Super Pitch Coaxial Cable

fatbelly
fatbelly Forum Participant Posts: 438
100 Comments
edited March 2017 in Caravan & Motorhome Chat #1

Hi All,

We tour for the very 1st time this weekend and have booked a super pitch that has a T/V aerial point. I'm assuming we'll have to buy coaxial cable (or do sites lend them). If so what length should we buy? We don't want unnecessary length of cable trailing everywhere.

Thanks 

Comments

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
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    edited March 2017 #2

    You will need your own tv lead,they can be purchased on most  cc sites and will be 25mtr the same as your EHU cable so they will reach any hook up on any site that has tv hook up,not sure how much they are now we have had ours since 1995wink 

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
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    edited March 2017 #3

    you could make your own up somewhat cheaper than the site will likely charge you. You just need a male plug at each end of a length of co-axial cable, though as JBV, we've hd ours now for some years.

  • ABM
    ABM Forum Participant Posts: 14,578
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    edited March 2017 #4

    If  you  are  ONLY  going  to  use  Super  Pitches ( I  assume  you  mean  Fully  Serviced  on  the  Club  Sites )  you  could  always  'phone  the  Wardens  &  ask,  just  to  be  sure.

    However  if  you  intend  coming  onto  non -- serviced  pitches  you  really  will  need  the  full  25  metres  ! On  some  sites  I've  been  pushing  it  even  at  that  !Brian  really  does  not  like  crawling  under  his  camper  to  get  the  last  few  inches  !!

     

    Edit  :--  unlike  the  EHU Mains  lead  there  is  no  need  whatsoever  to  uncoil  the  whole  Telly  cable  --  it  carries  only  microscopic  power  !!

  • CBRBlackbird
    CBRBlackbird Forum Participant Posts: 184
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    edited March 2017 #5

    When we got the new van I forgot to put the co-ax cable in it.

    Went to Meathop where you need to use them (and where I bought my original one) and had to buy another from the warden.

    Whilst in Grange I called into one of the hardware store and priced-up the cable and a couple of plugs and there was only pence difference.

    Buy from the wardens, they provide a nice extra service.

     

    Pssst..   anyone want to buy a 25m coax cable

  • MDD10
    MDD10 Forum Participant Posts: 335
    edited March 2017 #6

    You may be surprised..  I bought mine 5 years ago and was about £12 from the wardens

  • DavidKlyne
    DavidKlyne Club Member Posts: 13,866 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2017 #7

    If you want a nice robust cable made of high quality materials the company Satcure make some nice leads but they are expensive compared to what the warden will sell you.

    David

  • brightstar2
    brightstar2 Forum Participant Posts: 128
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    edited March 2017 #8

    If you are making your own- make 2 

    1 x 25 metres - this should get you anywhere

    1 x 5 metres- usually sufficient for service pitch / and or close to EHU bollard.

    Choose appropriate one - usually saves winding the long one out.

  • fatbelly
    fatbelly Forum Participant Posts: 438
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    edited March 2017 #9

    So to digress, do we need to uncoil the EHU cable? But not the Coax.

    Why's this guys?

  • IanH
    IanH Forum Participant Posts: 4,708
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    edited March 2017 #10

    You are supposed to uncoil the electric cable to prevent it over-heating. We usually arrange it in a tasteful pattern around the caravan smile

    The TV cable that we bought on a site many years ago seems massively long (far longer than the electric cable) and the surplus we leave in a coil under the caravan somewhere.

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
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    edited March 2017 #11

    It's always good practice to uncoil all extention leads/cables when being used. If you buy yourself a cheap extention lead on a drum like this plug in 13 amps worth of load for 20 mins & see how warm it gets (do it outside in the garden - you don't want to burn/set fire to anything in your house) .... that's why it's good practice to uncoil your mains lead to your caravan/motorhome. In the real world though, you're unlikely to draw all 16 amps at the same time ..... but you never know.

    The telly co-ax draws virtually zero current cool

  • JillwithaJay
    JillwithaJay Club Member Posts: 2,485 ✭✭
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    edited March 2017 #12

    If it helps, last week at Burr's Country Park site staff were selling the cable for £15.

     

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
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    edited March 2017 #13

    I'm surprised you need one there 

  • Amesford
    Amesford Club Member Posts: 685 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2017 #14

    Coiling up your hook up cable acts as an inductor and induces current which causes heat I have seen the results of this in extention cables that have been left coiled up while being used while coiled up coax as pointed out earlier does no harm in fact acts as a filter 

  • ABM
    ABM Forum Participant Posts: 14,578
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    edited March 2017 #15

    If  you  magnify  the  image  of  the  plastic  former  that  MollysMummy  has  linked  to  then    you  will  see  that  even  the  makers/retailers  show  different  loadings  for  safe  use  wound  &  unwound.

    It's  not  just  us  pedantic  Old  Fogeys  winkinnocent

  • Goldie146
    Goldie146 Club Member Posts: 2,448 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2017 #16

    If there's a connection we use it. It saves working out which way to point the aerial.

  • flatcoat
    flatcoat Forum Participant Posts: 1,571
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    edited March 2017 #17

    Buy one on fleabay, probably cheaper and saves the hassle of getting decent connection to inner/outer parts of the cable. coiled wire with electricity running through it becomes a transformer and potentially an electro magnet if given the appropriate additional components. 

  • CBRBlackbird
    CBRBlackbird Forum Participant Posts: 184
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    edited March 2017 #18

    There's a repeater on a nearby hill at Burrs. You will probably get the signal no matter which way your pointing!

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
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    edited March 2017 #19

    Some repeaters do not transmit all the channels the one in our village does not,if it was a good signal i would not think  the cc would have paid to have  the system to the bollards installed 

  • Dave Nicholson
    Dave Nicholson Forum Participant Posts: 408
    edited March 2017 #20

    The rating of a cable (i.e. the amount of current it can safely carry without damaging the cable insulation due to over heating) is a function of how the cable is routed and how close it is to other cables carrying current. When  a cable is coiled up it will be very close to other cables carrying the same current. In this situation the rating of the cable will be reduced significantly. The temperature rise of the cable conductor increases as the square of the current through it i.e increasing the current two fold will cause a four fold increase in the temperature rise of the cable conductor and hence the insulation around it. Reducing the rating of the cable by coiling it up will decrease its current rating but will increase the heating effect of the current and could melt the insulation or even start a fire.

  • Amesford
    Amesford Club Member Posts: 685 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2017 #21

    We normally plug into the booster if one is available but if not we use the Aerial aligner app to set up, it gives all the available transmitters the bearing, strength and if its vertical or horizontally polarised and its FREE always a bonus 

     

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,310 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2017 #22

    At most sites where there is a bollard system, they only seem to carry the same number of channels as the local transmitter. So if you only get the basic channels on the roof aerial, that is all you get on the loop system. Although normally the loop system is only available in poor signal areas, the definition of these has changed since the advent of digital TV and directional aerials. Baltic Wharf for instance says poor TV signal loop available. However, we were able to pull in over 100 digital channels. On our old van with its omni directional aerial and before Bristol went digital, we had to use the loop to get anything.