Hijacking Aerial Socket

the_darjeeling · 15 Apr 2018 at 12:30

I just want to check if this makes sense to anyone but me,

There is a Coax aerial socket in my living room that goes up to the loft where a section is lying about to be fed into an Aerial, when I had an Aerial installed the cable was run on the outside wall as the TV is on the opposite wall to the living room socket. As its laying dormant I was thinking of Hijacking the conduit to the loft and running CAT 6 inside it so i can move my Unifi AP up there.

Other than a baffling cable layout or the Coax going through a splitter box hidden in the wall I cant see any reason this wouldn't work. Can anyone else?

Avalon · 15 Apr 2018 at 12:41

If it’s just a cable duct, then you should be fine, with any luck it’ll have an access panel on the floor above for another point? Unfortunately in older properties people tend to do things like plaster the cable into the wall.

Steveocee · 15 Apr 2018 at 13:29

Pull in both a cable and a draw cord in case there is room to pull another in.

Caged · 15 Apr 2018 at 13:34

It's probably not in a conduit. If your walls are plasterboard then it will most likely be clipped on the way up to the loft, if you have solid walls then it will be plastered behind some capping.

I'd be amazed if you can just pull it through.

the_darjeeling · 15 Apr 2018 at 13:39

Its a new build, I'm hoping it's ducted but anything could happen.

I really need to get into the loft properly and see how much play there is in the cable.

if it is fixed in place i'm tempted to replace the port and just run a cable outside the house.

Avalon · 15 Apr 2018 at 18:20

I’ve seen some horrors in new builds, ducting for the first meter at either end to save a few quid and look the part, cut into noggins as soon as it’s out of sight or my personal favourite, slapped between two layers of plasterboard, they didn’t even use flat cable or rebate it. Builders have a nasty habit of always finding new and imaginative ways to surprise you.

the_darjeeling · 16 Apr 2018 at 20:54

tell me about it, removed the bath panel to check for a leak and found the entire packaging for the Bathroom stashed away. cabling wise I've not found anything Evil so far...

to be honest, based of the sockets position next to a plug socket I have visions of it sharing the ducting.

Caged · 16 Apr 2018 at 22:04

I'm convinced builders have a competition with each other see how much crap they can stash under baths and kitchen units. Never ever seen one that doesn't have a landfill under it. We had one guy think nothing of throwing half a sandwich under the bath as though it would somehow clean itself up.

the_darjeeling · 22 Apr 2018 at 13:49

Managed to get in to the loft and have a good look, its a no go. the Cable enters the loft next to the power cable for the landing light, then makes its way to the other side to drop down to the living room. there's no way its practical especially as i was going to use spare External Cat6 from some outside runs.

bremen1874 · 22 Apr 2018 at 16:44

It sounds like it'd be easier to install another external cable. You may even be able to follow the existing external aerial lead.

the_darjeeling · 30 Apr 2018 at 20:56

its looking that way, but the external aerial is mounted beneath the slope of the roof rather than the side where i can drill a cable. Plus trying to drill or Tack external cable while up a ladder sounds like an excellent way to get myself killed, might be heading towards a professional being needed.