PPC blog

Hardline coax connectors are some of the most important pieces to delivering service to a subscriber’s home network, so making sure the connectors and cables are prepped and installed properly is vital to network performance.

Hardline cable is used from the headend through the trunk and feeder lines, to the subscriber’s home, and there are many connectors used at the fiber node, amplifiers, line extenders and multitaps.

Having the right hardline connectors is often overlooked when doing node replacements, node splits, or tap replacements in a broadband HFC (hybrid fiber coax) network. Because these connectors are not the most expensive part of a project, there can be a tendency to underestimate the amount of trouble they can cause if they are not properly installed or maintained.

In most HFC architectures today, the nodes are getting closer and closer to the subscriber as fiber slowly replaces coax. As the number of subscribers per node decreases, the number of nodes in a broadband network increases.

During these node splits, you will sometimes have the opportunity to improve existing performance by replacing old connectors with new ones. Each connector in a network may cause a small amount of return and insertion loss in the signal performance. If you haven't accounted for this loss in your network design, you will end up not meeting performance requirements, having poor subscriber experience, and not knowing exactly how to determine what went wrong. 

Whole home DVR installations can be tricky; MoCA filters are essential to prevent the DVR signals from emanating to neighbors' homes in coax systems. Due to the high output power of these MoCA signals, they can escape from the intended subscriber and enter into other homes that may not want to watch, or may even be offended by the program you are "broadcasting" from your DVR.

This can be a big problem.

MoCA filter placement

Not only is it important to have this filter prohibit signals from leaving your property, but it is equally important to place the filter in close proximity to the home network input. It is suggested that the filter is very close to the point of entry into the home. The port on the multi-tap at the telephone pole is not recommended as a filter installation location; it is not close enough to the home’s point of entry. While the filter prohibits signals from leaving the home, it also electrically reflects signals back into the home, augmenting the in-home signal. So the closer the reflection is to the home, the better.