Cutting The Cable/Satellite Cord Thread
07-03-2014, 02:59 PM
#46
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You may also need a pre-amp if you cable is long and signal is weak at the same time. Even without a splitter. Especially at UHF band. I have some bulk RG6 quad shield cable if you need a piece.
Also try to install a pre-amp as close to antenna as possible. Not close to a TV or a splitter. The less cable you have between antenna and a pre-amp the better. Unless you have a really strong signal. Ideally you want to mount a pre-amp on the same antenna mast.
1 port will go like 20ft to my living room.
1 port will go like 15ft to my office.
1 port will go about 100ft to my cable wiring junction box. There is a splitter in there that will feed 4bed rooms (basically, only 2 will get used at this time).
I think what I will have to do, should not using the preamp work, is for the 100ft run I will need to boost this one.
Should I need it I'll put the preamp on the mast and run its output to my switch. The switch has DC bypass so I'm good there. The other ports that I will likely not want to amplify (office and living room) will run through DC blocks so they will be clean.
Should work out.
07-03-2014, 03:21 PM
#47
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Basically I have huge antenna, 4 way splitter of which I will use 3 ports.
1 port will go like 20ft to my living room.
1 port will go like 15ft to my office.
1 port will go about 100ft to my cable wiring junction box. There is a splitter in there that will feed 4bed rooms (basically, only 2 will get used at this time).
I think what I will have to do, should not using the preamp work, is for the 100ft run I will need to boost this one.
Should I need it I'll put the preamp on the mast and run its output to my switch. The switch has DC bypass so I'm good there. The other ports that I will likely not want to amplify (office and living room) will run through DC blocks so they will be clean.
Should work out.
1 port will go like 20ft to my living room.
1 port will go like 15ft to my office.
1 port will go about 100ft to my cable wiring junction box. There is a splitter in there that will feed 4bed rooms (basically, only 2 will get used at this time).
I think what I will have to do, should not using the preamp work, is for the 100ft run I will need to boost this one.
Should I need it I'll put the preamp on the mast and run its output to my switch. The switch has DC bypass so I'm good there. The other ports that I will likely not want to amplify (office and living room) will run through DC blocks so they will be clean.
Should work out.
I may have ~50 ft of RG6... Also have some compression type F-connectors and a tool if you need to borrow it.
Cheapest place to get RG6 is Home depot and HF has (at least they used to) good compression type connectors.
07-04-2014, 07:09 AM
#48
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You need to put a pre-amp before a splitter (right after an antenna is the best place for it) if you need it at all (in any of your rooms). Doing it other way is the wrong approach in most cases (like using it after a splitter for one of the rooms). You will get a DC block with a pre-amp's power supply. Just put it before the splitter and you're done.
I may have ~50 ft of RG6... Also have some compression type F-connectors and a tool if you need to borrow it.
Cheapest place to get RG6 is Home depot and HF has (at least they used to) good compression type connectors.
If I use the splitter will be added after, but for two outputs I don't want amplification, so for those two I'll have DC blocks.
The splitter I got has clear routing for DC power routing on one port.
Who knows, maybe I will want amplification for all outputs. Just have to try it!
07-04-2014, 07:17 AM
#49
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Anyone else "here cut the cord", and no longer have cable or satellite?
Just cancelled Dish. I've been a huge supporter, and really, still am vs DTV or Comcast... but I was watching very little TV live, and not much on cable networks.
My daughter was watching a lot of Disney and Nick Jr, and really, you can get much of that on Netflix. So we may get a hulu subscription, but so far haven't felt the need.
I pretty much plan to take the old antenna from my mom's since they aren't using it and going OTA (which I love, including PBS for kids shows) and having my server and HTPC split Media Center duties.
I may or may not get a Media Center Extender for the bedroom so we can access the recordings I'll have. Not sure on that one yet, not really looking for anything really expensive, so maybe a Ceton Echo.
Anyone else living the cable free life?
Looks like live sports I'll be giving up are Monday Night Football (ESPN), Thursday Night Football (NFLN), F1 (NBCSports) and MotoGP (FoxSports1)
Looks like my motorsports torrenting activity will be going up
Just cancelled Dish. I've been a huge supporter, and really, still am vs DTV or Comcast... but I was watching very little TV live, and not much on cable networks.
My daughter was watching a lot of Disney and Nick Jr, and really, you can get much of that on Netflix. So we may get a hulu subscription, but so far haven't felt the need.
I pretty much plan to take the old antenna from my mom's since they aren't using it and going OTA (which I love, including PBS for kids shows) and having my server and HTPC split Media Center duties.
I may or may not get a Media Center Extender for the bedroom so we can access the recordings I'll have. Not sure on that one yet, not really looking for anything really expensive, so maybe a Ceton Echo.
Anyone else living the cable free life?
Looks like live sports I'll be giving up are Monday Night Football (ESPN), Thursday Night Football (NFLN), F1 (NBCSports) and MotoGP (FoxSports1)
Looks like my motorsports torrenting activity will be going up
Heh - I guess I could count as "cutting the cord" though I never really plugged it in in the first place. I have Comcast, for internet, and do not have a splitter on RG-6 anywhere (this means the cable is only serving my modem).
