TV Cable termination questions

[mdshunk]

I have noticed that when the CATV guys are testing cables and the system, they use some sort of meter. The cable screws onto the device and they can PASS/FAIL or troubleshoot a system based upon what the meter says. What is this device? What does it tell the operator? Are they affordable for a small electrical contractor?

What is the textbook method for terminating RG6? Some of the TV Cable guys in the past have balked at my tendancy to use Ideal's twist on tv cable ends. What is the "Cadillac" method and material to terminate RG6 for TV?

[suemarkp]

I'm guessing its a time domain reflectometer (TDR), or a combination device that incorporates one of these. The TDR will locate reflections on the cable. These are caused at serious kinks, terminations (e.g. splitters), or breaks. An even smarter device may check for cable capacitance or signal quality, but this would require some sort of device at the other end of the cable (a terminator at a minimum).

They are not cheap, and probably cost from$1000 on up. See this link for some possibilities:

http://www.airora.com/web/handheld+tdr.html

[jdcableguy]

There are multiple types of meters(SLM)( Signal Level Meter). They can be go no go, which just tell you if a signal is present . Or they can read total carrier information (each channel) or digital QAMs which carry compressed digital signals. These can and will costs thousands of dollars.
If your wiring homes you need to consider a few things.
1) use a good quality coaxial cable - the industry standard is Quad shield to eliminate unwanted signals from getting into the cable.
2) Use a good connector. Those screw on connectors are prone to faulty grounds and put unwanted signals into the air that affect aeronautical frequencies(air traffic control)
3) don't series wire outlets run home runs for each outlet.
4) Cable should be able to be grounded to the SEP ground.
5) to terminate a cable a 75 ohm resitor cap placed on the wall plate connection will be fine.
Alot of Electrician tend to buy wire,splitters,amplifiers etc because they get them cheap. Well you get what you pay for. I can't tell you the number of people that I've seen moving into 300k homes and finding out that there cable modem or digital box won't work because of inferior coax etc.

[Unregistered]

I work in the comm maintenance field and do occasional CATV work. The BEST tool/system that I have found for terminating cable is made by "Snap-and-Seal", very quick, simple and reliable. The connectors themself are supposedly weatherproof, and the stripping tool is basically foolproof. One piece of general advice is to check the termination before installing, because even one strand of the shield contacting the center conductor will degrade the system. Also, try to use RG6 whenever possible, as it has less loss then RG59.

[dkerr]

I would recommend anyone wiring a new home, to use rg 6 and NOT rg 59, high quality rg 6 will allow it to feed cable internet / digital cable / digital satellite feeds using the existing cable runs without running new cables when the owner wants to use these services.

From an owner perspective, having high quality cable and rg 6 will be well worth the extra few dollars.

I would also recommend that each location to have a separate rg 6 cable run to a common location (usally the common location is where the electrical / telephone / cablevision would enter the house from outside) . I recommend never to use a single cable run to serve 2 room using a spitter. Because you cannot use a splitter with satellite feeds.

A terminator is generally no more than a 75 ohm resister across the cablevision connector. This along with testing will sometimes lessen interference problems by having unused hot cable wall connectors terminated.

[mdshunk]

Don... I found that when I went to buy a RG-6 die for my Ideal Crimpmaster tool, that I can get a die for RG-6 and Quad Shield RG-6. Now I'm confused. What's the difference? Are the final crimp dimensions close enough that I can get away with just using one die or the other for both types of RG-6? Where would I want to use QSRG-6 and where would I use regular RG-6?

I looked into the snap-and-seal variety of connectors and found them to be objectionable both in price and physical size.

[JeffK]

For connections, I've been using my Digicon for the last couple years with great success. The cable guys are even impressed when they see my work, I was offered an installers job.

http://www.starlink-dss.com/Digicon.htm

[dkerr]

QSRG-6
"Quadruple Shielding for interference rejection use in areas with high levels of electrical noise from appliances or computers"

If your next to a major factory, within a couple of blocks of a radio or television transmitter (even a stand-by transmitter), have a amateur radio station on the next block, use the quad shielding.

Standard sheilding of well made good quality RG 6 will be ok in most circumstances, but if it only a few cents difference between the 2 types then go with the quad.

If used outside, then use the black - UV protected RG 6.