Re-using telewest coax

[Resident]

Ok, firstly, apologies if I stuck this in the wrong place.

I've just moved into a new property and in the main bedroom there is a telewest box in the corner. From that box there is a coax cable from the main bed to the other bedroom.

I've had sky installed with multiroom in the bedroom and I have a spare cable from the dish.

If I was to put a freesat box into the spare room for visitors, could I unplug the coax from the telewest box and connect it to the spare sky input, if so what would I need in terms of adaptors etc?

 

[asim18]

Coax is coax. If you're using the old coax for something that requires coax then it will be like any other coax.

If you're asking whether you can feed a DVB-Cable signal into a DVB-Satellite tuner, the answer is no.

 

[Werewolf]

Coax is coax. If you're using the old coax for something that requires coax then it will be like any other coax.

Not quite true.

You can from memory use Cable TV co-ax for satellite without problems, but not the other way round.
Likewise you can use Satellite co-ax for aerial TV bit not the other way round.

There are different grades of co-ax with very different levels of shielding, and cable TV co-ax tends to require a much better quality because of the very wide range of concurrent frequencies being sent down it at any one time and the usually much much longer runs (and the fact that it's entirely possible for interference from one bad stretch to affect neighbouring properties).

If you really think co-ax is co-ax try comparing even just cheap ready made TV aerial cables with the good quality stuff you buy on a roll to make your own

But as you say you certainly won't be able to change the cable TV signal to a satellite one, so Resident will need to make sure he disconnects the cable from the telewest/vm box outside before he does anything else.

 

[PhillyDee]

Telwest and satellite both use what are known as F Connectors (screw in). Sky use cheap throw away ones, wich screw onto the end, while telewest use crimped on ends which are far higher quality. You will be fine to reuse the cable for the satellite, however, the cable coax is thicker and will not route as easily to the dish as it does not bend as well.

 

[Resident]

Coax is coax. If you're using the old coax for something that requires coax then it will be like any other coax.

If you're asking whether you can feed a DVB-Cable signal into a DVB-Satellite tuner, the answer is no.

No. there is no cable feed to the house. It's left over from a previous installation.

Essentially I just want to be able to use the existing cabling as an extension as it's already routed to the room, under floorboarding etc (the carpets have just been fitted)

Telwest and satellite both use what are known as F Connectors (screw in). Sky use cheap throw away ones, wich screw onto the end, while telewest use crimped on ends which are far higher quality. You will be fine to reuse the cable for the satellite, however, the cable coax is thicker and will not route as easily to the dish as it does not bend as well.

I already have a spare feed from the dish into the house, it actually comes in next to the existing telewest box. As above I just want to join the two so I don't have to start taking recently fitted carpets up.

 

[lucid]

The Telewest cable is close enough spec to Belden WF100 (thick satellite cable) as makes no difference. It's a much better spec than WF65 (the thinner Sky twin cable). So yes, you'll be fine to use it as an extension.

 

[asim18]

Not quite true.

You can from memory use Cable TV co-ax for satellite without problems, but not the other way round.
Likewise you can use Satellite co-ax for aerial TV bit not the other way round.

There are different grades of co-ax with very different levels of shielding, and cable TV co-ax tends to require a much better quality because of the very wide range of concurrent frequencies being sent down it at any one time and the usually much much longer runs (and the fact that it's entirely possible for interference from one bad stretch to affect neighbouring properties).

If you really think co-ax is co-ax try comparing even just cheap ready made TV aerial cables with the good quality stuff you buy on a roll to make your own

But as you say you certainly won't be able to change the cable TV signal to a satellite one, so Resident will need to make sure he disconnects the cable from the telewest/vm box outside before he does anything else.

Agree with that. There's definitely varying grades of co-ax available, and also things like impedance matching to consider.

The cable and F-connectors Virgin Media installed are noticeably more "high grade" than the ones Sky installed.

Few years ago I was using the lowest grade 10 metre co-ax extension for satellite. It was so bendy you could coil it around your finger. It had essentially zero effect on the actual signal quality.

 

[Lethagized]

You'll be fine using the telepest cabling, but if it's going into a white box on the wall, you'll have to remove the box and connect the incoming wire direct to outgoing wire directly with an F-connector coupler so it eliminates the metal box under the plastic lid. It's a single screw underneath, but iirc it's a security screw. You can easily get screwdrivers off ebay for a couple quid. Have a look for yourself, it might have a normal screw and not a security screw.I have first hand experience of this when i routed a cable from my dish to some wire that telepest had installed years before. It wouldn't work, but as soon as i removed the box and connected wire to wire, it worked.

 

[Resident]

You'll be fine using the telepest cabling, but if it's going into a white box on the wall, you'll have to remove the box and connect the incoming wire direct to outgoing wire directly with an F-connector coupler so it eliminates the metal box under the plastic lid. It's a single screw underneath, but iirc it's a security screw. You can easily get screwdrivers off ebay for a couple quid. Have a look for yourself, it might have a normal screw and not a security screw.I have first hand experience of this when i routed a cable from my dish to some wire that telepest had installed years before. It wouldn't work, but as soon as i removed the box and connected wire to wire, it worked.

Thanks for that. I assumed I'd have to do wire to wire anyway so that was the plan once I'd found out it'd work.

As for the security screws:

 

[Lethagized]

Yeah, you could break it off. Will look neater if you take if off properley though , because you can join the cables up, then put the lid back on the wall which hides the connection