My daughter (3) watches stuff, but, things like Disney cartoons from the 50's and stuff like that. She did just watch Galaxy Quest though and was mildly horrified but, seeing her mom and I falling off the couch in fits of laughter sort of balanced it out a bit.
During the World Cup I had thought of trying to figure out how to connect a cable to my TV, but never got around to it. Every once in a while I think about it. Probably won't. The most TV I watch is some Jimmy Fallon or Jon Steward on Hulu. Yes, Hulu sucks gratuitous amounts of ***, but, I am currently not aware of any other viable option for someone like myself.
The last time I asked anyone about a DVR solution, I just about died laughing at the monthly cost. Just no.
07-06-2014, 12:26 AM
#50
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Heh - I guess I could count as "cutting the cord" though I never really plugged it in in the first place. I have Comcast, for internet, and do not have a splitter on RG-6 anywhere (this means the cable is only serving my modem).
My daughter (3) watches stuff, but, things like Disney cartoons from the 50's and stuff like that. She did just watch Galaxy Quest though and was mildly horrified but, seeing her mom and I falling off the couch in fits of laughter sort of balanced it out a bit.
During the World Cup I had thought of trying to figure out how to connect a cable to my TV, but never got around to it. Every once in a while I think about it. Probably won't. The most TV I watch is some Jimmy Fallon or Jon Steward on Hulu. Yes, Hulu sucks gratuitous amounts of ***, but, I am currently not aware of any other viable option for someone like myself.
The last time I asked anyone about a DVR solution, I just about died laughing at the monthly cost. Just no.
07-06-2014, 01:04 PM
#51
Luckily, I live on top of a hill so I just have a Mohu Leaf antenna and get all the OTA HD stations in the area. That combined with Netflix and I'm pretty good to go. That said, I've got a toddler so I only watch tv from 10p-midnight if that. Mostly just pick a tv series and watch it beginning to end-- takes several weeks.
Comcast wanted $150+ a month for HD cable+internet. Just pay $60/month for Internet now. Much better.
Comcast wanted $150+ a month for HD cable+internet. Just pay $60/month for Internet now. Much better.
07-06-2014, 03:18 PM
#52
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Attachment 89178
Here it is. Pointing ( that's the left side) towards Sutro. I get all the major networks and I get great signal without the preamp.
Here it is. Pointing ( that's the left side) towards Sutro. I get all the major networks and I get great signal without the preamp.
07-22-2014, 02:24 PM
#56
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I wasn't getting KQEH 54.1-54.5 (real channel 50) very well of the backside of my CM3016 antenna. I replaced the transformer last week since I know it was corroded pretty badly, but that did not help.
07-22-2014, 02:34 PM
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So this past weekend I got up there and saw that I aimed the antenna a little south of Sutro (right side there) and that made the back end (to the left there) aimed north of Mt Allison (Mission Peak Area).
So I loosened it up, and raised nearly the very top of the mast, and turned it a little north of sutro tower, and that put the back end nearly directly at Mt. Allison.
This fixed my KQEH issue, which is great cause 54.4 is the PBS Kids channel. When my wife and I are cooking dinner we can throw that on and it always always has some kids program for my daughter to watch. Not only that but, IMHO, better than kids programming on Nick Jr or Disney Jr.
Next what I did was put in another 4 way splitter at the cable junction box (one is already up near the antenna).
Well, everything after that 2nd splitter doesn't get 54.4 very well, so that tells me the 7db loss through that splitter is enough to kill the signal.
So I'll be installing a preamp at the mast this weekend, and powering from the gym where I have my "old" 42" Vizio mounted up.
I hope that this will get all my signals nice and strong again, but hopefully not too strong to where the really strong channels get over loaded.
We shall see.
Happy Cable Cutting!
So I loosened it up, and raised nearly the very top of the mast, and turned it a little north of sutro tower, and that put the back end nearly directly at Mt. Allison.
This fixed my KQEH issue, which is great cause 54.4 is the PBS Kids channel. When my wife and I are cooking dinner we can throw that on and it always always has some kids program for my daughter to watch. Not only that but, IMHO, better than kids programming on Nick Jr or Disney Jr.
Next what I did was put in another 4 way splitter at the cable junction box (one is already up near the antenna).
Well, everything after that 2nd splitter doesn't get 54.4 very well, so that tells me the 7db loss through that splitter is enough to kill the signal.
So I'll be installing a preamp at the mast this weekend, and powering from the gym where I have my "old" 42" Vizio mounted up.
I hope that this will get all my signals nice and strong again, but hopefully not too strong to where the really strong channels get over loaded.
We shall see.
Happy Cable Cutting!
07-22-2014, 03:03 PM
#58
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I put two directionals in my attic and I have a slingbox-like tuner that records to a USB hard drive and streams locally on the network to my Roku's and iDevices.
Easymode. FU Comcast.
Easymode. FU Comcast.
07-22-2014, 11:02 PM
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oh, and for the record, this is what I'm using: https://us.simple.tv