Use RF coax terminators for pre-2009 tuners?
 

I was reminded today about the importance of using a Dummy Load on a ham radio transceiver.

It mostly protects the transmitter from whiplash when an antenna is disconnected and the RF voltage surge isn't dispersed into the air by an antenna and returns to the transmitter to fry its components.

Then I got lectured too about the importance of always "capping" your unused Cable TV endpoints with terminators in the house.

For a TV receiver an open cable is an open invitation to RF or Lightning "interference"... well some people would consider Lightning "interference".

Since most of the old tuner cards used for capture (ATI - All In Wonders) and others still have pre-2009 Tuners we do not use, shouldn't we be "capping" them with little Coax terminators?

Just to make sure they don't pick up random interference? .. I mean their awfully close to the power supply and other parts of the computer.. and that pipe is wide open.. nothing to dampen down anything that walks in

Everything has a degree of religious dogma (aka BS). This one for cable.

The cable itself, shielded or not, can pick up radio waves. It's conductive metal, the end. Shielding thwarts, it does not prevent entirely.

- If the wire is headed, capping does nothing, it'd still leak in.
- If the wire isn't headed, why have it at all?

If lightning strikes, interference is the least of your worries.

Lots of cables company dweebs are indoctrinated with various crap, some of which was actually disproved as nonsense long ago. High-level techs tend to learn better over time, but the low-level techs tend to spout this sort of stuff.

Any ATI AIW card interference isn't going to be external unless you plug in a wire (essentially an antenna, even if not an antenna) into it. If not, then nothing to worry about. Any interference will be internal. If from the tuner, then it'll be the tuner itself. not external forces. The 9000s cards are the only ones to really worry about, and that's isolated anyway. A piece of plastic capping the port will do nothing.

Power is a bigger problem. I had problems in DFW, then TVA, and then some to settle here.