TV in Kitchen

This morning I set up the 34" Soniq TV in the kitchen.

I had started the day with the plan to run a coaxial antenna cable down the chimney, which had been truncated to below the roof line.  I would either tee the into the coax cable running from the antenna in the attic space down into the living room, or connect the new cable directly into the antenna.  I went into the attic nice and early at 6 AM to avoid the heat from the rising sun.

Coaxial Cable Passing Through Brick Divide

I went up there knowing that the pink insulation bats were in a state of disarray from the work that the roofers and electricians had done.  Bats had either been put into the wrong place or had been left out altogether.  It also pained me to see the dirty conditions in the attic.  In preparation for the installation of the pink bats in 2008 when I was about to rent the house I had meticulously cleaned 60 years of dust, baits, and rodent carcasses all over the place.  I finished off the cleaning by heroically vacuum cleaning every square foot of the attic.  Five years later I returned from the circumnavigation to find dried bird droppings all over the place because one of the soft hearted (and soft headed too) tenants had allowed pigeons to move in and build nests. I could also see where a group of rats had nested at the southern end of the attic for what must have been a long time.  That plus the inevitable building debris had left the area in a very sad state.

Anyway, I worked my way to the TV antenna hanging from the rafters above the veranda and took a photograph of the junction box.  While I was up there I sorted out the loose bats as best as I could, knowing that I still have the option of purchasing a few more bats to fill in the remaining gaps.  The dirt would have to stay as it was.

Fortunately I got a phone call from Stephen and Brenda and while I was describing my plan to Brenda I realized that there would be a problem in reaching the top of the truncated chimney, just below the peak of the house, which I needed to do in order to feed the cable down to the wood burning stove.  I saw right away the risks of trying to reach up that far (e.g. a stumble then a foot through a ceiling) and decided to find an easier way.

Measurements confirmed that there was only one layer of brick separating the kitchen and living room sides of the fireplace.  After some more measurements I drilled a hole in the mortar between two bricks.  The masonry bit  cut through like butter so the job was done in seconds.  I then found a spare length of coax cable, plugged one end to the "TV2" side of the double antenna outlet in the living room, then  passed the cable into the fireplace and through the hole to the other side.  I took the power from the double GPO above the refrigerator, setting up the TV and microwave oven with surge protection and leaving the refrigerator unprotected.

I moved the TV into place, powered it up, and was soon surfing through the channels.  I've got an excellent view from the kitchen and can even watch from one end of the dining room table.

I had managed to do the job without cutting into the existing coaxial cable connection or having to visit Midland for material, and along the way I had managed to tidy up the insulation bats. Later I'll probably drill a hole through the side of the chimney and pass the power cable directly from the TV set to the GPO above the refrigerator.