Passing Coax From Outside Into the House... my solution

[KJ6HCB]

Hey everyone.... finally getting around to getting up some sort of external antenna structure. For now I am doing just a 30-40' antenna mast - Im on the hunt for a Rohn or similar tower however

Anyway - the issue of getting coax from inside to out comes into play - heres what I did to solve that problem - a NEMA cable enclosure box! For under $30 from eBay, I got one of these babies:

I began by marking out studs in my radio room area, making sure to drill BETWEEN the studs Knocked out an area of drywall, ensured there was no wiring in the wall, and drilled a pilot hole to the outside world.

From there, I worked on drilling/boring out a 2.5" hole in the stucco from the outside - cutting chicken wire, drilling through the plywood and grinding out the stucco.

Scary seeing a big ole hole in the side of my house!!! Coincidentally... grounding rods directly below in the dirt area

From there, I took a 2" piece of ABS pipe and inserted it through the wall - being just below flush on the interior, and sticking out about 3/4" on the exterior.

Held in place, it was time to bust out the HILTI triple expanding foam.... boy does this stuff work excellent!

Pumped most of the can into the wall until it was oozing out both sides, and then covered each side with cardboard to stop the oozing and let it harden. Here it is cured up

I then used some exterior stucco caulking sealant around the outside edge of the pipe to prevent water dripping down the house, and then formed an extra 'donut' of caulking around the exterior circumference of the pipe, then slid on the NEMA enclosure (which I had already cut a hole in).

Sink 3 screws with some caulking behind them to ensure no water in the screwholes, and done! Ill be sure to add rain drip loops to coax entering the bottom of the box - it has pre cut foam sealed openings for cable entry.

Not sure how to finish off the inside yet - its behind one of my radio desks so not a big deal, but probably some sort of large 220v outlet cover plate.

Next up (tomorrow, hopefully) will be erection of the antenna mast and installation of a scanner antenna as well as a dual band VHF/UHF ham antenna.

 

[Thayne]

That looks nice but you are lucky that you didn't drill into something else that would cause you to let the smoke out since your hole is so close to the electric service panel.

Maybe you can get a good fitting to ground your coax(s) inside the box. Also a company called Arlington has some nice plastic boxes & covers designed for AV-TV installations; check at an electrical supply house.

 

[prcguy]

If you use lightning arrestors they are usually placed at the building entrance with appropriate grounding right below the entry point. Installed per NEC Article 810, of course.

Looking for a free standing tower? I have a 51ft free standing crank up in So Cal with accessories for $850. Look up a Triex/Tashjian W51 for details.
prcguy

 

[KJ6HCB]

That looks nice but you are lucky that you didn't drill into something else that would cause you to let the smoke out since your hole is so close to the electric service panel.

You must have missed the text description of my process....


Anyways... working on the pole setup today. Heres a mock up of it up - going to anchor it this afternoon.

 

[Rt169Radio]

Looks pretty good right now,how many antennas will you have on the pole?

 

[KJ6HCB]

Planning to run a Diamond X50NA at the top, and then some sort of all band scanner antenna a few feet down from that. Using 3 10' pole sections, and then Diamond antenna is about 6' tall.

 

[Rt169Radio]

Where did you get the pole?

 

[KJ6HCB]

Its 1 3/8" Top Fence Rail from Home Depot - wood aisle area. Very strong IMO, ends are flared to mate with each other.

I cross drilled each joint after mating them together and did a 1/4" x 2.5" bolt through each direction, making an X. This tightens up the joints getting rid of all slop in all directions.

Base is one of the ends of pipe cut off buried in a 5 gallon bucket in a 100lb bag of Quikcrete. Same thing - bottom pipe cross drilled to bolt into bucket. Then the pole will be secured to the eaves at 2 different heights as can be seen in the mock up picture.

Running an X50NA at the top and will probably add at least 1 more, possibly 2 antennas (probably an Austin Ferret and/or Antennacraft ST2)

Waiting on my LMR400 crimper to come in so right now I just have 1 pole section in the bucket with the antenna mounted on it.... crappy pic.... (will be 20 feet taller than in the pic once I get the cable setup)