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Are all cables the same ? I have been quoted $142 for a rg59 cable for my cctv system however at most other other shops that have online stores haven them for about $50 to $60 both 30m long. Is there really that much difference in cables?

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There sure is. The good stuff is RG59u or RG59m & has a 0.9mm pure copper centre conductor with a 95% pure copper braiding. You may get acceptable results with the cheaper stuff & only you can determine if you are willing to take the chance.

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Cool link. It seems like there's two kinds of cable there, the cheaper cable that states 'Terminated Siamese Cable' and then a little more expensive cable that states 'True RG59 Cable'. I'm guessing the the termination wires are of better quality?

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Usually the biggest factor in the price of pre-made cables is the quality of the connector, the quality of the center pin connection, and the quality of the shielding in the cable (you tend to learn the hard way if you cheap out, but occasionally you will get lucky). Connector quality generally equates to termination ease and speed. If you are buying pre-fab, not really a big deal, but if you are doing these yourself that matters a lot and it is exponential based on how many you have to do.

 

This is generally a "get what you pay for" kind of thing. The other big cost factor is the company performing loss testing on their pre-made stuff. The lower end companies usually just crank out cables and do a simple continuity test to call it good whereas a higher end company will actually do loss testing to make sure their product lives up the quoted spec.

 

This is true across the board, but in coax stuff it is pretty important to make sure the efficiency of the connection is optimal. Just for future reference, fiber optics are the same way and the loss considerations there are even more important.

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