Cable Question

[jeb6294]

Would a cable signal degrade very much over the length of wire or is more a function of the number of connections, splitters, etc.?

I'm thinking I'd like to see about running cable to our master bedroom upstairs from the basement next time I'm home on R&R. There's an old central vacuum in the basement with a ~2" PVC vent running from the basement all the way up to the attic (and I would assume roof penetration). Since the central vac. is shot and I don't think we have any intention of ever using it this seems like the perfect way to get cable upstairs, up the vent to the attic and then down through the wall to a new outlet. I've still got most of a big spool of coax left from when I put cable in our old house so it'd probably be one run but I'm just wondering if a run that long would end up with a crappy signal by the time it reaches our bedroom. If need be I also have the signal amplifier/splitter they gave us from the old house too so I could always replace the big splitter in the basement with that.

 

[OSUguy98]

I've got coax running all over the place in my house... I ran RG-6 Quad Shield from the corner of my building (dish) to my living room(~100') and the receiver doesn't seem to mind... I helped my brother run some in his attic to the new addition/MBRM, probably around 100'... no complaints there either....

About how long do you think it'd be? is your roll RG-6 Quad?

a cable running tip for your central vac line (would work with any conduit)... Tie a partially blown up balloon or zip-lock to the end of a string and use a shop vac/etc to suck the string/balloon to you, then you can use your string to pull your coax through...

 

[engineergurl]

why wouldn't he just tie a bolt to the string and drop it down from the top?

 

[pbrme]

^Some fish tape would work fine as well. Cheap at Harbor Freight.

Sounds like you've got it all figured out. Try it without the amplifier first, and then swap out the splitter. You'll always have degradation over some distance.

 

[mudpuppy]

Big question is what type of coax is the spool you have? If it's older RG-59 it might not work if you've got digital cable. If it's RG-6 you'll probably be ok if you can keep it under 150' or so. . .depending on how far your cable run is from the house to the street.

 

[Road Guy]

you can always get a signal booster from radio shack / best buy.. they worked like a charm for us..

 

[jeb6294]

Not sure about the cable...I know a guy who works at Time Warner's dispatch office and when I went to ask him about cable for the old house he just gave me a whole spool of it. I was also able to find out that if you want them to run the cable it costs an arm and a leg, but if you run the cable and just have them come out to put the connections on the ends it doesn't cost anything. When the guy came out to put the ends on he told me the biggest hit to the signal is splitters so he gave us a booster/splitter so we're all set there.

 

[OSUguy98]

why wouldn't he just tie a bolt to the string and drop it down from the top?

I assumed a old central vac system could possibly have bends or T's that would prevent a direct drop. Sucking the balloon/bag through would navigate those.

Not sure about the cable...I know a guy who works at Time Warner's dispatch office and when I went to ask him about cable for the old house he just gave me a whole spool of it. I was also able to find out that if you want them to run the cable it costs an arm and a leg, but if you run the cable and just have them come out to put the connections on the ends it doesn't cost anything. When the guy came out to put the ends on he told me the biggest hit to the signal is splitters so he gave us a booster/splitter so we're all set there.

Take a look on the cable, should be printed on it. A booster is cheaper than a new spool of coax

 

[jeb6294]

The vacuum line I would use is some kind of vent so it is a straight shot from the basement to the roof so it should make it uber convenient. I think the other vacuum outlets are in hallways so they wouldn't be good for too much, although I will remember the baloon trick if I ever need one.

The cable is currently 8,000 miles away in the garage so I'm not sure what kind it is. Hopefully it is the good stuff but if it isn't and a booster on the crappier cable will work than I can just do that. I was just hoping to avoid the booster if I could because it would add the hassle of having to run a separate connection for our high-speed internet because that isn't supposed to go through the booster.