DIY, the phone, the cable... and other crazy stunts....
Tired, Punchy and my head hurts
First the news... Yes... it's been a week since I've posted. Work, Baby... Family... you do the math.
Today was filled with a DIY project that was filled with so much promise. And met with failure. We have a room with no phone jack that direly needs one.The room has a cable jack... But we don't use the cable.
I had an idea... what if I ride the phone signal on the unused cable from a room with both phone and cable to the room with just cable. I got two wall plates that each had a phone jack and a cable connector. I got a 3' long coax cable to sacrifice for connecting the back of the cable connector to the back of the phone jack. I figured I'd cut in half, strip the cut end and attach it like I was wiring a phone. I also got a little multimeter... hoping that might help. Granted I know nearly -0- about electronics (I'm a software guy)... so the multimeter was more of an amusement.
I walked into the parking lot of the hardware store. Booty in hand. I was looking at the multimeter walking about 2 feet from the row of cars and pickup trucks. BANG!
Did you know that a 15 ' 2 inch diameter wooden dowel, hangs more than 2 ' out of a pickup truck and right at forehead level? Neither did I. This would be the part where my head hurts.
Well, I got home... Watched Rothlisberger forget that black doesn't mean Steelers on the West Coast. And tinkered. I cut the coax and stripped the cut ends. On each plate I attached the copper core {D} to the Pair 1 ring terminal (red) and the copper screen {B} to the Pair 1 tip (green).
My first test was to connect the two plates with coax. Then attach one plate to a phone line and the other to a phone. This would test two things.
So, I ran phone wire in one room over to where the cable jack was on the wall. I connected a small piece of coax to my makeshift jack and connected the other end to the wall jack. Then I connected the phone line to my makeshift jack. Then I picked up a good phone. The phone still worked.. so I hadn't shorted out our phone. Theoretically, my phone line was now on the cable in the house.
I went to the cable jack in the room with no phone. Hooked another piece of coax to it and to my 2nd jack. I assumed that both cable jacks in the house were on the same line. This assumption proved wrong. Nothing came over the line. My guess is that there is a splitter somewhere before where I am patched in and the signal is not propagating.
the idea seemed good, but I'm back to square one.
Ah well. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.
First the news... Yes... it's been a week since I've posted. Work, Baby... Family... you do the math.
Today was filled with a DIY project that was filled with so much promise. And met with failure. We have a room with no phone jack that direly needs one.The room has a cable jack... But we don't use the cable.
I had an idea... what if I ride the phone signal on the unused cable from a room with both phone and cable to the room with just cable. I got two wall plates that each had a phone jack and a cable connector. I got a 3' long coax cable to sacrifice for connecting the back of the cable connector to the back of the phone jack. I figured I'd cut in half, strip the cut end and attach it like I was wiring a phone. I also got a little multimeter... hoping that might help. Granted I know nearly -0- about electronics (I'm a software guy)... so the multimeter was more of an amusement.
I walked into the parking lot of the hardware store. Booty in hand. I was looking at the multimeter walking about 2 feet from the row of cars and pickup trucks. BANG!
Did you know that a 15 ' 2 inch diameter wooden dowel, hangs more than 2 ' out of a pickup truck and right at forehead level? Neither did I. This would be the part where my head hurts.
Well, I got home... Watched Rothlisberger forget that black doesn't mean Steelers on the West Coast. And tinkered. I cut the coax and stripped the cut ends. On each plate I attached the copper core {D} to the Pair 1 ring terminal (red) and the copper screen {B} to the Pair 1 tip (green).
My first test was to connect the two plates with coax. Then attach one plate to a phone line and the other to a phone. This would test two things.
- Was I wired correctly?
- Would coax carry a phone signal?
So, I ran phone wire in one room over to where the cable jack was on the wall. I connected a small piece of coax to my makeshift jack and connected the other end to the wall jack. Then I connected the phone line to my makeshift jack. Then I picked up a good phone. The phone still worked.. so I hadn't shorted out our phone. Theoretically, my phone line was now on the cable in the house.
I went to the cable jack in the room with no phone. Hooked another piece of coax to it and to my 2nd jack. I assumed that both cable jacks in the house were on the same line. This assumption proved wrong. Nothing came over the line. My guess is that there is a splitter somewhere before where I am patched in and the signal is not propagating.
the idea seemed good, but I'm back to square one.
Ah well. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.