That moment I learned coax cables have a shelf life

I was reading the fine print on a box of RG6 at the supply house and it said the cable degrades after 5 years in storage. Blew my mind (especially since I’ve got a trunk full of stuff from 2019). Has anyone else ever tested old cable and seen signal loss from age alone?

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patricianguyen1mo ago

Oh man, that is wild to think about. I actually had some old coax in my garage from like 2017 that I finally tested last year. It definitely showed more signal loss than a fresh roll I bought a month ago. I mean, it wasn't totally dead, but the numbers were worse, especially on higher frequencies. Idk if it's the rubber dry rotting or the copper oxidizing in storage, but it's a real thing. Now I just buy what I need for the job and don't stockpile it, saves me the headache later.