RG-6: Is "Made in China" OK?

[bhelms]

Our local Lowes is moving and blowing everything out at a min. 20% discount. They have a spool of Carol RG-6 and a bunch of stuff labeled as Philips at some good prices and since I need at least 100' for my two current projects, this is tempting. All of it is made in China, and upon brief inspection I believe all have CCS as the center conductor. There are a variety of shielding options including QS which is where I'm leaning.

Any compelling reason other than overprice (still need to confirm) why I shouldn't go with a "made in China" brand?

Where is Belden coax made? I would like to find a source for their 1694A but I'm sure that it will be quite expensive. Their 5339T5 looks to be very suitable (not QS, CCS center cond.) and probably less expensive.

I'm not hung-up on the made in China thing but I have heard some quality quips about cable sourced there and I do like to buy American when I can.

How important is solid copper vs. CCS? (Due to skin effect, it seems to me it won't make any difference for the high frequency signals, but maybe the higher resistance will have some impact on the power to the preamp/LNB.) I don't necessarily need QS but I do want a full-coverage foil type coverage as part of its shield due to local interference problems, and because part of this will be buried in conduit along with other cables carrying signals that might cross-talk.

Any recommendations?

TIA and BRgds...

 

[stone phillips420]

check this thread may be of some help.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=70328

 

[NightHawk]

The differences in the cable types will be inconsequential assuming you are using amplification at the antenna end. If not, go for the 1694A.

 

[bhelms]

Tks both. I now remember that earlier thread mostly regarding the skin effect information. In my applications I don't think there will be any performance difference CCS vs. solid copper for the inner conductor. In terms of what cable to use, I realize there are loss differences and I expect the Belden 1694A to be superior in that respect. I do plan to use a preamp on the portion connecting my OTA antenna so those differences will probably be inconsequential. I guess my question is more one of long-term reliability - again the question of "consumer grade" vs. "commercial grade", etc. Do the better cables hold-up longer?

Tks again and BRgds...

 

[bhelms]

...you mentioned you were concerned about interferences from electric fence. dual shield may be a candidate for that...

Tks again Rick, as always! I ended-up ordering a CM7777 from Warren Elec. yesterday. I discussed the issue with their "expert" and that was his recommendation. We agreed that there is probably no issue with overload from strong local stations in my case since everything (except a few low-power repeaters from the opposite direction) is 25+ miles away. I like the 2.0dB UHF noise figure of the 7777 - I think that was what sells it for me. The 20+dB UHF gain is probably in the range of what I'll need, but who knows for sure? Only one way to find out! I won't be splitting this signal at first and the highest channel I'm trying for is 34.

While I was at it I had them throw-in some dual shield cable from "CM" (who actually makes it - he didn't know!) at $0.12 per foot. I'll try that first. If my results are improved but could be better, that would probably be the first thing to upgrade. If I have no improvement, better cable probably won't help; at least that won't be the limiting factor.

I will still plan to do some antenna location/height adjustments as you suggested. I might even try to find a way to increase the elevation on the 4228 as you suggested elsewhere - I definitely need to "look up" a bit to clear the ridge!

I went back to Lowes for a compression connector installation tool and some connectors. Not the best but advertised as waterproof with 0-rings. Should be better anyway than the old crimp-ons I have used for years!

What do you or anyone else recommend for the "grease" to put on the outdoor connections? I have the stuff electricians use in panels for preventing corrosion on the bonding connections. Would that work or should I use something else?

Tks again and BRgds...

 

[bhelms]

Tks again! That is a nifty mounting system for the 4228! Looks clean and strong. Maybe I'll need to copy that.

Too hot to be on the roof this weekend. I'll wait for the 7777 and it's supposed to cool down some next week.

Have a great weekend, all...!

 

[miguelaqui]

Known to be Made in USA:

Commscope
Vextra
TFC (Times Fiber)
Trilogy
Belden

Any more?

 

[RandallA]

I thought Carol was made in the USA, based in Kentucky.

 

[navychop]

I bought RG-6 from Rexel Electric. Insulation looked thin and sprayed on. I had to rip it all out and put in better stuff (perfect vision). I would not worry about Chinese manufacture, but I would do a visual to ensure it looks good.

I also moved to compression from crimp. Much better, and maybe even easier. But why bother with the grease?

 

[cablewithaview]

to answer the question, "RG-6: Is "Made in China" OK?" sadly a lot of the RG6 wire is starting to be made in China, Triliogy being one of the recent ones in the past year to start having RG6 made there. Is it ok?, I don't see why it shouldn't be, as long as it is still made with the same quality standard as before.

 

[cablewithaview]

I also moved to compression from crimp. Much better, and maybe even easier. But why bother with the grease?

why bother with grease? man, compression fitting or not, the connector will suck in water period. I have seen installers use the "good" wire and the "good" connectors and still take in water over a period of time. don't ever think compression fittings alone will take care of that problem. I still use crimp connectors and I have less problems with them then the local DirecTV installers do with their compression fitting connectors. Everytime I get a call from someone going from satellite to cable, the main reason is because of an installer error in not using grease. I mean every connector they use sucks water in so bad that the center pin corrodes into. of course they get told it will be a $70 fee to roll out there, blah, blah, blah. I'm friends with one of the installers and asked why he does not use grease? he says he has to make a living somehow. I told him, I don't want people calling me because of an error made by me. with any coax carrying voltage, that invites water even more. so please USE GREASE!!!

 

[bhelms]

I thought Carol was made in the USA, based in Kentucky.

So did I, but I looked at the label on the spool and it said "China"...

 

[RandallA]

I've used the Carold Quad cable from Home Depot, I would assume that Lowes is selling the same type. I had problems with ingress when I was with cable, ran new Carol Quad cable all over the house and the ingress problem went away.

I'm now using it for Dish Network and haven't had any problems. The only problem I had was putting the connectors, it was a pain in the rear and I was using the Snap n Seal quad connectors. Very hard to get those connectors in that cable.

 

[bhelms]

Tks RandallA. For my current OTA upgrade I went with some dual-shield from Warren - I'm not sure who makes it. The compression connectors I used went on well. The only issue I had was getting the stripper adjusted correctly. (It's still cutting-off too much braid, but the foil is intact.)

I will also be running some cable in conduit along with other signal and power wires and I want to use QS for that run. Not sure where I'll buy that yet. It will probably only be carrying my in-house distribution stuff and that's powerful enough that I don't expect any interference problems, but I still think the QS is a good idea for that run...