What is this cable in my loft?

[JP_]

My loft is old. It has 4 antennae in it, along with this weird thing - a cable runs from the eaves up to the bit of suspended wood, and that's it. What is it? Why?

The attached image does not show a lot. It's the horizontal piece of wood.

 

[JohnD]

show us the end of the cable you have in mind.

 

[JP_]

next time I'm in the loft I'll take a torch!

 

[magicmushroom666]

Could have been a booster mounted there, which the previous owner took with them? Or a different type or ariel that they didn't want to leave. Nothing made of wood would have a serious electrical connection.

 

[Lucid]

Collectively we could spend a bit of time speculating on this orphan cable, but when push comes to shove the chances are 99 out of 100 that it'll be old coax and sod all use in a digital era aerial distribution system. So, why waste the time?

The chances are with an older house that it's had several aerials installed as upgrades for the different service changes (405 Line, 625 Line, and possibly some scammy installs such as Colour and for Digital) and possibly for a new TV point. Whatver has happened, it's probably better to clear out all the redundant junk aerials and any old cable and start from fresh. Trying to re-use unsuitable gear is a false economy. Old pre-Digital coax isn't shielded well enough to cope with today's saturation from Wi-Fi, microwaves and other radio frequency interference.

 

[JP_]

Thanks. Not trying to re-use it, just curious as it does not look like it was put there for an aerial.

 

[Bosswhite]

Thanks. Not trying to re-use it, just curious as it does not look like it was put there for an aerial.

CB Radio ????

 

[JP_]

Here's a close up - the cable splits and runs along the hanging bit of wood.

 

[Nozzle]

is it bolted on to what looks like copper busbar? I wonder if it's a homemade transmitter, or LW receiver.

Nozzle

 

[JP_]

Just looks like a bit of wood. no idea what the other end is attached to, goes into the eaves. Nothing visible on the roof. Might tug a bit harder and see ... but don't want to break anything!

 

[Nozzle]

You have some rusted bolts in there that look like they're attached to a brown bar (metal?) which is clipped to the wood. It looks like the cable attaches to one bolt and the other "cable" perhaps actually braid, connectors to the other bolt.

Nozzle

 

[JP_]

Oh, I see what you mean.
Hmmm.
The previous resident, who may well ahve been there since 1958 (newspaper in old iron trunk inj the loft, that is bigger than the loft hatch ...) was German, so maybe she hooked it up to listen to German radio? Is that possible?

 

[bernardgreen]

Home made dipole aerial. Probably for an FM VHF receiver , could have been a transmitter but for a transmitting aerial I would have expected better insulation / assembly of the joints cable to rods. ( a short there could damage a transmitter )

 

[JohnD]

Here's a close up - the cable splits and runs along the hanging bit of wood.

can't see any pic.

 

[Lucid]

can't see any pic.

Ditto