QUAD SHIELD VS. REG CABLE?

Status
Please reply by conversation.

elam budmore

Well-Known SatelliteGuys Member
Original poster
Sep 22, 2008
27
0
sheboygan falls wi
Is there any differance in the outer plastic coating on quad shield cable vs the normal stuff? i was under the impression that the quad part was what had to do with the ability to bury it. but ive been told by knowledgable dish installer that it has more to do with the number of foil wraps inside and the ability to keep out RF interferance, and that being as i am going to bury it , thats like 10x beter as far as interferance blocking ability and that quad would be "overkill" what do you guys think? i have a 200ft run i need to bury...what would you use?
 
There are two different kinds of cable.... not integrity wise... but there is flooded and non-flooded cable. The non-flooded is the type that you most likely have connecting most of your nifty accessories to your tv set. The flooded type has this sticky goop in it that protect the cable itself from water damage... not saying that it would be ok to leave underwater for years and years but more about moisture protection. At work we use flooded cable even if we are putting it through 2" conduit. I personally think it's overkill but it's company policy. I would say that if you are going to bury cable at least put it through a 1" conduit or bigger if you can afford it. This way you can replace the cables easily when and if they go bad. It's true that quad shield is great when it comes to blocking most RF interference over standard RG-6. But with satellite and RF interference I don't 'think' that there is anything in the range of what is used with satellite that would interfere. Not so in the cable tv industry... there are base stations and retrans stations used by fire departments operating closely in range with some channels... like channel 19 for instance. So anyway then it just comes down to preference. Some guys are going to say that they swear by quad shield but honestly it doesn't carry voltage any better and doesn't boost your signal over long distances. It's still limited to what standard RG-6 is capable of. Ok and what would I use? I would use RG-11 for that long of run. It's more expensive but you would get superior performance over the long run.
 
RG11 has more shielding and is a thicker cable. Used in long (like 300 feet +) cable runs

connectors are specialized and most tools wont work on them. Ya need the special RG11 connectors & tools
 
We sell two types of outdoor burial cable. Solid copper center with special UV and moisture resistant cover...and lots of wholesalers pass this off as "flooded". The flooded version is as described above. When we're pulling through conduit we use the non-flooded version of burial cable. The solid copper non-flooded and the flooded version are both available in a "Made in the USA" version. We only use cables made in the USA...
 
RG-11 is a larger sized coax. It has a 14 awg center conductor and more foam. It is good for longer runs and less signal loss. It is a little large to connect directly to a tv jack.

I have honesty not seen any better results with quad shield cable in my area. Quad shield cable is best in areas where high levels of RF interference, EMI, and other noise.
I think in most cases unless your just set on very best and most expensive when doing an install, your wasting your money.
 
My cable run is a bit under 200'. With Quad shield RG-6, switching was completely unreliable. I switched to RG-11 and it has never missed a beat. I was lucky enough to steal a 1000' spool on ebay for about $60 including shipping, so I have 4 runs of it coming in. :D


BTW, bury a 1.5" conduit. It sure made things easier when I changed my cable, and the plastic stuff really doesn't cost much.
 
I always use PVC sched 40 conduits. Cheap and like you said easy to change the wire if you have to. I don't like the idea of direct burial unless I have no other choice.

RG-11 is awesome. I did a long run (UHF DTV) from a stacked array antenna with RG-11 and it made a huge difference.
 
Status
Please reply by conversation.
***

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)

Latest posts