How many RG-6 cables to pull NEWBIE Question

[stroker96]

Newbie here, been lurking for a while, now I must ask.

I am building a new home. I was going to do a structured wiring system and let someone else pull all the wires needed for everything. But I have decided, and let a friend talk me into doing it myself. He works in the telecom industry and will do my phones for me.

My main concern, question is how many RG-6 cables do I need to pull to go to the dish? I called a local company today and they said 5 but RG-6 and labor is cheap at this point. I am putting a 90 in my beam so I can pull it down and outside, bury it in counduit to a tower I will be installing. I will also run conduit from the attic to the 90 incase I need more later. Does anyone have a good link to assist in a do it yourself structured wiring system?

RG-6 quad shield or RG-6 rated a 3.0 gig?

I have not decided whom I am going with but it will be the one with the best toys when I and the house are ready. I am leaning towards DN and the 622 as they should be plentiful and most of the bugs worked out when I am ready. There will be 3 other receivers in the home as well. Maybe one more HD but the other two will be SD. I will also be running RG-6 for an OTA antenna at the same time.

If I left something out please ask and I will answer.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[KE4EST]

First of all welcome to SatelliteGuys.

Well it all depends on what market your in, but from experience, make sure you run at least two RG-6's to each main area. Also make sure you run a Phone line to each one also. (this is from experience since I'm in a Super Dish Market and Separators are useless unless you have a DPP44), but don't let that confuse you.

RG-6 Rated at 3.0 Ghz is fine, no real need for quad shield. Just buy good stuff.

What is your zip code and I or others will try to help more.

 

[stroker96]

DFW, Texas 76020

 

[Mike500]

You will never be able to predict future needs.

Ten years ago, one rg59 feed and one cat2 telephone feed was adequate.

On that account, I prefer the "open work" method. Here's how it works.....

I do a lot of new work and old work home theater, cable, dbs, and high speed network systems.

I like the open work method. Run all cables drilled through one inch holes through the top plate or the sill plate centered in the width of the stud and right next to it. If doing new work, use nail on electrical boxes, but cut off the nail holders along with the nails. Cut two 3/8" holes on one side of the box spaced 3 inches apart and 1/2 inch back from the lip. Using a 2 inch hole saw cut 2 inch holes at the top and bottom of the box where the cable entry holes reside. When installing the boxes in new work, drive 1-1/4" dry wall screws through the sides of the plastic boxes into the studs. The reason for this preparation will be clearly seen, if you will ever have to upgrade. Run all of the cables necessary. Apply clips or staples in the attic or in the basement to lightly tension the cables. It is important that the clips or staples are only in areas accessible after the walls and floors are finished. After installing all of the cables, tape the front of the box and all of the cables in place with blue masking tape.

If you never staple the cables onto the studs inside the wall, you will be able to take off the accessable staples and use the existing cables to pull new ones. The side of the studs will also direct push rods and guide any new cables you need to pull.

By preparing the box as stated above, a screwdriver can be used to remove the two dry wall screws holding it to the studs. Since the nail holding protrusions are gone, the box will also come out the front hole in the dry wall without making the hole larger. It can also be easily replaced.


Just last week, I went back to run new cables in an old work system that I rewired a year ago. Having prepared the house for an "open work" system, running additional wires were a breeze.

The first job took an entire week. The upgrade took only one day. The number of cables and terminations were about the same.

 

[Jared Twomey]

in new houses i run 2 RG6 to all tv locations, 2 cat5 to each main room (living room, office, den... ect) and 1 cat5 to bedrooms, kitchens, ect..
and also, I run 6 RG6 to the dish location (one of those for for OTA use, one for extra just in case
Also, run an extra 2 RG6 to your office if you ever think you might use satellite internet
Thats just what i do
The "open work" systems work well also if thats the way you want to go
another thing you may think about is if you plan on doing any wall mounted tvs, or projector systems... wiring for those are easier to do now than later on

 

[Bob Haller]

Run conduit, change cables at will. saves tons of time and hassles

 

[timmy1376]

I have hear of peopel running a string through along with their cables so they can easily pull more cable later.

 

[Mike500]

Both conduit and strings are a good idea, but open work is better.

As a Master Electrician, I only use condut when required by codes.

Both restrict your freedom of movement and conduit does not allow expansion to that large 3-1/2x14-1/2 inch vertical cavity between the studs.

With strings and conduits, you must anticipate all future diections of cable routing and place the strings where they might never be needed and just become a tangled mess.

For open work, unless you are in a completely open attic, basement or crawl space, the holes through and partitions and between two access points must be in a straight line and, preferbaly, not more that 10 feet apart. That way, you can use sectional fiberglass rods like needle and thread to push coax or other cable between access points with ease.

This way, you can even run wires through walls with fiberglass insulation.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Another thing you might want to consider is interduct flex conduit. Its orange and is used mostly for fiber optics.

When I did my house I ran the cable to traditional way to all the plates and then ran an open flexable conduit to each plate for future use.

Its like this weekend in the kitchen I wanted to add a Tv for the counter. I only ran phone, but to add the coax cable it took me less than a minute to slide the cable down the conduit to the basement.