Found out RG6 and RG11 aren't just different lengths

I was on a job yesterday running a 200 foot line from a tap to a new house, and the signal was way too weak by the time I got to the box. My buddy who's been doing this 15 years told me to swap out my RG6 for RG11 and it fixed the whole thing. I never really thought about the difference in signal loss between the two, I just grabbed whatever spool was closest. He showed me the spec sheet and RG6 loses like 6 dB per 100 feet at higher frequencies while RG11 is closer to 4 dB. That 2 dB difference added up over the run and made all the difference. I don't know why I never looked into this before, but it makes me want to recheck some older jobs. Has anyone else run into signal issues they fixed just by swapping cable types?

3 comments

3 Comments

blairtaylor7d ago

Bet you felt pretty smart hauling that RG11 out instead of just grabbing the first spool you saw.

-1

parkera227d ago

Wait, what? You actually carried an RG11 spool out? I mean I know those things are built different for long runs and all but holy crap that stuff is like carrying around a dead body in a rug. I remember helping a buddy with a job once and we had to grab a 500 foot spool of RG11 and my back hurt for like three days after. You must have really wanted that signal to not drop at all huh.

oliviagrant7d ago

Yeah I used to just grab whatever was closest too but man the RG11 actually saved me a second trip.