Can It Be the Coax Cable - Page 3

Jim202259KL · 07-25-2022, 07:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morich

That's part of that "electronic stew" we were talking about. Lots of things put out lots of different waves of energy that can get into lots of stuff we use, TV being one where we can see it happen.

The MaxxAir fan creates about five diagonal lines on the tv screen, about three inches apart from each other. The a/c doesn't affect the tv. I turned off everything at one point, but it didn't help. And the fact that with the over-the-air antenna the picture is great (for stations within range), even with other things running, suggests it's not lights, fan, etc.

Once the replacement multimeter gets here, I will be able to narrow things down.

Wayne M · 07-25-2022, 02:36 PM

RFI = Radio Frequency Interference, not just caused by radios.

Jim202259KL · 07-27-2022, 01:49 PM

Multimeter arrived. Tested the cable It's a WILCOR High Performance RG-6/U 75 OHM 25 foot cable.

Tested continuity. On the shield, a steady audible tone. Shield to inner wire, nothing. Inner wire, sporadic tone, cuts in and out, makes static, can't get it steady enough for the meter to settle on a reading.

Cable was acquired 11 years ago. Treated nicely but perhaps somewhere somehow something messed up the inner wire?

Time to spring for a new cable. Recommendations welcome.

bigb · 07-27-2022, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim202259KL

Time to spring for a new cable. Recommendations welcome.

Pretty much any of them will work, if you were my neighbor I'd just make you one, I still have a 500 foot roll and a container full of compression connectors. That said I am considering getting one with easy grip ends to make things easier at camp.
https://www.thecimpleco.com/products...-25-feet-black

Wayne M · 07-27-2022, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim202259KL

Time to spring for a new cable. Recommendations welcome.

Make it RG-6 and the better the quality the better it is, Some RV parks will not have a good signal with other than RG-6.

Jim202259KL · 07-27-2022, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigb

Pretty much any of them will work, if you were my neighbor I'd just make you one, I still have a 500 foot roll and a container full of compression connectors. That said I am considering getting one with easy grip ends to make things easier at camp.
https://www.thecimpleco.com/products...-25-feet-black

Thanks! If you were my neighbor I'd pay you make one. I think I have some connectors sitting around somewhere but very little cable left on the spool (about 6 feet, too short for what I want). Cheaper to buy a 25 foot cable than another 1000' or 500' spool!

Jim202259KL · 07-27-2022, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne M

Make it RG-6 and the better the quality the better it is, Some RV parks will not have a good signal with other than RG-6.

Definitely will get RG-6 or RG-6U. That's what I have now, the one that apparently got damaged somehow.

bigb · 07-27-2022, 03:16 PM

Matter of fact I just ordered it, $12.99 no tax, free shipping. Walmart has it for about a dollar cheaper but from past experience I will never place an online order with Walmart again as long as I live.
The easy grip connectors will be a big help to my clumsy fingers and I don't have the ability to attach those to my coax, so my 500 foot roll sits untouched while I buy a pre made cable.

Jim202259KL · 07-27-2022, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigb

Matter of fact I just ordered it, $12.99 no tax, free shipping. Walmart has it for about a dollar cheaper but from past experience I will never place an online order with Walmart again as long as I live.
The easy grip connectors will be a big help to my clumsy fingers and I don't have the ability to attach those to my coax, so my 500 foot roll sits untouched while I buy a pre made cable.

Sometimes a dollar off isn't worth it.

Jim202259KL · 08-01-2022, 08:12 PM

Got the new cable. Tested it with the multimeter. Unlike the old cable, get a steady tone and reading with the center wire. Next step, test it when I'm back at the campground.

BobC · 08-01-2022, 10:09 PM

It doesn't take much for a coax cable to go bad. Often it's the result of moisture incursion at the fittings.

In ham radio, we typically protect our coax fittings with self-fusing tape. It's best to apply to the coax when it's new:

https://www.amazon.com/coax-tape/s?k=coax+tape

Jim202259KL · 08-01-2022, 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobC

It doesn't take much for a coax cable to go bad. Often it's the result of moisture incursion at the fittings.

In ham radio, we typically protect our coax fittings with self-fusing tape. It's best to apply to the coax when it's new:

https://www.amazon.com/coax-tape/s?k=coax+tape

Question: is this for permanent installations or does it work when the cable is for an RV-to-pedestal connection that is temporary?

Wayne M · 08-02-2022, 09:03 AM

The tape Bob C mentioned has other names of tapes that will do the same thing. Rescue tape, fusion tape etc. Great product. Can repair a water pipe leak until a permanent repair cam be made.

