RG6 cable

[keegster17]

who sells good quality RG6 cable in the Toronto area, lot of places sell stuff I don't trust, thin or cheap. IS there a big difference in quality in RG6 cable?

[junior1]

There are ones that work better than others. Let Google be your friend when searching for details.

[Glatt]

I got mine off of a Rogers truck!

[Terryl]

Yes there is a BIG difference in types of RG-6 coax.

Some has only the one shield, some has a copper plated steel center conductor, and some is only meant for OTA TV or CATV work, that type will not work too good with some satellite systems, if using DPP type LNB's your coax has to go to at least 2.5 GHz to get all the transponders down the coax.

Good RG-6 quad shielded coax with a pure copper center conductor may cost you a bit more but using cheap coax is like using cheap pipe for your water plumbing, some day you will have problems, and some of those problems may be hard to find.

Beldin makes about the best, Andrews cable plus several others are as good.

So you may pay $50 more for the coax, it's worth it to have less headaches in the future.

Also important are the connectors used, some are crimped on some are sweadged on, some are weather tight some are not, some can be a bit tricky to put on and need special tools to do the job right.

If you don't have the means to apply the connectors, then here is a place that will do custom cuts and put the connectors on for you, they use good high quality coax and connectors for the job.

http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc=13&p=SSCBLS&d=Solid-Signal-Custom-Cable-Lengths-RG6-with-High-Quality-Solid-Signal-Connectors&c=RG-6%20Cut-to-Length&sku=

[Terryl]

Also when checking out coax at a local supplier, and your worried about the center conductor type, bring along a small magnet, use it to check the center conductor, if it sticks its copper plated steel.

And for those wondering why should it matter.

The copper plated steel center conductor will rust if it gets wet at the connector, it also will not supply the correct DC voltage at the far end of a long run, this due to the higher DC resistance of the steel core, the higher DC resistance will cause a voltage drop, how much depends on the length of coax and how many connectors are used.

A pure copper core is a far better conductor then copper plated steel.