After installing an outdoor antenna for your apartment, you have to find a way to secure the antenna cable coming from the antenna. You wouldn't want the cable dangling all the way from the top of the antenna pole all the way to its connection to your TV set inside your apartment unit.

A dangling cable isn't only unsightly, it's generally unsafe. People could easily trip over cable wires on the ground. Bringing tall items like ladders for instance could catch and snag the cable, pulling the antenna out of position or worse, result in an injury to you or other tenants. Check with your landlord if you have doubts on how to secure the cable.

Fastening the Cable to the Antenna Pole

If the antenna pole is high, as in most cases, you may want to fasten the cable to the pole. The easiest way to do this is by using an electical tape or duct tape to fasten the antenna cable. You could also use plastic locking ties for more secure fastening. Depending on the length of the antenna pole, you may need to fasten the cable at a few points along the pole.

Fasteners to Secure Cable Wire on Building Structures

It's easier to secure cables to wooden structures. Typically, you would just need wire staples to tack the cable in place. You could also use screw-in hooks or nails if you only need to secure the cable temporarily.

Concrete structures, however are a bit more complicated. In my experience, plastic hooks that have small pins for nailing are the best. The photo below shows one of these hooks with the four metal pins hammered in to a sufficient depth.


This plastic hook does not require drilling like screw-in hooks. You only need a hammer to set it. The trick is to hammer all the small metal pins simultaneously. Unlike hooks with adhesive strips, these plastic hooks are stronger and can carry more weight. They're also sturdy enough to withstand the outside elements. The downside though is they could be very difficult to remove.

You may need several of these plastic hooks to fasten the cable wire around the building. I prefer to run the antenna cable around the building until it reaches a window nearest to the TV set. Bringing the antenna cable in through the nearest window may save you cable wire but it will also result in doors not closing properly or not at all.

Here's the plastic hook holding the antenna cable securely on a concrete ledge.


What to do with Excess Cable Wire

When you have a long enough cable wire, it may be just best to coil it rather than cut the excess off. Keep the coiled part of the cable wire indoors rather than outside as there's no sense exposing it to the elements.

What I do is to use twist ties to coil it neatly and then hang it somewhere near the back of the TV set. By coiling the excess cable and hanging it, this minimizes it collecting dust from the floor in your apartment.


 

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