Greetings all. Like many I am seeing the virtues of cutting the television cable (AT&T UUVerse). I live in an urban environment and should be able to receive most if not all local television stations, as well as stations from cities several counties away. My question, though, is more mechanical/logistical.

My house was built with exiting “cable” outlets (1997) that run throughout the house. Is it possible (preferred) to install a central attic antenna and run a cable to the outside cable box thereby feeding the antenna feed to the existing cable hardware? (Please forgive me if this is not clear; I’m perpetually lost ).

Suggestions welcome to cut the chord.

It should be very simple.
Dependent upon how wired you should just be able to swap your main cable feed from the outside and plug the antenna in (possibly will need a signal booster) in it’s place and it will feed all things your main cable line did.

Worked like a charm for me. No extra wiring or anything all the splitters were there for me.
Cable had a booster at the splitters already so I just plugged in the antenna.

Exactly what he said. ^^^

If you get a decent antenna and are not too far away from the transmitters of interest, You shouldn’t need a booster.

I got this antenna.

I live about 25 miles away from that transmitters with a straight line of sight. No booster needed. You may not need one that is directional. Try the free RCA app, it will show you nearby transmitters.

Look for a recent thread in here on OTA. There were actually two recent threads and the other was more focused on antenna selection and reception. But the former got into distribution through the home and possible need for an amplifier. I added some comments to that thread.

As with many things, it’s worth trying your existing wiring before assuming that you need to upgrade that coax. I don’t know what you currently have from 1997. Have you ever had digital cable or satellite service in that home? (I assume that your Uverse service is delivered via the phone’s cat5/6 wiring rather than the coax.) If so, they would have replaced any coax if needed. But, if not, and the unused coax was installed by a builder, the coax may be old rg59 and / or connectors may only be contractor (builder) grade.

A good article to reference on cable type is at https://blog.solidsignal.com/t...rg59-rg6-rg11-cable/

You don’t have to have high-end, quad shield coax. One good thing about digital reception - either you get it and it’s stable or you don’t. If your existing coax will provide a stable HD signal, no need to replace it.

What Black92LX said and I concur with FEV's antenna recommendation.

Visit TV Fool, plug in your location information and get the bearings to the stations in which you're interested, so you know where to aim the antenna.

So also these recent, related threads:

Local TV indoor Antenna
Home TV Antenna (Free Signal) Question/Help Please
Streaming TV Component Review

(Btw: What you're cutting is the cord, not the chord .)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ensigmatic,

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
What Black92LX said and I concur with FEV's antenna recommendation.

(Btw: What you're cutting is the cord, not the chord .)

D’oh!

How well will the OP's idea work if the house is also using a cable modem?

Can the OTA signals be used on the same coax without interference?

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
How well will the OP's idea work if the house is also using a cable modem?

Can the OTA signals be used on the same coax without interference?

No.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
How well will the OP's idea work if the house is also using a cable modem?

Can the OTA signals be used on the same coax without interference?

separate that Cable run out of the loop from the rest of the house, run the modem line to the cable input to the house so it's on it's own line.

Then you can hook the OTA antenna to the rest of the cable lead(s) to the TV's in other rooms without the interference...

quote:

   Chord cutters

I ain’t singing shit.