I’ve been bringing my coax in through the window, and wanted something more permanent. There was already an old cable internet coax (no longer in use) so I started by removing that and then reused the location.
The previous install had just drilled a 1’ hole in the wall, so I expanded the opening with my vibratory saw (lots of plaster dust and terrible noise). I overshot slightly but not too bad, and used a low-voltage work box.
I got some BNC bulkhead female-female connectors and a banana connector (?) at a flea market, and drilled holes in a blank wall plate. I would have liked to use a metal plate but didn’t find one at the local hardware store. A piece of bare copper wire leftover from romex is prepared for a ground connection.
I mocked up the enclosure in cardboard. The position of the stud and existing hole meant it would be right up next to the line-hide for our mini split. My main goal is water protection, but also looking nice.
I cut the pieces from a scrap of solid wood from a table and bits of 1/4” plywood from an old shelf. Band saw, chop saw, and then dadoes with two offset passes on the table saw. Waterproof wood glue to assemble and house paint to finish.
I enlarged the original hole to 1-1/2” with a hole saw. The first bit I got was too short (siding + sheathing is thick), but I found a longer one to complete the cut. I snipped a corner off some leftover rock wool from the basement to fill the hole. I made a small cleat to screw to the wall into the stud, which would then attach the enclosure to.
I didn’t account for how cramped it would be working behind the ladder. I also didn’t account for the space required to get to the top screws, especially with the metal flashing roof; I ended up giving up on those and just using one screw on the side.
Looks much cleaner inside. I got short male-male cables and adapters from ShowMeCables, which seem to work fine. Up next is a NanoVNA to check losses and tuning.
Future improvements are a ground rod connection and potentially lightning arrestores.
AG7LR@lemmy.radio 2 days ago
It looks good. I was lazy and used one of those brush wall plates for mine.
For the grounding, you can get a small piece of copper flat bar. It’s not that expensive and will give a good, solid ground connection to the bulkhead connectors passing through it. You can through bolt a ground lug to the copper bar to connect the ground cable to.
Also, a tip for installing old work boxes. There are 4 small holes in the corner. Hold the front of the box against the wall and poke a small nail through the holes, then use a straight edge to draw lines between them. That will perfectly mark the hole you need to cut out.