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Suggestions for Coax - Ethernet Solution?
I posted this to slashdot too, but thought that HN might come through for me first.
I just moved from a house with Cat5e wiring to a house with.. A whole bunch of coax cables. Like, my living room has five coax cables coming out of a hole in the wall. All of them go back up to my attic.
The house is big, (and I like it, thank you), but I have realized that our digital usage pattern (media server + squeezeboxes + remote time machine backups to a linux box) will not work without wiring. I am currently bridging some old Linksys WRT54Gs to the right places, but of course, that slows everything down.
This got me thinking: 100mb ethernet is four wires, yes? And I have four wires for every two coax cables. What about a two coax-head -> ethernet jack setup? Has anyone done this before? Searching online only gives me $100+ coax<->ethernet transceiver type boxes. At that price, a HomePNY system would make more sense.
I'm willing to solder if I have to, but I first wanted to get holes shot in this, if there are any.
- bdfh42 17y agoHoly cow, Gut feel says it should work but it might be better to try using the coax to pull some top grade Cat5 cable through the runs - that way you know what you have in place and you can be sure of the quality end to end.
- gstar 17y agoI agree, it'll probably work. The impedance of the coax cables will likely be 50 or 75 ohm, whereas the UTP will be 100 ohm. You will need a balun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balun. Baluns are easy to make, and depending on the cable you've got, probably available off the shelf. There's 2 pairs in 100mbit ethernet (and 4 in gigabit) - so you'll need 4 baluns for each run (2 at each end). Personally, I'd pull some UTP through, but it's worth a shot if you've got some time to tinker.
- vessenes 17y agoUpdate, http://www.sourcingmap.com/cctv-passive-video-balun-utp-bnc-cat5-transceiver-p-34915.html http://www.sourcingmap.com/cctv-passive-video-balun-utp-bnc-... looks like it could be on the right path. I may try the pull after all, though.
- vessenes 17y agoSecond update: http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/50-7769&CAWELAID=220554380 http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/50-7769&CAWELAID=2... Looks pretty good at 2x$30, I'm thinking this is cheaper than an ethernet over power setup.
- vessenes 17y agoThanks for the Balun link, I've never heard of that. Pulling is a possibility, but it's a tall house, and a rental, and I am preferring something less permanent.