by Philo Farnsworth

Created on: January 20, 2009   Last Updated: January 21, 2009

Whether you're building a new dwelling or you just want to add cable services to another part of your house, installing cable is something most homeowners can do with ease. However, cable has changed significantly over the years, and thus it's not as simple or forgiving as it once was.

Before installing your cable, I'd suggest you call your local cable company. If you are going to have digital services installed, they will often run the cable for free or very inexpensively. The cost of tools, time and materials may make this a job for the professionals. If you don't want to take time off from work to wait for the cable guy to show up, there are a few things you should know before you start.

Cable transmissions are radio (RF) signals. The signals you need to watch your television, surf the net or make a phone call are all contained on the cable wire. It's a closed system. If any signal leaks in (ingress) or out of the system (egress), the result can be bad reception or poor data transmission. Digital services such as high definition television, phone and internet require particularly clean signals. Modems and cable TV converters that need these clean signals are essentially computers that communicate both upstream and downstream. Your cable system has become a giant computer network.

Shielding keeps unwanted radio signals from entering the cable system and causing disruption. Common sources of interference are FM radio station, broadcast television stations and ham radio. To prevent ingress, cable companies use cable known as quad shield RG6. The cable has a thick center conductor (this is the part that actually carries the signal) and you guessed it; four layers of shielding. Although quad shield RG6 is the preferred cable, it is not always available locally. Don't worry though, any type of RG6 will work fine. Retail stores often carry RG59 cable. RG59 should be avoided as it has a thin center conductor and has less shielding. Often this less expensive and low quality cable is listed as "high definition" or "digital." Regardless of the labeling, RG59 was designed for analog systems and is not compliant with modern cable systems.

Now that you know what cable you need, you should consider connectors. The connectors are known as F-Connectors. The most common type are compression, twist-on and crimped. Compression fittings are the best quality, but require expensive specialty tools. Crimped fittings are adequate in most applications and are probably the best choice

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