Commscope Tri-Shield ok?

[KneeDragger]

I bought a roll of it thinking it was Quad shield but its only Tri. Will be sufficient enough to utilize? I want to pre-wire before the my installation. Thanks

[RobertE]

I bought a roll of it thinking it was Quad shield but its only Tri. Will be sufficient enough to utilize? I want to pre-wire before the my installation. Thanks

Quad is overkill for DBS use unless you are in the shadows of some strong radio towers.

Standard issue dual shield is what is speced by D*.

As long as its solid copper core, your fine.

[Mertzen]

Yeah will be plenty. D* doesn't require quad.

[KneeDragger]

sweet. I was under the impression they used quad. I bought 1000ft for $40

[KneeDragger]

maybe not sweet. this is what i have and it doesnt say SOLID COPPER CORE. :(

http://docs.commscope.com/Public/F677TSVM.pdf

[RobertE]

Looking at the spec sheet, a couple things stand out.

Copper Clad Steel
&
dB loss specs only up to 1ghz

[KneeDragger]

im assuming thats a bad thing. son-of-a-**** I was searching through all there RG6 and havent found anything that is solid core yet. Oh well... i give up. I thought i was understand this stuff but apparently not. im still lost with the whole transponder deal and what all the numbers and signals mean so heck with it. lol The way the last few months have been going, i have a feeling im gonna be sending this installer away and cancelling. I wont be letting him have his way with my house and im sure not going to pay him to run coax.

[Scott in FL]

The cable that you bought is fine. BCCS (bare copper coated steel) is very common for RG-6 cables. There are some copper center conductor cables, but BCCS is fine. At RF frequencies the energy flows on the outside of a conductor, so a copper coating is as effective as copper. Plus the steel gives it strength, as when inserting an F connector.

Regarding the attenuation, just because the manufacturer didn't publish the spec above 1 GHz doesn't mean it's bad. This is common (and frustrating). Your cable has a loss of 6.55 dB at 1 GHz. Belden's 1829AC has the same spec, and this is an excellent cable used for satellite communications (with a copper center conductor by the way).

I prefer non-contaminating outer jackets, but the cable you bought will last many years.

[Mike500]

Quad shielded cable is disappearing in favor of trishield.

Correct stripping and installation of quad shielded connectors is tedious and time consuming, when done right and often needs special connectors.

Tri-shielded is the industry's answer to these problems. Most current tri-shield has 78-90 % braid, which means that it has the same braid density of the two layers found in quad shielded. This just eliminates the bothersome outer foil shiled layer.. My preference is Tri-shielded.

I also prefer copper coated steel or Copperweld. It is much more durable and kinks less when pulled or fished through walls. It is less likely to kink, stretch or break than solid copper. The high frequency signal travels along the skin of the conductor, not inside it.

The only advantage of solid copper is that the "switching" voltage does not drop in ling runs over 120 feet. Unless you are doing, long runs, copper coated steel is better for most purposes.

[KneeDragger]

Quad shielded cable is disappearing in favor of trishield.

Correct stripping and installation of quad shielded connectors is tedious and time consuming, when done right and often needs special connectors.

Tri-shielded is the industry's answer to these problems. Most current tri-shield has 78-90 % braid, which means that it has the same braid density of the two layers found in quad shielded. This just eliminates the bothersome outer foil shiled layer.. My preference is Tri-shielded.

I also prefer copper coated steel or Copperweld. It is much more durable and kinks less when pulled or fished through walls. It is less likely to kink, stretch or break than solid copper. The high frequency signal travels along the skin of the conductor, not inside it.

The only advantage of solid copper is that the "switching" voltage does not drop in ling runs over 120 feet. Unless you are doing, long runs, copper coated steel is better for most purposes.


Thanks! :)

[joe diamond]

Have the correct fitting and tool on hand......Comscope seems to not fit some standard fittings...........better than required for satellite stuff.

Joe

[Mike500]

Have the correct fitting and tool on hand......Comscope seems to not fit some standard fittings...........better than required for satellite stuff.

Joe

Not true....Say it aint's so, Joe..........

Any fitting that works with rg6 will work with tri-shielded rg6. I can't say I've used every brand that's out there. But, I have and use over 90+% of them.

[AntAltMike]

If you have trouble cramming a fitting on a certain model of coax, sometimes you can make it go by taking a pair of pliers and pinching the side of the last half inch of the outer jacket so as to stretch it a little, making more room for the inner part of the connector (ferrule?) to slip inside of it.

[lwilli201]

sweet. I was under the impression they used quad. I bought 1000ft for $40

Just curious, where did you find that cable for 4 cents a foot?

[Mike500]

Quad shielded will eventually disappear from common use, as did hard drawn copper cable made in the early 1960's for Copperweld or copper plated steel.

The only reason they sell it is, because perople have been used to it as the high quality shielding standard. A lot of OLD TIMERS and government sopecifications had been written for it and have not been updated.

I remember, in the arly days of the RS232 DB25 communication cable standard, a lot of governemnt specs required AMP pins and sockets, when the phosper bronze machined pins and sockets were better.

[KneeDragger]

Just curious, where did you find that cable for 4 cents a foot?

on Craigslist. :D Guy was local. He has another full roll if you want it. $40 plus shipping. :grin: