Thread: What is this cable?

I dont know about everyone else I love 300 ohm wire. I use it mostly to make folded dipole antennas for broadcast TV.

rcc147, that wire is the old TV signal transmission line before coax.

Originally Posted by roashru

I dont know about everyone else I love 300 ohm wire. I use it mostly to make folded dipole antennas for broadcast TV.

rcc147, that wire is the old TV signal transmission line before coax.

300 ohm twinlead makes a nice antenna for 2 meter ham radio as well, as for tv I think it sucks!!!

Originally Posted by dodge

300 ohm twinlead makes a nice antenna for 2 meter ham radio as well, as for tv I think it sucks!!!

A folded dipole antenna made from 300 ohm wire dose have its limitations but its CHEAP!. I normally make 7 feet across and 2 feet down in the middle. More suited for UHF analog VHF is clear with sometimes noticeable herringbone diagonal lines. With the new digital broadcast TV the made folded diploe antenna seems to help reduce signal multipath.

If interested, For some reason a minimum of 1.5 feet 300 ohm wire down the center is required for the antenna to work. 3 foot or more to a transformer is best.

Good quality 300 ohm twinlead is BETTER that RG-6, the problem with it is that it is attacked by UV and deteriorates after a couple of years and must be replaced.

You can splice 300 ohm twin lead without ever cutting it, just lay two pieces along side each other of 6 ft or so and wrap them in black electrical tape, works great.

Originally Posted by Bouncy64

Those services, in my opinion, that list what channels you can get from whatever zip or postal code can be rather decieving, and do not take into account the use of an amplifier, which can aid greatly in the reception of either non existant channels or weak ones to the point that they are recieved perfectly.

I'm sorry, but this is just not true. An amplifier has absoutely NOTHING to do with reception of a signal what-so-ever. Reception of the signal is the job of the antenna itself. The amp;ifier can only amplify the signal.

Example: Point an antenna away from the transmission towers. If there is no reception of signals from the tower, an amplifier will not help at all. If reception from the tower is weak, an amplifier can increase what signal is being received to a usable level.

And an amplifier, even the best one ever made, along with the most expensive and best antenna made, will ever 'create' a channel that is "non-existant". Non existant means there is no channel.

I understand you are trying to help, but you need to understand how things work a little better first. Lots of info here, pretty much everything needed to know, so you would be well advised to take some time and go through the forum(s) and do some searches to get the knowledge.

With tv amplifiers it is a matter of db gain that can make the difference, the more gain the better.

This is not really factual. With TV amplifiers, the noise level moreso than the gain (dB) is what makes the difference of the amplifiers effectiveness. As a rule of thumb, the higher the gain, the more noise that will be introduced. Also, there is such a thing as too much gain. Too much gain will cause as many issues as too little gain can. And this is before even taking the noise level into consideration.

If you were to get a new matching tranformer, an outdoor one, which comes with a weather boot, to aid keeping the water out of your 75 ohm coax, once 75 ohm tv/cable coax gets water in it, it degrades and will turn the sheilding and center conductor green, and you loose alot of signal.

The problem using a "weather boot" is they generally cause more problems than prevent. The boots, designed to keep water out, generally hold the water in. And it is to keep the water out of the fittings more than the cable itself. But the only thing that will turn green is the center conductor and that is only if its a solid copper center conductor. Copper clad steel rusts. The braid will corrode and turn white for non copper braid, and for copper braid, it will of course turn green. But you are correct on one point. The signal is dramatically impeded.

Thank you to everyone who responded to my question. I learned a lot and was impressed with the quality (and quantity) of responses.

Will definitely hook up to an antenna and get some more channels!