billege

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."

sashime76

Let me just say that I'm not a cable expert first, but I have installed cable outlets in every room in the house. Family room, home office, master bedroom plus three additional bedrooms. My house was prewired for cable in the family room, master bedroom and the bonus room upstairs.

There is distribution box with 4 outputs, three were used obviously. I splitted the cable from outlet one/master bedroom, to two other bedrooms. I then splitted the second outlet/bonus room to the third bedroom and home office. I didn't install the ground block you mentioned but haven't noticed much interference or loss.

Unfortunately you will need to buy all the necessary tools/kits in order to complete your tasks. It's also a trial and error process, until you hook up the additional TV/VCR, you won't know if there is any loss. You may want to get a splitter with signal booster. My cable modem still kicks butt even though it's shares connection with two other TVs.

You can connect the cable modem straight to one of the four outlets on the splitter, not sharing with any other device in the house. Or, if you must share, connect it to one that isn't always used. Perhaps share it with the guest bedroom outlet, if you have one.

Good luck!

IowaEric

I'm not a cable expert either, but have messed with this a little before. It seems to be where the two lines are coming in to the house, (or was it 1? I think you'd only need one). I'm pretty sure you could just upgrade the existing splitter to as many runs as you need. The splitter should provide adequate power off the main line to as many outputs as it has available. Where's your current splitter at? Somewhere that would provide as clean as possible route to your new jacks?

edmos1

I have run lots of cable for security, and a little bit for home, I definatly do not think of my self as an expert though.

Two different options
Run your cable through your attic and add your new splitter at your box.
Coax Crimping Tool
Crimp Style F-type (quad shield) coax connectors
Use these two to put ends on your cable, not sure you need any of the others, you can use a knife to strip two different levels one outer and one inner.

Or have you thought about running a wireless network, so you can have your modem in your living room/bedroom to run your network?

billege

Wireless was an option. However, it doesn't get video into the den, so I still have to run coax anyway.

__________________
I can sum up the clash of religion in one sentence:
"My Invisible Friend is better than your Invisible Friend."

kazoo

You've got the good cable, and proper tools. Even good cable, improperly terminated won't yield a satisfactory signal. One splitter is better than many, because you have less connections, however you can't go indefinitely without a distribution amplifier.

Not knowing the construction of your home, all I can say is be careful when you start drilling through structural members or penetrating drywall between the garage and the house.

__________________
There ain't nothin' more powerful than the odor of mendacity -Big Daddy

IowaEric

Drilling holes through structural members shouldnt be a problem, as you'll need a small hole only for coax. Make sure to center your holes as much as possible on wall studs, and make sure to stay at least 1 1/2" from the edge of any joist you need to pass through.

And distribution amplifier is what I was thinking earlier, but forgot to put in my post at all. One of those should do the trick for you for any signal loss problems.

JohnnyCarson

I had the same type of deal as you. The thing that helped my picture quality, etc. is putting in an amplifier. It is a small silver box that you run a cable in to. Mine then has 4 out terminals to run the cable out of. (Like a 4 way splitter). Make sure you get the kind that plugs in though. Anything else is junk. You can get them at Radio Shack or Best Buy.

billege

The whole amp thing. Yeah...I'm going to tackle that after the install, I think. I'd like to see how things work out first, and if performance could still use improving, try an amp.

I've been looking at this simple 4 output amp, which might work instead of a splitter. There's also this bi-directional amp that I could put on just the modem's line. I have to see what happens next month, when hopfully I have the $$ to buy all this stuff.

__________________
I can sum up the clash of religion in one sentence:
"My Invisible Friend is better than your Invisible Friend."

JohnnyCarson

With as many splits as you are doing and the long cable runs, you will need the amp without a doubt...