By Paul Bianchina
It is really annoying to watch your favorite soap or the big game with the television screen covered in static. You are in luck! With coaxial cable - "coax" - all your reception problems are over. It is readily available, and with a little skill and patience and a few inexpensive tools, you can easily install it yourself.
Coaxial cable gets its name from the way it's made - a sheathed, insulated cable that has two conductors running parallel with one another. But unlike electrical cable, which has two wires running next to one another, coax has a central solid-wire core and a second, braided wire layer that surrounds the inner core wire. A solid plastic insulation separates the inner and outer wires, and the entire assembly is then protected by a thermoplastic outer covering that is flexible and resistant to abrasion, sunlight, and the elements.
Coax cable is used in conjunction with special fittings that make contact with both of the wires in the cable while still keeping them separated. Female fittings, with internal threads, are used on the ends of the cable itself, and are attached to male fittings - external threads - on splitter and connector fittings, as well as on cable TV boxes, VCRs, and the television itself.
Parts and Tools
Coax is typically sold in the pre-cut lengths of six, 15, 25, 50, and 100 feet. These pre-cut cables have a factory-installed female fitting on each end, and if the length works for your installation and the pre-attached ends are not a problem, then the pre-cut cables are the way to go. Coax is also sold by the foot - the store will cut whatever length you need - or by the full roll. Full rolls - usually 250 feet - are the least expensive way to buy the cable on a per-foot basis. Either way - cut pieces or full rolls - you'll have to attach your own fittings.
Whatever store sells the cable will also carry any fittings you need. Female fittings are available in packs of as little as two and as many as 50 or more - here again, if you have a need for the fittings, the more you buy the less you'll have to pay per fitting. You'll also find connector fittings, which are small metal tubes with a male fitting on each end that is used to connect two cables, as well as splitter fittings, which are small boxes with one male inlet fitting on one side and two, three, or four male fittings on the other side. Splitters are used to take one incoming cable and split it off to two or more separate directions.
There are really only two tools that you'll need for working with coax cable, a stripper and a crimper. The stripper is used to safely remove the two insulation layers and expose the correct amount of inner and outer wires, while the crimper is used to properly secure the fitting to the cable. Both of these tools can usually be purchased wherever you get your cable supplies.
Working with the Cable
After you've cut the cable to the required length using any type of standard wire-cutting pliers, the next step is to strip the wire. The trick here is that the cable needs to be stripped twice to two different lengths - the inner jacket and the outer jacket both need to be removed, but leaving different amounts of the inner and outer wires exposed. You'll find that the coax stripper makes short work of this otherwise tedious task - and while you can do it with a knife, it's difficult to get clean, straight cuts without damaging the wires.
The stripper is simply a small hand tool that resembles a pair of cutting pliers. It consists of two separate blades set a short distance apart from each other, and at different cutting depths. Instructions are provided that help you set the spacing and depth on the blades to the correct settings for the type of coax cable you're using.
To use the tool, simply place it over the end of the cable and press it down firmly, then rotate it around the cable a couple of times. One blade will cut through the outer jacket down to the depth of the outer braided wire, while the second blade cuts through the outer jacket, the braided wire, and the inner jacket, all the way down to the inner, solid wire. Properly used, the stripper leaves you with an exposed length of inner wire, a shorter exposed length of inner jacket, and an exposed portion of the outer braided wire that's shorter still.
Next, the fitting is slipped over the end of the wire. The fitting has an inner and outer sleeve with a small, insulated hole in the middle. As you slip the fitting over the cable, the solid inner wire slips through the hole, and the braided wire tucks neatly into the space between the inner and outer sleeves, allowing it to make contact with the fitting without coming in contact with the inner wire. Using the correct setting on the crimpers - which are simply a set of pliers with an end that's shaped to accept the fittings - squeeze down on the fitting to crimp and secure it to the cable.
All of the fittings and tools for coax installation, including such incidentals as cable staples, are available at most home centers, electrical supply stores, and other large home improvement supply retailers.
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