Is mini coax cable suitable for satellite dish ?

gqma0

I need another feed from my twin LNB to go to the bedroom at the front of the house and I'm trying to find a solution so that it's not too intrusive.

The receiver is 30ft away from the dish going through 3 rooms

I've had my setup for quite a while and I've seen that Mini coax cable are there and wonder if I could use them. What's the smallest I could find ? Would it suit ?

thanks

watty

You would need horribly expensive teflon and it's usually 50 Ohm, not 75 Ohm and needs SMA connectors.

Regular coax can be painted. Use TX100, CT100, PF100 etc. Proper satellite cable to have good screening and the F-Connectors connectors actually work.

Liameter

Possibly the simplest solution is to replace your cable with WF65 "shotgun" twin cable. This will fit through a single 10mm hole and, as Watty says, can be painted.

The drawback with reducing cable diameter is that you also reduce the signal, making your system more prone to "drop out" in poor weather. The only remedy for that is to use the next larger dish size.

steveon

Do not use that twin shotgun cable it is expensive and complete rubbish, prone to interference, I have spent countless hours pulling it out of houses.

Do exactly what Watty has already suggested, use proper cabling and you wont go wrong, cable can always be painted the same colour of a house to help hide it.

watty

The Shotgun cable is expensive and poor.

There is no significant difference in visual impact.

Liameter

I think that Webro Ltd would be disappointed to hear their WF65 cable being described as "complete rubbish". BskyB use it for most Sky+ installations in the UK. It is double-screened copper-on-copper and, although it has much higher signal losses than WF100, it works fine if the signal is strong to begin with. (Hence my suggestion of a larger dish.)

byte

Liameter wrote: »

I think that Webro Ltd would be disappointed to hear their WF65 cable being described as "complete rubbish". BskyB use it for most Sky+ installations in the UK. It is double-screened copper-on-copper and, although it has much higher signal losses than WF100, it works fine if the signal is strong to begin with. (Hence my suggestion of a larger dish.)

I use it too and I've not had any issues with it.

That said, I have not used it over long runs, as that'd be pushing my luck a bit!

I have, however been offered, by suppliers, shotgun cable at half the price, but with the tin/plastic screen and tin-coloured braid, I wouldn't fancy the losses out of that stuff.

gqma0

Guys,

Thanks for the advice. I guess I'll stick with regular TX100 then.
thanks again

G

Liameter

byte wrote: »

but with the tin/plastic screen and tin-coloured braid, I wouldn't fancy the losses out of that stuff.

The real WF65 has stranded copper braid on copper foil or (slightly cheaper and fractionally higher losses) stranded copper braid on aluminium foil.

The copper stuff is absolutely fine, provided that you bear in mind that it loses twice as much signal as WF100/WC100. The aluminium stuff is also fine but doesn't last as long outdoors. Both types can be used for UHF distribution with minimal signal loss. You can even split the cable apart if you need only a single run of very thin cable.

Basically, it's "horses for courses". Shotgun (4mm) cable has its uses but use the standard 7mm cable if you can.

byte wrote: »

tin/plastic screen

I would avoid cable that uses aluminised mylar film, which is what you might be describing. See report here:
http://www.glodark.com/cable.htm

byte

Liameter wrote: »

The real WF65 has stranded copper braid on copper foil or (slightly cheaper and fractionally higher losses) stranded copper braid on aluminium foil.

The copper stuff is absolutely fine, provided that you bear in mind that it loses twice as much signal as WF100/WC100. The aluminium stuff is also fine but doesn't last as long outdoors. Both types can be used for UHF distribution with minimal signal loss. You can even split the cable apart if you need only a single run of very thin cable.

Basically, it's "horses for courses". Shotgun (4mm) cable has its uses but use the standard 7mm cable if you can.


I would avoid cable that uses aluminised mylar film, which is what you might be describing. See report here:
http://www.glodark.com/cable.htm

Yeah, that's why I tend to only use it for short distances. Otherwise, it's two runs of TX100 or equivalent.

Alunimised mylar! LOL, didn't know what it was called, I just see it as a bit of plastic painted with tin paint and don't use it at all. That said, sparkys wiring new houses seem to be fond of it (and in fairness, I'd rather sparkys that use that, over those who seem to STILL use that brown singlescreen garbage).

Anyway, good post.

podgeandrodge

n/a