Installing a private telephone cable

[Asjad]

Salutations,

I live in a typical row of terraced house in the north west of england, i.e rows and rows of terraced houses.

My question is is it legal to run a cable from the back of one terraced house to another 6 houses down (same row) ??.


2)The wire will run from the main building from the source and connect to the garage on the other, hence the cable will be in mid air.
The owners of the houses in between have given permission for this

3) The cable will not be connected to a telephone line, it will be used in a home built intercom circuit.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[evandude]

Not to say you won't get an answer, but there have GOT to be some local authorities that would be a better place to ask than on an international forum where only a fraction of members live anywhere near you, and even those people probably aren't versed in such laws...

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

As long as you have permission from all the people in between there shouldn't be any problem.

 

[mneary]

In the US, this would be a zoning issue (town or city regulations).

Elevated wiring should be protected against lightning strikes and accidental contact with other sources of power. Real phone cables have lightning arrestors where the enter the structure. In the US, this is governed by the Electrical Code.

My suggestion is to try to get permission to bury it. That way nobody would see it.

 

[picasm]

As an alternative, you could try a pair of long-range DECT phones.
There are a few manufacturers now claiming a range of up to 300M (outdoor) for some new models and usually they have an intercom facility.

The 300M range claim may be too optimistic unless used in ideal conditions though.

 

[CheapSlider]

Strictly speaking from a legal point the answer is NO

If at any point the link goes outside the boundary of your property then you need an operators license.
This applies no matter how the link is provided (wire, radio, laser etc)

The thing to consider is if anyone would bother prosecuting you and the potential penalties. - The UK authorities appear more concerned about illegal radio transmitters.


I agree with picasm:
If the garage is within range then the DECT solution, using 2 handsets, looks good (you may have to experiment with the siting of the base station to get a signal to your garage).

If you avoid having a DECT charger in the garage then you couldn't be accused of operating a fixed link.


DECT handsets with intercom facility are widely available in the UK at reasonable prices. You get the bonus that, if the main base station in your house is connected to the PSTN, you could make and receive calls from your garage.

(my first post on this forum)

 

[Hero999]

I suppose it depends on the jurisdiction in your area but you haven't given your location so we don't know.

 

[Sceadwian]

What's your lightning protection scheme look like? Without a high voltage protection scheme one or both of the phones will explode if a lightning bolt hits it. I'm sure at the very least you'll need to have the house to house cross wire installed by an electrician that knows about the local regulations. The phone company, or electric company would both be good places to start asking questions. Just don't talk to customer service, try find a mananger in the technical or engineering department.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

What's your lightning protection scheme look like? Without a high voltage protection scheme one or both of the phones will explode if a lightning bolt hits it.

Even with lightning protection it will explode if struck!.

But this isn't the USA, we don't have anything like your lightning problems over here - there aren't any requirements for lightning 'protection' here.

 

[Sceadwian]

The suge supressor will yes, but not before doing it's job of protecting the device. Even moderatly decent surge surpressor strips come with 10,000 dollar (or higher) connected equipment warranties.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

The suge supressor will yes, but not before doing it's job of protecting the device. Even moderatly decent surge surpressor strips come with 10,000 dollar (or higher) connected equipment warranties.

That's just an insurance policy - not a guarantee of protection! - a direct strike will take anything out, nothing domestic will save your electronics.

The surge protectors are to give improved protection against strikes a reasonable distance away - not close or actual strikes.

Despite the UK being a LOT less prone to lightning, in my job I see a LOT of lightning damaged equipment.

Funnily enough, my younger brothers house suffered a direct strike - it vapourised rafters in his roof, blew a BIG hole through his £22 each hand made tiles - and killed every electrical item in his house!!.

Something that vapourises tiles isn't going to be stopped by a poxy little surge limiter!.

By all means use them, but understand they only give a slight degree of protection.

 

[Sceadwian]

Guess you just need to ground the shielding with as thick a wire as you can.