Re: Best brand coax and F connector for HD cable?

[Ed Nielsen <egnlsn@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Belden has been making cables for decades.  Many people know their name
and their reputation, comes about because of all those decades.  That is
their their biggest advantage.  Monster, on the other hand, is, as you
wrote, hype.  They have nothing on which to base their claims, yet,
because of marketing, they have a rather large marketshare.

lnh wrote:
>
> Wrong. Belden tests their cables. Monster is hype.
>
>> With today's cables using a 100% foil shield, plus a braid there is
>> little to gained by more layers of braid. Just stick with a name
>> brand.
> Wrong. Here in Houston if you dont use Quad shield you WILL see the
> leakage
>
Totally depends on the location.  Quad is recommended in locations where
broadcast facilities are nearby.  That does not mean that if there is a
broadcast facility nearby and you don't use quad you will, with
uncertainty, experience problems.  Roger can vouch for that.

You also need to consider the frequencies involved.  Being an ARRL
member, as well as licensed, Roger has a real facility setup, which
includes very good filtering.  Little, if any, harmonics going out.  He
is restricted as to the frequencies he can transmit on, and because of
his filtering, you aren't going to see him anywhere other than his
actual broadcast frequency.  CB radio, on the other hand, can be a
different creature.  Cheaply built radios usually don't have adequate
filtering, but because of the low power at which they transmit, little
to no problem is seen.  If the operator throws a linear amp into his
system to boost his transmit power, you will see problems.  Because of
the inadequate filtering in his radio, when he hops on the radio, he not
only broadcasts at 27MHz (CB radio band) but he also goes out on various
multiples of his frequency (harmonics).  The first harmonic of the CB
band is 54MHz, right in broadcast TV channel 2.  Roger could transmit on
that very same frequency and nobody would ever know it.

Also, because of his grounding system (much better than a 4' copper rod
stuck in the ground), anything that hops onto any of his shields goes
right to earth before it can go anywhere else.
>
> Well, my hex crimps will hang a TV, so they are fine. I seen enough bad
> Snap and Seal connectors that I automatically cut them off and
> reterminate.
>
Pull-out force is not the only thing about fittings that is of any
importance.  Return loss and impedance matching are of more importance.
  The higher the return loss the better the operation of the system.
Hex-crimp connectors typically have a return loss of ~18dB.  Compression
connectors have a return loss of >30dB.  Hex-crimp connectors pinch the
cable at 6 points around the cable, which means 6 points of impedance
mismatch.  Impedance mismatch results in reflections, which spells
potential trouble.  Compression connectors maintain a constant
impedance.  More than once I have had to replace hex-crimp fittings on
satellite drops because some of the channels were missing.  Not the
whole transponder, but just a few of the channels on various transponders.
>
> That's just bad practice. Is that measured, or just observed?
>
>> In addition I run a CAT5e cable with a gigabit network between 5 and
>> 10 feet from and parallel to those cables
>
> That's not good practice, either.
>
>> Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
>> (N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
>> www.rogerhalstead.com


CIAO!

Ed N.