I plan to put the cute little pod thing together for protecting the antenna for this weekend's project, and will string new Cat5e for the wire, just to be sure all is OK since the antenna has had the original Boltek supplied feedline on it for over seven years.
Here is a thought: If I put an RJ-45 on the antenna end, can I terminate the in-house end near the computer with a traditional in-the-wall socket and then just a certified jumper to plug between that socket and the back of the PCI board? It would make for a neater install, and ability to quickly unplug the computer without all sorts of stuff hanging out of the wall. Almost all the wiring for hard-wired networks at work are done this way and seem to function OK. I know there are guidelines as to how much the twisted pairs can be unwrapped before being punched down into the connector block and all.
I'm just wondering if it is OK to do it this way (that is, others have done it and all works fine) vs. having to put an RJ-45 on each end of the cable and plugging it directly in. The jacket on the Cat5e is a bit stiff an not as trainable to stay put, which I discovered during a little testing today.
Thanks.
My Boltek has been mounted on a C-shaped PVC pipe assembly in my attic crawl space for many years. The pipe is 1/2" diam. PVC with two 8" horizontal arms on either end of a 1' vertical length connected by 90° elbows. The antenna is attached to the vertical arm of the pipe via zip cable ties, and I used cable ties in two spots as strain relief around the pipe and Cat5 cable. The Cat5 cable is attached to an RJ-45 jack that's mounted on the wall in my loft. This RJ-45 jack resides in a junction box and wall plate assembly that also houses two TV RG-6 Coaxial lines and another RJ-45 LAN jack. The antenna is mounted about 18' above ground level and is quite sensitive to lightning strikes and resistant to noise. The only metal in the entire assembly is the screws I used to attach the PVC 'C' to a stud.
I went to a big-box hardware store like Menard's, Lowe's, or Home Depot and looked around the PVC pipe and TV/networking sections to come up with a suitable array of parts that could then be assembled with a little effort. I did have to put down a little subflooring on top of the crawl space ceiling joists in order to support my stepladder while I mounted my antenna as high as possible in there--around 8'.
It gets well into the 120-130°F range in there on the hottest summer days, and the antenna still performs normally. Two benefits of attic mounting are no holes in the roof as potential leak points and no UV degradation of the mount. Since proper height above ground and avoidance of mounting near metallic objects are important while direct exposure to the exterior elements isn't, I've been pleased with the results of my installation.
Good luck with your project, and have fun.
