What you'll notice
Signal degrades noticeably in wet weather and improves in dry spells, getting a little worse with each cycle over months.
Why it happens
Water has entered the cable through an unsealed connector or a damaged outer sheath and is wicking along inside the braid, where it both absorbs signal and corrodes the conductor.
Water inside coaxial cable is insidious because it travels. Entry at a connector on the roof can produce symptoms metres away inside the house, which is why chasing this fault by feel rarely works.
How it gets in and why it spreads
Coax is not a sealed pipe — the braid and dielectric will wick moisture along the run by capillary action, sometimes for several metres. The usual entry points are an unsealed outdoor F-connector, a nick in the sheath where the cable crosses a sharp roof edge, or a cable dressed so rain runs down into the connection rather than away from it.
Why the picture recovers between rains
As the water dries, attenuation falls and the picture returns. That recovery is what makes this fault so easy to dismiss — "it comes right on its own" — and it is precisely what identifies it. Each cycle leaves a little more corrosion behind, so the recoveries get slower and less complete until they stop happening.
Why we replace rather than dry out
Once the braid has corroded, drying restores only part of the performance. The joint is permanently degraded. Replacing the affected section with quality double-shielded RG6, compression-fitting the connectors and sealing them properly is the repair that does not come back — and the sealing is more important to the outcome than the cable brand.
How we fix it
We locate the water entry point, cut back to dry, clean cable, and replace the affected run and connectors with properly sealed quality RG6 — sealing the cause, not just replacing the symptom.
Still not working?
If the checks above haven't restored your coaxial cable & connectors, this usually needs a technician. Our Cabling & Point Repairs service covers exactly this fault — from R480, quoted upfront.