Coax Installation & Testing
Where Coax Is Used In Telecom
Wireless RF paths. In cellular, DAS, and small cell systems, coax carries the RF signal between radios, jumpers, and antennas over 50-ohm cable. These paths are unforgiving — a poor connector or a damaged run shows up directly as degraded signal and site performance.
Headend and video distribution. In headend facilities and video systems, 75-ohm coax carries and distributes signal across the plant. The impedance and connectors differ from the wireless side, but the principle is the same: the terminations and cable condition decide the result.
What Coax Installation Involves
Coax is straightforward to install poorly and demanding to install well. The cable itself is rarely the problem — it’s the connectors, the weatherproofing, and the routing that separate a clean signal path from a troubled one.
Feedlines, Jumpers, And Routing
Coax runs range from low-loss hardline feedlines carrying signal up a tower to flexible jumpers connecting radios and antennas. Each is routed within its bend radius, supported properly, and kept to the right length, with the impedance and cable type matched to the system. FTCI’s crews handle this placement directly alongside the rest of the site build.
Termination And Weatherproofing
Connectors are where coax performance is decided. A properly installed connector maintains the signal path; a poor one adds loss and reflections and, on outdoor runs, invites moisture that will eventually fail the connection. FTCI terminates to the standard the system requires and weatherproofs outdoor connections thoroughly, because a connector that passes today but leaks next season is a callback waiting to happen.
Why Coax Testing Matters
A coax path can be fully run and still underperform in ways nothing visual will reveal — a marginal connector, a kinked run, a reflection partway up a feedline. On an RF path, those faults translate directly into lost signal and degraded site performance, and they’re far cheaper to find during the build than after equipment is live and the numbers don’t add up.
Testing under the same crew that installed the cable is what makes that practical. Because FTCI verifies its own coax work, a bad connector or a fault in the run is located and corrected on the spot — part of completing a site on the first try rather than returning to chase a problem that testing would have caught. Full RF performance and PIM verification carry that same site through to a proven finish.
Coax Testing Methods
Confirming a coax path performs means measuring the signal, not just inspecting the cable. Installation testing generally includes:
- Continuity checks to confirm the path is complete and correctly connected
- Line sweep and return-loss testing to verify the system’s match across its frequency range
- Distance-to-fault measurement to pinpoint a reflection or fault along the run
- Insertion-loss testing to confirm the path stays within its loss budget
These results show a path is clean before anything relies on it, and they document the run for the record. Where a site calls for full RF performance testing and passive intermodulation work, FTCI’s RF teams carry that out as part of the same scope.
