Does cable have voltage drop

  • Thread starter Thread starter paperplate
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Me and my family just moved to a new house that sits bout 1000 feet from the nearest cable tv pole and they tell us that we are to far away to get cable we have even gotten a line in the dirt for it does any body know if there is a voltage drop in tv cable and if there is a posiblity to get a boaster for it.

Thanks, paperplate
 
The signal in cable dies as it goes along. At least in coaxial cable like is used in your house. I don't know if there is a way to boost it.
 
PaperPlate -- Allow me to introduce you to my friend the Period. --> . <-- use it liberally.

Yes, coaxial cable, like all forms of copper cabling, looses signal over great distances. This is one of the benefits of fiber optics which have a much larger traversiable distance. However, I believe 1000 feet would be close enough even though you may receive a weak signal.

Copper cable has a certain resistance to electrical signaling. Fiber optics, or clear plastic threading, does not resist light as much as copper resists electricity. That makes fiber optic better for data transmission, but obviously does nothing to provide power across a line.

I searched on Google and found several different answers. Most of the measurements were based on ethernet (computer networking) signal strengths over coax and Cat5 cable. That generally is 100 meters or 330 feet. However, television over RG6 coaxial cable should reach 300 meters or 980 feet, and RG59 coaxial cable should get 600 feet. I would assume they've used RG6 in the ground as that is the most robust television cabling available for home delivery. And you're just about a house-lot too far away. You're signal will be crappy at best.

I suggest getting a satalite dish and a digital video recorder. It's better anyway (:
 
Inductance can be a pain, so here is a general guide to help you figure out how much singnal is being lost. Though, the level of inductance will be different from your results because I'm not sure what cable you will be using. I also don't know what frequency the singnal is being carried through, so I provide several inductance levels. I also listed resistance levels on three of the frequencies, as you can see for yourself.

100 kHz
0.187uH/ft


400 kHz
0.185 uH/ft
20.5 mohms/ft

1 MHz
0.180 uH/ft
54.8 mohms/ft

4 MHz
0.162uH /ft
145 mohms/ft
 
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