someone 'splain this to me...

sitting here on the couch, TV is ****ing me off, going all pixellated at
odd intervals. Finally got bad enough that I was considering calling
the cable company but before I did I went over to the rack and started
touching all the cables to make sure they were tight. Got to the coax
going into the back of the cable box, it was tight, but touching the
cable would make the signal drop out. Unscrewed it, bent the center
conductor slightly to have it make better contact, reinstalled. Still
pixellates and audio drops out. went over to the "electrical section"
of my basement, grabbed some RG6 quad, whipped myself up a 6 foot cable.
Installed it in place of the old cable from the surge suppressor to
the cable box. Perfect picture. What gives? I'm sure the old cord was
the one that came with the cable box - 2 yrs. old. How could a piece of
solid copper suddenly just "go bad?" I'm not complaining as it was an
easy fix, but still, it's pretty weird. Old cable meters OK, too... but
doesn't work. weird.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

Nate Nagel, 12/27/2008,10:55:54 PM, wrote:

someone 'splain this to me...

sitting here on the couch, TV is ****ing me off, going all pixellated
at odd intervals. Finally got bad enough that I was considering
calling the cable company but before I did I went over to the rack
and started touching all the cables to make sure they were tight.
Got to the coax going into the back of the cable box, it was tight,
but touching the cable would make the signal drop out. Unscrewed it,
bent the center conductor slightly to have it make better contact,
reinstalled. Still pixellates and audio drops out. went over to the
"electrical section" of my basement, grabbed some RG6 quad, whipped
myself up a 6 foot cable. Installed it in place of the old cable
from the surge suppressor to the cable box. Perfect picture. What
gives? I'm sure the old cord was the one that came with the cable
box - 2 yrs. old. How could a piece of solid copper suddenly just
"go bad?" I'm not complaining as it was an easy fix, but still, it's
pretty weird. Old cable meters OK, too... but doesn't work. weird.

nate

Possibly a bad crimp on the connector. It happens.

badgolferman wrote:
Nate Nagel, 12/27/2008,10:55:54 PM, wrote:

someone 'splain this to me...

sitting here on the couch, TV is ****ing me off, going all pixellated
at odd intervals. Finally got bad enough that I was considering
calling the cable company but before I did I went over to the rack
and started touching all the cables to make sure they were tight.
Got to the coax going into the back of the cable box, it was tight,
but touching the cable would make the signal drop out. Unscrewed it,
bent the center conductor slightly to have it make better contact,
reinstalled. Still pixellates and audio drops out. went over to the
"electrical section" of my basement, grabbed some RG6 quad, whipped
myself up a 6 foot cable. Installed it in place of the old cable
from the surge suppressor to the cable box. Perfect picture. What
gives? I'm sure the old cord was the one that came with the cable
box - 2 yrs. old. How could a piece of solid copper suddenly just
"go bad?" I'm not complaining as it was an easy fix, but still, it's
pretty weird. Old cable meters OK, too... but doesn't work. weird.

nate

Possibly a bad crimp on the connector. It happens.

I metered the shield too, about .3 ohm on my Fluke. That's why I'm
confused. I realize that I've fixed the issue but it bugs me when I
can't figure out what the issue is. There's that little doubt in my
mind that I didn't really find it, that I was just faked out by the
signal happening to weaken just when I messed with the old cable (I
know, I did it several times and it always followed, but still) and that
it's actually somewhere else...

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

On Dec 27, 9:55*pm, Nate Nagel wrote:
someone 'splain this to me...

sitting here on the couch, TV is ****ing me off, going all pixellated at
odd intervals. *Finally got bad enough that I was considering calling
the cable company but before I did I went over to the rack and started
touching all the cables to make sure they were tight. *Got to the coax
going into the back of the cable box, it was tight, but touching the
cable would make the signal drop out. *Unscrewed it, bent the center
conductor slightly to have it make better contact, reinstalled. *Still
pixellates and audio drops out. *went over to the "electrical section"
of my basement, grabbed some RG6 quad, whipped myself up a 6 foot cable.
* *Installed it in place of the old cable from the surge suppressor to
the cable box. *Perfect picture. *What gives? *I'm sure the old cord was
the one that came with the cable box - 2 yrs. old. *How could a piece of
solid copper suddenly just "go bad?" *I'm not complaining as it was an
easy fix, but still, it's pretty weird. *Old cable meters OK, too... but
doesn't work. *weird.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.http://members.cox.net/njnagel

A too short center conductor that was barely making contact?

