Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Connections

An open question.

Why is it so difficult to find F connector wall plates? You know, the kind you need for satellite TV. Is there some law about importing them or is the case (as it is often) that I just haven't found the one shop in all of Nusantara that sells this animal?

Allow me to explain. A while back I decided to renovate the house. Part of the renovation involved installing cable outlets in all of the rooms so I could enjoy TV in any room without  without having a bunch of unsightly cables lying about or having holes drilled in my window frame. A noble plan. I also have a mother-in-law suite on the property, that I may decide to rent out in some alternative future. Its nice to have the connections in place so that all the tenant needs to do is buy the decoder. I'm happy to say that the cables are now where they need to be. The issue is the connections. The only available wall sockets here are whats known as a Belling-Lee type. The satelite provider (Indovision) uses F connectors. The two don't mix. Moreover I've been unable to find an adaptor. Its been grimly amusing visiting upteen hardware stores, electrical suppliers, stereo and home entertainment shops and getting various versions of the blank stare. Reminds me of the great toilet adventure of a few years back.

The only workaround at the moment is to build my own "PJ" cables which have F connectors at one end and Belling-Lee connectors on the other. Tedious but I don't know what else to do.

4 comments:

colson said...

I'm really sorry but you will not be surprised to read I've got no the answer to the ( open) question :).

Of course your post does incite sympathy. Modern life isn't easy in paradise:).

My second emotion is helpless admiration though. Never having been able to hit one nail properly, I stand in awe watching people knowing all about the difference between Belling-Lee and F connectors :).

pj said...

Indeed - thank god for google and wikipedia - any dilettante can sound like a pro.
It was more a case of trying to be specific than any deep knowledge of coaxial cable termination. Besides I have to keep 1 step ahead of the tukang.

Unknown said...

Hi PJ,

I am glad to know that you are up dating your blog again.

I also don't have an answer to your open question, forgive me.

If you don't mind I'd like to share my experience :
3 years ago I built the house that I am living now, TV and phones were supposed to be able to be accessed from many parts of the house.
Cable TVs (I.V and F.M) provide multiple access of course with more fees.

Unfortunately, after three years some of the connections do not work.

pj said...

Hi Harry

Yup it can be fustrating sometimes. Often the contractors don't use the proper parts in order to save money. Sometimes they just don't understand what you are trying to accomplish. In my case the cables wew all there but the terminators were not installed (or they used some junk ones that they had lying around). I had to go around and redo all the cable ends before the satelite would work properly. They also managed to connect the splitters backwards - didn't think that was possible. Anyways its all working now.