mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
OK, so that does make it easier.
As for those saying it looks bad, it really depends on how you do it. If you take the half-arsed amateur radio route and just string the cables across any old support, then yeah, it's gonna look like crap.
On the other hand, if you do it properly, put a bit of effort into it, think it out, plan, etc. it won't look any worse than the 60 foot tower.
What matters in the end is what you want. It's your tower, your money, your home, do what you want.
I can tell you that running it underground will not be a fool proof solution. Water will get inside the conduit and unless you are using direct bury rated cable, you will eventually have issues with the cable. I've worked on underground telephone cable plants off and on for over 25 years now and what I can tell you is that they -do- get wet. Skipping the conduit and doing direct bury will create some issues with rock/stone damage, unless you backfill the trench with sand, but that can wash away, especially if a creek bed is involved. Rodents love to chew on the outer jacket. There are "gopher proof" phone cables, but I don't think I've ever seen coaxial cable with that rating.
The benefit with an overhead cable run is that it'll be a lot easier to add more cables as you need to.
If you really need to run it underground, it can be done, but it's not as simple as trenching, putting some conduit in the hole and backfilling. You'd want to use a heavy wall PVC conduit, schedule 80 would have a thicker wall. There's even other types designed more for utility use in direct bury applications. The trench would need to be done properly to prevent pooling of water. You'd want to fill the trench party with sand before adding the conduit, add the conduit, then put in another layer of sand. This helps reduce the chances of rocks damaging the conduit.
In many applications, we completely encase our conduits in concrete for protection. Overkill for what you are doing, but it gives you an idea that simply burying a conduit in the dirt isn't the way to go.
You'll also need to plan ahead. While you may know your needs right now, those needs will probably change. Adding additional cable, or larger cable, might be something you'll need down the road. For that reason, you'd want to have big enough conduit, maybe even 2 or more conduits. The important part is that trenching is the expensive part. Conduit is cheap, so add what you need now while the hole is open. Consider adding one for any future electrical needs. You don't want to run 120vac in the same conduit as coax, besides being an electrical code violation, it's also a good way to induce all kinds of noise issues.
And, like I said above, no matter what you do short of pressurizing the conduit, it's going to get wet inside there. Using cable designed for being in a constantly wet environment, or even submerged, would be a good idea. That's going to take some work as that cable will be more expensive that your average coaxial cable.
Again, it's your decision. There are pro's and con's to each solution and you'd need to look at all of them. It isn't a simple solution either way you choose. While some may have been lucky and gotten away with it, it won't mean you will. It's a lot cheaper to do it right the first time than it is to do it twice.
