Aerial cabling - RG6 vs CT100 (or similar)

HighWire

I posted a question in the Satellite forum about wiring for a new house.
I was told CT100 or similar is best for dishes.
Is this also the case for Aerials or does RG6 work ok.

What about everything going digital by 2012 would that have an
impact on what cabling you would choose?

lucernarian

CT100 is better than RG6 for any terrestrial VHF/UHF TV and Radio, and also satellite.

Personally I would use the CT100 for the main run from the aerial to the distribution amp, if present, and then use CT100 for runs longer than 10 metres for terrestrial, especially if higher channels are used. The clermont carn and Maghera transmitters have channel 66 and 68 in use and you do notice the difference in the cable used.

The cables from the LNB to the set top box should really be CT100, but you'd probably get away with RG6 if the total distance was less than 5 metres. But for 5 metres, you're not paying much more for doing the full job.

watty

If you are buying a reel of CT100 / PF100 etc you get it about 1/2 price of short length. Then you might as well use it rather than RG6.

To avoid easy kinking and corrosion, I recommend foam filled & all copper core, screen and braid. RG6 like sat cable comes in "rubbish" versions and all copper decent screen versions. If it's all copper (rather than steel core + copper plate+ plastic screen and aluminum braid = rubbish) then there is not much difference in quality

HighWire

Cool, thanks guys.
Was a bit confused if CT100 was Sat only and RG6 was terrestrial.
So I can use both.
The sparks in my new house was using just RG6 so I told him about
CT100 but he never heard of it.
But I suppose it isnt something that would be of huge interest seeing
that its electrical stuff they are more concerned about than TV.

Whats the best place to get CT100/PF100 in Ireland?
I had a quick look at the sticky, but is this the right one?
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=155714

Is there a calculator somewhere to figure out how much you would need to get for both terrestrial and Sat install?
Thanks

weehamster

Forgive me but I am sick to death now of this CT100 is better than RG6u debate which I consider to be OTT, especially for a bog standard house wiring.

I've been installing CATV, SAT & aerial systems for nearly 20 years and have been using nothing but RG or Radio Guided cable, either RG6u or RG11 for longer runs. My experience is that its the cable manufacture is whats important and that it is foam dielectric.

I use a manufacture called Commscope and if you want to do it properly then contact a company called Anixter. Also just as important is the connectors and wall sockets (if your using them)

cast_iron

HighWire wrote:

Is there a calculator somewhere to figure out how much you would need to get for both terrestrial and Sat install?

Any regular calculator will do - all you need is to be able to add 2 numbers.
Decide where/how many cables are going where, and add them up.

HighWire

Hahahaha - brilliant. Love it.

watty

weehamster wrote:

Forgive me but I am sick to death now of this CT100 is better than RG6u debate which I consider to be OTT, especially for a bog standard house wiring.

My experience is that its the cable manufacture is what's important and that it is foam dielectric.

I use a manufacture called Commscope and if you want to do it properly then contact a company called Anixter. Also just as important is the connectors and wall sockets (if your using them)

Absolutely.

The point is that probably the good cable you use is an RG6 derivative and better than some so called "CT100" cables, not a cheap RG6.

I have a reel of W102 supposed sat cable here and it is identical to UPC's internal house RG6, I have looked at RG6xxx spec cable with copper foil/ copper braid that is similar to "real" PF100 (the foam equivalent).

This is why I describe what the cable should be like and not just the label. Most houses are installed with so called "low loss" cable that has a spider web screen and so poor screening that huge amounts of satellite signal is radiated and particular channels can be disrupted by phones etc. Of course most of the time such cable appears to work.

RG is simply an American prefix and RG6 as a vague discriptor is as abused good and bad as much as CT100 or PF100.

Ulsterman 1690

The bit i dont get is "Some types of RG6 are better than other types of RG6"

I mean surely RG6, CT100, RG11, RG59 CT125 etc are standards

If someone is flogging you cable billed as RG6 that falls short of the standards surely they are commiting fraud


Whats the point in having standards if they are not enforced ?

watty

Search for RG6 on the Belden catalogue
http://bwccat.belden.com/ecat/jsp/Index.jsp?P1=undefined&P2=undefined&P3=undefined&P4=undefined&P5=undefined&P6=undefined

The devil is in the detail. There is really no such thing anymore as RG6, it's RGxx
where xx can mean it's great or cheap rubbish!

