Laying coaxial cable

[jk miller]

Can I lay cable on the ground part way from my dish 1000.2 to my receiver?
Also, can I tape together the coaxial cable or do they have to be separated?
One of the cables is a separate power inserter cable
The dish is on a tripod

[StanW]

Can I lay cable on the ground part way from my dish 1000.2 to my receiver?
Also, can I tape together the coaxial cable or do they have to be separated?
One of the cables is a separate power inserter cable
The dish is on a tripod
Most ppl that run coax cable under ground use rg11 . If you use rg6 I would recommend that you run it in electrical conduit pipe . How long a distance do you have to go ?

The cables can be side by side .

[Terryl]

Yah, you can lie it on the ground, but it would be better inside something to keep it from being stepped on or having something chew on it.

Cheap PVC conduit is the best, or PVC water pipe, you don't even have to glue it together.(use couplings if you need to)

And you can tape the coax together, it won't matter.


For above ground on the ground coax installations I use 3/4" gray PVC electrical conduit, some of it comes with a slip coupling, (and you don't have to glue it if you don't want to) just use tape to close off the ends, keeps the coax protected.

Then to hold it in place, I use the push in wire pipe holders for the 3/4" drip irrigation systems feeder pipes.

If you do put it underground, then glue up the couplings, you can also get pre bent fittings, like 90's and 45's, then use duct seal (looks like brown silly putty) to keep the water out.

[jk miller]

The rg6 cable will be about 30 feet on the ground (above the ground) and then run up the house into the attic

[zoogor]

as long as its not trampled on or as stated above might get chewed it should be fine. i have had 4 coax cables on the ground for about 15 feet along my basement wall and no problems in the last 6 years.

[slugworth]

my first install in 1996 I had a garden cultivator that I took off all the blades except for one,that dug the trench for me.
I bought the cheapest garden hose I could find and ran the coax through that for burial.About 25 feet from pole to house.I sealed both end with silicone sealant.Just laying on the ground would get chopped up by lawn mowing.

[satchick]

I would not lay it on the ground, just too much of a risk of damage from critters and garden equipment. As previously mentioned, bury it in PVC electrical conduit (It's like $12 per 10' length) or if the soil isn't too rocky you can bury it directly, but I would still use a PVC sweep elbow where it comes up out of the ground to prevent weed-eater damage.

You can run all of the cable together, coax is shielded so it's not going to hurt anything. If you choose to bury the cable either direct or in pipe, run a spare for future expansion or as a backup in case one of the runs goes bad.


then use duct seal (looks like brown silly putty) to keep the water out.
Or just grab the right size weatherhead for the conduit, they're under 10 bucks and probably cheaper than the duct seal...Looks more professional.

[stecle]

Most people think that this is overkill but here is what I do. I put the cables in a PVC conduit and lay that in the open trench. I then place a treated 2 X 4 over the conduit and fill in the trench.

Steve

[fixit19]

If you have good RG6 coax it won't hurt to have it on top of ground. I have 140ft of RG6 3000 mhz run under ground inside to my Disq switch. Each dish has 140 ft run inside to switch. 5 years and no problems. Make sure to ground your system.

[ruthie]

For the 30 feet i would spade it in, put it in cheap conduit if you have some or old garden hose like stated earlier. Always leave enough conduit to come up the side of house for point of entry for protection from weed eaters etc. It does make a difference over a long period of time(10-15years) if you use indoor or outdoor cable, does not matter rg6 or rg11, the only reason you would use rg11 is for distance. The only difference between indoor and outdoor cable is outdoor has a gel inside the first outside sheath to protect from water damage if it gets nicked. So either way would spade it in for the 30feet, the uv rays also do a number on the outside sheath over time drying it out etc.....