Planning a simple RF Distribution System

[shortcircuit]

Thank you guys for all your advice.
I`ve bought some splitters from the links terry posted on page 1.
The first seller is also selling a pack of 10 screw on F connectors for £1.89 inc p&p which seems very good.
Would I be right in thinking that these are no good for the cable you`ve recommended because of the stranded centre conductor ?
Terry , the cable chart you found was wasted on me , I didn`t understand it.
Are you saying that anything with CA1 is ok to use ?
Is the cable Jeffrey found at screwfix ok use ?

Robin

[ppppenguin]

You cannot use the screw-on F conenctors with stranded centre conductor. The stuff from Screwfix I recommended will be fine, as will any *CAI (letter I, not numeral 1) rated 100 class cable. The stuff I see most frequently is the Webro WF100 and the Philex PF100. I looked on Screwfix because I use them for all sorts of stuff and I think they used to have the Philex cable.

My only complaint about xx100 cable is that it's quite stiff. There are more flexible good quality cables available but they have stranded centre conductor so you can't terminate them with F connectors without special tools.

*CAI = Confederation of Aerial Industries https://www.cai.org.uk/

[Terry]

Would I be right in thinking that these are no good for the cable you`ve recommended because of the stranded centre conductor ?

Robin, you seem to be getting confused again. Neither of us recommended a cable with a stranded centre conductor!

You have to use a cable with a solid centre conductor because, unlike a Belling-Lee style coax plug, an F connector has no centre pin. The conductor effectively is the pin and plugs directly into the female connector.

[Murphyv310]

Hi.
This is the cable I use for my shed and RF feed of 15 meters into the house. It is available in 50 meter reels.
Does the job fine.
https://cpc.farnell.com/webro/wf100-blac...dp/CB14804

[shortcircuit]

Thank you guys for pointing out the right cable for me.
Can you buy screw on coax plugs for the tv end of the lead ?
It doesn`t look like the standard coax plugs I`ve got are suitable for that type of cable.

Robin

[ppppenguin]

You can fit standard coax plugs to xx100 cable. Or buy some adaptors. F female to coax male. Not expensive. Fitting coax plugs is a pita and quite tricky to do properly. It's even harder on xx100 cable than on so called low loss rubbish cable.

[ppppenguin]

Example of adaptor: https://www.amazon.co.uk/AP01797-Connect...oding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=YZGXP7M5VS3YPJQM1GBW

I'm sure there are better deals out there, especially for quantity.

If you have older sets that pre-date the Belling and Lee co-ax connector then you'll need to improvise adaptors as required.

On occasion I've also used cheap and nasty co-ax to co-ax leads with F male to co-ax female adaptor. But don't tell Terry that I've done this

[Terry]

I'm sure there are better deals out there, especially for quantity.

How much?  

As I said in post #26 ...

If you use F connectors on both ends of your cables, you can also get good quality F to coax adaptors for the aerial sockets of your set - much less fiddling around  than with a Belling style plug!

I haven't looked for the cheapest but these are more reasonable.

With a bit of diligent searching, you might be able to do better. Ah, yes: ToolSatan are often cheaper. Half the price!

Incidentally, TS have counters at the rear of several Wickes stores (same owner). If your local branch is one of these, have a laugh: just look at the Wickes price for the same product on your way to the TS counter - you'll be amazed at the price differential you'll find for the same product in the same store!

[ppppenguin]

I often forget about Screwfix and Toolstation as a place to buy vaguely electronic stuff. They both have a range of aerial installation bits, as well as the xx100 cable that I suggested in an earlier post.

It's very easy to wire a B&L plug badly. For a start the inner is meant to be soldered, something that I've rarely seen in other people's installations. Terry and I have wired far too many of them over the years. That's why we both recommend adaptors from F.

[dawson5]

It has always surprised me that the only coax plugs that seem to be available are cheap rubbish. The clamp won't go over the outer of the cable so the end result is poor. The days when we were able to use genuine Belling-Lee coax plugs are long gone. They were so easy to fit and stayed fitted. Best soldered but if you put a bend in the centre core they worked fine.