ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Cable TV Runs

Trumpy, I agree with much of what you say however an attic is not the place for electronics. Temperatures can top 120 deg F in the summer even in northern climates. This spells disaster for amplifiers or anything else, even passive devices like splitters.

Best thing to do is put everything on the wall in the basement if there is one, assuming the area is protected from moisture. If there is no basement choose a closet or garage.

Keep in mind here that low temperatures are no good either. Most equipment will specify an operating temperature range and other environmental considerations that must be observed.

-Hal

I agree with Hal. I usually put my media center in the basement in a utility room. Usually this will be where the furnace is. I also usually put the electrical panel in this same room. I like to run 2 in. smurf tube from this room to the attic for future expansion. If I can talk the customer into it I run 3/4 in. smurf tube to all outlet locations for voice/data/video. That way in the future no matter what cable is needed I can pull out the old cable and pull in the new. www.carlon.com

lots of great info here...
kind of on the same subject, anyone know where to purchase additional receivers for "digital cable TV" or direct TV? other than renting/buying one from the service provider? we have "digital cable" at our house, and you can only watch the premium channels on the one TV with the receiver :-(

As far as I know cable boxes are only available from your cable company (legal ones anyway). I believe that most will only rent (of course, in a year you have paid for it) but there may be some areas and states that require them to sell it to you outright.

Cable companies are paranoid about theft of service and this is one way to help control it.

Direct TV or Dish network receivers (as provided via satellite) can be purchased from any number of places including Radio Shack just to name one. You will have to have it authorized by the service provider after you hook it up meaning that you will be paying for the programming.

-Hal

[This message has been edited by hbiss (edited 12-21-2004).]

Hi,
Thanks for the great replies, they were very informative.

What about grounding? I see this RG6 but it has no ground wire. I have seen it with a ground attached to the side.

I am assuming this is to bond the outside unit to the case of the receiver that is bonded by the cord connected to the egc of the circuit.

I need this ground wire don't I?

-regards

Greg

No Greg, that isn't a ground wire. It's a messenger strand that is used to support the cable when it is run between the pole and house. It should be bonded to the strand out on the street but that's about it. It should be twisted around the house hook to hold up the cable. For the rest of the cable run from that point on down the side of the house and in, the messenger strand should be stripped off and discarded. This leaves only the coax.
Where the coax enters the house you use a ground block to ground the shield on the coax. The ground block should be located as close as possible to where the coax enters the house, either outside or inside. Ideally this should be at the same location as the service and TELCO protector. You then run a #12 ground conductor to the service ground where the TELCO ground should be connected also.

Just to end any confusion, messengered cable is never used for anything other than aerial runs. Everything else is plain coax.

-Hal

[This message has been edited by hbiss (edited 12-22-2004).]