Old Dish network Rg6 coax

[Bootyhunter]

I went to Youtube TV ahwile back, still have the old dish network satellite up on the roof, with the RG6 coax ran into my living room. Im going to take off the dish, leave the mount, connect a base scanner antenna to the coax and use it. The antenna and connectors are on order, will update when I get it set up with some pics and performance results vs antenna on scanner inside the house. Im expecting some moderate improvement.

 

[jtwalker]

Probably 75 ohm instead of 50 ohm, so not likely to be an ideal impedance match for your scanner.

 

[n3obl]

It should work fine for receiving even with the mismatch.

 

[vagrant]

I used RG6 for years with a discone antenna above my roofline. Worked fine for years with local and or strong RF signals. I even used that setup to monitor military aircraft as well. I have upgraded to LMR-400 and enjoy the slight gain. You'll probably enjoy the improvement with fringe signals using the outdoor antenna. Still, with that antenna improvement you can also increase your RFI (Radio Frequency Interference). This often comes from broadcast FM stations (88-108 MHz) and 152 MHz paging systems. There are filters you can use inline on the coax that will help. See the URL in my signature for FM filters. For paging systems, I use filters made by Dale Parr. Everyone's geographic and RF environment are different.

1. Much depends on what frequencies you wish to monitor. The higher one goes, the more one will appreciate improved coaxial cable.
2. If you only monitor a particular system/frequency, an antenna tuned just for that will dramatically help.
3. Did I mention filters? I have six various filters inline for my main scanners.

 

[wtp]

the old rule of thumb was,
if out in the weather for more than 5 years, it is time to replace it.
you could just try it and see what happens, no harm in that.
for reception only there are no rules.

 

[dave3825]

I use RG 6 from antenna to splitter and from splitter to dongles (SMA) and scanners (BNC). If you don't want to mess with installing connectors, and the f type is still on your lines, get an f type female to whatever your using.

 

[cavmedic]

As long as the coax is still
Good and hasn’t sucked in any water, you will be fine.

If you prep new connectors and the braid is powdery or the center conductor is tarnished, the coax is trash.

 

[dlwtrunked]

Probably 75 ohm instead of 50 ohm, so not likely to be an ideal impedance match for your scanner.

And also not matter. Some scanners were even designed to be 75 ohm but many vary quite a bit across their range. And even so, the effect is completely negligible (0.2 dB) for receiving. Not worth doing any thing about. (By the way, wideband transformers that convert the impedance have greater loss than the impedance mismatch.)

 

[KMG54]

I went to Youtube TV ahwile back, still have the old dish network satellite up on the roof, with the RG6 coax ran into my living room. Im going to take off the dish, leave the mount, connect a base scanner antenna to the coax and use it. The antenna and connectors are on order, will update when I get it set up with some pics and performance results vs antenna on scanner inside the house. Im expecting some moderate improvement.

It will work fine, just make sure there are no splitters or multi switches inline.

 

[KMG54]

Good solid copper quad sheild RG6 is rated to 3 gigs with low loss. Your scanner will never know the difference, it can't read the print on the coax. All my receive only radios yous rg6, My transmit uses real LMR400