Quad Shield or Dual Shield RG6

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infinity

infinity

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I need to run some RG6 for FiOS and I'm being told to run quad shield instead of dual shield. Personally I don't think that it will make any difference and the quad shield is about 40% more expensive. Any opinions?
 
There's a cognitive disconnect between FIOS and coax....

How long a run? Less and a 100' or so, I'd probably run whatever whatever quality 75 ohm coax I had handy (and assuming I have the connectors on-hand). (Don't usually have "RG6", usually have Belden 8281 or 1505.)
 
No run is more than 100'. One of the "purists" on the job said the quad shield was worth the extra money but I don't believe it will make any difference.
 
The only thing I've heard from a satellite tv installer that does make a difference, is buying the RG6 with the solid copper conductor, versus the copper clad steel or aluminum, or whatever it is.

I've never followed up on it though, if you can tell, we don't install much coax in our work.
 
infinity said:
One of the "purists" on the job
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Do they also buy the $100 oxygen-free cryogenic-enhanced power cables?

If you're under maybe 500', I'd think that double-shield would be fine. If you have to buy the cable, might as well get that and decent connectors.

BTW solid copper center vs copper-clad wouldn't make much, if any, difference for the RF signal (skin effect), might if it's carrying LNB power to a dish.
 
Sounds like the "Audiophiles" that demand gold plated connectors, or "Monster Cable". My experience is as long as it's a decent cable and connectors are terminated properly, it will work fine.
 
I always try to use what the cable company, or in this case Verizon uses. Personally I don't think dual vs quad will make a difference either but if Verizon is willing to pay for quad there must be a reason. First, make sure your information comes from Verizon regarding quad being necessary, not someones opinion. Then, if you ask nicely most cable companies will give you a box of their cable and I can't believe Verizon won't do the same. After all, you are doing them a favor by pre-wiring for their service.

I would let them terminate though unless you want to see them cut your fittings off and replace them with theirs.

-Hal
 
hbiss said:
I always try to use what the cable company, or in this case Verizon uses. Personally I don't think dual vs quad will make a difference either but if Verizon is willing to pay for quad there must be a reason. First, make sure your information comes from Verizon regarding quad being necessary, not someones opinion. Then, if you ask nicely most cable companies will give you a box of their cable and I can't believe Verizon won't do the same. After all, you are doing them a favor by pre-wiring for their service.

I would let them terminate though unless you want to see them cut your fittings off and replace them with theirs.

-Hal
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I added on to my house a couple of years ago. I had to extend a run for my satellite to the new bedroom. I did all the work, including putting the connectors on. The picture was perfect. Later on, I upgraded the Sat. service and the techs had to come in to install the new equipment. When they came to my connectors, they promptly took out their cutters and cut my connectors off and put on theirs!:rant:
 
This are new cables for an existing house. Verizon already came and did the reconnect and programmed the TV boxes. They didn't change anything, in fact they left the crimp on F connectors from 20 years ago intact. They didn't even bother to remove the unused cable from the splitter they just left them connected and some of them are abandoned meaning they're cut off on the other end.

In the past I have seen them only connect cables that are being used and provided terminating resistors on the unused splitter ports. Tech seemed to be in a hurry. :rant:
 
Little Bill said:
I added on to my house a couple of years ago. I had to extend a run for my satellite to the new bedroom. I did all the work, including putting the connectors on. The picture was perfect. Later on, I upgraded the Sat. service and the techs had to come in to install the new equipment. When they came to my connectors, they promptly took out their cutters and cut my connectors off and put on theirs!:rant:
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Don't feel bad, they will even cut the connectors off that their last guy installed. And as for using better quality connectors than they use, they are required to use whatever the company issues. But I have to say that I have never seen them use anything but good quality materials. Just because you may have not heard of the manufacturers they use doesn't mean that it's inferior. They don't make any money on repeat service calls.

-Hal
 
infinity said:
This are new cables for an existing house. Verizon already came and did the reconnect and programmed the TV boxes. They didn't change anything, in fact they left the crimp on F connectors from 20 years ago intact. They didn't even bother to remove the unused cable from the splitter they just left them connected and some of them are abandoned meaning they're cut off on the other end.
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So if they reused some of the existing cable what does that say about using quad or even dual?

-Hal
 
What matters with shielding is the percentage of coverage. Braid shields vary in coverage from around 40% to the high 90's, but a foil shield covers 100%. Most dual shield cables contain one of each type, and quads are usually two of each.

I do not understand any advantage to quad shielding except for manufacturer profit.
 
LarryFine said:
I do not understand any advantage to quad shielding except for manufacturer profit.
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I'm no expert, but read a lot. AIUI, quad is far better on prevention of signals getting out of the coax and is used by the cable co to minimize leakage and interference.

It's larger, less flexible, more expensive, and often has more loss; look at Belden or Commscope literature. Loss is usually unimportant in the cable distribution (they have amplifiers and equal amplitude for "all" channels), more so for OTA. Also as stated, solid copper is probably better for the feed from power supply to amplifier with longer distances and OTA.

To emphasize what has been hinted by others ... MATCH CONNECTORS TO CABLE, THEY ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE.
 
Little Bill said:
I added on to my house a couple of years ago. I had to extend a run for my satellite to the new bedroom. I did all the work, including putting the connectors on. The picture was perfect. Later on, I upgraded the Sat. service and the techs had to come in to install the new equipment. When they came to my connectors, they promptly took out their cutters and cut my connectors off and put on theirs!:rant:
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The barely trained service techs are the absolute worst. I got an AT&T tech fired after I documented how bad a job he'd done at my parents house a few years ago.

He tagged the demarc unit to the basement wall with a single screw (the demarc unit is supposed to go on the EXTERIOR of the building), draped coax and CAT5 ACROSS the front of the breaker panel, and ripped apart two punched down cables on a CAT5 patch panel to run a phone line that he was asked not to run.

AT&T reimbursed my parents for six months of service and fired the tech after I made a stink their behalf. The district manager actually came out to see how bad of a job the guy had done.

When I had cable service hooked up at my house, I told the tech to land his coax on the grounding block, and leave. He told me he had to inspect the wiring. I said no. I'd done all the wiring inside the house, and he didn't need to worry about it. I finally relented and told him he could hook up his signal strength tester where the cable modem was connected - he told me he'd never seen such strong consistent signal strength before :) I used dual shield RG6 and Home Depot -quality compression connectors. Weird how not rushing usually makes things better...


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