Thread: A 500' Dish-house distance?

Hi Guys.
I live in a forest where my nearest clear LOS for a dish is about 500 ft from the receiver. I would like to have a DirecTv HD setup with a Slimline 5 LNB dish installed.

Is a 500' ft Dish-Receiver distance possible without loss of signal? If so, what would it take to make it work, and what is it likely to cost beyond the standard installation? I can bury the cables myself (should they be in conduit?) and there is a power supply near the antenna end in case I need to power an amplifier. Thanks for any help. Loel

I believe directv wants the runs to be ~125' or less. I have heard of people running 200-300 feet with amplification. 500 seems like a stretch.

Might be a lot easier and cheaper to erect a mast and mount the dish on that, or pick an area of the 'forest' and start knocking down some trees.

Many thanks for the info. A tower might work, but it would have to be around 60 ft tall. It looks like I'll be keeping the Rabbit Ears. All the best, Loel

Originally Posted by toofelgnat

Many thanks for the info. A tower might work, but it would have to be around 60 ft tall. It looks like I'll be keeping the Rabbit Ears. All the best, Loel

When you build that tower , be sure to add a staircase

Originally Posted by toofelgnat

Hi Guys.
I live in a forest where my nearest clear LOS for a dish is about 500 ft from the receiver. I would like to have a DirecTv HD setup with a Slimline 5 LNB dish installed.

Is a 500' ft Dish-Receiver distance possible without loss of signal? If so, what would it take to make it work, and what is it likely to cost beyond the standard installation? I can bury the cables myself (should they be in conduit?) and there is a power supply near the antenna end in case I need to power an amplifier. Thanks for any help. Loel

200' for the Slimeline is max. After that it runs into a voltage problem and can't switch properly. 500' I don't think you could even do it with RG11 and amps.

If you do a tower you will probably have to hire a retail installer to do the install, as most techs wont touch it.

Originally Posted by Liquidforce88

200' for the Slimeline is max. After that it runs into a voltage problem and can't switch properly. 500' I don't think you could even do it with RG11 and amps.

If you do a tower you will probably have to hire a retail installer to do the install, as most techs wont touch it.

I was going to mention , he might want to find a local guy, many A/V shops will do that kind of thing.

Originally Posted by Liquidforce88

200' for the Slimeline is max. After that it runs into a voltage problem and can't switch properly. 500' I don't think you could even do it with RG11 and amps.

If you do a tower you will probably have to hire a retail installer to do the install, as most techs wont touch it.

Yep. Just for reference, the rough voltage drop for RG-6 is 0.04VDC per foot of cable. 500 feet of cable would mean a 20VDC drop, which is more than the receivers put out (13VDC and 18VDC).

The only option is to run power out there then make a little enclosed building to put your satellite receiver in then run coax the rest of the way with a UHF remote solution.

Hmm--

I read a few blogs about amplifiers, as I started with a wild idea that three or four amplifiers spread along each line at intervals could do the trick. Now it looks like I would need multiple amplifiers for each of the five LNB lines, and every amplifier could introduce more noise to the system. It sounds like this idea is not to be.

Thanks for all of the great help. It has saved me a lot of head-scratching and also the money I would have spent trying to make it work. All the best, Loel