[jacampbell]

I have access to large quantities of these two cables. I am pre-wiring my home during a reno. Cat 6 is taken care of already.


Please give me an idea if this is good coax.


Belden 3 ghz satellite 75 ohm series, 6 coax, 18 awg, Duobond (r), type CATVR, type CMR, type CMG


I'm not sure it's quad shielded. Does it matter, it is free.


Also, for speaker wire I have Belden shielded cable, 12 awg, 2 conductor, UL type CL3R 75c.


Basically it looks like any typical 16/2 in wall speaker wire but there is an extra layer of foil under the outer coat. Will this affect speaker performance? Should I avoid it? It also is free.


thanks for any input

 

[ChrisWiggles]

do you have a Belden catalog number for that wire? Belden makes a zillion kinds of coax. If you have access to the cabling, it should be printed on the jacket. Then you can look it up on belden's online catalog.


That being said, Belden is an exceptional wire manufacturer, so as long as it is an appropriate coax for your needs it should be good. Therein is the question, what is this coax for? You need different coax for different things, cable TV coax is generally rather cheap steel conductor, copper clad and this type of copper-clad-steel is not ideal for other tasks like video, etc.


The speaker wire should be fine, shielding is not really a concern, all that matters for speaker wire is gauge. 12 gauge is plenty overkill for most reasonable lengths. And you certainly can't beat free.

 

[jacampbell]

Thanks for your help. from the catalogue I learned it is bare copper covered steel. I hooked it up to standard broadcast digital stb and it looks good but I dont know how it will handle HD.

I am using it to distribute video through out the house from the SWM. Do you think it is good enough or should I open my wallet buy some quad shielded stuff? What type/brand do you recommend?

 

[Splicer010]

The RG6 you have will be perfectly adequate for what you will use it for. As with any wire, keep it away from electrical wiring as far as is practical.


And Chris, to be more accurate, Belden makes a zillion and one kinds of coax.

 

[jacampbell]

Man you are right! Belden's eCatalogue is mind blowing. My coax is cooper covered steel. I have heard this is better than solid copper because it is stiffer and the majority of the high frequencies are carried in the copper outer part anyway. I guess it is cheaper as well.

I am very tempted to put it in the walls since it is a free gift from my friend in the electrical business. It will be used for whole home satellite distribution. I'd hate to be a snob if their is no real benefit to going for quad shielded or solid conductor stuff.

Any last opinions before I fire up the dry wall gun...ChrisW?

 

[ChrisWiggles]

I can't say unless I know what model coax it is we're talking about. But yes for Sat and cable TV distribution a copper-clad-steel RG6 is entirely appropriate. It isn't better from a performance standpoint, it's just cheaper than solid copper coax, and as mentioned because of the skin effect at these frequencies solid copper is not needed. Assuming this is a fairly generic regular RG6, it should be fine. More than fine, since you can't beat the value of free!


It just wasn't clear to me that this was the task you were using the coax for. If you needed it for video runs or something, I would have recommended solid copper instead. For basic TV distribution, sounds like it's perfect, again assuming this is an appropriate coax for that which I don't know for certain without knowing the model. But I assume it's fine.