KC

Nate Nagel wrote:
badgolferman wrote:

Nate Nagel, 12/27/2008,10:55:54 PM, wrote:

someone 'splain this to me...

sitting here on the couch, TV is ****ing me off, going all pixellated
at odd intervals. Finally got bad enough that I was considering
calling the cable company but before I did I went over to the rack
and started touching all the cables to make sure they were tight.
Got to the coax going into the back of the cable box, it was tight,
but touching the cable would make the signal drop out. Unscrewed it,
bent the center conductor slightly to have it make better contact,
reinstalled. Still pixellates and audio drops out. went over to the
"electrical section" of my basement, grabbed some RG6 quad, whipped
myself up a 6 foot cable. Installed it in place of the old cable
from the surge suppressor to the cable box. Perfect picture. What
gives? I'm sure the old cord was the one that came with the cable
box - 2 yrs. old. How could a piece of solid copper suddenly just
"go bad?" I'm not complaining as it was an easy fix, but still, it's
pretty weird. Old cable meters OK, too... but doesn't work. weird.

nate


Possibly a bad crimp on the connector. It happens.


I metered the shield too, about .3 ohm on my Fluke. That's why I'm
confused. I realize that I've fixed the issue but it bugs me when I
can't figure out what the issue is. There's that little doubt in my
mind that I didn't really find it, that I was just faked out by the
signal happening to weaken just when I messed with the old cable (I
know, I did it several times and it always followed, but still) and that
it's actually somewhere else...

nate



Did you happen to try putting the "bad" cable back in to see what happened?

And, I doubt that you'd miss this, but when ohming out the "bad" cable
did you check for a short between the center conductor and the shield?
(I don't see how there could be a shortwithout the cable having been
crunched VERY badly somewhere along its length, or maybe a real sloppy
job of attaching one of the connectors, with a strand of the shield
sticking through the center hole, but it's worth thinking about.)

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.98*10^14 fathoms per fortnight.

Jeff Wisnia wrote:
Nate Nagel wrote:
badgolferman wrote:

Nate Nagel, 12/27/2008,10:55:54 PM, wrote:

someone 'splain this to me...

sitting here on the couch, TV is ****ing me off, going all
pixellated at odd intervals. Finally got bad enough that I was
considering calling the cable company but before I did I went
over to the rack and started touching all the cables to make
sure they were tight. Got to the coax going into the back of
the cable box, it was tight, but touching the cable would make
the signal drop out. Unscrewed it, bent the center conductor
slightly to have it make better contact, reinstalled. Still
pixellates and audio drops out. went over to the "electrical
section" of my basement, grabbed some RG6 quad, whipped myself
up a 6 foot cable. Installed it in place of the old cable
from the surge suppressor to the cable box. Perfect picture.
What gives? I'm sure the old cord was the one that came with
the cable box - 2 yrs. old. How could a piece of solid copper
suddenly just "go bad?" I'm not complaining as it was an easy
fix, but still, it's pretty weird. Old cable meters OK, too...
but doesn't work. weird.

nate


Possibly a bad crimp on the connector. It happens.


I metered the shield too, about .3 ohm on my Fluke. That's why I'm
confused. I realize that I've fixed the issue but it bugs me when
I can't figure out what the issue is. There's that little doubt in
my mind that I didn't really find it, that I was just faked out by
the signal happening to weaken just when I messed with the old
cable (I know, I did it several times and it always followed, but
still) and that it's actually somewhere else...

nate



Did you happen to try putting the "bad" cable back in to see what
happened?

No, I literally am posting this from my couch, immediately after
installing the new cable... but I haven't noticed a single audio
dropout since, nor pixellation (but I haven't been actually watching the
TV consistently)


And, I doubt that you'd miss this, but when ohming out the "bad"
cable did you check for a short between the center conductor and the
shield? (I don't see how there could be a shortwithout the cable
having been crunched VERY badly somewhere along its length, or maybe
a real sloppy job of attaching one of the connectors, with a strand
of the shield sticking through the center hole, but it's worth
thinking about.)

