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[tuftedduck]

Good morning 

TD, constantly frustrated by a very weak signal from his local TV transmitter, yesterday bit the bullet and installed a freesat dish, box, cabling etc.
The signal is running at 98% of power and the reception is great.
The only snag is that to get such a signal, I could not position the dish anywhere on the house/buildings and it is in fact now on a patio stand clamped to a heavy concrete slab and only three feet off the ground.
The snag is that it is thirty feet from the house and at the moment I have thirty feet of cable lying on the surface of the grass......no worries, thinks TD, dig a good trench and bury it.
I would however like to wrap the cable in a length of garden hose for protection and my idea is to split a hose along it's length and tuck cable into it.

The question is.......what is the easiest and quickest way to split an unbraided rubber hose ? I've started with a Stanley knife but that is going to take a lifetime ?

So, how to split a hose...or is there a better way to achieve a buried cable......( I don't think that I can uncouple from the dish and push cable through hose...too long....and anyway I would make a mess of the recoupling.)

Thank you for any tips and hints.

[scottiesmum]

I'm not sure if this will help TD ....   but   ..  here (which is not much use to you  ) I have seen a pipe lagging (thing)  that is already 'split' in order to fit around pipes - used for outside garden taps ( we do sometimes have hard frost) ... is there not something similar there that will do your job ?   

Similar to this   ...  http://www.cps-distribution.com/produits/310-distributeur-d-isolant-sh-de-thermaflex

[tuftedduck]

Thank you for the idea, scottiesmum, and for taking the trouble to give consideration to TD's wee puzzler.

Yes, we can get that sort of pipe lagging.......but I fear that it may be too soft to resist any stones etc. which may come against it which is why I had thought of a rubber hose.

Thanks again....

[scottiesmum]

I thought about it rotting, but I wondered if they had a stronger version perhaps  ....   ( I'm trying very hard       (as opposed to very trying  )     I've no doubt a man Kitizen  will appear soon and solve it !   

One other idea  ...  get someone else to split the hosepipe   --that's the FL   

[AdrianH]

http://cpc.farnell.com/conduit    or try B+Q they used to have the corrugated poly , the cable TV installers had split poly trunking on coils.
Or just use plumbing waste pipe with push fit joints, that comes in easy lengths and isn't too expensive.
Cutting 30 meters of hose is going to result in a hospital trip.
(Your dish BTW is contrary to common belief best sited as low to ground as is possible.)

[roseway]

Apologies for stating the obvious, but can't you just push the cable through the hose?

[UncleUB]

Adrians link looks good,similar stuff at Screwfix

http://www.screwfix.com/p/d-line-mini-trunking-white-30-x-15mm-x-2m-pack-of-6/73287

If the cable has a moulded plug on the end/a connector on the other,cold you just cut the plug off and re wire it?,then as Eric says no need to split the hose just slide down

[AdrianH]

The problem with a 30M length of garden hose is the coils which always leave bends to get round, it needs a lot of stretching to keep it straight enough to get even a hard cable through .......... been there 


Nynex/C+W/Virgin used a split plastic/poly conduit on installs, twas cheap and nasty stuff but did the job.

[roseway]

If the cable has a moulded plug on the end ...

Cables for Sky dishes don't use moulded plugs, they use easily removeable 'F' connectors but I take Adrian's point about getting round the bends in the hose.

[UncleUB]

*Breaking News*

Scottish gentleman just been arrested for trying to hack into Pentagon via satellite 

[roseway]

At least he's a gentleman.

[scottiesmum]

Ahhhh   .... I knew the Kitizmen would arrive   ....  like buses, three at once   

[tickmike]

Been there done that  ,
About two weeks ago I put a better mains supply in to my workshop (I had a temporary one with a bit of t&e cable).
I was going to get 50M of SWA (Steel Wired Armoured) cable until I noticed the price (all cables are expensive with the world price of copper)  .
Looking what I had got in my shed, I found I had some single core cable left from a job but you could not just put that in the ground !, so looking around I had a large roll of 32mm dia. plastic pipe so I laid just under 50M on the ground from my Garage/flat  all the way to my workshop.
Next problem getting the draw wire in. Using some 2.5mm T&E cable as a draw wire I could only push it in about 20 to 30M before it bends, so the next best thing I could use was a 20mm SWA telecoms cable that I had, even with a lot of washing up liquid on it as a lubricant it took a lot of pushing through  .
The next problem pulling 5 single core cables 50 M down a tube, It took all my strength to get them the last few meters, I have got to get around to put the pipe/conduit 450mm deep in the ground .
So I would not recommend pulling it down that small Dia pipe !.
Looking in the 'Wickes'  catalog there is some black 20mm Dia x 3M plastic conduit 712-950 10 pack @ £13.27 some of that would do .

If you must split your hosepipe along its length I have used this method before, Start the cut has you have done, if you have a vice mounted on a bench, you put your strong metal knife in the vice (having sharped it !) , you place your started pipe over the blade (blade in side the pipe) , then you have to pull the pipe over the knife so it splits it, once you get going it's quite easy with a very sharp knife lubricated with some washing up liquid (Do Not Use Oil ! because that could rot the pipe/cable.)
Good luck and mind your fingers.!

[tuftedduck]

Thank you all for your comments, ideas and hints.

I'm sorry it has taken such a long time to respond but I have got myself into such a state about this that I had to go and lie down for a while.
Having said that, although it would be nice to have the job over and done with, the cable lying on the grass is not coming to any harm...and can lie there for a while, or at least until grass cutting time.

The idea of push fit jointed plastic waste pipes as suggested by AdrianH is appealing.......more so is the split poly trunking. Will look for some of that.

I think trying to get this cable through a hose is a non starter..too long, too floppy, kinks and bends to negotiate and very tight as the cable is a twin cable....one lead for the decoder one for a recorder.

The end fittings on the cable are not moulded on, they are as roseway described, but I am reluctant to take them off......they were difficult enough for me to get on and I would for sure make a mess of it.

Don't have a workshop with good vices etc. tickmike......any hose splitting will have to be the long way.

Cannot do anything today as the rain is battering down out there.......will see what tomorrow brings.

Thank you all again.   

[UncleUB]

Thank you all for your comments, ideas and hints.

I'm sorry it has taken such a long time to respond but I have got myself into such a state about this that I had to go and lie down for a while.

Take care TD,its only a bit of cable and you have done the hard work getting a good TV picture   :clap2:

Of course I'm sure Big Jessie will be able to assist if required