Coaxial cables are suitable for many applications, including low power video, video signal, and they are also used in high frequency transmission, especially for transmitters and receivers, computers, radio and TV transmissions. There is actually a triple screened coaxial cable on the market called HD100. The extra screen is on top of the cable braid. Although the performance on this cable is superior, I personally think that this is overkill and not worth the extra expense. I’m not the only one as the popularity of this cable type hasn’t really caught on. High quality WF100 Coaxial cable can be used for SKY HD/ Freeview HD/Freesat HD, featuring a plain copper foil and wire braiding screening, WF100 cable is a higher grade cable over RG6, plain annealed copper conductor for improved signal conductivity over the cheaper CCS / CCA cable.

I would however be very wary of called branded or marketed as “RG6” as the modern equivalent is far inferior in terms of performance. It is cheap to buy which is why some people use it. It has a solid copper clad steel centre conductor with a foam filled dielectric and aluminium. If you read the early part of this blog you will see I talked about the different coaxial cable sizes, this depends on the cables lengths that you’re installing. I again rate Webro the highest so if you’reinstalling a communal IRS system, I recommend WF100, WF125 and WF165 as suitable cables for doing so. You may even want to get these a multi-core cable to assist with the installation. If you ever come across a single screened cable called “Low Loss” cable, don’t be fooled by it. It most certainly isn’t. You’re probably already aware that there are loads of different types of coaxial cables on the market and if you’re looking for the best cable to be wiring your TV system with, then read this article for all you need to know. I will go through all the common coaxial cable types and terms, showing which coax cables to avoid and what to look out for. Once reading this you will be able to decide what coaxial cable will be best for your aerial or satellite system. It could also be that you're have poor TV reception and replacing the connecting coaxial cable will help improve your TV signal.

Another term you’re likely to encounter is “shotgun” cable.This is two coaxial cables joined together which makes installation easier as you would usually install a twin cable to satellite PVR’s like Sky+ and Sky Q boxes. Shotgun or twin cable is also commonly referred to as Siamese cable on the other side of the Atlantic for obvious reasons. Most shotgun cable that is installed is a twin 0.65mm coaxial cable which is suitable for short cable lengths and is handy as it can fit through a 10mm hole. There are twin 1mm coaxial cables on the market which are suitable for longer runs. There are lots of different coaxial cable sizes, below we discuss the most common types used for Sky, Freeview, Freesat and communal TV systems. There are a few things that define what cable size will be used but this mostly has to do with cable length when installed. The smaller the cable size the greater the signal losses over distance. The number before the cable type represents the centre conductor size. The next cable size above is 165 coaxial cable. I’m sure you know where I’m going from here so I’m not going to list anymore coaxial cable sizes, although there are more. The reason being when you get higher it would be more suitable to install fibre optic cabling instead. 1.65mm cable is pretty much used exclusively in communal TV system and CATV systems. It has a signal loss of around 2dB at the highest frequency. With cables this size and above it can even be difficult to get crimp on plugs to fit well so I would advise installing compression plugs instead. The next coaxial cable size is 1.25mm cable. This almost always used in communal TV systems to overcome signal losses on long cable runs. 125 cable will typically lose around 2.5dB per 10m at the highest frequency so you can for it to be a worthwhile upgrade over 1mm coax you would need a long cable length. When you get to this cable size normal screw on type plugs start to become unsuitable and you should consider using compression and crimp on style plugs instead. Also when you get to this cable size and above it isn’t suitable for terminating into wall plates, LNB’s, aerials etc.

Please note that this has been written from a TV aerial/satellite perspective, so we are focusing on the best coax cables for Sky, Freeview & Freesat. There are lot of other types that are used in CCTV and data cabling functions which are not mentioned in this blog. Finally, we get to the part of the blog where I actually recommend cable types for TV systems. I’m just going to bunch a whole bunch of cables here as they’re essentially the same cable made by different manufacturers. When installing a coaxial cable, it is imperative at that the centre conductor and the cable braid and centre never touch, even one single strand of the cable braid touching the centre conductor will create a cable short and could result in loss of TV signal altogether. This definitely will happen where line power is present which could be powering your satellite dish, amplifiers and magic eyes. As the dielectric inside a coax cable is to primarily stop the conductors touching this must made from a non-conductive substance with insulating properties. This is most commonly a foam filled substance,but some coax cable types use a PVC/ air where the PVC keeps an air separation.The dielectric also helps define the impedance of the coaxial cable, so it is also carefully keeping the correct distance between conductors. For this reason,it is important not to squash the cable at terminations or kink the cable when installing it.One way of getting the cable cost down is to reduce the amount of copper inside the cable. This is where Copper Clad Steel & Copper Clad Aluminium cables come in. Although you save money, you lose out considerably in terms of performance so I would opt for all copper conductors instead if the budget allows it. The steel conductor in CCS is prone to rusting over time and the steel conductor doesn’t have it very good current carrying capacity. As there is a considerable voltage drop with cables lengths exceeding 30m using a CCS cable for satellite LNB connections is not a good idea as the voltage drop could cause issues with the LNB switching. In terms of electrical performance there are some differences. The DC resistance is higher, as is the signal loss (attenuation) which gets worse as the frequency increases, but all cables have losses. The thing is though, for fairly short runs of under 20m, you'd be hard-pressed to notice any real difference. To smallest of all the coaxial cable sizes is 0.65mm cable.This is most commonly used in a pair to form “shotgun” satellite cable for Sky+,Sky Q, Freesat+ and other satellite PVR’s which require two separate LNB connections. Being the smallest of cable sizes, it should only be used for short cable lengths, nothing really above 25m. It will typically lose around 5dB at the highest used frequency every 10m.