Coax

Coax Cable having a 75 ohm characteristic, is used primarily as a video wire which has a single center conductor and is typically used in the transmission of cable television or other video signals like those of closed circuit TV applications.

The center conductor, depending on whether RG6 or RG59, can be made from copper or copper coated steel and sometimes contains silver. The center conductor is surrounded by an insulation wrapped by a metallic shield.

The outer jacket of coaxial cable, commonly black but can be found in different colors, is typically made from plastic. Different outer jackets are made for different types of installations such as: a standard wall in a home or office, plenum for fire rated sites and direct burial for installation into immediate ground soil.

RG6 vs RG59

RG6, which has an 18 gauge center conductor, is a newer generation of coaxial cable compared to RG59. RG6 Quad shield is a more heavily shielded version of regular RG6 and has a slightly larger outside diameter. The benefit of RG6 quad shield is it’s improved ability to shield the copper center conductor from electromagnetic interference coming from other nearby sources which run adjacent to the coax. Such interference can present itself in the form of a degraded video picture. Often however the shielding offered by standard RG6 is sufficient in many common installations.

RG59, until recently, has been used primarily in analog camera systems.RG59 is shielded by copper foil whereas RG6 is shielded by an aluminum foil shield.

Running Coaxial Cable

Running or installing coax can either be a very simple process or fairly complex requiring a few specialized tools. Almost anyone can connect a premade coax cable to a wall plate or device and then tighten an F connector on the other end. Running or installing coax within a wall, attic or other space

Make Coaxial Cable

To make a coaxial cable requires two tools and an F connector. The first tool required is a coax stripping tool designed to make uniform width and depth cuts. The coax striper contains two special internal blades. One blade cuts the outer plastic jacket while at the same time the second blade cuts the internal insulation. Once the coax is properly stripped back the F connector is slipped onto the exposed wire. The second tool is either a crimping tool or a compression tool. Both the crimp or compression tools can be used to properly fasten the F connector to the coax however the compression tool is the tool of preference in today’s coax installations.