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Ask Slashdot: What Can You Do With Old Coaxial Cable?

Posted by EditorDavid on from the home-improvement dept.

Long-time Slashdot reader Theaetetus writes: I recently bought a house and the previous owner left some coax (mostly RG59) running between rooms for cable distribution. I'm a cord cutter and don't need cable, and I've already run CAT6e everywhere. But before I pull the RG59 out and try to seal the various holes he left, I figured I'd pick Slashdot's brain: can anyone think of a good non-cable use for spare coax lines?
Leave your best answers in the comments. What can you do with old coaxial cable?

12 of 384 comments (clear)

  1. Unsightly? by WillyWanker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Unless they are unsightly why bother? Just leave them be. You never know when they might be of use again at some point in the future.

    1. Re:Unsightly? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You never know how long you'll be in a property; the next owner might not be a tech head and cable in every room might be a selling point. Unless you can get more selling it than it might be worth when you come to sell the property, leave it in the walls. If you want to get rid of the sockets, fine, but pulling cable out without having a way to easily replace it is a recipe for future sadness.

    2. Re:Unsightly? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Another reason is you might want to run other wiring (or even fiber-optic cable) through the walls at some point. You can just attach it to the coax at one end and pull it through. This way you get rid of the cable and get your fiber installed with the least amount of fuss.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    3. Re:Unsightly? by Oligonicella · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Also, "pulling it out" indicates he's never attempted that before. That stuff doesn't exactly snake through the angles it's been run.

  2. Why?? by DarkOx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't know why you'd bother removing the cable. If you don't want the jacks remove them and cover the holes. Make the spot in someway where the cable is though so you can find it again.

    Stripping the cable out of the wall for no reason would be a bad idea imho. You never know it could be useful again for something. If nothing else should you ever decide to move the next person might not be a cord cutter and might be really glad to have those cable runs.

    --
    Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
    1. Re:Why?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      NEVER remove infrastructure that is benign. The need to remove systems in walls is a fools errand. Use your time on something constructive instead of destructive. Dead unused wiring of any type is as dangerous as a rolled up extension cord hanging on a nail. If it's in the way then cut but leave enough to make a splice or install a connector in the future. Old systems can be re-purposed for many things without major snaking and wall destruction to install new wiring. I'm an electrician so I know this.

  3. Off air antenna. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Most folks that we help with cutting the cord (we are a regional WISP) end up setting up a local off-air antenna to catch news and local programming.

  4. Here you go: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    1. S&M. Coax makes for great bondage or whipping.
    2. Committing suicide - only for the angst ridden rock star who is also on prescription drugs.
    3. Tying up small children - like ones who can't keep their hands off of your computer.
    4. Whipping small children - see above
    5. Self-defense. Gimme a piece of coax and I'm the wave-guide Nija!
    6, Scamming audiophiles or guitar players - "This is THE best cable you could EVAR use! You'll sound just like Van Halen and Steve Vai COMBINED!"
    7. As a bandana - and it'll help you to intercept the communications between the NSA, CIA and the space aliens they are conspiring with to get rid of Trump. Must still have Mercury fillings for it to work :(
    8. For those kinky anal "experiments".
    The list goes on and on....

    I mean really! Why do you have to ask?

  5. Re: Throw them in the trash... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is the kind of comment that is making slashdot and other forums toxic. If you don't have an answer, just leave it be.

    Showing off how "knowledgeable" you are by crapping on others without answering the question only fools newbies.

    There are legitimate answers to this question, and maybe even some neat hacks. Sadly, they'll all show up below your waste of everyone's time.

  6. Use is for house-wide digital audio by Dr.+Spork · · Score: 5, Insightful

    With these cheap adapters you can run 5.1 digital audio over the cables. Just plug in one end to the coax out on your sound card, and the other to the input on an amplifier anywhere in the house.

  7. Re:first by danomac · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'd just terminate them properly with wall plates where need be and leave them. Surely you aren't going to live in this house your whole life? As another mentioned, you can set up an OTA TV antenna and use them to run it to your TV.

    I wouldn't remove anything, if you sell your house you can take a hit on the sale price for not having it wired properly.

  8. Re:Antenna wire by MangoCats · · Score: 5, Interesting

    +1 - I used the existing coax cable in a home I had as a WiFi repeater (really more of a waveguide). Reception was weak in a back bedroom, but there were cable drops in there as well as beside the router (hot spot), so I stripped little stub antennas and attached them to the in-wall cable, boosted reception in the back room from flaky/marginal to pretty stable - cost: near zero, installation time about 10 minutes, ongoing expenses: none.