Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Help with running coaxial cable for video.

billege · 01-20-2005, 12:31 AM

I have a house with coax run to two rooms (bastards) the living room, and the master bedroom. The 2nd and 3rd bedrooms do not have cable runs.
The 2nd bedroom is used as a den, which means 2 computers and a shared (router) broadband connection. For video chores in the den, I have a Huappage TV card. The thing rocks. Anyway, right now I have this:

Cable comes into the garage from the street. It hits a 5-900Mhz two-way splitter the cable guy installed. From the splitter one line goes into the living room, the other goes to the master bedroom.

For the short term I've done this:
The cable comes into the master bedroom. It comes out of the wall and gets split. One line (about 10 feet--way to long, I know.) goes to a TV 3 feet away. No problems there.

Here's where it gets ugly.

The other line (about 50 of store bought whatever type coax) goes down the hall into the den. Then it goes to the cable modem. The modem works fine this way. However, if I split it AGAIN, in order to hook up the TV card, things go bad. (Not that I'm suprised.) Since the modem speed drops from 3.5Mbps to about 300Kbps, and drops all the time, I obviously can't hook things up this way. I could pay the cable company to slap me to run cable outside my house, but f-that. I want to do this myself, and I want the coax in the attic.

This is where I need an expert type opinion.

I'm thinking I'd like to run two more cables into the house. That means a 4 way split from the street. Two existing lines, and two more, one to each bedroom (using the adjoining wall). I'm going to lay out what I'm thinking of doing, with links to the products I've chosen, and ask what you think.

Bring the cable into the garage from the street, and have it hit this 3Ghz ground block . I picked parts that go from 5 to 3000MHz because from what I read, it seem the wider the better. Even if I don't use all the freq. in that bandwidth. After the ground block there will be a short connecting cable just to the four way splitter. From there two new cables go into the house.

I chose an installation kit for the cable and some tools. The cable is quad-shield, 2.2GHz-rated, RG6/U cable and is part of this kit. I still have to price out buying the kit and cable/tools seperately, but here's what the kit comes with:
Kit Contents:

* 250 feet 18 AWG, 75 Ohm, RG6/U coaxial cable, 2x 100% foil and 1x 60% plus 1x 40% braid shielding, rated to 2.2GHz (part# 27300)
* 1 coax cable cutter (part# 04612)
* 1 F-type connector install tool (part# 04619)
* 1 coax cable stripper (part# 04592)
* 1 coax crimping tool (part# 04625)
* 12 crimp-style F-type (quad shield) coax connectors (part# 27332)

The part links are (in order):
The cable
The Cutter
F-type connecter install tool
Coax Stripper
Coax Crimping Tool
Crimp Style F-type (quad shield) coax connectors

I don't own any of those tools. I figure I can also use them to cut cables in the house to better lengths than I have. Right now I'm using 20 and 30 foot lengths where 4 feet would work nicely.

I'm really looking for information/opinions on the tools and parts I've selected, and perhaps the entire method I'm thinking of using.

I figure I can split the line coming into the den with a two way splitter, one to the modem, one to the TV card, and all will be well.

I based all these choices on a few hours of internet searching for knowledge on this. Lots of sites for home networking (which, being a computer tech I'm on top of) but precious little I found for coax and how to do it right.

01-20-2005, 12:31 AM	#1 (permalink)
billege Watcher Location: Ohio	Help with running coaxial cable for video. I have a house with coax run to two rooms (bastards) the living room, and the master bedroom. The 2nd and 3rd bedrooms do not have cable runs. The 2nd bedroom is used as a den, which means 2 computers and a shared (router) broadband connection. For video chores in the den, I have a Huappage TV card. The thing rocks. Anyway, right now I have this: Cable comes into the garage from the street. It hits a 5-900Mhz two-way splitter the cable guy installed. From the splitter one line goes into the living room, the other goes to the master bedroom. For the short term I've done this: The cable comes into the master bedroom. It comes out of the wall and gets split. One line (about 10 feet--way to long, I know.) goes to a TV 3 feet away. No problems there. Here's where it gets ugly. The other line (about 50 of store bought whatever type coax) goes down the hall into the den. Then it goes to the cable modem. The modem works fine this way. However, if I split it AGAIN, in order to hook up the TV card, things go bad. (Not that I'm suprised.) Since the modem speed drops from 3.5Mbps to about 300Kbps, and drops all the time, I obviously can't hook things up this way. I could pay the cable company to slap me to run cable outside my house, but f-that. I want to do this myself, and I want the coax in the attic. This is where I need an expert type opinion. I'm thinking I'd like to run two more cables into the house. That means a 4 way split from the street. Two existing lines, and two more, one to each bedroom (using the adjoining wall). I'm going to lay out what I'm thinking of doing, with links to the products I've chosen, and ask what you think. Bring the cable into the garage from the street, and have it hit this 3Ghz ground block . I picked parts that go from 5 to 3000MHz because from what I read, it seem the wider the better. Even if I don't use all the freq. in that bandwidth. After the ground block there will be a short connecting cable just to the four way splitter. From there two new cables go into the house. I chose an installation kit for the cable and some tools. The cable is quad-shield, 2.2GHz-rated, RG6/U cable and is part of this kit. I still have to price out buying the kit and cable/tools seperately, but here's what the kit comes with: Kit Contents: * 250 feet 18 AWG, 75 Ohm, RG6/U coaxial cable, 2x 100% foil and 1x 60% plus 1x 40% braid shielding, rated to 2.2GHz (part# 27300) * 1 coax cable cutter (part# 04612) * 1 F-type connector install tool (part# 04619) * 1 coax cable stripper (part# 04592) * 1 coax crimping tool (part# 04625) * 12 crimp-style F-type (quad shield) coax connectors (part# 27332) The part links are (in order): The cable The Cutter F-type connecter install tool Coax Stripper Coax Crimping Tool Crimp Style F-type (quad shield) coax connectors I don't own any of those tools. I figure I can also use them to cut cables in the house to better lengths than I have. Right now I'm using 20 and 30 foot lengths where 4 feet would work nicely. I'm really looking for information/opinions on the tools and parts I've selected, and perhaps the entire method I'm thinking of using. I figure I can split the line coming into the den with a two way splitter, one to the modem, one to the TV card, and all will be well. I based all these choices on a few hours of internet searching for knowledge on this. Lots of sites for home networking (which, being a computer tech I'm on top of) but precious little I found for coax and how to do it right. __________________ I can sum up the clash of religion in one sentence: "My Invisible Friend is better than your Invisible Friend."