RG-6 coax

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scan18

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Question for the cable experts out there...

Where would be the best place to buy high quality RG6 cable? I know Radio Shack has the RG6QS cable, but I imagine that would still not be as good quality as RG6 from other places.

Any thoughts or opinions would be great.

Thanks.
 

diskmonger

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CommScope makes a good Quad Shield RG6 cable. Most of the cable companies and contractors use this brand also. But, I think it is fairly expensive if you try and order it for yourself.

I would do some looking around on Ebay.

Diskmonger
 
N

N_Jay

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scan18 said:
Question for the cable experts out there...

Where would be the best place to buy high quality RG6 cable? I know Radio Shack has the RG6QS cable, but I imagine that would still not be as good quality as RG6 from other places.

Any thoughts or opinions would be great.

Thanks.

There are other good cables, but Belden is the industry leader.
 

LarrySC

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Keep you eye out for Cable TV trucks or their contractors. They will give you cable that is tangled in the box or if you are really lucky they will give you a roll. I got a roll about two months ago-800+feet. I'm planning to put PVC from my scaffold where ant's go into my shop under the house and into my office. Figure at least 4-5 runs. Good Luck w/ the RG-6
 

diskmonger

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Some cable companies will give you a spool of cable if you contact them and are doing a new construction home in their service area.

I ran all my own CATV & network cable prior to the contractors putting the drywall in. (NICE!). The cable company installers would terminate all the CATV lines into 1 outlet box upstairs and install a splitter behind the drywall (YUK!). I brought all mine into the basement and put a nice plastic telephone junction box on the basement wall and brought all the lines into this.

I was able to get a nice 1000 foot spool of CommScope RG6 Quad. I have quite a bit left over too ;)

Diskmonger
 

Thayne

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"ant's go into my shop under the house and into my office."

Are those red or black ants?

:lol:
 

SAR923

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I use the Radio Shack RG6QS and find it does a good job. The price is reasonable and the connectors are well terminated. I'm sure that Beldin makes better cable but it's not orders of magnitutde for receiving so I wouldn't be afraid of buying RS RG6. I wouldn't buy their RG8 from them, however, as it is of a lesser quality than other RG8 cable that's out there.
 

KD4REL

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RG-6 Cable vs RG-8U

RF radio communications are terminated at 50 ohms (RG-58, RG-8U, 9913, etc).

RG-6 (and RG-59) cable is a 75 ohm cable used for Video primarily.

Does using RG-6 or RG-59 degrade your scanner communications? I know it does make a significant difference on reflected power on transmitting radios, but how does it affect receivers (Scanners)?
 

astrodanco

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Re: RG-6 Cable vs RG-8U

KD4REL said:
Does using RG-6 or RG-59 degrade your scanner communications? I know it does make a significant difference on reflected power on transmitting radios, but how does it affect receivers (Scanners)?
A lot of people are misinformed on this subject. It's just plain not significant in the case of a scanner. The antenna impedance itself varies way more than that over large frequency ranges.
 

diskmonger

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I agree. Using the 75ohm cable is fine for receiving only. It actually does a pretty good job.

Diskmonger
 

W4KRR

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Yes, when it comes to coax cable for scanners, low loss is more important than impedance.
 
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