What should the voltage of the cable that runs from the street to my tv read ?

Question

I want to check to see if i'm getting a strong enough signal.

Answer 1

If you are talking about the cable tv signal, the way to test it is to try it on your TV to see if the signal is strong.  You would not test it with a multimeter.  Cable TV techs may have some type of meter that reads signal strength, but that would be overkill for you.

Answer 2

You don't measure signal by voltage, at least not directly, and not with a multimeter.

RF signal is measured in decimals per millivolt dBmV

The measurement is made by a special meter. They cost about $800

Call the cable company that is their job.  You can also do it by eyeball. A 0 dB reading or higher produces a good quality analog TV picture. The picture starts to get fuzzy at -4dB and is very fuzzy at -10dB.

A cable system supplies so much signal coming into the home. Each time you go through a splitter whether the splitter is hooked to a TV or not it looses signal  3.5 dB for a 2 way,  5 dB for a 3 way and 11 dB for an 8 way.    If you suspect low signal put a TV where the line comes into the home if the picture is good you are probably getting enough signal but the splitters or the cable (ends) are causing the loss.  A bad end on a cable will cause loss of signal, as will a bad cable.  

Too much signal is just as bad as too little signal. So look for a fuzzy picture to determine low signal.

If you want the meter they will sure sell you one.

http://www.sadelco.com/Displaymax%20800%...

http://www.gaocomm.com/catv_meter_signal...