Things You'll Need:
- A piece of coax of the correct type, the right kind of fittings for the ends, perhaps a crimping tool--depending on the fittings used.
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Step 1
The word "install" can mean a lot of things. I'm going to assume that you don't need instruction about drilling holes through a wall or floor, (though we might mention the obvious, don't drill into electric wires or water lines and make sure you know what's on the other side) or crawling around in your attic or under your floor to "install" your piece of coax. It can be physically demanding and it's nice to have someone to help you.
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Step 2
The first important step is to determine how you will route the cable from the source point (perhaps a satellite dish) to the terminal point (probably a TV receiver or a computer).
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Step 3
Next, figure out how long a piece of coax you are going to need. Measure the distances across rooms and up walls (don't forget to add the distances through walls, floors, and ceilings) and add several feet for mistakes and drip loops. Here's a neat trick. Just use a piece of string. Measure the lengths in the room where the coax will terminate, hold on to that point on the string when you exit the room, and carry your string to the next area that you must traverse. Keep adding lengths of string until you get to the other end of your installation. Add a couple of feet for good measure and tie a knot or cut your string off. Tape the end of your string to the end of the cable, stretch them both out until you get to the end of the string. That's how long your cable must be. This avoids all the adding and subtracting of tape measure feet and inches (or meters and centimeters) and the difficulty of transferring the measurement to the spool of coax cable.
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Step 4
Finally, drill the holes necessary and physically string the coax through the passages you have created. There are a couple of ways to accomplish this. The simplest is to just crawl around pushing and pulling the coax through the holes and passages you made. Going through walls will be difficult because the cable is not very stiff and you will have trouble finding the hole in the far side of the wall. Try this. Straighten out a coat hanger wire and poke it through the wall from the far side. Tape your coax to the wire with some electrical tape and then pull it through from the far side.
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Step 5
The professional way to do this is with a "pull tape" which is a long coil of flat spring steel wire in a handle/dispenser like electricians use. A pull tape is really handy for long runs under a floor or through an air plenum or through duct work. If you choose to string your coax through duct work, make sure it is "plenum rated". This has to do with fire and building codes, etc.
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Step 6
If your coax ends out doors (like at a satellite dish), it needs to terminate at a coax ground block. A separate short piece of coax then goes on the dish or other device. The ground block must have a piece of copper or aluminum ground wire going to an acceptable electrical ground, typically a six foot ground rod driven into the ground. There will usually be such a ground rod located where your electrical service enters the house
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Step 7
Cabling installations exposed to the elements should always have a "drip loop" near the ground block to allow water to collect at a low point and drip off rather than run into the connector at the end of the cable.
