ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Advice for connecting thick jacket RG-6

Hello All,
Fishing for some advice on how to connect that thick jacket RG-6. The stuff you buy at home depot works great with their RG-6 connectors, yet out in the field, some co-ax you run into has a thicker jacket that makes getting a connector on pretty difficult. Any of you out their aware of any products or techniques that help with the thick jacket?
Thanks

Cal,

By thick jacket RG-6 I am assuming that you mean RG-6 Quad Shield.

There are specific connectors for Quad Shield to allow for the increased cable diameter.

What nobody realizes, unless you are from the CATV industry, is that there are specific connectors as well as crimping tools for each cable and I don't mean all RG-6. Most of the time I see complete abortions when connectors are installed. Looks like they were smashed with a hammer or channel locks! They also have no idea how to prepare the cable for the connector either. If connectors are not installed properly it may flat out not work, there will be intermittant as well cause ingress and radiation problems.

The cable manufacturer may have a recommendation for the proper connector but it may not be something that you are going to be able to find. Supply houses understandably have no clue because this is not an electrical item. Connectors are available from CATV supply outfits like Arris Telewire but you have to have a part number.

This is one reason for using the right cable for the job. If you can't get the proper connector and don't have the proper tool it defeats the purpose. Why the heck are you using that quad shield stuff anyway?? Do you have ingress problems?

-Hal

It turns out that the quad cable is what was installed in the house -- I've never seen anything like this previously. The cable assembly contains 4 cables -- 2 6-conductor telephone cables (RJ-6, correct?) and 2 cable TV cables. The whole thing is wrapped in a sheeth similar to what you would find on NM cable (Romex type cable). The sheeth is a greenish color. When you first look at it, you swear your looking at 2-3 NM cable, real hefty looking. What gives the cable assembly away is that the manufacturer labeled the cable as "quad cable blah blah blah assembly". What's even more dangerous is that the cable assembly run to the AC unit in the home where I ran into this cable looks like a 2 pair CATV cable assembly -- I darn near cut through that except the word assume (ass-u-me) came to mind and I dug through the 18 inches of blown in insulation a bit more only to find this funky green cable that I described previously. To let you know, this home is a 3000 foot monster with all the latest gadgets built within the last 3 months. The great thing about this trade is that its constantly changing out there and you certainly can't get stagnant. Anyhow, thanks for all the tips to this point. -- steve

I call that "everything known to man" cable. Couple of CAT5's, couple of RG-6's, some even throw in a couple of fibers just for the heck of it. If I'm leaving something out you can be sure they didn't! If you are not sure what to use just run that stuff. It's sure to have something that will work!

I once worked in a house that had this junk running everywhere and in particular to a 2 gang box in the hall for just a phone. God forbid that the person who did this job actually had a couple of brain cells working that day so he could realize that he could save some money by running individual cables where they were needed. Not every phone is next to a computer, not every computer is next to a TV and not every TV is next to a phone. Duh!

-Hal

[This message has been edited by hbiss (edited 10-16-2004).]

I like that "Everything known to man" cable. Yea, this stuff must be worth a fortune!!! Furthermore, its a pain in the butt to cut through the outer sheith and make a splice on one of the cables (the lady wanted the cable moved to the other wall). Needless to say, I had to look at the original coax outlet (of course, only 1 coax cable was used of the 4 cables ) to see which color cable to splice. The original contractor did spend a fortune for nothing (unless you want to run to separate dishes and 2 separte computers from one local ). -- steve

Yup, that's a problem with this stuff too. What the heck do you do when customer want's the location changed. You can't (or at least shouldn't) splice CAT5 unless it's being used strictly for voice. Coax is OK to splice but now do you extend the whole mess to the new location or just the cable what's being used?

In new construction it's cheap enough to put several jack locations in each room if you run individual cable. Nobody really knows how the furniture will be arranged and the easiest way to avoid costly work after the house is finished is to cover all the bases before the walls are closed.

-Hal

Hal,

Are you saying the method I used to splice CAT-5 throughout a process control plant for 100Mbps LAN was not the right thing to do?
M.


[This message has been edited by marcspages (edited 10-18-2004).]

M.
I would say yes. Although you did attempt to maintain twist rate, I don't think the termination method is within the specification of Cat-5+. It will work, but if not sure it would pass a certification of the cabling plant. FEXT, NEXT, or sum loss may be an issue. A 110 IDC block would be more economical and rated for the use. EIA/TIA allows one intermediate cross-over between points. I would be interested in seeing the results of testing a splice like that against an 110 IDC block, with a an unslpiced cable as a control.

That's not an accepted procedure. If you do that with CAT5 on up I can guarantee you that it will not pass certification.

That aside, it worked for you because most applications very seldom rely on the maximum speed a network is capable of providing. Try simply pigtailing the conductors without even attempting to maintain any twist. You probably won't see a difference between that and an unspliced cable.

In a sense I agree with you as this is the basis for my objection to the never ending introduction of faster and faster cables- I question whether they are even needed. But I have to disagree with your method of splicing simply because it is not an accepted method and God help anybody that comes along after the fact looking for a problem. This is like splicing NM in mid run and just taping it up!

A better way but still not correct is to press a RJ-45 plug on one end and punch down a jack module on the other then connect them together. At least that has a chance of preserving the characteristics of the cable.

If you have lots of room there are 110 and 66 punch down blocks that could be used.

Nobody want's to hear it but the correct way is to replace the run.

-Hal