Co-ax Cable Plug

[RecLambyUK]

I have an NTL cable modem installed in my house which works perfectly. I believe the cable running from the wall socket to the cable modem is a thin-wire co-ax cable. The engineer installed it with roughly 6 metres of cable as the initial idea was to have the cable running out to a back room. However I now have the modem sitting right by the wall socket and need to about 5 metres of the cable. Is it just a simple case of cutting the length i need, stripping the end off and connecting a new plug ? If so what is the exact plug name im looking for ?

 

[fs483]

Why not just get a longer patch cable between your pc and the modem. The tech that comes and installs the cable modem have "special" tools that crimp on the cable. You can always buy a regular RG6 coax cable and a barrel connector to hook up the extension to your existing wire but the barrel connector will induce a little loss in your signal.

 

[AvayaNovice]

Hi,

The thing is... the fittings (or plugs as you said) that you can buy at any shop that don't require a tool to install are not of the best quality. They allow for return loss and require a good bit of knowledge to use correctly in the case of an HSD application.

I would either buy a premanufactured cable (RG-6, not RG-59 -- these are american terms by the way, meaning general use when we say RG -- which is the naming convention used by the united states military... I'm not sure what it's called in the united kingdom, but a coaxial cable with an 18 guage center conductor is sufficient).

Make sure that the center conductor of ANY fitting does not exceed more than 3/16" past the edge of the fitting.

If you really want to get crazy, as a cable installer... we typically use Thomas and Betts (or augat) Snap and Seal fittings. Digicon fittings work as well. These are compression fittings and require a compression tool. Crimp on fittings have since been removed from standards because of their deforming the circular nature to the cable itself.

 

[RecLambyUK]

Im not too sure if I explained my problem very well. I have six metres of co-ax cable all coiled up behind my television that i dont need the majority of. It looks an absolute mess, i want to shorten this lead by about 5 metres, not extend it.

 

[AvayaNovice]

OK, I apologize -- I didn't understand you.

That certainly is a problem.

Most cable companies charge a small fee to "relocate" an outlet, perhaps try calling them? If that's excessive, you can buy a "screw on" fitting for RG-6 that's a do it yourself model.

-nh

 

[RecLambyUK]

Is it possible that RG59 (UK Name, not sure if its the same outside UK) cable would do the same job. I have a whole reel of this available and was told by someone they had set up there modem using this cable ???

 

[AvayaNovice]

RG-59 attenuates at a much higher rate, but yes, will do the job if you already have sufficient signal level.

Over a 100 foot span, RG-59 has triple the loss value, or even quadruple, at high band.