Signal Loss because too many connections question

[light200]

all cable is rg6. i have not replaced any connectors yet.

 

[ChadT41]

Replace the connectors, and tell us how everything works from there

 

[nelson61]

replacing any cable is the absolute last resort as far as im concerned. its buried within the house and i dont want to run any exterior cable and drill through house....so that being said, would any kind of amplifier help my situation? if so what kind and where would i insert it?

Midway in the run, so at the junction of the 100 ft external and the 75 ft internal would be a good place.

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[harshness]

its buried within the house and i dont want to run any exterior cable and drill through house....so that being said, would any kind of amplifier help my situation? if so what kind and where would i insert it?

If you can be sure you'll never need to use the cable for a Hopper or Joey (or the DIRECTV approximations), you can put in an inline satellite IF amplifier. They run about $50 on up. This would be a last resort after ALL of the cable and fittings have all been verified.

BIG NOTE: If you have bad cabling, an amplifier will likely make the problem worse.

 

[light200]

well i am 100% sure my cabling is OK, its the connection points that i am concerned about.

take a look at this photo, its supposedly a 3GHz connector plate for my wall jack from leviton. according to the leviton website datasheet, it says 3GHz, and it looks blue and white. However this part which i just picked up from grainger, only looks slightly blue, and is actually an ivory/almond color. the part # matches up with what it claims to be, so should i now be concerned i dont actually have what is said to be a 3GHz connector? does the inside HAVE to be blue?

 

[harshness]

While there are ANSI standards (CEDIA-897) for color coding of the dielectric (because you can't print specs on the barrel), many manufacturers don't adhere to them.

I don't have access to a copy but here is the preview (that stops short of saying what the colors should be):

https://standards.ce.org/kwspub/published_docs/ANSI-CEA-CEDIA-897-Preview.pdf

 

[light200]

Ok so I switched all the connectors to the blue 3ghz ones, and looked at signal strength before and after, and I have literally no difference. So now what should I do?


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[ChadT41]

Are you still getting signal loss?

 

[light200]

Yes, still have signal loss, exactly identical as before.


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[KazooGuy]

I was having signal level problems after a recent migration to the Eastern Arc and Dish ended up returning and replaced the Dish and all the cabling to get the levels to be acceptable in the tech's opinion. Are you sure your cabling and connectors are fine. I realize you just swapped out the barrels, but what about the actual connectors?

 

[light200]

You mean like all the compression connectors?


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[KazooGuy]

You mean like all the compression connectors?


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Yes, I apparently had a couple of my connectors that had gone bad for some reason water had gotten inside the connector.

 

[light200]

I'm pretty sure all my connectors are fine. I visually inspected them, and they are all tight and seem ok. I have no reason to think they r the problem. I wonder if I post some signal strengths and whatnot if someone can tell me by that alone?


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[harshness]

Other than moving the receiver successively up the cable and seeing where the signal drops off, there's not a lot that can be done. If the other receivers are happy, there's something along this particular line that is drawing down the signal. This could be a bad connector or a crushed/too tightly bent cable.

Replacing and/or rerouting the cable may be difficult but so is not having TV.

 

[nelson61]

I'm pretty sure all my connectors are fine. I visually inspected them, and they are all tight and seem ok. I have no reason to think they r the problem.
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Visual does not mean much. Open them up, clean the conductors and reconnect.

If that does not do it, try a passive amplifier at the junction of the exterior cable run and the interior cabling (approximate midpoint of cabling). If the problem is noise on the line (bad cable, connector or whatever) the amplifier will not help since it will also amplify the noise. If you have a clean signal, it will likely help.

 

[harshness]

If that does not do it, try a passive amplifier at the junction of the exterior cable run and the interior cabling (approximate midpoint of cabling).

In the context of DBS IF signals, what is a "passive amplifier" and how does it work?

 

[MikeD-C05]

I vote you check the cabling itself. My parents had lost signal over and over again on their 722k setup. Turns out the cable was from the late 70s and was frayed and was sparking in the attic. I replaced all the cable itself from the dish to the receiver through the wall fish itself and the lost signal issues were gone.

 

[bigjohnok]

I vote you check the cabling itself. My parents had lost signal over and over again on their 722k setup. Turns out the cable was from the late 70s and was frayed and was sparking in the attic. I replaced all the cable itself from the dish to the receiver through the wall fish itself and the lost signal issues were gone.

I have replaced enough or repaired a bunch of attic cable runs where a squirrel or rat or some type of critter gnawed on the cable.