I did, it was several megs.

nate


--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

On Dec 28, 1:22*am, Nate Nagel wrote:
Jeff Wisnia wrote:
Nate Nagel wrote:
badgolferman wrote:

Nate Nagel, 12/27/2008,10:55:54 PM, wrote:

someone 'splain this to me...

sitting here on the couch, TV is ****ing me off, going all
pixellated at odd intervals. *Finally got bad enough that I was
considering calling the cable company but before I did I went
over to the rack and started touching all the cables to make
sure they were tight. Got to the coax going into the back of
the cable box, it was tight, but touching the cable would make
the signal drop out. *Unscrewed it, bent the center conductor
slightly to have it make better contact, reinstalled. *Still
pixellates and audio drops out. *went over to the "electrical
section" of my basement, grabbed some RG6 quad, whipped myself
up a 6 foot cable. * *Installed it in place of the old cable
from the surge suppressor to the cable box. *Perfect picture.
What gives? *I'm sure the old cord was the one that came with
the cable box - 2 yrs. old. *How could a piece of solid copper
suddenly just "go bad?" *I'm not complaining as it was an easy
fix, but still, it's pretty weird. *Old cable meters OK, too...
but doesn't work. *weird.

nate

Possibly a bad crimp on the connector. *It happens.

I metered the shield too, about .3 ohm on my Fluke. *That's why I'm
*confused. *I realize that I've fixed the issue but it bugs me when
I can't figure out what the issue is. *There's that little doubt in
my mind that I didn't really find it, that I was just faked out by
the signal happening to weaken just when I messed with the old
cable (I know, I did it several times and it always followed, but
still) and that it's actually somewhere else...

nate

Did you happen to try putting the "bad" cable back in to see what
happened?

No, I literally am posting this from my couch, immediately after
installing the new cable... *but I haven't noticed a single audio
dropout since, nor pixellation (but I haven't been actually watching the
TV consistently)



And, I doubt that you'd miss this, but when ohming out the "bad"
cable did you check for a short between the center conductor and the
shield? (I don't see how there could be a shortwithout the cable
having been crunched VERY badly somewhere along its length, or maybe
a real sloppy job of attaching one of the connectors, with a strand
of the shield sticking through the center hole, but it's worth
thinking about.)

I did, it was several megs.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.http://members.cox.net/njnagel- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Question about coax generally.
Suppose one has some older coax (RG8 actually) and the braid etc looks
like it once got wet but is now long dried out. It shows continuity
end to end of both centre conductor and shield.
If it also show a high insulation resistance, your post suggest
several meg-ohms, between centre and shield, is your opinion that it
would it be usable. Especially at frequencies below 100 megahertz?
Just curious; cos got a length like that just lying around.

"Nate Nagel" wrote in message
...
someone 'splain this to me...

sitting here on the couch, TV is ****ing me off, going all pixellated at odd
intervals. Finally got bad enough that I was considering calling the cable
company but before I did I went over to the rack and started touching all the
cables to make sure they were tight. Got to the coax going into the back of
the cable box, it was tight, but touching the cable would make the signal drop
out. Unscrewed it, bent the center conductor slightly to have it make better
contact, reinstalled. Still pixellates and audio drops out. went over to the
"electrical section" of my basement, grabbed some RG6 quad, whipped myself up
a 6 foot cable. Installed it in place of the old cable from the surge
suppressor to the cable box. Perfect picture. What gives? I'm sure the old
cord was the one that came with the cable box - 2 yrs. old. How could a piece
of solid copper suddenly just "go bad?" I'm not complaining as it was an easy
fix, but still, it's pretty weird. Old cable meters OK, too... but doesn't
work. weird.

I do know that my cable company discouraged the use of "substandard" cables,
like those from Rat Shack. They were happy to give me cables (a few years back)
rather than have me buy others. It apparently doesn't take much of a defect to
cause bad reflections or such.

I just added a couple QAM digital capable tuners to my PC home theatre computer.
I ended up doing a lot of fussing with my cable amplifier, splitters and cables
to get good reception on all the digital channels, eliminating the gaps in the
video I initially had. I suspect it's still a little iffy. I may need a better
amplifier.

