cable-guy tells me that my reception problem with certain channels (not all...just the good ones
)in our new digital cable service, is due to the fact that I have rg-59 in the walls, and that I need to re-run it with rg-6. the digital cable requires rg-6. I had direct-tv service for a while, and there is an RG-6 cable that terminates near the tv, but I have to go up into the attic, cut the cable that goes out to the roof to the old dish, connect that to the cable junction up there, and switch my tv over to that line. its on my list....
When the dish was installed, the installers said that it required rg-6, as well..so that's why its there. but perhaps the length of the "run" has something to do with it.
meanwhile...I got one of those "flat-wire" thingies to hang out the window of the camper, and it survived for about a half-dozen uses. I never thought it would work that well. It turned out to work better than I thought, but it just doesn't hold up being pinched in the window like that. coaxial cable works because its "round"...the conductor and the shield are seperated at a specific distance, and so forth....its not just a "rugged" looking length of copper, which is essentially what the flat-wire thingie turns it into. anyway, using this thing, I got alot of interferance, and a generally crappy picture. Once I installed a proper run of cable from the new jack/signal amplifier, its clear as a bell.
(there were no allowances for "cable tv" in my old 73 camper. I wound up runing a cable down behind the fridge, out the open vent in the belly pan, and accross the trailer to the street-side. the cable is attached to the belly pan with cable-clamps, screwed to the sheet metal.)