New HD antenna RG5 ok?

newbeestl

Active SatelliteGuys Member
Jan 11, 2007
23
0
St. Louis, MO
Hi, I'm replacing my current antenna with an HD antenna. It currently has old RG5 along the entire run. Do I need RG6 or will RG5 work? It's about 80 feet.
 

Voyager6

*Cancelled*
Pub Member / Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
Nov 30, 2005
17,097
5,324
Wokeville
Hi, I'm replacing my current antenna with an HD antenna. It currently has old RG5 along the entire run. Do I need RG6 or will RG5 work? It's about 80 feet.
Yes, replace the old RG59 with new RG6. What antenna do you currently have and what are you replacing it with?
 

boba

SatelliteGuys Master
Dec 12, 2003
11,350
1,035
Dorchester, TX.
If the RG-59 is in good condition it will work for OTA just as well as RG6. It is not carrying voltage like satellite cable unless you are using a pre amp. Satellite signal goes up to 2.5 ghz TV antenna is low frequency by comparison. In reality RG6 is better than RG59 but 99% of the time you will see no difference.
 

No Static At All

SatelliteGuys Pro
Aug 18, 2008
268
0
Northern Va
If the RG-59 is in good condition it will work for OTA just as well as RG6
I strongly disagree,

For a run of 80 feet I would strongly recommend RG-6 unless it will be used for VHF only. UHF signals will be noticably affected with a run that long; especially marginal stations. For a very small investment you can greatly increase your digital signal "reliability". Analog snow can be bearable, but digital dropouts are "always" annoying.

Glen;)
 
Last edited:

Scroll

SatelliteGuys Pro
Jan 7, 2008
434
0
Do you mean RG-59? I have never heard of RG-5.

If the cable is old; I would replace it with RG-6 anyway. The UHF performance will be much better with RG-6.

Glen:)

Maybe it's a Chinese knock-off down at the flea market. :D

I will say I've had good luck with RG-59 for OTA and for the most part with DBS. But for the tiny difference in price I'd certainly recommend RG-6. You may be glad you did later.
 

No Static At All

SatelliteGuys Pro
Aug 18, 2008
268
0
Northern Va
Satellite signal goes up to 2.5 ghz TV antenna is low frequency by comparison.
Another inaccuracy. The satellite signal is converted to a much lower UHF frequency(around 450 MHZ) by the LNB to facilitate longer cable runs without excessive signal loss. OTA frequencies go over well over 700MHZ. (Apples & Oranges) How can someone have over 4300 posts and speel out such inaccuracies???? "Please look before you leap". It's hard to believe no one else questioned this. I don't even have satellite. I can't post URL's yet ; but a quick google search (LNB) should fill in any blanks.

BTW; thanks guys for the info on RG-59 vs. RG-6 cable.

Glen:)
 
Last edited:

Tower Guy

SatelliteGuys Pro
Nov 1, 2005
751
122
Another inaccuracy. The satellite signal is converted to a much lower UHF frequency(around 450 MHZ) by the LNB to facilitate longer cable runs without excessive signal loss. OTA frequencies go over well over 700MHZ. (Apples & Oranges) How can someone have over 4300 posts and speel out such inaccuracies???? "Please look before you leap". It's hard to believe no one else questioned this. I don't even have satellite. I can't post URL's yet ; but a quick google search (LNB) should fill in any blanks.

BTW; thanks guys for the info on RG-59 vs. RG-6 cable.

Glen:)

From Wikipedia

LNBFs

Ku-band linear-polarised LNBF

Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) dishes use an LNBF (NB feedhorn), which integrates the antenna feedhorn with the LNB. Small diplexers are often used to distribute the resulting IF signal (usually 950 to 1450 MHz) piggybacked in the same cable TV wire that carries lower-frequency terrestrial television from an outdoor antenna. Another diplexer then separates the signals to the receiver of the TV set, and the integrated receiver/decoder (IRD) of the DBS set-top box.

Newer Ka band systems use additional IF blocks from the LNBF, one of which will cause interference to UHF and cable TV frequencies above 250 MHz, precluding the use of diplexers. The other block is higher than the original, up to 2.5 GHz, requiring the LNB to be connected to high-quality all-copper RG-6/U cables. This is in addition to higher electrical power and electrical current requirements for multiple dual-band LNBFs.

