Trying to finalize the run from my Antop OTA antenna into my Tablo (Quad). I have a bunch of cables from the different companies that services my little hacienda (three different ones, to my knowledge). None of them actually say RG6 on them, but when I go to the site of the company that made the cable they list them just as RG6, with no specs given. So, what I have are:
F677TSVV, Antop Coaxial cable (from the people who made the antenna), and F660BVX, there’s a fourth one, but they weren’t kind enough to mark the cable at all (from the Comcast days).
There are differences. You can have dual shield or quad shield cable. Also, the outer sheath can be different depending on whether it’s intended for interior or exterior use. Also, the inner conductor could be different materials as long as they meet the specs.
It should be marked on the cable Such as Quad Shield RG6U. Quad shield would be better but stiffer slightly thicker and slightly harder to work with. If you can afford go with quad shield. But I live in a place with a lot of military and the local cable company was picky about RF noise. Unterminated damaged cables gets a visit from the local RF police.
That’s screwy. I suspected “RG6” was the specification. So RG6 is a generic name for “some type” of coax cable… isn’t that screwy?
As for cable in general - appearance generally makes little to no difference. I got an HDMI cable with my TV mounting bracket. It’s really pretty with fiber braiding, blue trim, design on the port, some blue logo as well. It just looks kewl, but doesn’t mean the actual wire is superior or even adequate.
I’ve noticed the three cables I have “feel” different.
The Antop cable is very rubbery, and bends quite easily.
The Dual cable is white, less of a rubbery feel, and quite a bit stiffer.
The Tri cable is black, feels more like a quality garden hose, and is much stiffer than either of the other two. This is the one that came with my current Verizon FIOS service.
It’s been a while, but as I recall the center conductor can be either solid copper or copper coated steel. Both meet the transmission specifications. So there are specs for the components, but the materials themselves can vary.