Prepare Coax Cable for Connection
Coax (short for "coaxial") cable is a thick standard of cable commonly used to send both audio and visual information simultaneously. Coax cable is used in a variety of applications, from transmitting signals between a computer and the Internet to connecting a television to a cable television service provider. Before you use a coax cable, there are a few steps you can take to assure that it will work properly and won't give you any problems.
Instructions
1. Look over both ends of the cable to ensure nothing is damaged. The pin in the center of each end of the coax cable needs to be undamaged to plug it into a coax input on a device or in a wall. If the pin in the center of the cable is bent in any way, there is a good chance the cable will not work and must be replaced.
2. Make sure your cable isn't longer than it needs to be. The kinds of signals that are transmitted via coaxial cable lose their strength the longer distance they have to go. If you are hooking up a cable box to a television set with a coax cable and only need 3 feet of cable, make sure you use only 3 feet of cable to get the best possible signal.
3. Make sure the wire is not cut in anyway. Examine the cable from one end of the other making sure the plastic shielding that protects the actual wires inside the cable has not been cut or damaged. If it has, you'll need to replace the coax cable with a new one before connecting devices with it.
4. Strip the wire. Stripping a section of the cable will have two benefits: It will allow you to physically see the wires inside the coax cable and check them for problems, and it will also allow you to shorten the length of your cable if need be. Take your cable stripper and make an incision around 1/2 inch away from one end of the cable. Rotate the cable in your hand, cutting with the cable stripper as you move. Be mindful not to cut too deep, as you want to cut only the cable shielding and not the wires inside. Once you've completely cut loose the cable shielding, pull it off of that end of the cable. This will expose the bare wires inside.
Tags: wires inside, your cable, Cable Connection, cable shielding, cable stripper, cable television, cable will