Coaxial Cable Questions

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CyinCo

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Mar 24, 2006
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Clive, IA
I need to run another cable into my house for a TV in our basement gym area. I bought some decent coaxial cable that has no connectors. So I also bought the F type connectors and a crimper. Now, I've never put on a crimped connector but I thought it looked easy enough. However, I can't get it to work well. The box says to cut back the cable so that inner conductor is exposed 3/8" of an inch. That part is easy enough. But the next step is strip the exterior and sheilding away from another 1/8" of cable so that the exterior conductor is exposed. I can't get that to work well. I there a trick to that? Is the exterior conductor the foil like layer? I keep damaging that layer and that seems like it might cause signal loss.

Another question I have is I currently have a 3 way splitter on the outside of the house. It is full. I was looking at 4 way splitter at Menards last night and they have cheap ones and then they have "Monsters" brand for $30. Is it worth the extra money for the Monster Splitter. All the splitters warn that signal should be boosted before using but I can't do that since the splitter is on the exterior of my house. I currently have two TVs (1 with a digital box) and high speed internet coming into the house so loss of signal is important. I especially don't want to slow my internet speeds.

Any help is appreciated. I seem to recall someone who used to work as a Cable guy. Anyone?
 

Cyclonepride

Thought Police
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Apr 11, 2006
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When you cut through the outer layer, do so with a sharp knife and light pressure, cutting almost all of the way through the outside coating. Peel it off from there. It doesn't make a whole lot of difference if you damage the outside wiring and foil slightly, as they will make contact when you jam the connecter down between the outer cover and the shielding. The main thing is to make sure that none of the outer wires come in contact with the inner wire when done.

A good, high quality four way splitter should be fine, and shouldn't reduce your signal level much from your existing three way, assuming you have normal signal strength.
 
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pulse

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Mar 24, 2006
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Not an expert on best way to splice coax connections, but you can get the cable company to boost the signal if you experience too much loss. As far as buying splitters, look at the frequency range and loss on the package. The cable company might provide you with one too. You could always look to split a cable further down the line inside the house past the cable modem which will then not degrade the signal before it.

I
 

CyinCo

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2006
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Clive, IA
When you cut through the outer layer, do so with a sharp knife and light pressure, cutting almost all of the way through the outside coating. Peel it off from there. It doesn't make a whole lot of difference if you damage the outside wiring and foil slightly, as they will make contact when you jam the connecter down between the outer cover and the shielding. The main thing is to make sure that none of the outer wires come in contact with the inner wire when done.

A good, high quality four way splitter should be fine, and shouldn't reduce your signal level much from your existing three way, assuming you have normal signal strength.

The crimp type F Connectors have an inner sleeve and outer sleeve. Do you know if the inner sleeve is actually supposed to slide under the jacket of the cable? If so, that is what I can't get to happen.
 

cytech

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Apr 10, 2006
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Hiawatha, Iowa
The splitter brand should not matter generally anything that saws monster is a rip off.

Having a 4 way splitter shouldn't effect your tv service but could hinder your internet service. You really should have a amp for this. And a question for you is the crimper you got a compression crimper or one of the ones that you just pinch down on?

The ones you pinch down on don't work that great unfortunately.

http://www.diy-home-theater-design.com/crimping-cable.html if you have a pinching one follow this, it should help
 

CyinCo

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Mar 24, 2006
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Clive, IA
Not an expert on best way to splice coax connections, but you can get the cable company to boost the signal if you experience too much loss. As far as buying splitters, look at the frequency range and loss on the package. The cable company might provide you with one too. You could always look to split a cable further down the line inside the house past the cable modem which will then not degrade the signal before it.

I

I can't do that in my house. Each room has a single run of cable that starts on the exterior of the house. I suppose it is done that way to if I wanted Dish instead of cable, I wouldn't need to pull a bunch of cables through the wall as they already are.

Sounds like I should just bite the bullet and drop $30 on a good splitter.
 

CyinCo

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2006
5,745
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Clive, IA
The splitter brand should not matter generally anything that saws monster is a rip off.

Having a 4 way splitter shouldn't effect your tv service but could hinder your internet service. You really should have a amp for this. And a question for you is the crimper you got a compression crimper or one of the ones that you just pinch down on?

