Determing the quality of co-axial cable

al_madhi

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Hi , ppl wondering if anybody can tell how to determine the quality of a co-axial cable , before you buy it . there are a lot of brands manufactrured in many countries . What to look for in determing the quality of the co-axial cable . It is only a cable which consists of four things :-

1 - The black rubber casing

2 - The braided wire

3 - The foam dielectric

4 - The copper conductor

In the above four things what they should be for the best quality co-axial cable . Please advice .



Best Regards
 

rolfw

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You missed the copper foil screen. ;)

You can tell to a degree by looking at the cable, but you really need to look at the manufacturers specification.
 

PaulR

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Have a look here for some insight into identifying good, or otherwise, cable.
 

spiney

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Sat systems need "sat grade" coax between lnb and receiver. This is specially designed to have low attenuation in the "sat if" band, 1-2Ghz. Standard UHF only tv cable won't work at these frequencies, the signal only "travels" a few feet!

Most sat cable is "distinguishable" by a solid (metal foil) outer conductor, outside the outer conductor wire braid, UHF only cable rarely has this. Also, many sat cables have air spaced dielectric, ie holes running through the polythene inner insulation. However, this is getting rarer, since sat cable is now often waterproofed by using a "foam" inner insulator, which looks just like UHF cable, so the foil is the best way to tell.

Only way to be certain which is either the type number - printed on the outside - or test it by actually using!

Standard sat cable is ct100 "grade", with attenuation of 28dB/100m at 1.7 Ghz. Lower loss types are available, eg ct125, ct165, etc, and special types for underground burial, fire resistance, etc.

www.cavel.it/html/e_manuale_1.htm#top .

These are similar to ct types, "dg100" is "ct100":

http://www.cavel.it/html/e_digitale_x.htm .
 
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