Coax cable types

19 years ago

I am redoing my TV antenna setup. No cable TV service available here. The old mount failed and a windstorm took down the antenna/rotor combo. My previous lead-in was RG-59/U and looks to be still good. I still have a couple of boxes of the RG-59/U remaining from doing new houses in years past. Now it appears to all be RG-6/U and I have a few boxes of that too. Talked with one owner whose house I did with the RG-59/U. He has Time Warner, says it is fine, and the TW installer hooked to the RG-59/U with no comment. I know how to install and terminate cable properly, but know little about the specifics of the two cables. Should I just scrap the limited supply of RG-59/U that I have or is there still a good application for it?

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Comments (5)

itsunclebill
19 years ago
Bus,

For antenna only the RG-59U is fine. It is no longer legal for cable systems though due to RF leakage issues. It is still used in closed circuit systems, I've put a bunch in convenience store surveillance systems altouugh they're putting in better stuff in some lately.

Give Wikipedia a hit with "coaxial cable" and see what pops up
heimert
19 years ago
Just use the RG-6 that you have. Save the RG-59 for someone else.
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cobraguy
19 years ago
I use quad shield RG6. You just never know when you or your neighbor (or anyone else) may install something that could cause interference down the road. The quad shield helps. Also, if you ever go to satellite TV, they require RG6. And satellite would be a great option for you in your case.
buzzsaw
19 years ago
In simplest terms it is a bandwidth and emmission/interference difference between the two. RG6 is a step up from RG59. For standard definition OTA (over the air) signals RG59 can easily handle the needed bandwidth, but if you - or the next owner - ever wishes to upgrade your needs (satelite, High definition TV, etc), RG6 is of course better. Additional sheilding (e.g. dual or quad sheilding) is also helpful for interference. Some of the higher quality cables will also market their bandwidth on it. e.g. 2 gigaherz cable is now the commonly accepted bandwidth for satelite and most high def signals. RG17(?) I believe is the right designation for yet another step up in performance.
wayne440
19 years ago
May as well replace the cable while you are up there. RG6 will usually help UHF reception remarkably in cases like yours. RG59 is good for short VCR jumpers and the like, but I wouldn't use it for anything else if RG6 was available.