The ones you pinch down on don't work that great unfortunately.

I don't see how I could run an amp with the exterior connections.

I have just the pinch down crimper.
 

pulse

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2006
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I can't do that in my house. Each room has a single run of cable that starts on the exterior of the house. I suppose it is done that way to if I wanted Dish instead of cable, I wouldn't need to pull a bunch of cables through the wall as they already are.

Sounds like I should just bite the bullet and drop $30 on a good splitter.

Not necessarily. Like I said you have to look at the specs on the different splitters, i.e loss and frequency. I had a problem one time with signal degradation because the distance was too far and the cable guy came out and turned a screw to boost the signal and that was all it took.
 

cytech

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Apr 10, 2006
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Hiawatha, Iowa
Maybe run 2 connections from the splitter outside then run 1 other cable inside with a amp then split 2 more connections to other areas.

I think you can get a all weather utility box for the outside of the hose you could put it in as well.
 

Cyclonepride

Thought Police
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Apr 11, 2006
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The crimp type F Connectors have an inner sleeve and outer sleeve. Do you know if the inner sleeve is actually supposed to slide under the jacket of the cable? If so, that is what I can't get to happen.
If that is the type I am thinking of, those are a pain in the ***. I used to install antenna systems, and we always used the ones with a separate rings to crimp, which made pushing the connector between the outer covering and the inner foil/wiring a lot easier.
 

CyinCo

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Mar 24, 2006
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Clive, IA
If that is the type I am thinking of, those are a pain in the ***. I used to install antenna systems, and we always used the ones with a separate rings to crimp, which made pushing the connector between the outer covering and the inner foil/wiring a lot easier.

Yeah, I just tried it again and I can't get it to slide far enough under the jacket of the cable. I think I'll try the two piece connector you are talking about.
 

DaddyMac

Well-Known Member
Oct 18, 2006
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I've always used a box cutter razor blade and cut off about an inch or more of the jacket. Like was said, take the blade and score all the way around, down to the copper cable itself.

Put the connector on. The inner sleeve should slide between the shielding and the inner, usually white coating. Crimp it down. I then use a wire cutter to trim off the extra copper wire.
 

nj829

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Mar 18, 2006
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Northwest Arkansas
Lowe's makes a great cutter/crimping tool, I swear by them after running 2nd and 3rd lines to a couple of rooms in my house for dual tuner DVR's and an OTA antenna. They have yellow handles, and come with 5 RG-6 connectors and 5 RG-59 connectors, cost around $20, and worked magic compared to the other tools I have tried in the past.
 

Clonefan94

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Oct 18, 2006
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Schaumburg, IL
I am not endorsing a product or page here. This is the only example I could find of what I'm talking about. If you want to have good solid connections, this is the only way to go. These are the compression type fittings.

Lock & Seal Compression Style F-Connector (RG59) | ShowMeCables

They are the type the pros use. I have a friend in the business and wouldn't use anything else now. Unfortunately, you'll find the tool for the compression is stupid expensive. But, if you have a lot of cable to run and connections to make, it's really the only way to go. The slip on crimp or twist type connectors just aren't reliable.
 

Cyclone90

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Jan 29, 2007
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I don't see how I could run an amp with the exterior connections.

I have just the pinch down crimper.

Mediacom installed an amp at my place which is back fed to the outside splitter. Power supply is in the basement.
 

jumbopackage

Well-Known Member
Sep 18, 2007
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Don't spend the money on monster cables.

Also, are you running RG-6 or RG-59? There's a difference. Is the cable dual or quad shield? Are the connectors for RG-6 or RG-59? There's a difference there as well.

The inside smaller circle should slide over the di-electric/foil wrapped part.

I HATE the crimp connectors. The compression ones are FAR FAR FAR better. You can get all the stuff you need to do compression fittings for like 20 bucks on e-bay.

As far as stripping goes, if you're going to be doing more than one or two, I think it's worth your time to buy a decent coax stripper. It makes stripping pretty much brainless, and takes all of about 5 seconds an end. They can be had at Mendards for around 10 bucks I think.
 

