Hmmm... food for thought thanks.

I'll see what she gets me for Christmas..!

Thats the theory then?

Why would manufactures offer longer distances, it wouldnt be in their best interests to exagerate?

Most manufactures would suggest RG59 is good for up to 300mtrs and certainly over 200mtrs.

I dont agree with your alternatives, if you were to base a quotation on your suggestions then your not going to be too successfull unless you stick to Cat5. Fibre really is only for long distances over 1km and M/wave is rare anyway, both are very expensive options.

My suggestions would be RG11 or CT125 depneding on the situation, Cat5 is a good option but not always the best solution. A decent camera though is going to be fine on RG59 and ive never seen significant degredation yet at up to or around 300mtrs. Im sure that you could offer evidence on paper or maybe on a scope even, my eyes aint as good as they used to be but i can see well enough to say in practise 300mtrs is good, in my experience!

You ask a techie a question, you'll get a techie reply....

You're quite right, the best solution isn't always the cheapest solution. However, some installations require a guarentee of quality (Town centres, Police apps, central stations, hospitals etc).

You mentioned that manufacturers quote higher distances... You're quite right that's usually as the telemetry receivers have gain and lift amplification to accomodate longer cable runs, usually where FSK data's used.

They also assume that you've used the correct coax for the job (RG59, CT125, DB125) and rarely quote the cables that they've tested these distances on.

You can achieve a 300m Microwave link for less than