What
happens if my coaxial cable is kinked or
damaged?
Most people know
that coaxial cable connections and kinks cause
"signal loss". Actually, it's worse than "losing
signal". The usual effect of a kinked cable or
poorly made connection is to reflect part of the
signal. In effect you can think of it as
"standing waves" where certain frequencies get
cancelled out. This can result in weird effects
such as one specific bouquet frequency being
wiped out or degraded.
So you won't see this as
"less signal" on the average meter, but a
spectrum analyser will show a dip at one or more
points in the frequency spectrum. See comparison
frequency spectra below.
This is how it should look. Each of those
"hills" represents a digital multiplex or
"bouquet" which contains several channels. Below
is a representation of what can happen if the
cable is kinked or contains a poorly made
connection. One channel group multiplex is no
longer receivable.
Please note,
however, that a similar symptom can occur if
there is:
