A question for daveh75

[laserman16]

I will very soon be having a Satellite dish fitted for Freesat.The OH would like the cables to come through the wall and terminate in a surface box for aesthetic reasons and then plug leads into that and into the back of the receiver.

I have been told by one installer that going down that route would lose 13% of the signal and therefore degrade the signal, but another installer has told me that it will not make any difference.

So really the question I have is the first installer telling me the truth or is he spinning me a line because he can't be bothered to do what we would like to have done.

 

[daveh75]

They're kinda both right - It depends on the type of faceplate used.

Some faceplates have a 'saddle clamp' type cable connection, whereby the core is connected by a copper screw terminal (like you see on electrical socket) and a saddle clamp that clamps over the braid/outer sheathing. These types can have quite high insertion losses,(about 3 to 6 d/B depending on freqeuncy) and should be avoided. Cant to find a decent picture to illustrate what i mean!

The other type are essentially a blank faceplate with a hole drilled in it and an F to F coupler fitted to it like below.

An F to F coupler joint has a minimal insertion loss - about the same loss of 1m of sat grade cable, between about 0.19 and 0.3 d/B (depending on the freqeuncy)

I personally try to avoid faceplates, because joins just add potential for faults.

But another option, and one i often do, is to use a blank faceplate with a hole in it just to pass the cable through. It looks neater, so meets WAF requirements, but as there is no break in the cable, no additional signal loss or potential for faults.

 

[laserman16]

Thanks for the quick reply Dave, at least I now know what to look and which route to go down.

 

[daveh75]

laserman16:Thanks for the quick reply Dave, at least I now know what to look and which route to go down.

No problem, and found a couple of pics to illustrate the differences.

Below is the saddle clamp type( bottom arrow), although the one in the pic is a soldered connecter for the core (top arrow) but equally as poor as the screw clamp type!

And below, the F to F coupler type faceplate...

Hope that helps.

 

[laserman16]

Thats super and very detailed, I'm a lot more clued up now. Once again thanks for taking the trouble.