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enter image description hereLong story short... I am selling my place and after dealing with lacking Cable TV/Internet signals and non-working coax outlets for years, I had all my water piping replaced and now many places above the ceiling are still accessible. I want to make sure that all the coax cabling I have are setup with the least amount of signal loss for Cable TV and Internet using the same coax cable. I know that Comcast etc likely use a signal amp, but that's besides the point.

I have attached a layout of what I have. Marked all outlets with yellow, one in each room. (What outlet should I use? One that has a double sided female?) Marked with green all existing coax cable terminations. Marked with red a bare coax cable end without any connector/termination.

The main cable from the street comes in between the two bedrooms "IN". It's a terminated with a "F"? female connector. There will be one outlet in each bedroom in the wall between the two bedrooms using the same box in the wall. Then I have a both ends terminated cable going from there to the ceiling that will not be accessible anymore.

Here I have two terminated cables, (one each) from the loft and one from the living room. Since the next owner will not have access to this termination point in the ceiling/wall area of the loft, I do not want to put a splitter here. I will instead extend the terminated incoming cable coming from the bedrooms with a female "F" coupler into a box in the wall of a storage/utility room next to the loft. There it will split using a simple "F" coax T-fitting towards the loft and the living room.

In the living room that cable currently ends as a bare coax. I will add an F-female connector or crimp on an "F" male connector and join them with a coupler. There will be no access to them since it's above the ceiling. Then I will terminate the cable in the living room outlet.

In general, should I use an actual coax cable 2-way signal-splitter (what frequency range for Cable TV/Internet modem?) Or instead just use plain coax couplers and "T-connectors"?

EDIT: Will need two splitters. One right by the service entry point for two two outlets, and one that brings together the loft/living room. Should I use a splitter-box or splitter cable-ties?

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  • Why not just use a splitter with four outputs, if you can afford the extra cable? Locate it in an accessible location, and if you still have crappy signal, add a signal booster. Commented yesterday
  • @Huesmann unfortunately, I cannot run cables from the service entry point to the loft area (middle of the layout where second splitter is) without opening walls and ceilings. Commented yesterday
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    Instead of just improving coax, do consider running both cat6 ethernet as well as pull-cords / draw wires for whatever tech is coming along in the next decades. With modern streaming services, coax is dropping off and the concept of "broadcast TV" is slowly dying. So, do all three if you have the space in the walls (coax, UTP, and pull cords) Commented yesterday
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    BTW, I don't see in your sketches any colored markings as described in your text. @Criggie it doesn't sound like the OP has complete access, so IDK how practical it is pulling Ethernet. Commented 20 hours ago
  • Don't bother with the coax. All the US cable companies, including Comcast, are switching to streaming over IP. Comcast's IPTV systems include the X1 Wireless and the Xumo box. Have a single coax drop to a good place for a modem and router, then run Ethernet and fiber (OK to leave unterminated) everywhere else. Commented 8 hours ago

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I'm not going to try to decipher your drawing but can provide a few pointers from my previous twenty-plus years in the coax world of cable television.

Cable loss can be mitigated by using RG-6U cable to provide optimum frequency range with improved loss values compared to the obsolete RG-59U cable once used.

You are on the right track by not placing splitters in inaccessible locations. Cable loss is trivial compared to splitter loss and multi-port splitters are substantially more loss, of course.

An optimal installation would involve "home-runs" in which all of the cables from every possible outlet extend to a common area, sometimes called a cable closet. If you are not building a designated structure, that's not a big deal if you can aggregate all the terminations to a single point common to the entry to the structure. It's not uncommon to have a weather box outside with all the terminations accessible rather than an internal location. It's a matter of convenience and occasionally expense.

If the CATV company will require an amplifier, it can be back-fed from one of the home-runs to the amp located outside or in a closet or attic hatch (where the home-runs collect) or you can make allowances for an outlet at the collection point.

If there is an inaccessible F-81 "barrel" used to join two or more cables, it's a failure point susceptible to moisture and possible mechanical damage. Avoid that if possible.

A wiring diagram based on the above description I've provided would read something like "All RG-6U cables from this point lead to each home-run outlet with no intermediate connections." and maybe a spider drawing akin to that which you've provided. This would make any installer happy when arriving to perform the installation.

The loss attendant with home-runs in the drawing you've provided will be insignificant in the overall picture, especially with bi-directional data paths and possibilities of connection inconsistencies. Service of fully accessible connectors brings great joy to technicians.

Sources abound for signal loss values. This linked site provided the chart below:

cable loss chart

In the early days, one needed to worry only up to channel 13, but bandwidth requirements expanded quite rapidly with technology and then settled back into something more manageable with digital transmission in place of analog.

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  • Thank you very much for the detailed and constructive advice. I will setup the accessible junction box in the loft storage room. Here comes together the living room branch, the loft branch, and the bedrooms branch. I would have upvoted your answer, but cannot yet do that with my newcomer stats. Commented 2 days ago
  • Added a simplified layout and posted a question about using a splitter-box or splitter cable-ties? Commented 2 days ago
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    This is a nice explanation of not just what to do, but why. One thing that would make it a bit better would be to add some numbers, as in 0.1 dB loss for x feet of cable vs 3.5 dB loss for a 1:2 splitter. Commented 2 days ago
  • @SteveSh, I do recall that it's 3.5 bB loss for a two-way splitter and 7, 7, 3.5 for a three-way, but I've long forgotten the loss figures for RG59U and RG6U cable. I've since found a suitable site with the information and added it. Commented yesterday

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