cable run?

[C-Man]

i am going to put a few antennas outdoors of coarse and the only thing that is holding me back is deciding how im going to get the cables into my house. if people could tell me how they did it themselves that would be great. and is there a length to long to run a cable?? thanks in advance.

 

[hoser147]

The longer the run, and the more connectors you have will add to your loss. If your going to have a long run use good quality low loss cable. There are lots of threads in the antenna forum and articles in the Wiki on this subject. And would be a good place to start for the information you seek.....Hoser

 

[fineshot1]

i am going to put a few antennas outdoors of coarse and the only thing that is holding me back is deciding how im going to get the cables into my house. if people could tell me how they did it themselves that would be great. and is there a length to long to run a cable?? thanks in advance.

Need more info.

1. Is this strictly for a scanner or other types of radios that can also transmit.

2. What type of cable and how many cables?

3. Usually over 50 feet I would consider better quality cable especially if you plan
on receiving 800/900Mhz band comms, but you did not specify a length for you
cable plans.

 

[kb2vxa]

The only proper answer will come from your own ingenuity every installation being different and custom to the need. How the guy next door did it has nothing to do with me and how I did it won't help you either. The only advice I can give you is both the transmission line and protective ground must be of good quality and as short and direct as possible, electricity be it signal or lightning always takes the path of least resistance.

 

[C-Man]

yut its guna be about 100-150 feet just for a scanner but would i have as good of a signal with my antenna if i placed it in my attic or on my roof? because that would make my life so easy! please let me know

 

[RayAir]

I thought about an outdoor antenna, but decided against it. My roof is steep with a 30 foot drop off the back. If I were to put one up here's what I would have to do/need:
-5ft pole, TV antenna mast type
-Roof mount
- Coax cable to ground level, hide coax run under siding
-lightning protection double barrel PL-259 Female connector , ground cable to a 8ft copper rod or use telephone ground rod
-Coax run into the basement, then try to fish it upstairs by following my CATV runs.
Or better yet, hook it up to a scanner in my basement to avoid the hassle of trying to fish the coax up 2 levels.

Something like that would probably be what you need to do to install your outdoor antenna.

 

[blueangel-eric]

I thought about an outdoor antenna, but decided against it. My roof is steep with a 30 foot drop off the back. If I were to put one up here's what I would have to do/need:
-5ft pole, TV antenna mast type
-Roof mount
- Coax cable to ground level, hide coax run under siding
-lightning protection double barrel PL-259 Female connector , ground cable to a 8ft copper rod or use telephone ground rod
-Coax run into the basement, then try to fish it upstairs by following my CATV runs.
Or better yet, hook it up to a scanner in my basement to avoid the hassle of trying to fish the coax up 2 levels.

Something like that would probably be what you need to do to install your outdoor antenna.

why not just drill a hole and route it directly into the room of choice? I've done that in the past, and also ran through the window with the radios by the window for shorter run.

 

[RayAir]

why not just drill a hole and route it directly into the room of choice? I've done that in the past, and also ran through the window with the radios by the window for shorter run.

I thought about that , but I don't want to run the cable across the front of my house to the window due to aesthetics. I don't even want to mess with trying to get the cable behind the siding in the front and the only way to get it in from the back is go through the bathroom window to the master bedroom. Then I would have to go through a wall to get to the bedroom. For me dropping the coax down the back of the house and running it behind the corner pieces of the siding would work. To avoid a long run I could have a scanner in the basement. I have another computer room down there already.

 

[C-Man]

drilling holes allways makes me cringe i dont know why. but will it be fine in my attic or better outsidE?

 

[eorange]

drilling holes allways makes me cringe i dont know why. but will it be fine in my attic or better outsidE?

I don't like to drill holes in houses either, although I've done so in the past.

In our house, we had a DirectTV installation that wasn't being used. So I ripped out the RG-6 cables and the opening was big enough for my scanner coax (length: 90 feet) and amateur radio coax feedline (length: 180 feet). I was able to route the cables through the hole, across a crawl space, and easily into the basement.

 

[C-Man]

thanks to every ones input i belive ive found a solution i am going to put a 6x6x20 in the ground and off of that run a antenna mast about 10-20 feet and place my antenna on that and run the cable down that into the ground then into the house thru the foundation where there is a hole for pool pump power line witch is no longer in use then into the wall and place it into a coax jack where i can screw in a coax then on the other end it will be a bnc i will have to make my own cables but at my high school its free so im going to go with that i belive just got to run it by the rents now lol hence why i was skeptical about running cables lol. then later on will come the radios as soon as im a ham thanks for all the help

 

[nexus]

You could do what I did... just throw a brick through your bedroom window and toss the coax in the room through the broken window.. Take a piece of ductape and patch it up... Simple, effective...Redneck...

this message approved by joe the plumber.

