TV Cable Connectors

[Rick Coleman]

One of the jobs I find most frustrating when hooking up utility connections at an RV park is screwing on the tv co-axial cable connectors at the junction in the coach utility compartment. This is a perfect task for a contortionist, which I am not. I wasn't sure I was ever going to be able to stand again after my last effort. Any suggestions for a push-on or twist-on connector, as well as a source? Thanks

[Rick Coleman]

One of the jobs I find most frustrating when hooking up utility connections at an RV park is screwing on the tv co-axial cable connectors at the junction in the coach utility compartment. This is a perfect task for a contortionist, which I am not. I wasn't sure I was ever going to be able to stand again after my last effort. Any suggestions for a push-on or twist-on connector, as well as a source? Thanks

[Chet Yancey]

Hi Rick,
You can buy screw-on fittings that fit your existing female fittings on your cable. They are a push on and pull off fitting that cures your problem once and for all. Radio Shack for sure has them and quite possibly Wall Mart. Any electronics store will have them.
Good luck, Chet

[Jim A]

A somewhat more expensive way around it is to buy a satellite dish and not have to connect to the cable!

Just kidding. Radio Shack will have them. Home Depot might. Or Circuit City or Best Buy.

[Rick Coleman]

Thanks- I think I'll take the screw-on connector option for the time being. I'll check out the local Radio Shack.

[gmfryer]

Rick,

I keep a 20' piece of coax rolled up and perminately hooked up so it is always ready and I don't have to stand on my head each time.

[OldForester]

I have a simple alternative to the TV cable connector problem. Not cheap, but simple.

We had a 42' twin diesel boat in Puget Sound before our coach. We bought a 50' TV cable from West Marine (think it was made by Marenco, same people that make power cords) for the boat when we were docked at slips with TV cable.

After using our coach for awhile we found the same problem with screw on TV cables and we tossed the grey one we had with the coach and bought another Marenco from West Marine. It is yellow in color, so you see it easily (vs. grey), it has slip-on connectors so you don't have to screw it into either end, it is flexible when cold so it handles well and doesn't tend to coil up, and it has exceptional transmission quality.

Expect to pay $80 - $90 or so for a 50-foot cable, but once you've owned one, you won't go back. They set up, hook up, and stow fast - flexible, no screw-on, no problems. Others may sell it rather than West Marine, but that's where we bought ours, and we bought a second one for our coach. We really like it.

[Ted III]

Rick, I appreciate the difficulty with the TV COAX cable. From what I have learned the push-ons are not as good a connection as the screw type. Possible you could make up a pigtail COAX and leave attached to the connector in the motorhome. Make your pigtail as long as required. I believe you will get a better signal than with push-ons even though there is an extra joint.

[OldForester]

I disagree with Ted on push-ons vs screw-ons with the yellow Marenco cable. I've used both on my boat as well as two RVs. I've yet to see a difference with the push-on Marenco and it is so much faster to set up, as well as so flexible it's worth it. The fittings on the Marenco are first-rate and they hold up very well with many repeated hook ups.

[Ted III]

Old Forrester maybe totally correct. The people from Comcast removed all my push ons on my boat and motorhome. I have always used Marinco Cable as well as Hubbells cables. Either cable i top grade. All I know is what the cable companies have told me.

[Ted III]

Old Forrester maybe absolutely correct. The cable company that I deal with at our boat insisted we use threaded fittings. As soon as we changed them the signal improved substantially. Our home has Comcast and I know that the installer removed all push-ons from the previous owners and replaced with threaded style. If you think about it you realize that the point of contact with a thread and a push on the threaded style will have substantially more contact with the male connector. Certainly if you want use push-ons use them.
Hubbell and Marinco both make excellent cable.