Coax Through Sliding Door

[allscan]

Does anyone have a good way of getting coax through a sliding glass door? Luckily I have a balcony on my apartment that faces the woods (no one can see an antenna) and I can't figure out how to get the cable inside. I'm looking at something like this http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5796449632&category=11726 I've just not had any experience with "flat" coax.

Thanks

 

[MacombMonitor]

Does anyone have a good way of getting coax through a sliding glass door? Luckily I have a balcony on my apartment that faces the woods (no one can see an antenna) and I can't figure out how to get the cable inside. I'm looking at something like this http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5796449632&category=11726 I've just not had any experience with "flat" coax.

Thanks

I would think that might introduce some loss, but under the circumstances it sounds like you don't have too many options. Certainly simple, and cheap enough to try!

 

[Dank]

Do you have a utility closet on your balcony too? I never had to run a coax feed from outside, but I used to live in an apt, that had a utility closet on the left side of the balcony. My furnace was inside and there was an air return vent in my dining room wall that went to the furnace. On the outside wall of the utility closet, were openings in the brick so the furnace could get air. I never did, but I thought about drilling trough my wall just below the air return vent. I could have then pushed a cable straight out through the closet and through the hole in spaces on the outside wall. My maintenance staff never went into that closet and my curtains would have hid the cable in the dining room.
Don't know how strict your mgmt office is, but when I moved into my apr, I was told I could paint or paper as long as they could cover it with only 1 coat of new paint once I moved out. Based on this I hung some shelves in my closet and filled the screw holes when I left. No problems with the final walk-through.
Just a thought. Good Luck!

 

[bwhite]

Dank has alot of good ideas.
If it was your place I'd suggest drilling thru the window frame or the calking just outside of the frame, that may still be possible depending upon how they installed the door or window.
Good that you are looking ahead so that you get that deposit back without raising any attention.

 

[allscan]

Thanks for the suggestions. There is no utility closed, although we were told that we can do whatever we wanted to the walls as long as it only took 1 coat of paint when we move out. With that in mind I may look at drilling through the dry-wall, but I'm not sure how I would cover the siding back up. Time to experiment.

 

[bwhite]

Before punching a hole right thru the wall and siding take a good look at the edge of the window and/or sliding door frames. Chances are there is a 1/2" gap between the aluminum window frame and the wood it mounts into.you should be able to get the cable thru (without the connector). Caulk
around the cable. When you go to move clip off the cable on the inside and outside and touch it with a little whiteout or white paint.

 

[specman]

I've used that flat coax for some non-communication based purposes, and found it to be a bit of problem . I can only imagine that the fact that a sliding door usually has to recess into a "groove" would create some further problems.

Besides the other ideas, you may want to experiment with some indoor antenna types too. Not sure what your frequencies of interest are, but if your apartment building has you sitting up high you may find that a simple antenna works quite well. Another possibility is a "through-glass" type antenna... something I don't normally recommend but may be an option in your case.

Good luck!

 

[n3ijw]

I currently use one of those flat pieces of coax with my APRS digi. I live in an apartment, and my feedline goes out along the floor via RG-8X, under a regular hinged exterior door via the piece of flat coax, then back to RG-8X onto my balcony and up to my antenna bolted to the railing.

I have not tested SWR (scared to) but it works well enough to cover a big chunk of the northern Virginia area. I regularly transmit 25 watts through it (60+ once or twice) with seemingly no ill effect. Well, my FT1500M hasn't blown up yet at any rate.

One word of caution, the jacket material is rather thin and will crack over time, letting moisture in.

It is a decent temporary measure but if I were you I would go forth with one of the more robust alternatives described in some of the other replies.

I'll soon be getting rid of mine and drilling a hole through the wall for a proper coax passthrough.

 

[Dank]

Hopefully you have vinyl siding outside if you must drill through, but if it is brick and your determined to drill, go through the mortor from the outside in. The mortor is definately easier to drill through.

 

[car2back]

Good that you are looking ahead so that you get that deposit back without raising any attention.

learned that the hard way before... :lol: :lol:

One word of caution, the jacket material is rather thin and will crack over time, letting moisture in.

the flat stuff really get brittle; I recently had to replace a strech of it that was ran from the TV antenna in the attic in my parents house; it only lasted about 15 years!

 

[jas0nr7272]

They allow satellite dishes at my apartment complex. So you might want to inquire about that. And use that as an excuse to drill a hole thru the wall. Then use a wall plate from home depot. I have a Diamond D-130 J mounted on a pole in a bucket of cement works great.

 

[Boca_Yid]

I have the cable running UNDER my sliding door.
You can chop out the last 1-2 inches of the bottom track rail with a dremel and a cut off wheel.
With the cable going through the groove, you'll be left with just enough room for the door to pass over it.
Using the dremel makes a nice CLEAN cut, so nobody should notice it when your gone.
DON'T cut out more than 2", or you'll interfere with the bottom door roller on that side.
Make sure to file down any sharp edges that might break through the cable insulation.
Also, make sure that the cable inside the house comes up a little bit after it passes under the door (for a drip edge), otherwise water will run inside along the cable when it rains.

I've also got the Diamond discone mentioned above and it works great.