What are these cables coming through my wall? And what cables do i need?

[Mr. Clueless]

Freeview is a handy backup system for when satellite TV fails - as it can do for various reasons, including really bad weather.

I should add that cable must not be placed directly under carpet that will be stood on - by humans or furniture. Crushing the cable even slightly "out of round" can render it useless. It needs to be in a solid channel to protect it.

Unfortunately i can't think of any way of getting it from the entry point to where the TV is without going under carpet. The only other way that i can think of is up the walls & i'd need to hide it in trunking which i don't want to have to do as it looks unsightly.

We have no coving either.

So the only way i can think of is to tuck it right up against the skirting & when putting furniture in just to have it sat off the skirting enough that it wont be placed on top of the cabling.

Or if you had to do it this way would you bring it in a little (away from the skirting) due to the carpet grippers (which haven't yet been laid)?

 

[Mr. Clueless]

Hmm i just had another idea.

Unless i send it through the floor, along the joists & then up again through the floorboards where the TV will be.

Just i'd prefer not to put holes in the floorboards that's all.


EDIT: Would running near electrical cables under the floor cause interference?

Or would they have to be pretty much touching & wrapped around each other for that?

 

[Sam Gangee]

Maybe you should start here: http://www.satcure.co.uk/book.htm#under
and http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/martinpick

 

[10monty]

I'd like to point out that RG59 cable is fine for CCTV but really bad for aerial and dish connections, since the cable is only specified up to 50 MHz !
And Lucid already warned about using such cable.

Also, do you really want to buy via a bookseller that pays hardly any UK tax and provides zero technical support? I can tell you from personal experience that their response to a problem is "send it back for a refund".

I posted that to show a picture of what he needed that's all.

 

[Mr. Clueless]

I took a look at the cable in the bedroom today. Should've done this sooner. I'm talking about the aerial in to the rear which enables us freeview.

It's considerably thinner than the aerial cable coming from the roof & the cable i bought this week (WF100), yet it still gets us the picture.

I should've picked this cable up instead as it's thinner & will be easier to snake around the living room to where it's supposed to go.


1) what will it be?

2) Aside from the thickness, what will be the difference between this & the WF100?

 

[Mr. Clueless]

Also i tried attaching the new aerial cable to the splitter but with all the work that has gone on in the living room the threads are all cemented over on the other side so only 1 side is any good.

I took a look here: http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/page15a.htm#ysplit

There are 3 splitters with 2 exits.

The picture of mine is on page 1. Which one of the 3 should i be replacing it with (& why that over the other two)?

 

[Sam Gangee]

Try http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/cablespecs.htm
and http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/cable.htm

Hopefully it's something decent like WF65, which has only double the signal loss of WF100. Whatever thin cable you use, it will have at least twice the signal loss and maybe a lot more.

Any of those splitters should do. The only difference is the power-pass diodes and I think we've established that you are not passing any power.

 

[Mr. Clueless]

Regards the splitter

It says a 2 way splitter will only give 40% of the signal strength

Is that regardless of whether 2 aerial cables are fitted to the 'OUT' points? If only 1 is connected does it get a higher signal strength % (or full), or is it still 40% only if 1 cable is connected to the OUT port?

 

[Sam Gangee]

All outputs ought to be connected, otherwise you have an impedance mismatch, which can make reception of some frequencies even worse. Yes, it's typically reduced to 40% per output, regardless.

It's like chopping an apple in half with a blunt axe and giving the 40% chunks to two people, say Joe and Mike. Even if Mike throws his piece in the trash can, Joe still only got 40%.

 

[Mr. Clueless]

I think just about the last thing i can ask on this is...

can you think of anything that this cable can be terminated to? I'll explain...

i have ran cat6 cable from the living room to the hall where the router is (since i want the Smart TV connected via a cable, not WiFi). These have been terminated in to cat6 faceplates since i understand much more about ethernet networking than i do about TV cables
So all i need to do is a small cat6 cable from router to faceplate in the hall & a small cable from TV to faceplate in the living room, job done.



Currently this TV cable is going to be ran from the splitter at the top of the skirting at one end of the room, under the carpet (around the perimeter, not through the middle of the floor ) to where the TV is going to be at the opposite end.

Then the bit i don't like ... it'll just come sticking up out of the carpet & direct in to the rear of the TV.

I was thinking of something that the cable could terminate in to so a small cable could then run from the TV to this termination point.

These are solid walls, so there's no feeding it up at the rear of the walls & cutting holes out of plasterboard.


I'm not too fussed if this termination point sits on the ground, i just didn't want the cable being pulled up from the carpet direct in to the TV if i could help it.

 

[winston1]

Even if Mike throws his piece in the trash can,

?? Dustbin??

 

[winston1]

I was thinking of something that the cable could terminate in to so a small cable could then run from the TV to this termination point.

These are solid walls, so there's no feeding it up at the rear of the walls & cutting holes out of plasterboard.


I'm not too fussed if this termination point sits on the ground, i just didn't want the cable being pulled up from the carpet direct in to the TV if i could help it.

You can buy service mounted aerial outlet points which can be screwed to the skirting board. But bear in mind each connecting point adds mismatch and losses.

 

[Mr. Clueless]

I was thinking of something that the cable could terminate in to so a small cable could then run from the TV to this termination point.

These are solid walls, so there's no feeding it up at the rear of the walls & cutting holes out of plasterboard.


I'm not too fussed if this termination point sits on the ground, i just didn't want the cable being pulled up from the carpet direct in to the TV if i could help it.

You can buy service mounted aerial outlet points which can be screwed to the skirting board. But bear in mind each connecting point adds mismatch and losses.

Looking at google images & thinking you meant surface mounted

Does that involve stripping the cable? In the images I'm looking at I can't see how i'd plug this cable in to it & plug a short cable from the TV in to it. It looks to me like i'd have to strip the long cable & connect at the rear or something?

 

[Sam Gangee]

Is this what you are asking? Best way to join or extend a coaxial cable:
http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/extend_cable.htm

 

[winston1]

Does that involve stripping the cable? In the images I'm looking at I can't see how i'd plug this cable in to it & plug a short cable from the TV in to it. It looks to me like i'd have to strip the long cable & connect at the rear or something?

That's right.