Rat's Nest Gone - All is Well in Upper Cabinets
It took a week but the overhead compartments are done. It turned out that less is more. Most of what I did was take stuff out.
Starting Up Top: I ran new RG6 from the King Jack to the metal plate on the roof. I took the plate off and cleaned it and the top before reinstalling with double sided Eternabond under the plate and White Eternabond over the top of the plate and screws. I installed a new coax connector in the plate which had been missing. I also removed the amplifier that was connected to the mast as it did not appear to work and may have been from some previous antenna.
Down Below: With the new coax connector through the roof I ran new RG6 to a Sensar Pro I bought on the advice of many here, thereby bypassing the original antenna amplifier original installed. I really like this device for its ability to "see" and "hear" signal strength of digital signals. Much improved reception.
Fed TV's with DVD player, Apple TV. Main TV in the "living room" is "smart" so we can stream anything we like including recordings on our home TV"s Tivo system.
From the Sensar Pro I ran all new RG6 out to the original Audiovox Switch with new compression connectors at all cable ends, both the new RG6 and the RG59 runs to the bedroom and basement. The basement, at the suggestion of the Forum is fed from the VCR Out so I have 3 TV outlets (front, bedroom and basement) fed by new antenna runs and original cable runs.
I still have the Wineguard Traveler up top and all the components below but until we head out next year I'll wait to get a receiver. Simply tied up all the cabling that was satellite related.
All the 12v which may have served some in the overhead was pulled back, cable tied and stowed Other than the feed to the Sensar Pro I used no 12v as of today. In the coming month I'll add a second inverter and feed to the overhead so I can separately power the gear up there when boondocking.
Also installed a 1 terabyte HP Mini NUC in the overhead with HDMI to the TV with Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Also ran an HDMI out cable out to the cabinet over the passenger so Karen can upload photos from her Nikon to the Mini and later view on the 40" HDTV.
Removed the Bose 321 system that a previous owner installed. For now the Kenwood dash stereo headunit powers the three overhead dash speakers and two bedroom speakers for music from the headunit, SirusXM, many GB or music on the Apple devices and streaming Amazon Music. Eventually may install a sound bar or Sonos system but, frankly, not really planning to spend that much time inside that I need and audiophile sound system at this point.
Lots of work to end up with less wiring, more choices and improved quality of content.
Phew...glad that's over!
Topic: Rat's Nest Gone - All is Well in Upper Cabinets