Installing RG6/U Cable using Wall Plate Connectors, any diff ?

[Roger Halstead]

There are a couple of points, but first I'd like to say it's nice to see some one who understands where quad shield is likely to be needed and where it's a waste of time and money.

Where to ground? Grounding blocks and... The mast or what ever the dish/antenna mounts on should be grounded. If it's just bolted to the end of the house or a post then the antenna or dish should have a ground. In most places it's required by the code. There should be a grounding block at this point. Unless this point is quite close to where the coax enters the home there should also be a grounding bulkhead at that point as in the 4th photo down on http://www.rogerhalstead.com/ham_files/cablebox.htm. In my case the dish is mounted between 15 and 20 feet up on a the side of a tower. The grounding block is on one tower leg From there the coax goes through bulkhead connectors in the bottom of a large NEMA 1 enclosure (weatherproof) and through underground conduit to the box with the bulkhead connector shown in the previous link. Just inside the house are the power supplies for the antenna mounted preamps. Note all compression connectors are used. They give a very good grip and make a weather proof connection to the cable. However the overall connection still needs to be weather proofed using tape or my preference, flooded heat shrink tubing. Flooded heat shrink has a layer of hot melt glue on the inside and makes strong mechanical connections that are weather proof.

The dish is going up another 10 feet, to clear the neighbor's huge Willow tree<sigh>. I've been here nearly 25 years and that thing is STILL growing. When the dish is raised the grounding block will be mounted about 2 to 3 feet below the dish. Then the two runs of RG-6 will be taped to the tower leg and run to the under side of the NEMA enclosure where they enter through what is essentially another grounding block. BTW, one of those runs goes through a different conduit (shown in the first link) back to my shop where I have a second satellite receiver.
The total run from the dish to the set in the house is about 120 feet. To the set in the shop it's about 60 feet. For the two UHF OTA antennas it's about 258 feet to the set in the house. To the set in the shop it's nearly 300' as it has to go into the house to the preamp power supplies, then through a splitter and back to the shop along with the CAT6 network cables.

On thing not mentioned is the handling of the RG-6 center conductor. When cutting or trimming the center conductor care should be taken to use a cutter that will not squash that conductor out of round. Lineman's pliers or the old side cutters don't normally do a good job at that. I think that squashed out end on the center conductor has been responsible for the failure of many a bulkhead connector as it's not only wider, but has sharp edges that can peel off metal inside the connector. The end of that center conductor should be slightly tapered with no burrs or sharp edges that can damage connectors. I use a "nipper" that is has curved blades, much like a miniature cable cutter which BTW should also be used for cutting coax. When stripping coax The foil should be trimmed neatly so no whiskers are left that might short out the connection.

I agree with others on using only quality components. However in the satellite and cable systems I've never been concerned about the number of connectors as they represent very little loss and I'm starting with plenty of signal although it does go through a lot of coax. Of course splitters drop the amount of signal available and putting in too many can drop the signal to marginal levels. With wall outlets I always put in a bulkhead connector and just run a jumper from the set to it and in all these years that has never been a problem. I would definitely not use quad shielded coax from the dish or antenna to the set. It's too easy to make bad connections unless you are really practiced up. As was mentioned in an earlier post, quad shielded coax is for use around the head end equipment where signal levels are very high and could cause problems.

[akirby]

I learned a trick from an AT&T phone tech while training to be a Uverse installer (in case the union goes on strike - I'm an IT guy actually):

Put a small piece of velcro (the hook or hard plastic side) on the end of the coax cutter (bottom of the finger loop). After you remove the foil, use this to brush the braid back down over the insulator prior to sliding on the connector. Works like a charm. The guy who came up with it got a special bonus!