[lug] OT: RG6 television cable

[John Dollison]

Dan,
Yeah, I'm a ham operator also.  N3TQF.  I'm not as active as I'd like, but
for me, the more I try to learn about everything, the more groups I end up
joining!  It's nice to have lots of friends in lots of different groups
(like BLUG and amateur radio) where they're all interested in learning more,
growing more, and helping out newbies!  (When I get more proficient in
Linux, I'm planning on combining my skills to create a linux-powered robot
that stays in touch with my home PC using a ham-radio link and a Java
interface!)

BTW, the Boulder Amateur Radio Club meets every Sunday night on 146.70 MHz,
at 7 pm.  They also have a real face-to-face meeting the third Tuesday of
every month at the Rocky Mtn School for the Gifted and Creative (2897
Mapleton Ave, across from the YMCA).

John Dollison
Boulder, CO



.
----- Original Message -----
From: "D. Stimits" <stimits at attbi.com>
To: <lug at lug.boulder.co.us>
Sent: Sunday, August 25, 2002 10:30 PM
Subject: Re: [lug] OT: RG6 television cable


John Dollison wrote:
> Dan,
> What kind of RG-6 do you need?  Plenum or outdoor?  foil-shield, braided,
or
> double-shielded?  solid-core or foam core?  Also, 75-ohm RG-11 has lower
> signal loss than RG-6 at higher frequencies.  You may want to start at a
> cable manufacturer (like Belden.com) to pick the exact style you want, and
> then do a google search on that mfg's part #.  I'd also check BlackBox.com
> and maybe Digikey.com.

This is going in an ordinary house, so indoor. Plenum I understand is
not required for non-commercial, though it never hurts if the cost is
workable. It would be interesting to go to RG-11, but I'm not sure it
will fit in the space required...the connector style itself seems to
preclude using it without a special barrel adaptor. In other cases it
will go through conduit which is too narrow for full size cable
(considering there is already other cable in the conduit). Being an old
ham radio operator (W0UH, it probably has expired about now), I am prone
to wanting ridiculously low loss :P  I think I will look for a type-F to
whatever-is-possible-on-RG11 adapter before I rule it out. FYI, the
cable system runs up to 1 GHz.

I will check blackbox.com and digikey.com.

>
> Cablewholesale.com sells 1000' of RG-6 for $92, or 100' for $15.

I can get, locally, 1000' of RG-6 for $60, but I probably only need
about 100'. The $15 price will do nicely if shipping isn't a big add-on.
With the Fast Cat 5e, I ended up paying just over 2 cents per foot after
selling off excess, but the 5e is in much more demand than RG-6, so I
couldn't sell it off the same way for excess.

>
> There are many sites that help you compare cable specs and prices.  Here's
> one that I just found, it's not great, but a good starting point:
> http://www.radio-ware.com/products/techinfo/coaxapps.htm
> http://www.radio-ware.com/products/techinfo/coaxloss.htm

These will go into my bookmarks :)

>
> John Dollison
> 855 Mohawk Drive
> Boulder, CO 80303
>
> (303) 499-7769  (Home)
> (719) 339-3705  (Cell)
>
> Your computer can help fight Cancer and Alzheimer's! Visit
> www.intel.com/cure/
>
>
>
> .
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "D. Stimits" <stimits at attbi.com>
> To: "BLUG" <lug at lug.boulder.co.us>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 4:03 PM
> Subject: [lug] OT: RG6 television cable
>
>
> I'm trying to improve the terrible state of television cables inside
> this house, which was built prior to cable service even existing here.
> Much of it is old RG59, with terrible connectors, and splitters all over
> (in some cases the splitters are not rated to the needed 1 GHz of cable
> channels). I would like to find an inexpensive source of RG6 cable, and
> put in continuous non-spliced feeds wherever possible. The biggest
> problem is of course cost. When I went to wire this house for ethernet,
> I found a 1000 foot roll is only a bit over 5 cents/foot, and after
> selling the unused portion, it ended up costing just a bit over 2
> cents/foot, running a little under 500 feet total. The RG6 is more
> expensive, and there are fewer places that would buy it back, so I think
> a 1000 foot bundle is too much (I expect to use less than 200 feet, most
> likely just a bit over 100 feet). Can anyone tell me where a good place
> is to find RG6 cable, and quality connectors? Saunders is definitely out
> of the list here, for prices.
>
> D. Stimits, stimits AT attbi.com
>



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