The manufacturer that invented "CT100" designation probably has no hair left now.

lucernarian

Belden are a good manufacturer from what little I've heard, but they're not too clear about their products.

I've seen a few TV installs and sky ones too. Anytime there was aluminium shielding it was branded RG6 or not branded at all. If there's copper shielding, surely it's closer to CT100 than RG6?

I got a short length of RG6 from a local DIY shop last year which had the same Al foil as any other cable, but the plastic covering was thicker, and you couldn't see the ripple of the braid underneath like can be seen in some RG6 or CT100 cables.

I think the plastic sheating is more important than the dielectric used. Better to ensure the water stays out than reducing its flow through it.

watty

So called RG6xx and so called CT100 can be:

* all copper decent braid
* All copper but braid too light is a problem when foil cracks
* core steel or aluminum with copper plating
* alumium foil & copper Braid (bad electrochemical corrosion)
* aluminium foil & tinned copper braid (bad electrochemical corrosion)
* plastic foil with metalisation and aluminum briad (yuch).

* Air core (best but easily damaged by kink)
* Old type foam (absorbs water badly and attenuates terribly)
* New type foam (no water absorption)

Variatons of
* Soft PVC outer (cracks in UV outdoor and porus to moisture)
* uPVC
* Trunk quality plastic, very stiff and mechanically strong, UV and water proof.

Unfortunately a lot of electrical wholesale have only 3 kinds of cable.
1) Skinny coax like RG59, except alumium and may or may not have foil. Like Chorus indoor cable in appearance.
2) So called low loss coax (maybe a choice of colours). very little braid and no foil. Virtually no screening effect.
3) Cable that might even be labelled RG6 or CT100, but more often simply has satellite printed on the drum. Copper plated steel or aluminum core, poor aluminum braid and plastic metalised foil.

Needless to say all three kinds are a waste of money. Just because a Builder or Electrican says they have installed Satellite /RG6/CT100, doesn't mean they have. They may have bought the stuff in good faith. It's a million years since I did any electrical courses / training but I suspect the nuances of coax cable are still not on any course, that's more 3rd level degree Engineering.

HighWire

Is there a simple way to check if the cable is any good?
I was told its RG6. But like you've explained the quality varies.

watty

Open end of it and see how it's made.

jt72

HighWire wrote: »

Is there a simple way to check if the cable is any good?
I was told its RG6. But like you've explained the quality varies.

Talk about reviving an old thread! Well I searched for CT100 RG6 today and came up here.

Get a spec sheet for the cable you're buying/using. If you can't find one you don't know how good the cable is.

Commscope and Belden both publish spec sheets for their cabling.

An important spec is the loss per 100m or per 100ft at different frequencies. The longer the run, the more loss you will have. The higher the frequencies in use the more loss you will have.

Don't scrimp on the connectors either!

The Cush

This is some info I posted previously re CT100:

CT100 was manufactured by Raydex until 2005.

A brief history of CT100:
Volex/Raydex CT (CT=Copper tape) 100 (100=1.00mm centre core). Volex/Raydex no longer exists as a cable manufacturer and so the brand name CT100 also no longer exists, but people still refer to 1.00 mm copper tape and braid cable as CT100, I suppose like people calling their vacuum cleaner a Hoover when that is just the brand name.
Volex/Raydex launched, among other products CT100 in the 70's and was universally recognised as the byword for quality TV coaxial. In 1991 Raydex acquired Fothergill Cables leaders in the production of high performance specialist cables for the Industrial, Aerospace and Defence markets. Volex Grp-Raydex Specialist were bought by CDT (Cable Design Technologies Corp) in 1995 and CDT were subsequently merged with Belden during 2004 to form the largest global electronic cable manufacturer. The Raydex and CT100 brands disappeared following the merger.

A list of benchmarked cable is available on the CAI website.