We are considering running our cable line to an outbuilding on a farm
in order to get our broadband signal there. Would coaxial cable be the
best choice for that? How far can you string coaxial cable and still
get a decent signal? If you were to bury it, how would you do that,
what would you use (a different form of coaxial cable in a condiut)?
Would burying it effect the signal?

Howy needtoknowit-ga,

Coaxial cable would be fine for what you outline.  The CommScope website
has an incredibly useful manual that shows the details of what you need
to do for a successful installation.
http://www.commscope.com/docs/drop_manual_1003.pdf

"Broadband Applications & Construction Manual"

You will want to read it in detail for the proper way to not only install
the cable extension, but also the best method for entering/exiting your
outbuilding, etc.

The distance you need to go will determine the size of the cable you will
want to use.  The manual referenced above outlines that you will want to
use 14 AWG (RG-11) for runs over 150 feet, and you can go with the lighter
18 AWG (RG-6) for runs under that length.

You should use "direct burial" cable and if you want it to last, place it
within conduit.  This Broadbandreports.com message thread suggest you go
with a larger conduit than small.
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,14378052

"3/4 or 1 inch conduit. If you go cheap with 1/2 inch, you'll never be able
to fish anything through it."

You will want to get the solid copper instead of the copper clad steel
center conductor as well, such as the Belden 1829BC coax featured on the
BroadbandUtopia website.
http://www.broadbandutopia.com/bel18solcopr.html

"18 AWG, Solid BCAC - Bare Copper conductors with Anti-Corrosion Treatment"

Burying the cable, as long as there are not electrical cables buried
nearby, should actually reduce interference from other signals.

If you need any clarification, please feel free to ask.


Search strategy:

Google search on: coaxial broadband extend diagram
://www.google.com/search?q=coaxial+broadband+extend+diagram

Google search on: broadband extend bury OR buried cable
://www.google.com/search?q=broadband+extend+bury+OR+buried+cable

Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher

Nicely done and quickly answered

It depends how far the building is from where your braodband is. If
its less than 100M then I would recommend using Cat 5e cable and
100BaseT as this has no signal loss of a distance of 100m. What I
would do is also channel the cable in the ground in a water proof
protected tube. This will increase the cost slightly but at least you
will end up with no unsightly cables hanging off trees/fences etc. It
will also give you reassurance that the cable is protected from the
elements.

If you use Cat5e then you will have more than enough bandwidth to play
with in the future as well as Cat5e is registered for Gigabit Ethernet
and it will be a while before broadband gets up to these speeds.

Hope this helps.

Hello,
   Important factors that need to be considered when planning a
network include the following:
1. Distance between the two end points: the distance between the
buildings that need to be networked together.
2. Whether the two end points are within a campus? If they are within
the same campus (administrative area), then providing a coaxial cable
network is less of a hurdle. If the buildings are separated by a large
distance, and if you have to run the cable through a public space,
then you may want to look into wireless networking. A tutorial on
wireless networking given below.
http://www.tutorialsweb.com/networking/wireless-networks/computer-networking-tutorial.htm

3. The required bandwidth. Do you intend to share the resources on
individual computers by networking them? Then you need to connect
local area networks (LANs) together. This is because the computers
communicate over the LAN, and the bandwidth requirement is normally
much more than the Internet bandwidth.
4. Cost: The cost of implementation depends on the bandwidth, and the
distance to be covered. For smaller distances (typically up to 100 m),
a regular LAN cable (100 Base T) may be sufficient as suggested
earlier. For installations that are separated by several hundreds of
meters, you may consider wireless networking.
Resource:  http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/802.11.html
hope this helps.

Thanks for the nice comment, 5 star rating and nice tip, needtoknowit-ga.

Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher