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Coax/Antenna Amp/Distribution/Hub

post #1 of 6
9/30/11 at 8:16am
Thread Starter 
Sorry if I post this in the wrong place.

I am about to move into a new home and want to do a little rewiring. I plan on installing a omni-directional antenna in my attic. I also plan on installing a rack mount system in an unused closet. What I am seeking to do is have the Antenna cable plus my cable coax run to the rack mount system into some sort of Amplified and Distribution system. I have looked on line and can find in-line and on wall but have had trouble locating a rack mount style components.

I would like it to have 2 inputs one for Cable and one for the Antenna. Then have 4+ outputs for each. If needed I would be happy with 2 units one for each signal type.

While I am at it does anyone have any experience with systems the run coax and antenna signals of Cat5. There is a wall plate the coax get plugged into which transforms the single over the CAT5 to another wall plate that then send the signal back over coax? My current plan it to just run coax but was curious if anyone was familiar with this sort of set up.
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post #2 of 6
9/30/11 at 9:01am
You probably won't find a "rack mounted" RF amplifier at a price that wouldn't shock you - residential amps are meant to be screwed to a wall or placed in a structured wiring enclosure.

You can't combine OTA and CATV signals easily - they overlap in frequency. But you could certainly distribute them separately, choosing which room gets one or the other (not both).

And no, you won't be able to run "cable TV" through a cat5 balun - not enough bandwidth. Coax all the way...

Jeff
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post #3 of 6
9/30/11 at 9:16am
Actually Intelix makes a broadband over cat5 balun and for the most part it works quite well. It is certainly not something we would do as a first option since coax is cheaper and the balun does not do UHF and has a limited CATV window, but it works well in a situation where you have an existing cat5, can't pull coax and you need to get RF to the location
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post #4 of 6
9/30/11 at 9:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jautor View Post

You probably won't find a "rack mounted" RF amplifier at a price that wouldn't shock you

Yup. RF rack-mount equipment are like industrial strength with a price to match, would be totally overkill. Just get a desktop unit and put it on a 19" shelf like this:

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post #5 of 6
9/30/11 at 10:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ericspencer View Post

Actually Intelix makes a broadband over cat5 balun and for the most part it works quite well. It is certainly not something we would do as a first option since coax is cheaper and the balun does not do UHF and has a limited CATV window, but it works well in a situation where you have an existing cat5, can't pull coax and you need to get RF to the location

Interesting and good to know... I'm surprised that works!
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post #6 of 6
10/6/11 at 11:17am
Thread Starter 
Good deal, thank you all for replying to my posting. Too bad there is not a consumer priced rack mount ANT system. As far as the Coax and Ant I was going to run both to each room and have a 2 labels on the panel saying ANT & CABLE and only use 1 or the other to the actual TV.
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