Bob F wrote:

"Nate Nagel" wrote in message
...
someone 'splain this to me...

sitting here on the couch, TV is ****ing me off, going all pixellated at odd
intervals. Finally got bad enough that I was considering calling the cable
company but before I did I went over to the rack and started touching all the
cables to make sure they were tight. Got to the coax going into the back of
the cable box, it was tight, but touching the cable would make the signal drop
out. Unscrewed it, bent the center conductor slightly to have it make better
contact, reinstalled. Still pixellates and audio drops out. went over to the
"electrical section" of my basement, grabbed some RG6 quad, whipped myself up
a 6 foot cable. Installed it in place of the old cable from the surge
suppressor to the cable box. Perfect picture. What gives? I'm sure the old
cord was the one that came with the cable box - 2 yrs. old. How could a piece
of solid copper suddenly just "go bad?" I'm not complaining as it was an easy
fix, but still, it's pretty weird. Old cable meters OK, too... but doesn't
work. weird.

I do know that my cable company discouraged the use of "substandard" cables,
like those from Rat Shack. They were happy to give me cables (a few years back)
rather than have me buy others. It apparently doesn't take much of a defect to
cause bad reflections or such.

I just added a couple QAM digital capable tuners to my PC home theatre computer.
I ended up doing a lot of fussing with my cable amplifier, splitters and cables
to get good reception on all the digital channels, eliminating the gaps in the
video I initially had. I suspect it's still a little iffy. I may need a better
amplifier.

It's really amazing what can effect a piece of coax. Back when I worked
at a cable company, we did a standard demo for the new installers - we
would cut a fresh length of coax, like 6' or so, put the F connectors on
it and then attach it to the sweep tester. With the fresh piece of coax,
they could see the reference trace and the test trace on the screen,
looking pretty parallel. Then we'd flex the coax, bend it fairly
tightly, squeeze it with pliers, etc. and they could visually see the
dramatic effect it had on the signal. This was with an old sweep tester
too, that didn't go up nearly as high as the GHz signals on today's
cable systems.

On Dec 27, 10:55*pm, Nate Nagel wrote:
someone 'splain this to me...

sitting here on the couch, TV is ****ing me off, going all pixellated at
odd intervals. *Finally got bad enough that I was considering calling
the cable company but before I did I went over to the rack and started
touching all the cables to make sure they were tight. *Got to the coax
going into the back of the cable box, it was tight, but touching the
cable would make the signal drop out. *Unscrewed it, bent the center
conductor slightly to have it make better contact, reinstalled. *Still
pixellates and audio drops out. *went over to the "electrical section"
of my basement, grabbed some RG6 quad, whipped myself up a 6 foot cable.
* *Installed it in place of the old cable from the surge suppressor to
the cable box. *Perfect picture. *What gives? *I'm sure the old cord was
the one that came with the cable box - 2 yrs. old. *How could a piece of
solid copper suddenly just "go bad?" *I'm not complaining as it was an
easy fix, but still, it's pretty weird. *Old cable meters OK, too... but
doesn't work. *weird.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.http://members.cox.net/njnagel

What happens when you bypass the surge supressor, does it still
pixelate with the old cable?
The only explanation is that cable companies are adding more channels
on that cable. And if that old cable was anything other than RG6 or
better, it will be starved for bandwidth. RG59 is not ideal for HD
channels.

"Nate Nagel" wrote in message
...
someone 'splain this to me...

sitting here on the couch, TV is ****ing me off, going all pixellated at
odd intervals. Finally got bad enough that I was considering calling the
cable company but before I did I went over to the rack and started
touching all the cables to make sure they were tight. Got to the coax
going into the back of the cable box, it was tight, but touching the cable
would make the signal drop out. Unscrewed it, bent the center conductor
slightly to have it make better contact, reinstalled. Still pixellates
and audio drops out. went over to the "electrical section" of my
basement, grabbed some RG6 quad, whipped myself up a 6 foot cable.
Installed it in place of the old cable from the surge suppressor to the
cable box. Perfect picture. What gives? I'm sure the old cord was the
one that came with the cable box - 2 yrs. old. How could a piece of solid
copper suddenly just "go bad?" I'm not complaining as it was an easy fix,
but still, it's pretty weird. Old cable meters OK, too... but doesn't
work. weird.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

Runnng RG-6 from a new antenna recently, I had intermittent problems and
found that I had nicked the center conductor at one of the terminations.
The center conductor had separated, but pushing it into the connector made
contact for a time. The break showed up when the wire was wiggled. The
copper used for the center conductor seems rather brittle, not like other
copper wire which can take much more bending.

