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Broadcast TV
Jan. 31st, 2010 05:25 pmI brought my TV antenna home, and want to somehow mount it on the roof, pointing in the appropriate direction. There was an existing coax cable leading from a telephone pole into the attic, and I just cut it close to the pole. My plan is to now splice this coax leading into the house to an outside antenna, and then connect the TV to the coax in the living room wall.
Every room in pre-wired with cable, but apparently no one has ever connected with it. When I remove the wall plates it seems that the basic wiring is there but not the jacks. Behind one plate in the living room wall I found two long, bare coax cables that seem the most likely place to connect.
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I bought a splicing tool and the connectors, and tested enough to know that I get killer reception with an outside antenna but I can't transmit the signal to the coax wiring already in the walls. I have two thoughts: 1) the at&t(?) coax that I'm using to lead into the house is some proprietary design and I have to replace it 2) I'm not physically connected to the house coax when I splice into that at&t coax. The only option in both cases is to crawl up into the attic and look for a junction box for the house wiring. I don't want to do that right now, it's really not that important, so this whole project goes on the back burner.
************************************************************************************************
It turns out that the at&t line was disconnected in the attic, but I found two other coax cables up there nearby, and through trial and error, and with three separate trips up into the attic, across the roof trusses and through the ductwork, I spliced into the one that feeds to the cable in the south end of the living room. I sent the other end outside through a little hole that at&t had made for their coax, and hooked it into the antenna outside. I'm getting good reception with 13 english language channels. Next week, after I get another u clamp and some rustoleum paint, I can mount the antenna permanently on the roof, at least 12 feet higher than it is now.
Every room in pre-wired with cable, but apparently no one has ever connected with it. When I remove the wall plates it seems that the basic wiring is there but not the jacks. Behind one plate in the living room wall I found two long, bare coax cables that seem the most likely place to connect.
**********************************************************************************************
I bought a splicing tool and the connectors, and tested enough to know that I get killer reception with an outside antenna but I can't transmit the signal to the coax wiring already in the walls. I have two thoughts: 1) the at&t(?) coax that I'm using to lead into the house is some proprietary design and I have to replace it 2) I'm not physically connected to the house coax when I splice into that at&t coax. The only option in both cases is to crawl up into the attic and look for a junction box for the house wiring. I don't want to do that right now, it's really not that important, so this whole project goes on the back burner.
************************************************************************************************
It turns out that the at&t line was disconnected in the attic, but I found two other coax cables up there nearby, and through trial and error, and with three separate trips up into the attic, across the roof trusses and through the ductwork, I spliced into the one that feeds to the cable in the south end of the living room. I sent the other end outside through a little hole that at&t had made for their coax, and hooked it into the antenna outside. I'm getting good reception with 13 english language channels. Next week, after I get another u clamp and some rustoleum paint, I can mount the antenna permanently on the roof, at least 12 feet higher than it is now.
