Continuity problem with coax

D.E.Bishop wrote:
I'm not a expert on cables but isn't the difference between RG6 and RG8 in the shielding and core conductor.

The main difference is the impedance of the coax, RG6 is 75 ohms and RG8 is 50 ohms. RG8 is also larger in diameter. The impedance must match the impedance of the devices being connected. RG8 is used a lot in communication equipment such as 2-way radio, ham and CB. Most TV stuff is 75 ohms. TV antennas for RVs are usually 75 ohms. The typical home TV antenna is 300 ohms and requires a matching transformer (balun) to connect to coax.

And if you run one, run two...

Tom you are absolutely correct. T comment about when they hook up to satellite fooled me. And yes I meant RG6., which is to the best of my knowledge 75 ohm characterization. And in my opinion, my answer is among the best way to deal with a bad cable.

I had so many pieces of cable from my antenna to the B.O.M.B.s in my old rig that I couldn't pull out that I just ran a new piece from the antenna head to the B.O.M.B. The Winegard batwing pcb on the Winnie was so corroded that I had to replace the head and cut off some of the cable and put new fittings everywhere. I needed about 6" more from the power supply and gave it a little tug and it moved really easy. I guess they rand them in a groove in the roof insulation.

I have read Chris' article but sometimes the answer is not a tune up but replacement. If the equipment is okay it's easy. And he also refers to RG6 in that article. I'm not a expert on cables but isn't the difference between RG6 and RG8 in the shielding and core conductor.

Also trouble shooting coax in a motor home is a real pain for most owners.

D.E.Bishop wrote:
To answer your question and not trouble shoot the problem, go to a true electronics store, either a S&B store or an online store and buy enough RG8 coax cable to go from what ever point you wish to use to your Sat. box, a package of F-Type, RG8 compression connectors(3GHz is what I am using), an installation tool, a cable stripping tool and a external cable connector plate.

I assume you mean RG6. RG8 is 50 ohm and not meant for TV which is 75 ohm.

I believe that the OP is not having problems with satellite but with his cable TV feed.

Here's a link to an article by Chris Bryant on TV issues:

Tune up your TV antenna

Although it's about antenna tune up it also addresses cable repairs

To answer your question and not trouble shoot the problem, go to a true electronics store, either a S&B store or an online store and buy enough RG8 coax cable to go from what ever point you wish to use to your Sat. box, a package of F-Type, RG8 compression connectors(3GHz is what I am using), an installation tool, a cable stripping tool and a external cable connector plate.

Determine where you will mount the external connection point, that will determine what type of wall mounting you need to buy. RV supply stores have a wide variety.

Determine how you will run the cable. While RG cables are not as touchy as HDMI cables about bends, I try to have at least a three to four inch radius to the bend.

Depending on the circumstances, I try and run a piece of scrap wire or weed whacker cord through the route I have selected for the coax installation. Pull it back out and buy a piece of cable 10% longer than the routing wire. I pull a pull wire in when I pull the measuring wire out.

Install the exterior coax connector on the cable end, after having dry mounted the outside connector. remove it install the new connector to the back of the plate and reinstall the plate.

Now go inside and allowing at least 12" and preferably 24" of cable in excess of what is need to connect to the satellite box, install another compression F-Type fitting.

Connect the new house cable to the sat. box, the dish to the external connector and you're ready to go.

You may be able to use a factory cable in the RV, if you do, you don't need much of what I suggested, however make sure any thing you buy is exterior grade. Exterior F-Type connectors come with a rubber seal built in.

Good luck and enjoy the show.

I found that there were multiple lengths of coax on my RV, and one of the "hidden" connectors has failed.. I fixed it, but I still have a failure.

The Factory coax usually runs to a switch (Unless you have one specifically labeled SATELLITE TV ANTENNA) and this simply will not work with Sat TV

Also it's often RG-59, not good, very high loss.

Satellite TV needs to have a straight shot from exterior coax input to satellite receiver which is usually not the case if you only have a single exterior coax input. It will work OK for park provided cable tv but satellite signals will not passthrough.

My TT supposedly was satellite ready but when I tried to view satellite TV utilizing our single exterior coax input it was a no go since that coax input runs directly to a splitter behind where interior coax connection and tv antenna power button is located.

Most rigs that have a single exterior coax input will have similar issues but there is a simple mod we performed that alleviated this problem allowing us to use the same single exterior coax input for both satellite and cable tv. Some RVs do have a second exterior coax input dedicated to sat tv.

Mice loves coax cables...

I had the same problem once. I found that the coax in my camper had screw on connectors at both ends. The one at the distribution box had the center pin just 1/32 of an inch too short and would not connect on the box.

I used needlenose pliers to pull the center pun further out of the body of the coax, and everything worked just fine after that.