Tom_M wrote:
You could try using RG-59 coax. It's thinner than RG-6 and would be easier to manage. The down-side is there's more signal loss. A friend of mine is using 100 feet for his Dish satellite.
If you are dead set on RG-6, you could check a brand called Canare. They make some very flexible cable. I don't know if they make a direct replacement for RG-6. If they do, I don't know if standard F connectors would work.
While RG-59 could be used with a sat system, it is not recommended due to very high loss per ft. You would have to use less than half the length of RG-6 and even that may be pressing things.
In a nutshell, the LNB at the dish does a block "down conversion" of the actual Sat frequencies. Basically dropping 12 Ghz Ku band to 1 ghz area..
The coax in between the LNB and receiver NEEDS to have as little loss as possible.
RG-59 has 4.05 DB of loss for 50ft vs RG-6 at 3.27 DB for the same 50ft at 1 ghz.
Found a cool online calculator (keeping in mind that is a generic way of getting the losses, coax construction and type of materials used can and will affect the real losses so when in doubt consult the manufacturers books)..
HEREYou can get RG-59 with a stranded center however you would have to really dig hard to find "F" fittings that would work with it since "F" fittings require a solid wire to work.
You would almost have to use BNC fittings then an adapter to "F" to make a stranded RG-59 cable to work. That would add additional losses to your chain.
You can also check to see what the core is, cheapo coax uses copper COATED STEEL WIRE which is much stiffer.
Better RG-6 will use 100% copper wire in the center and tends to be a lot more flexible..
I couldn't find any stranded copper center in RG-6, not saying that it isn't made but may be hard to find.. Belden wire may have 75 ohm coax with similar losses as RG-6 if you don't mind doing some searching through their catalogs.. Those may be online now days (I didn't search).
