RG6 Underground

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taelon721

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Jul 30, 2006
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My friend asked me how far he could go with RG6 cabling before we start loosing signal quality? Also, he wants to run the cabling underground. Lives in Okahoma. Don't really think the temp drops below -10F. And would you want the cable run through PVC pipe, or just by itself. Thanks....
 
you can buy special rg6 that is bury rated so it can be bury'd underground. imo conduit would be a better choice though as you can easily add another few more runs without digging up the whole yard.

you can run 400ft with good quality rg6 before you need to use an inline amp.
 
you can buy special rg6 that is bury rated so it can be bury'd underground. imo conduit would be a better choice though as you can easily add another few more runs without digging up the whole yard.

you can run 400ft with good quality rg6 before you need to use an inline amp.

Ok. Thanks. That is what I needed to know.
 
how . . long . . is . . it ?

From what I've read, the key word there is good quality.
Ya might pay too much and think you have good quality, when in fact what you have is too expensive. :rolleyes:

The cable shielding varies in percent coverage.
Get the specs on what you are planning on using, and talk about it here.
There's also dual shielded and quad shielded.

More importantly, the center conductor of regular RG6 is steel with a copper coating.
Better quality cable, suitable for long runs, would have an all-copper core.
It's not really for the RF, but to make a lower voltage drop for carrying the power to the LNB.
If you have a motor out there, all the more important.

Dish has a recommended cable run of something around 100 or 125 feet, as I recall.
That's with Legacy LNBs much like you and I use.
Of course, that is based on cheap cable, and the extra current those twins pull.
If you can't deliver the 18 volts to the end of the cable (probably 15 v min) , you can't get the LNB into Horizontal polarization (left circular).
When they went to bandstacked, suddenly the same receivers and cabling were good for 200(+) feet.
All that happened, was that they pumped 18..20 volts down the cable at all times, the LNBs would work at 10..12 volts, and they ignored voltage drop.
You probably cannot.

RG11 is a bigger cable, and usually recommended for longer runs.
Of course if you're keeping it under 200 feet, maybe it's not a big concern.
(just don't take that length to the bank)
The more simple the thing is at the end of the long run, the more likely it'll work.

edit:
GROUNDING:
I forgot to mention, ...
You probably should be quite anal about grounding the dish right there where it's mounted, and ...
If you have power out at the antenna site, 'cause maybe it's at a powered barn or something,...
Be sure to not power anything dish-related from the remote power.
If you have to, then have some serious forum discussions before going down that road.

You might read through the Installer section of the forum, looking for threads related to long cable runs and grounding.
However, there are several kinds of guys there to watch out for.
Some seem quite casual (sloppy) as to what will work.
And some are quite anal , quoting the National Electrical Code specs, when sometimes common sense would be wiser.
The best answer often lies somewhere between.
.
 
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