50% in cable.

 

[markbone100]

Thats why again I run RG11 for satellite cable

 

[navychop]

The LNBF converts the sat signal to approximately 950-2000mhz and sends it down to the STB. No need for coax rated to 3ghz. I don't have any issues with the Belden cable. If it ain't broke........

WHICH system? Dish Hopper uses up to 3GHz. Triple bandstacked, I believe.

 

[Tyralak]

WHICH system? Dish Hopper uses up to 3GHz. Triple bandstacked, I believe.

Regular DishPro is 950-2150. Still too high for regular 1GHz cable. Hopper is all the way to 3GHz. I really wouldn't try it, myself.

 

[jorgek]

I'm limiting my use to FTA and OTA. I have seen cheap RG6 rated for sat use that was no beter than RG59. I certainly would like to try some RG11 but is is costly, ackward to handle and connectors are another issue.
Given a choice my preference is a quality quad RG6 that is rated to 3GHZ which I do run outside the house. Inside the house the Belden works just fine.