How to deal with foil shield when adding a connector?

Question

I want to crimp a connector onto some RG58 A/U cable. The cable has a foil shield under the braided shield. What's the recommended way to deal with the foil?
Should I treat it just like the braided shield, peeling it back from the dialectic and then putting it between the connector and the ferrule?  Or, should I tear the exposed foil off and discard it?

mrog · Accepted Answer

I tried it both ways using the same 20 foot piece of cable and measured the power loss. Cutting off the exposed foil is the best way to do it. That reduced the power loss by 0.25 dB at 146 MHz compared to leaving the foil with the braid.
I wonder if it has something to do with the blue coating on the inside of the foil, which might have some resistance.  I didn't measure the DC resistance, but I verified DC continuity in both tests.

How to deal with foil shield when adding a connector?

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