TKM

On Dec 28, 12:38�pm, "TKM" wrote:
"Nate Nagel" wrote in message

...





someone 'splain this to me...

sitting here on the couch, TV is ****ing me off, going all pixellated at
odd intervals. �Finally got bad enough that I was considering calling the
cable company but before I did I went over to the rack and started
touching all the cables to make sure they were tight. �Got to the coax
going into the back of the cable box, it was tight, but touching the cable
would make the signal drop out. �Unscrewed it, bent the center conductor
slightly to have it make better contact, reinstalled. �Still pixellates
and audio drops out. �went over to the "electrical section" of my
basement, grabbed some RG6 quad, whipped myself up a 6 foot cable.
Installed it in place of the old cable from the surge suppressor to the
cable box. �Perfect picture. �What gives? �I'm sure the old cord was the
one that came with the cable box - 2 yrs. old. �How could a piece of solid
copper suddenly just "go bad?" �I'm not complaining as it was an easy fix,
but still, it's pretty weird. �Old cable meters OK, too... but doesn't
work. �weird.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

Runnng RG-6 from a new antenna recently, I had intermittent problems and
found that I had nicked the center conductor at one of the terminations.
The center conductor had separated, but pushing it into the connector made
contact for a time. �The break showed up when the wire was wiggled. �The
copper used for the center conductor seems rather brittle, not like other
copper wire which can take much more �bending.

TKM- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

connectors can get nearly invisible corrosion. used to have that
problem

Pete C. wrote:
Bob F wrote:
"Nate Nagel" wrote in message
...
someone 'splain this to me...

sitting here on the couch, TV is ****ing me off, going all pixellated at odd
intervals. Finally got bad enough that I was considering calling the cable
company but before I did I went over to the rack and started touching all the
cables to make sure they were tight. Got to the coax going into the back of
the cable box, it was tight, but touching the cable would make the signal drop
out. Unscrewed it, bent the center conductor slightly to have it make better
contact, reinstalled. Still pixellates and audio drops out. went over to the
"electrical section" of my basement, grabbed some RG6 quad, whipped myself up
a 6 foot cable. Installed it in place of the old cable from the surge
suppressor to the cable box. Perfect picture. What gives? I'm sure the old
cord was the one that came with the cable box - 2 yrs. old. How could a piece
of solid copper suddenly just "go bad?" I'm not complaining as it was an easy
fix, but still, it's pretty weird. Old cable meters OK, too... but doesn't
work. weird.
I do know that my cable company discouraged the use of "substandard" cables,
like those from Rat Shack. They were happy to give me cables (a few years back)
rather than have me buy others. It apparently doesn't take much of a defect to
cause bad reflections or such.

I just added a couple QAM digital capable tuners to my PC home theatre computer.
I ended up doing a lot of fussing with my cable amplifier, splitters and cables
to get good reception on all the digital channels, eliminating the gaps in the
video I initially had. I suspect it's still a little iffy. I may need a better
amplifier.

It's really amazing what can effect a piece of coax. Back when I worked
at a cable company, we did a standard demo for the new installers - we
would cut a fresh length of coax, like 6' or so, put the F connectors on
it and then attach it to the sweep tester. With the fresh piece of coax,
they could see the reference trace and the test trace on the screen,
looking pretty parallel. Then we'd flex the coax, bend it fairly
tightly, squeeze it with pliers, etc. and they could visually see the
dramatic effect it had on the signal. This was with an old sweep tester
too, that didn't go up nearly as high as the GHz signals on today's
cable systems.
Hi,
Such a test is also useful to weed out poor quality cable.
On real high frequency we use hard coax or waveguide.