Help stripping coax for cable TV run (1 Viewer)

[Aaron H]

Hi group,

I have some coax cable that I am trying to terminate but some of the runs to the TV turn out very "snowy" so I just want to make sure I'm doing this correctly.

cable is (outer to inner):
Outer rubber
wire braid
foil
white insulator
copper core

I think I have the main princepals down, but I don't know whether I am suppose to be taking off the foil insulator before I terminate it or not. Any ideas?

Thanks, Aaron

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Aaron,

Coaxial cable is tricky to terminate properly. You’ve already seen the results of doing it wrong. You need special strippers to do the stripping properly. Fortunately you can get one at Radio Shack pretty cheap.

Crimpers for the F-connectors are another story. If you don’t have good (read expensive, ratcheting-type) crimpers , you should use twist-on connectors.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Aaron H]

Wayne,

Thanks for the info. I'll have to check out the radio shack strippers. I have a $3 thingie I got from Home Depot that seems to be doing the stripping job - well, as far as I can tell. ANd yes, I'm using the twist on connectors.

So you you know if I should be removing the foil around the insulation, or leaving it on? Does it matter?

Aaron

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Try and trim the foil & wire braid to the same length. These are both considered the "shield" and they both need to connect to the outer part of your "F" connector.

This means you should trim the outer-rubber a bit to allow the shield to connect to the "F" connector.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

If I recall, with twist-ons the shield should be left a little long and folded back on the jacket. As Bob noted, the shield and/or foil has to make contact with the body of the connector.

The blister pack the connectors came in should have a picture diagram on the back showing how to install them.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Bob McElfresh]

My advice:
- Call your local electronics/telecom supply house and buy a box of 50 "F" connectors with the built-in crimp ring. These tend to be higher quality than the RS/hardware store brand. (No, you dont need the outdoor Caddimum ones).
- Go to Radio Shack and buy one of their $3 "F" tools to help push the connectors onto the coax.
- Buy one of the Radio Shack "Hex Crimp" tools for about $19.
Now go to town trimming and putting new connectors on your coax.
Note: the number one cause of service calls in the CATV industry is loose "F" connectors. Get a wrench and tighten the connectors 1/4 turn more than hand-tight. This includes along the coax and for the shorter jumper cables between your electronics.

 

[Neil Joseph]

After you finish preparing the end of the RG9/RG59 cable, you should have about 3mm of the white insulator and foil pertruding past the outer rubber. The wire braid you can trim off at the same point where the outer rubber ends. The braid is there to prevent rf interfearance/noise. Then the internal copper conductor should pertrude about 5mm past the white insulator and foil. When you force the F connector over the end of the cable, the white insulator and foil should be flush with the hole on the inside of the F connector. Take a look at a prepared end of cable for comparison.