For some satellite Internet and free-to-air (FTA) signals, a universal LNB (Ku band) is recommended. Most North American DBS signals use circular polarization, instead of linear polarization, therefore requiring a different LNB type for proper reception. In this case, the polarization must be adjusted between clockwise and counterclockwise, rather than horizontal and vertical.

In the case of DBS, the voltage supplied by the set-top box to the LNB determines the polarisation setting. With multi-TV systems, a dual LNB allows both to be selected at once by a switch, which acts as a distribution amplifier. The amplifier then passes the proper signal to each box according to what voltage each has selected. The newest systems may select polarization and which LNBF to use by sending DiSEqC codes instead. The oldest satellite systems actually powered a rotating antenna on the feedhorn, at a time when there was typically only one LNB or LNA on a very large TVRO dish.
 

charper1

Bourbon Tester
Supporting Founder
May 18, 2004
18,442
6
I'm Nationwide
You guys paid more that $30 for that antenna? I am not being a smartass when I say there are far better choices for the same and less money.
 

texasbrit

SatelliteGuys Pro
Pub Member / Supporter
Cutting Edge
Apr 12, 2006
3,654
365
Another inaccuracy. The satellite signal is converted to a much lower UHF frequency(around 450 MHZ) by the LNB to facilitate longer cable runs without excessive signal loss. OTA frequencies go over well over 700MHZ. (Apples & Oranges) How can someone have over 4300 posts and speel out such inaccuracies???? "Please look before you leap". It's hard to believe no one else questioned this. I don't even have satellite. I can't post URL's yet ; but a quick google search (LNB) should fill in any blanks.

BTW; thanks guys for the info on RG-59 vs. RG-6 cable.

Glen:)

It's unfortunate YOU would post such incorrect information. DirecTV signals have IF frequencies from the OTA band (for the DirecTV b-band satellites DirecTV 10 and 11) up to 2.15Ghz, thay are absolutely NOT below OTA. I don't know where your information came from but it's completely wrong.
 

newbeestl

Active SatelliteGuys Member
Jan 11, 2007
23
0
St. Louis, MO
You guys paid more that $30 for that antenna? I am not being a smartass when I say there are far better choices for the same and less money.


Give me an example.....

This Terk is proven and for the distance I am out from the broadcast towers, it's perfect (about 42 miles). I "one-clicked" on Amazon and it was shipped to my door for free. Showed up 3 days later.....:up
 

Voyager6

*Cancelled*
Pub Member / Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
Nov 30, 2005
17,097
5,324
Wokeville

navychop

Member of the Month - July 2014!
Pub Member / Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
Jul 20, 2005
60,016
27,290
Northern VA
As you may have gathered, Terk is generally not thought highly of. It is generally viewed as good looking, poorly performing (often), and over priced (always). They are sold in B&Ms due to their high profit margin and visual appeal to people that do not know much about antennas. That said, some Terks do work for some, under some circumstances. Keep in mind that having a Terk antenna on your house is often interpreted by knowledgeable people that you were suckered.

Regarding RG-59 vs RG-6. Of course, always pay the slight premium for RG-6 when laying new cable. But I must say there is something else to consider. LOOK at the casing. If you can clearly see the braid under the outer plastic case, buy elsewhere. I wanted a better quality spool than you can get at a certain big box HW store, so I bought one at an electrical supply house. Didn't even look at it, it was wrapped heavily in plastic. Got it home, saw it, decided to run it anyway due to time constraints. "There's never enough time to do it right, but there's always enough time to do it over." I had to re-run some lines, it was prone to breakage and apparently was somewhat lacking in the frequency range department. Turns out, the HW store stuff was much better after all.
 

No Static At All

SatelliteGuys Pro
Aug 18, 2008
268
0
Northern Va
My sincere apologies to Boba for the frequency inaccuracy issue!! I guess I was the one who "leaped before he looked". I will be more careful in the future!! I based my statement on my Dish network system from many years ago (WOOPS!!).

I do agree with Navychop on the coax purchase. I purchased Carol Cable from Home Depot and have had extremely good results. There are huge ingress concerns here with 3 powerful FM stations above 0db(One is at + 11.7 db;OUCH!!) I'm sure there are higher quality cables out there; but for 100 feet or so runs; this cable should work fine; even with no amplification.

Glen:)
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 0, Members: 0, Guests: 0)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)

Latest posts