Twin Lead and cable TV (1 Viewer)

[Ed O]

I live in an older house that has twin lead (remember that)antenna throughout. Probably installed in the early 1960s. It works fine for my OTA signals. Can cable signals run over this? I assume HDTV OTA would not work either...

Is this 300 Ohm? Any thoughts are appreciated.

I hope this is the right part of the Forum for this post.

Thanks in advance.

Ed O

 

[Allan Jayne]

Yes, twin lead is the so called 300 ohm wiring.
Twin lead should support cable TV and HDTV, but you need to put a "transformer" whenever you change from 75 to 300 ohm or vice versa. The transformer may be tubular or shaped like the earplug of a portable radio, it comes in two forms
1. With a coax stud and a section of twin lead coming out the other side with spade lugs,
2. With a slip on socket that fits over the coax stud of the TV, and two screw terminals for twin lead wires.
Since there is some loss every time the signal goes through a transformer, the resulting wiring system may or may not carry weaker stations (HDTV or cable included) adequately.
Also, twin lead, like coax cable, comes in different grades. It must be UHF rated to handle over the air HDTV.
Video hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm