Old School Roof Antenna...is it running off of RG-58 or 59?

[alan_techcentral]

Hello again,

I recently discovered the coaxial cable stemming from my roof antenna. I was thinking about connecting this to my Hughes HTL-HD Receiver but the coax cable lacks a connector at the output end. The antenna was left over from the previous owner of the house (some 20 years ago) and so I have no specs on it whatsover.

I'm going to head over to RadioShack tomorrow and so my question is whether anyone knows if the coax cable running from this antenna is RG-58 or RG-59 (so that I can get the correct connector). I know it is NOT RG-6 since the cable isn't thick enough. Since I have no crimping equipment I intended to get those twist-on connectors, but does anyone know if those connectors ever come loose? Thanks again.

My antenna looks something like this: http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/b/b6/200px-Television_Antenna.jpg

 

[charper1]

For the little money, my guess is that your quality and headache reduction down the road, would be best served by upgrading the run of cable to "new" and might as well do RG6.

 

[xccell]

Ya save yourself from frustration and invest in RG-6 cable.

 

[alan_techcentral]

Yeah, but it problem is that this is all the way up in the attic (where the cable is originating from apparently) and I havent been up there, ever. It's probably all dusty and, well, its type of attic where you only have space to crawl in.

Also, this is for my old home (which I barely use, which is why I'm doing this more so for fun and setting up basic HD rather than going all out on buying quality equipment). I usually spend most of my time at my other home where I use my Silver Sensor.

Just out of curiousity, how big is the difference between RG-6 and 59?

 

[NightHawk]

While I agree with Charper the difference isn't that great. A dB or two at 700 MHz over a average 100 foot run. Even if it's RG 58 which is 50 Ohm cable the mismatch loss is less than a dB so any of it will probably work. BTW most caox is imprinted with some type of information about what it is.

 

[jcrandall]

It is probally RG59, which works alright for a basic OTA antenna in most situations. Just pickup a twist on end from RatShack or Walmart or something and try it out, you never know what you'll find. They may have a great anteanna properly aimed from the OTA days, or it may be worth nothing.

 

[dashaund]

It's worth a shot. If you're close to the towers, you should be okay. If you're in a more rural area, you could be screwed. A few dB loss could be the difference between a steady signal and an unlockable one.

 

[bhelms]

To test it out you only need to strip enough of the shield and foam to leave about 1/2" of center conductor exposed, then stick that into your receiver's OTA antenna input. Having the "correct" connector won't make much difference for a go/no-go test. Twist-ons are rather poor in my experience. They tend to pull off the coax with only a minor tug. But I guess they're OK in some situations. I would never use them where they'd be exposed to the elements, however...

 

[manross]

The biggest difference between RG-59 and RG-6 besides the db rating is RG-6 is far superior in it's shielding capability.

 

[NightHawk]

The biggest difference between RG-59 and RG-6 besides the db rating is RG-6 is far superior in it's shielding capability.

That isn't true. The RG designation has nothing to do with any partcular cable's shielding. Belden 1186A RG59 for example has a Duobond IV shield (Quad shield) which would be superior to many types of RG6. There are other overlapping examples.