DevilDog

Active Member
Apr 9, 2006
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Janesville
I've been installing cable for 10 yrs u definately dont need the monster splitter any 4 way that goes up to a 1 Gig for frequency is fine. U most likely also dont need a house amplifier if your just going from 3 way to 4 way. As far as not being able to get the fitting on my guess is you have different size cable for the fitting. May have RG59, RG6 Duo or RG6 Quad shield and it takes a different fitting. If i wasnt in Cedar Falls id come over for a few drinks and take care of it for u.
 

CyinCo

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2006
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Clive, IA
I've been installing cable for 10 yrs u definately dont need the monster splitter any 4 way that goes up to a 1 Gig for frequency is fine. U most likely also dont need a house amplifier if your just going from 3 way to 4 way. As far as not being able to get the fitting on my guess is you have different size cable for the fitting. May have RG59, RG6 Duo or RG6 Quad shield and it takes a different fitting. If i wasnt in Cedar Falls id come over for a few drinks and take care of it for u.


Guys, thanks for the help. The Cable I bought is RG6 and is quad shield. The fittings I bought are specifically for RG6 quad so it is the right fitting. The problem, I think, it the fitting type I bought is just to difficult to "push" into place. It is an all in one fitting with the inner sleave and outter sleave as one piece. I'm going to buy a two piece fitting tonight and try that.

I might pick up the wire stripper too. I'm only doing two ends now but I'll be finishing my basement out here soon enough.
 

CyinCo

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2006
5,745
254
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Clive, IA
OK. This is getting very frustrating. I went to Lowe's tonight and talked to a guy who hase used many of the tools associated with Coax. I ended up buying a stripper with adjustable blades and a compression tool to apply nice fittings. But it appears I'm in the same situation as before. I can't get the fitting far enough on to the wire so that I can even use the compression tool. I kind of thought the idea behind the compression tool is that it would do the work for me and I wouldn't be trying to force a fitting on to the end of a wire. But it is really the same. If the fitting isn't on far enough, the compression tool just locks it in place short of where it needs to be (I tried this thinking the fitting would get pushed into place).

I've got $100 in this just to pull a new wire for a basement TV.

When I use the stripper, it has 3 blades. The one farthest from the end of the wire, I've adjusted so it isn't cutting. I'm only doing two cuts for F Type connectors. The first blade cuts all the way to the interior conductor. The second blade just cuts the insulation away. Is that correct?

When I look at the wire (RG6), I see insulation, braided wires, foil, exterior conductor braided wires, foil, insulator, and then finally interior conductor. When the instructions say "peel back braided wires", does that mean the first layer only or the first layer, foil, and next layer?? This isn't clear. I've tried both ways and still can't get the connector on.
 

jumbopackage

Well-Known Member
Sep 18, 2007
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63
OK. This is getting very frustrating. I went to Lowe's tonight and talked to a guy who hase used many of the tools associated with Coax. I ended up buying a stripper with adjustable blades and a compression tool to apply nice fittings. But it appears I'm in the same situation as before. I can't get the fitting far enough on to the wire so that I can even use the compression tool. I kind of thought the idea behind the compression tool is that it would do the work for me and I wouldn't be trying to force a fitting on to the end of a wire. But it is really the same. If the fitting isn't on far enough, the compression tool just locks it in place short of where it needs to be (I tried this thinking the fitting would get pushed into place).

I've got $100 in this just to pull a new wire for a basement TV.

When I use the stripper, it has 3 blades. The one farthest from the end of the wire, I've adjusted so it isn't cutting. I'm only doing two cuts for F Type connectors. The first blade cuts all the way to the interior conductor. The second blade just cuts the insulation away. Is that correct?

When I look at the wire (RG6), I see insulation, braided wires, foil, exterior conductor braided wires, foil, insulator, and then finally interior conductor. When the instructions say "peel back braided wires", does that mean the first layer only or the first layer, foil, and next layer?? This isn't clear. I've tried both ways and still can't get the connector on.
IMG_4580.JPG


There should be two "cuts" made to the cable. The first one should cut all the way through to the wire. The second one should cut away everything except the last set of shield wires.

IMG_4585.JPG


You need to fold those back over the outer cable insulation.

IMG_4586.JPG


The ends can be hard to push on. You need to get the dielectric even with the little flange inside the cable. You can press it up against a hard object, but it should fit over there eventually. Sometimes they are just really tight. It sort of depends on the end.

IMG_4588.JPG


Then you should just have to crimp.