Now, in the old days we didn't have self sealing tape so we used RTV or Silicone and smeared it all around the coax and fitting but not the screw on or center conductor part. If a semi-permanent installation like an outside antenna we would coat everything.

The self sealing tape is 99 percent permanent. To remove it you have to cut it with a knife or scissors. You would not want to attach the cable to the pedestal and wrap it on to the pedestal connector and cable.

Now, if you want to protect the center conductor go to an auto store and by some of the rubber push on connectors. They come in assorted sizes. Find one that fits over the cable connector and it will prefent most things from getting in. I use them on my AF1 breaking connectors on the outside of my rig. Work great.

KE5QG

Jim202259KL · 08-02-2022, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne M

The tape Bob C mentioned has other names of tapes that will do the same thing. Rescue tape, fusion tape etc. Great product. Can repair a water pipe leak until a permanent repair cam be made.

Now, in the old days we didn't have self sealing tape so we used RTV or Silicone and smeared it all around the coax and fitting but not the screw on or center conductor part. If a semi-permanent installation like an outside antenna we would coat everything.

The self sealing tape is 99 percent permanent. To remove it you have to cut it with a knife or scissors. You would not want to attach the cable to the pedestal and wrap it on to the pedestal connector and cable.

Now, if you want to protect the center conductor go to an auto store and by some of the rubber push on connectors. They come in assorted sizes. Find one that fits over the cable connector and it will prefent most things from getting in. I use them on my AF1 breaking connectors on the outside of my rig. Work great.

KE5QG

Thanks. I have some of that tape you mention.

Jim202259KL · 08-24-2022, 01:16 PM

Update: Went pack to the same campground, same site, tried the new cable (including direct pedestal to television). Same problem. So we tried another site much closer to the main building. Much better signal. Still a little bit of "snowiness" on some channels.

Longer part of story. At second site, "no signal." Turned out something is wrong with the cable from the green box where there is an 8-way splitter and the jack on the pedestal. So we bypassed the pedestal, and the campground employee will return to fix it after I leave.

Weird part of story. The campground employee claimed that the signal, which is acquired through a Dish satellite connection (dish on the main building), and that is transmitted through the underground cables that are of various lengths and split 8 ways, is analog. Huh? Didn't make sense to me. I don't quite understand that and couldn't get much of an explanation from the employee. Could the campground somehow be "converting" a digital signal from Dish into an analog signal?

bigb · 08-24-2022, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim202259KL

Weird part of story. The campground employee claimed that the signal, which is acquired through a Dish satellite connection (dish on the main building), and that is transmitted through the underground cables that are of various lengths and split 8 ways, is analog. Huh? Didn't make sense to me. I don't quite understand that and couldn't get much of an explanation from the employee. Could the campground somehow be "converting" a digital signal from Dish into an analog signal?

This explains it pretty well Difference Between Cable TV and Digital TV | Difference Between

Jim202259KL · 08-24-2022, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigb

This explains it pretty well Difference Between Cable TV and Digital TV | Difference Between

Interesting. So even though the signal from Dish to the main building is digital, somehow when it gets put into the underground cables to the site, it becomes analog.

The digital over-the-air signal picked up by the roof antenna also goes to the TV through coax but doesn't degrade at all.

Something for me to learn more about.

Thanks.

bigb · 08-24-2022, 01:47 PM

I don't fully understand it either, it's just one of those things I know the basics of how to hook it up but if it gets much more complicated than that I'm lost.

BobC · 08-24-2022, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim202259KL

I don't quite understand that and couldn't get much of an explanation from the employee. Could the campground somehow be "converting" a digital signal from Dish into an analog signal?

It's possible and the employee is probably right. Remember when TV broadcasters first changed to digital and we all had those little black converter boxes to convert the digital over the air signal to analog for our analog TVs.

This would explain the snowiness you mention. A digital signal wouldn't do this, as the info Brian posted explains.

I don't understand why they would do this, but it's possible their system has signal amplifiers in it that are analog holdovers from the old days. You can't split coax cables ad infinitum without suffering signal gradation and cable length is also a factor. Both of these could explain the existence of signal amplifiers. It's also possible that there's something else that is limiting them such as type of cable, etc. Re-cabling an entire campground can be prohibitively expensive.

Here's a relevant thread from forestriverforums.com:

https://www.forestriverforums.com/fo...tv-205496.html

Jim202259KL · 08-24-2022, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigb

I don't fully understand it either, it's just one of those things I know the basics of how to hook it up but if it gets much more complicated than that I'm lost.

From the wee bit of research I've done in the past few minutes, it seems that providers (cable companies, DISH, etc.) offer customers like campgrounds an analog option, or a low-definition versus high-definition option. All news to me.