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Quad5Ny
join:2012-08-23
Floral Park, NY

1 edit

Quad5Ny

Member

RG6 Max Length, Proper Grounding & Should I buy a attenuator?

What would the max recommend length of a run of RG6 be?
• There is 150ft going from the pole to the drop coming down the side of my house and then another 35ft or so in the house.

What is the correct way to ground the coax coming into the house?
• Right now it is grounded using a Grounding Block connected (I hope, Meaning I hope the wire isn't just stuck in the ground) to the same ground rod that the telephone service is using using 10 or 12 gauge copper wire.
• Also should the RG6 Carrier Wire be connected to the grounding block? Because the installer cut it off right at the top of the drop.

Would there be any advantage of adding a 3dB attenuator right before my cable modem? -
• Downstream SNR: 39-40, Downstream Power Level: 2-4dBmV | Upstream Power Level: 35-36dBmV

DocDrew
How can I help?
Premium Member
join:2009-01-28
SoCal

DocDrew

Premium Member

Sounds like it was all done right. Don't mess with it.
Quad5Ny
join:2012-08-23
Floral Park, NY

Quad5Ny

Member

said by DocDrew:

Sounds like it was all done right. Don't mess with it.

I already did (mess with it), I attached ground that was left hanging off from the old coax grounding block. Also I made sure the wire into the house and both sides of the ground block had a drip loop.

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After a bit more reading the way its setup is not to the current NEC because in my case the old AT&T service/Coax has a separate grounding rod not joined in any way to the current building ground.

The grounding block should be grounded to the same ground (water pipe, ground rod, ect.) as the home that way there is not difference in voltage between the two grounds (or something like that).

So should I disconnect the ground from the ground block outside and use a ground clamp to attach it to the copper water pipe coming in from the street? (The pipe is less than 10ft away and I would be connecting it inches away from my main's ground that is also clamped to it.)

DocDrew
How can I help?
Premium Member
join:2009-01-28
SoCal
Ubee E31U2V1
Technicolor TC4400
Linksys EA6900

DocDrew

Premium Member

What ground from the old coax? If talking about the drop messenger wire, that's for support of the coax between poles and the home. It's not for grounding the coax. It's supposed to be tied off to the drop or drop clamp with a proper wrap.

I wouldn't detach the phone and coax from the rod. I'd bond the rod to the pipe with some 6 AWG copper wire.
Quad5Ny
join:2012-08-23
Floral Park, NY

Quad5Ny

Member

A installer (tech?) that was here a year ago attached a new grounding block to the wall and left the old one just hanging there with the ground wire still attached. I'm not messing around with the messenger cable at all, I was only curious if it should have been grounded.

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The 6 gauge wire has to be bare copper and kept underground outside right? If so, as much as I'd love to attach the grounding rod to the cold water pipe, that would require more effort than I'm willing to do (no way I'm digging a 6ft hole in the front lawn).

Although if it's ok to run of jacketed 6 gauge through a hole in a basement window frame and to the water pipe; that is very do-able.

---

Layout Right now:
Mainline Trunk Cable > Mainline Amp > Mainline Tap > 150ft RG6 w/Messenger > Drop (Messenger secured at drop) > 20ft drop w/messenger removed > Grounding Block > 15ft RG6 > Coax Joiner > 20ft RG6 > Cable Modem
[Sub Layout: Grounding Block > Solid Core Copper 14AWG > 8ft Grounding Rod (Grounding Rod is not connected to the homes ground in any way)]