Connecting two TV Coaxial Cables Outside

[number1hatfielder]

Hi,

I have an TV aeiral on my roof with the cable running from the roof to my living room. I have recently had an extension built to my house and want the TV areial in that new room. Now, i don't want to get up on the roof and rewire the arieal into the new room. Is there any way of cutting the existing wire and connecting it in a waterproof housing on the wall and running a new wire from the housing into the extension. If so, what do i need and can any advise where i can purchase it from?

Hope someone can help me out.

Regards, Anthony

[cucumber]

One of these might be what you're looking for

[The Natural Philosopher]

Just cut and solder the two wires together and wrap in tape. If you use e.g. heatshrink to more or less preserve the inner core dimensions, and some sort of wrap around to more or less preserve the outer screen,you won;t get hardly any reflections. Just be sire to wrap it all up ion sealing tape.

It might be a bit lossy at satellite frequencies, but it should be fine up to UHF.,.

[Lobster]

bits you need are readily available.

David

[Michael Chare]

Yes use F Plugs and F barrel and then bind the whole lot up with self amalgamating tape.

[Andy Burns]

of the original signal to your original and new points, depends if your signal is strong enough, if not you might need an amplifier with multiple outlets instead, you can generally feed the power from the telly end of the coax.

[Andy Burns]

if you were to suggest that in uk.tech.digital-tv you'd get some flack, and although the O/P didn't specify digital, analogue switch off is on the way so ought to be considered, could be a useful time while doing this job to ensure double screened coax is used throughout.

[number1hatfielder]

Thanks for your reply. Is the single loss still 1/3 even if i don't have an aditional TV running from the arieal? By this i mean, if i am using the device for the simple purpose of joining a severed coaxial cable, is the signal still reduced?

Thanks, Anthony

[The Natural Philosopher]

Sure it *might*. I've got digital terrestrial running through all sorts of joints..and the world is full of people who have read text books and never actually try anything practically themselves at all.

His whole point was to use something that obviated the need for a rewire. I have told him the quick and dirty and very cheap way to do it that will net him 90% of what a single piece of cable would. And if it fails to be satisfactory, he has lost nothing much by trying.

[Guy King]

The message from The Natural Philosopher contains these words:

Done carefully a soldered splice with careful wrapping and insulating can provide as good an insertion loss as a proper connector.

[meow2222]

well taped joints are often shot after 20 years. Its better not to do it.

NT

[Frank Erskine]

You *will* lose some signal in a joint, and get a bit of reflection, but you can minimise it by using proper coaxial connectors. You don't say what type of cable it is - if it's traditional UHF cable (normally with a brown sheath) you should use decent Belling & Lee type male plugs and a back-to-back connector (don't forget to solder the coax inners to the plug pins), and shroud the lot in heatshrink tubing or self-amalgamating tape with a layer or two of PVC tape for mechanical protection.

Don't forget to test your connection before you apply your shrink or self-amalgamating stuff - it's so easy to get the odd strand of braiding to short-circuit the cable!

You can get a female "plug" (line socket) to use instead of one of the plugs and the back-to-back connector, but they're horrible to use!

Really, especially with the advent of digital broadcasting, you would be well advised to consider a single length of decent cable, avoiding kinks or other sharp bends all the way.

[Andy Burns]

Didn't seem to be best advice, sure I've used a cheap and nasty passive splitter in the past, but had to remove it years ago when I got digital.

except you didn't mention that it *was* the cheap and dirty method

[Ron Lowe]

I see there's a general consensus, so let me throw in the counter-argument!

Every single external splice I've ever seen has been a bodge to a greater or lesser extent. The worst ones are twist- and-tape with regular insulating tape. Better are proper connectors wrapped in amalgamating tape.

The one thing they have in common is that they have all led to water ingress into the cable sheath, which runs down inside the cable. In the worst cases, it actually drips out onto the living room floor.

The better made splices will last longer before water ingress, but IMHO it will happen eventually.

Personally, I would never make an external splice. I'd replace the cable, or find a means to bring the cable inside closer to the aerial and make the splice indoors, or feed it to a distribution amp indoors and split it to a new cable run at that point.

[number1hatfielder]

Thank you everyone who posted.

Am i right in believing that the concensus here is not to use an F Type External Combiner / Splitter or splice the wire outside, but make the connection inside or rewire the arieal from the roof?

By the way, i currently do recieve a rather strong digital reception through the arieal, especially now i have my Samsung Flat Screen with integrated digital reciever (some of those set top boxes are so poor!)

Thanks Anthony

[Michael Chare]

The advice is not to use a splitter, or combiner. You can (should) however use an F barrel - i.e. a straight connector. Clearly making the joint inside will reduce the the chance of water ingress. You should use CT100 or WF100 cable.

Bear in mind:

a) You can't get better than 100% digital quality, so long as what you do gives you that you can't make further improvements.

b) The strength of the digital signal will increase in a few years time at analogue switch off, but may also change frequency.

c) TV aerials and downleads don't last for ever. Livespand maybe 15-20 years.

Use Google to search uk.tech.digtal-tv for cable join

[Adrian C]

So no real worries then. Use the best waterproof method you can, or twist wires together with tape. By the time these connections start to fail DTT will be broadcasting at its full power and you might not notice problems for a few years after that?

How far are you from the transmitter?

-- Adrian C

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember The Natural Philosopher saying something like:

I agree in principle, but the quickest and dirtiest way with some measure of not fiddling about with soldering irons up a ladder, or wherever, is to use a pair of F connectors and a female/female joiner. All wrapped up in SA tape.

[Huge]

SA tape degrades under UV.

For my amateur radio connections, I use barrel connectors (not F types, but that's irrelevant) then a layer of SA tape, then a layer of plain insulating tape, then coat them in car underseal.

I've never had one fail due to water ingress, even after 10 years out in the open.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Huge saying something like:

N-types?

Well, sure, if you want to make a proper job of it and lose as little as reasonably possible. Given the price of good low-loss 50ohm co-ax, I'd be inclined to join too, instead of renewing the whole length.

I've been looking into flea-power layouts recently, with the intention of improving my 3G card (1W) range and losing as little as possible on the feed side.