Trying to run coax cable from outside for Freeview - need advice
 

Hi all

Apologies if this is the wrong forum for this matter.

Until today I had a very old unused BT phone cable running into the house through a hole in the wall next to the back window. That phone connection hasn't been used in 20+ years.

I successfully pulled the phone cable out of the house from outside.

I now want to run coax cable for Freeview through the same hole in the wall.. I tried but to no avail.

(Go easy now... I have no DIY/carpentry/external installation experience).

The holes both inside and out are in extremely awkward positions.

From inside the house, I tried pushing the cable up, down and to the right.

When pushing to the right I pushed the coax through and the entire cable went into the wall but nothing came out the other side. No other direction seemed to work.

I realise now I probably should have taped the new cable to the old one and pulled through but too late now :erm:

So now I currently can't get either cable back in the wall....

Are there any (preferably cheap/household) tools I can use to get the coax through the wall in the existing hole?

Cheers

Re: Trying to run coax cable from outside for Freeview - need advice
 

You could try unbending a coat hanger and poke that through the hole. Tape the co-ax to it and pull through.

Re: Trying to run coax cable from outside for Freeview - need advice
 

This.

Straightened coat hanger, old chop stick, anything rigid you can use to push through, with the new cable very firmly taped to the back end (duct tape would be good for this).

Re: Trying to run coax cable from outside for Freeview - need advice
 

Thanks guys I will be doing this tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

Cheers

Re: Trying to run coax cable from outside for Freeview - need advice
 

Coax is a thicker cable, the hole might be too small

Re: Trying to run coax cable from outside for Freeview - need advice
 

Hey guys I've had a bit of luck.

No wire frame coathanger (haven't found any yet), but I found some old bit of metal (could be from an antenna I'm not sure).

I put the metal through what I estimated where a hole would be and with a bit of pushing it went all the way in.

From inside I see the metal reflecting from my torch.

So I've found the hole, now it's a matter of facing it upwards to get it inside. I have a longer bendier piece of metal and will try that too.

Hopefully will get it done today but I suspect probably not...

@jb66 that may turn out to be true (probably with my luck) but can't hurt to try.... Fingers crossed

I'll keep you updated.

Many thanks

Re: Trying to run coax cable from outside for Freeview - need advice
 

Are you using waterproof/weatherproof coax ?

Re: Trying to run coax cable from outside for Freeview - need advice
 

Hi guys I've been very lucky, I've successfully ran the cable through.

Due to awkward outside wall (tiny gap between UPVC window frame and concrete where hole is), I couldn't get any rigid piece of metal through from inside to out.

But from outside I inserted a bit of washing line cable (rigid enough) and pulled it in from inside using a small pair of tweezers.

I got some test coax and removed one brass claw connector and taped that end to the washing line from inside.

Went outside again and pulled the coax outside successfully (hole seems big enough at least for this coax).

Many thanks for your advice here!!

@daveeb I don't think so. It's 25m of Nexan's "High Quality" RG6 from Screwfix. Plan is to run an indoor antenna with coax through one more accessible hole in the wall in another room, outside, to the difficult hole in the wall I've just gained access to.

Shouldn't matter should it? (Though I understand the cheaper material in cables that purport to be RG6 can be more susceptible to interference).

I thought only the connectors needed to be weatherproofed if one is attached to an outside antenna? In this case the only thing leading outside is the long coax cable itself, no connectors. Please correct me if I'm wrong I'll be happy to get weatherproof stuff if needed

Many thanks again

Re: Trying to run coax cable from outside for Freeview - need advice
 

You may well be correct about just the connectors needing to be waterproof if external. I'm just not sure how well normal coax would react to weathering.

Re: Trying to run coax cable from outside for Freeview - need advice
 

Most coax used outside by aerial fitters seems to be the standard stuff.

Re: Trying to run coax cable from outside for Freeview - need advice
 

Hi all

Just writing to say the setup works perfectly, even better than expected, and I'm still using the full 25m length (even though that much not needed).

As @jb66 suggested, the coax is thicker than the old telephone cable it replaced... But thankfully not too much and I was able to get it through the hole OK.

The Nexan's RG6 coax cable itself has a nice robust outer sheath, and inside is double-insulated with silver metal braids (aluminium?), then thin aluminium foil, then white plastic(?) insulation, then a nice solid copper core. The cable is inexpensive, but if you want to try, be warned YMMV depending on what types of interference are present in your environment as cables purported to be RG6 use cheaper materials which may not block interference as well as materials in more expensive cables. Apparently what constitutes RG6 varies between manufacturers and the original RG6 standard is rarely if ever actually met. As I understand, the general consensus is that if you're unsure, use higher quality Webro WF100 or equivalent...

That said, I took a risk on this and the Nexan's RG6 works perfectly in my situation.

We can't have a roof aerial so have an amplified indoor antenna in one room where the signal is great and ran the aerial out via RG6 coax to the room where the old telephone cable was. All the relevant UHF carrier channels in my area show 100% signal on my TV except one which is 70-80%. No connectors are outside, but if you want any connectors outside be sure to get weatherproof/waterproof connectors (to stop damage to the internal cable material & any connected equipment).

As for if weatherproofing is needed for the cable itself (not connectors), I cannot say for certain as of yet but if any problems happen with the cable I will update here.

Thanks again for everyone's advice above. Much appreciated :tu: