A little OT: help stripping coax wire for cable TV run

[amheck]

Not too sure where to post this, but I figure since this group might be good with terminating CAT5, someone might know about RJ6.

I am doing some cable TV runs using some generic RJ6 cable. I am curious to find out whether I should be removing the foil from the wire.

First, I strip off the rubber, leaving the wire weave, foil, insulation, and copper core, as seen below.

http://carrington2.0catch.com/DSCN1320.JPG

Then I pull back the wire mesh stuff and cut it as close as I can to my other crimp point. Then I remove another section of everything, except, of course, the copper wire, as seen below.

http://carrington2.0catch.com/DSCN1321.JPG

Then I put on the connector and cut the copper wire so that's its a few mm past the end of the connector.

My question is this: do I need to pull back the foil, or am I ok leaving it? Will it make any real difference? FYI, I'm using the twist on F-connectors.

Thanks all!
Aaron

PS, if you want to see the pics, you might need to cut and paste the URL's. Sometimes this free site is a little funny about hotlinking from other sites and will not allow you to view the pics.

 

[Dowfen]

I've done this many times before and have decided that it's probably best to leave the foil on. Any noise that gets into the connection will create static on your screen. It will work without the foil though, the worste that will happen is you may get a little static. The foil certainly isn't crucial, just acts as another layer of shielding...

 

[amheck]

Thanks. That's actually what I was hoping to hear. I thought for some reason that I was suppose to remove the foil, but it's turning out to be a real PITA so I've just been leaving it on. I was just worried that it could somehow create some extra interference.

Aaron

 

[ScottMac]

When you're done putting the connector on, throw a couple laps of tape on it (from the back of the connector to over the cable jacket). Screw-on connectors are -with no exceptions I can think of- the absolute worst type of connector to use. In time, they loosen up, the connection is flakey (often as not) ... basically, they really suck.

I understand that sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do, but IMHO, you should replace those connectors at your first available opportunity.

Good Luck

Scott