Old UHF Wiring

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cartoonis

27 posts

Geek

#113589 21-Jan-2013 18:52

Hi all, I had an old UHF aerial on the roof and took it down about 12 months ago as when I put a new VHF up there the old wiring wouldn't work.

I ended up running some new cable down the outside of the house and under the floor, then drilling a hole and connecting it straight into the new TV.

All the old wiring is routed throughout the house and is terminated in every room at the old UHF sockets. So my question is this: Is there any way I can use the old wiring from the UHF and connect it to the VHF aerial and just use some sort of patch cable to connect a bunch of TV's with Freeview built in?

All help will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

RunningMan

5930 posts

Uber Geek

#748379 21-Jan-2013 19:01

If you want to use Freeview, you'll need a UHF aerial, not VHF. Any TV broadcast on VHF will be analogue, and will be shut down before terribly long.

That said, can you use your old cabling as a draw wire to pull new RG6 through?

cartoonis

27 posts

Geek

#748385 21-Jan-2013 19:15

My mistake I put up a new UHF up, but the VHF wiring did'nt work, yeah I guess I could use the old wiring, is it not compatible at all the freeview?

mm1352000

1148 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#748390 21-Jan-2013 19:23

RunningMan: That said, can you use your old cabling as a draw wire to pull new RG6 through?

The aerial may indeed need to be replaced... although personally I'd try it before replacing (I've found existing combo aerials and even bunny ears to be completely sufficient for receiving Freeview in Palmerston North).
Depending on the state and grade of the existing wiring, it may be possible to use it directly. You can connect it to the aerial with a splitter like one of these:

http://www.freeviewshop.co.nz/digital-terrestrial/terrestrial-accessories/splitters.html

If the older wiring is:
1. RG 59 rather than RG 6 (*).
2. Damaged.
3. Really old (like maybe > 10 years old).

... then I'd be inclined to replace it, but other people may have different opinions. You can use it as a draw-wire to get new wiring into place as suggested by RunningMan.

(*) RG 6 is higher grade, carries higher frequencies including signal from a satellite dish better than RG 59.

[Edit: Note I hadn't seen the OP clarification about the aerial grade when I posted this comment.]

cartoonis

27 posts

Geek

#748393 21-Jan-2013 19:25

Cool, cheers for the info, I do have it running in the lounge with new cable, could I split off of that say 3 times and terminate at the old Belling Lee Wall Connectors, or do I change the face plates to F Type connectors and then run and F to Belling Lee patch cable to a new TV with built in freeview?

mm1352000

1148 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#748399 21-Jan-2013 19:33

cartoonis: ...could I split off of that say 3 times and terminate at the old Belling Lee Wall Connectors...

I think so. Of course, the more splits you have, the better your signal strength from the aerial needs to be when using a passive splitter. Each split divides the signal roughly evenly, so a 4 way splitter will give ~ 25% of the signal strength to each termination. You may be fine as-is; you may find you need an amplifier to boost the signal strength. I suggest try without amplifier and see how you go.

cartoonis: ...or do I change the face plates to F Type connectors and then run and F to Belling Lee patch cable to a new TV with built in freeview?

I'm no expert. I'm not sure if there is a "correct" answer, but when I wired up my house I terminated everything with F connectors and had a converter piece on the end of my jumper/patch cables only where necessary. I did that because I thing the F type connectors are more reliable. Other people are bound to have their own opinions.

B1GGLZ

1959 posts

Uber Geek

#748406 21-Jan-2013 19:51

cartoonis: Cool, cheers for the info, I do have it running in the lounge with new cable, could I split off of that say 3 times and terminate at the old Belling Lee Wall Connectors, or do I change the face plates to F Type connectors and then run and F to Belling Lee patch cable to a new TV with built in freeview?

You could split it off to each room but depending on number of outlets you will lose signal strength.
Socket type is basically personal choice. IMO f plugs and sockets are better but you will need rg6 co-ax. There are screw on f plugs for rg6 and rg59 but slightly different diameters inside.

kiwirock

653 posts

Ultimate Geek

#748423 21-Jan-2013 20:08

cartoonis: Cool, cheers for the info, I do have it running in the lounge with new cable, could I split off of that say 3 times and terminate at the old Belling Lee Wall Connectors, or do I change the face plates to F Type connectors and then run and F to Belling Lee patch cable to a new TV with built in freeview?

The older RG59 vs RG6: The attenuation/cable loss after long run is quite different. RG59 is only 6.18dB per metre for 870MHz (UHF), 5dB per meter for RG6. However over say 20 meters, is a whopping 23.6dB difference that RG6 has over RG59, and every 3dB is half the signal strength.

If your exsisting wiring is RG6, and the outside portion of the old stuff wasn't damaged by water ingestion/corrosion, then you could take your new coax to the splitter (if it supports UHF), and try the older RG6 runs if that's what they are. If they are RG59 I would be inclined to replace it, along with the splitter and put new F's on the outlets with 75ohm terminators on un-used outlets. But take care to make sure the antenna connector is weather tight, if F connector, crimped variety that are water proof not screw-on-cable jobs outside.

Brunzy

939 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#748482 21-Jan-2013 21:09

kiwirock:
cartoonis: Cool, cheers for the info, I do have it running in the lounge with new cable, could I split off of that say 3 times and terminate at the old Belling Lee Wall Connectors, or do I change the face plates to F Type connectors and then run and F to Belling Lee patch cable to a new TV with built in freeview?

The older RG59 vs RG6: The attenuation/cable loss after long run is quite different. RG59 is only 6.18dB per metre for 870MHz (UHF), 5dB per meter for RG6. However over say 20 meters, is a whopping 23.6dB difference that RG6 has over RG59, and every 3dB is half the signal strength.

If your exsisting wiring is RG6, and the outside portion of the old stuff wasn't damaged by water ingestion/corrosion, then you could take your new coax to the splitter (if it supports UHF), and try the older RG6 runs if that's what they are. If they are RG59 I would be inclined to replace it, along with the splitter and put new F's on the outlets with 75ohm terminators on un-used outlets. But take care to make sure the antenna connector is weather tight, if F connector, crimped variety that are water proof not screw-on-cable jobs outside.

Only 5dBuV /M ?

Better keep your flyleads short ;-)

kiwirock

653 posts

Ultimate Geek

#748495 21-Jan-2013 21:49

Brunzy:

Only 5dBuV /M ?

Better keep your flyleads short ;-)

Yeah sorry! I still had 25 meters in my calculator and forgot to reset it for 1 meter

Make that 0.25dB p/M RG59 and 0.2dB p/M RG6 @ 870MHz. Much more reasonable.