 

[C-Man]

mommy would no appreciate that. effective tho lol plenty of room for future runs and antennas lmao.

 

[k9rzz]

thanks to every ones input i belive ive found a solution i am going to put a 6x6x20 in the ground and off of that run a antenna mast about 10-20 feet and place my antenna on that and run the cable down that into the ground then into the house thru the foundation where there is a hole for pool pump power line witch is no longer in use then into the wall and place it into a coax jack where i can screw in a coax then on the other end it will be a bnc i will have to make my own cables but at my high school its free so im going to go with that i belive just got to run it by the rents now lol hence why i was skeptical about running cables lol. then later on will come the radios as soon as im a ham thanks for all the help

Wow ... that sentence is as long as your feedline !

 

[donc13]

thanks to every ones input i belive ive found a solution i am going to put a 6x6x20 in the ground and off of that run a antenna mast about 10-20 feet and place my antenna on that and run the cable down that into the ground then into the house thru the foundation where there is a hole for pool pump power line witch is no longer in use then into the wall and place it into a coax jack where i can screw in a coax then on the other end it will be a bnc i will have to make my own cables but at my high school its free so im going to go with that i belive just got to run it by the rents now lol hence why i was skeptical about running cables lol. then later on will come the radios as soon as im a ham thanks for all the help

Using a piece of WOOD as your "tower" is definately NOT the correct way to go. You MUST have the mast grounded along with proper grounding of the cable. If not....first nearby thunderstorm you AND your parents may be outside looking in at your burning house. Even without that, I doubt your scanner will last more a few months before it gets nailed by static and the front end blows if you fail to properly gound your system.

If you plan on becoming a ham, I'd strongly suggest the first thing you do is pickup the ARRL Handbook and the ARRL Antenna book. Read them...then decide how you want to install that antenna.

 

[C-Man]

well if wood is a bad idea how do they do antennas on the roof?? how do they ground that out? i can go mast all the way it just wont be as sturdy. thanks for the heads up tho

 

[blueangel-eric]

Wow ... that sentence is as long as your feedline !

I've noticed a decline of proper grammar from younger people these days. at least on the internet. It's hard to read and understand people these days. i know some are dyslexic and can't help it but others get lazy and don't care. I hate typing or writing but i still take the time to do it halfway decent. thank god for spell check on Firefox!!!

 

[donc13]

well if wood is a bad idea how do they do antennas on the roof?? how do they ground that out? i can go mast all the way it just wont be as sturdy. thanks for the heads up tho

PROPERLY installed antenna on roofs have ground wires attached and a grounded antenna feed.

If you read those books I suggested....you'd know that.

 

[kb2vxa]

"Using a piece of WOOD as your "tower" is definitely NOT the correct way to go."

Hams living down on the farm tend to disagree, many use old wooden windmill towers after installing electric pumps. It's a simple matter to ground the antenna(s) using the same conductor and earthing rod you'd use on any other non conducting structure.

What I tend to disagree with is using an untreated wooden plank as a mast. Paint will protect it from weathering but sunk in the ground you have termites and damp rot to contend with, that's where pressure treated creosote poles come in handy. I know several hams using "telephone poles", how installing one compares to a steel tower and concrete base price wise I never asked.

Heh, there's this wooden skyscraper up the street with an antenna on it but it's on the JCP&L power substation property. Gee, I wonder why they didn't put up a tower. (;->)

 

[blueangel-eric]

"Using a piece of WOOD as your "tower" is definitely NOT the correct way to go."

Hams living down on the farm tend to disagree, many use old wooden windmill towers after installing electric pumps. It's a simple matter to ground the antenna(s) using the same conductor and earthing rod you'd use on any other non conducting structure.

What I tend to disagree with is using an untreated wooden plank as a mast. Paint will protect it from weathering but sunk in the ground you have termites and damp rot to contend with, that's where pressure treated creosote poles come in handy. I know several hams using "telephone poles", how installing one compares to a steel tower and concrete base price wise I never asked.

Heh, there's this wooden skyscraper up the street with an antenna on it but it's on the JCP&L power substation property. Gee, I wonder why they didn't put up a tower. (;->)

Quite a few Railroad radio installations are on tall telephone poles as well. some people use those poles for TV antennas too. I've always wondered if it's cheaper that way. but who installs those in the ground? Do you have to hire the power company?