I finally took an old timer's advice about not coiling coax over my elbow

Back when I first started installing back in 2010, a guy named Pete who had been doing it since the 80s told me to never wrap cable around my elbow when running lines. He said it creates micro-bends that cause signal loss down the road. I thought he was just being old fashioned. Fast forward to last year, I had a customer complaint about intermittent signal issues in a house I wired about 3 years ago. Spent 2 hours troubleshooting before I remembered that run. Sure enough, I found a tight bend at one spot where I had coiled it over my elbow. Replaced that section and the problem went away. Anyone else learned the hard way that the old guys were right about something?

2 comments

2 Comments

hugobarnes9d ago

Pete knew what he was talking about for sure. I did the same thing with a long RG-6 run in my own attic a few years back and paid the price. Had a buddy's cable modem dropping sync for months until I found that tight coil and swapped in a fresh piece. Those old guys didn't have fancy test gear but they sure knew the common sense stuff.

nathan1939d ago

Pete might've been right for his specific case but I've coiled coax over my elbow for years without issues. It's all about how tight you pull it and what kind of cable you're using. Some of those older cables were way stiffer and more prone to damage.