Using RG-11 with Winegard Satellite???

[darleyhavidson]

Ok, I emailed the company (Winegard) to ask if RG-11 coax cable could be used with their Playmaker satellite. They only recommended RG-6. So, I asked if they have ever tested the system with RG-11 and they replied they had no knowledge of that.

The main reason I ask is that the manufacturer of the RG-11 indicates that the cable may not be compatible with certain satellites. And to query the satellite manufacturer first to ensure there will be no issues.

Well, I tried that to no avail. So, I ask the masses, what say you?

(FYI: I want to use aerial RG-11 coax since I have a long run (88 feet) and will be placing the cable in the trees enroute to where the satellite is positioned.)

[sammytoo]

Every outdoor satellite installation I have seen uses rg-6.
The specs may indicate that rg 11 is acceptable but buy quality cable, not that 15 cents a foot stuff.

[darleyhavidson]

A lot of passionate and informed responses on this post. I appreciate it. I will be using an aerial RG-6 or RG-11 coax. Right now the casing of my current coax is suspending the weight of the cable as it is routed through the trees. The aerial cable has a wire support that will help mitigate any issues (branches falling, weather, etc.).

Thanks again
dh

[fpresto]

Tom_M wrote:
I assume you meant RG-59. RG-58 is 50 ohm.

No Tom I meant RG-58. It is an extreme example but even with the impendence mismatch the good RG-58 did better than a cheap RG-6.

[camperguy99]

Back in the days of landline phones how do you think they managed to get your voice thousands of miles across this great country? Yep an amplifier every few tens of miles on the L4 & L5 cables. I seem to remember a figure of 2000-3000 dB gain from coast to coast. Go figure.
The S/N ratio is determined at the antenna unit. RMS the amplifiers noise (if properly spaced) with that of the incoming signal and the amplifier has little or no change in the S/N ratio.

[ktmrfs]

camperguy99 wrote:
Might be better to use RG6 and put in a fairly cheap in line amplifier at the send end or maybe half way between.

well not really. you'll end up with a higher S/N ratio. better to use a higher quality cable and no amplifier.

[wa8yxm]

camperguy99 wrote:
Might be better to use RG6 and put in a fairly cheap in line amplifier at the send end or maybe half way between.

Depends on how much improvement you need but in general NO. THe reason is this. Lower loss coax means more signal but it does not change the Signal/Noise ratio

Pre-amps (in line amplifiers) Increase NOISE more than they do signal. even "Low noise" amplifers (LNB means Low Noise Block converter) so though they DO increase the signal (And noise) they lower the signal to noise ratio. and that's is more important than raw signal strength.

A friend of mine invented a low-cost Noise generator that can be used to maximize Signal to Noise ratio. He demonstrated the difference.. It was impressive. Sorry no web links to a live demo. This was a good decade before WWW

[camperguy99]

Might be better to use RG6 and put in a fairly cheap in line amplifier at the send end or maybe half way between.

[Bill_Satellite]

Fizz wrote:
FYI
We had to run 250’ of RG6 cable for our Satellite.
The strength meter is always in the 90s

I have to assume you are not talking about a dome style antenna. There are big differences.

[wa8yxm]

Tom_M wrote:
Whatever coax used, it must be 75 ohm. RG-58 and LMR are 50 ohm and can not be used.

I know but I also said I have multiple devices. TV stuff is RG-6, Ham Radio stuff is 50/52 Ohm like LMR and 59 (actually 8x)

[Fizz]

FYI
We had to run 250’ of RG6 cable for our Satellite.
The strength meter is always in the 90s

[Tom_M1]

Whatever coax used, it must be 75 ohm. RG-58 and LMR are 50 ohm and can not be used.

[mike-s]

RG-58, RG-59, RG-11, RG-6, LMR whatever, etc. Choose. The difference for the <50 ft run in an RV is mice nuts. If you want to brag and spend money (without making any practical difference), install some Heliax hard line.

[ktmrfs]

at 1GHz RG11 nominally has about 1/2db less loss/100ft than RG6. 5.6db vs 6.1

Now RG59 spec is 21db/100ft at 1GHz.

now comparative losses at lower frequencies are not near as bad. but then I think the output frequency from the LNB is 950MHz -1400ish MHz.

given that, I've had cheap pieces of RG6 that had losses near 10db in 10ft!! usually a bad termination.

buy quality RG6 or RG11. There is lots of cheap inferior stuff out their!!

[Bill_Satellite]

RG-11 will work just fine. I have used it in a number of setups. However, I would not expect any improved performance and Winegard usually specs less than 50 feet max run for their coax setups. It is highly doubtful that RG-11 would help it work if you plan to run 88 feet.