I am trying to get my satellite system set up at my apartment. When I first toured the place, I thought it seemed like it would be relatively easy, but the angles are just too awkward due to an overhang that come off my deck just a little too far.
I spoke with an installer and he noticed that the unit next to me has a dish as well. It just so happens to also be a DTV Slimline dish. He suggested I just tap into that dish rather than trying to get my own correctly positioned. I talked to my neighbor and he said that would be just fine. My understanding is DTV doesn't care about this since receiver access cards are used to authenticate channels, not the dish itself, and I will continue to maintain a separate account.
I went to work on this situation this afternoon. The first thing I found is that my neighbor's system is SWM. I've never actually worked with a SWM system before and don't entirely understand its purpose or function, so please forgive my ignorance. He actually has a SWM box in his house, which I've never seen before. Outside, he's got a 1-LNB (SL3S4NR2), 1-output cable running from the dish to the SWM adapter and then to his receiver.
My thought was to use my LNB instead of his, because it has a built-in 4 port multi-switch. It's my understanding that this multi-switch, combined with a B-Band Converter, serve the same function as a SWM. My 3-LNB is labeled SL5PIG-P. So I removed his LNB and put mine in its place. I wasn't surprised to see that he didn't have a signal, because I didn't touch his SWM equipment yet, which I assume I need to bypass and replace with the BBC. However, I also did not have a signal on my end. I tried with multiple cables but was not able to get anything. (We had confirmed a strong signal before I removed his LNB.) So I went from my SWM to my BBC to my receiver and got a whole of 0.
So my question is...Am I missing something obvious with this setup? For example, can only one port on my multi-switch be used? Would I be better off using a splitter than my multi-port? If I do that, I would need a SWM for my side as well, right? If I could get it to work with the multi-switch and the BBC, am I correct that I would simply eliminate the SWM box that he's currently using and go directly into the BBC and receiver?
Any thoughts or assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
I spoke with an installer and he noticed that the unit next to me has a dish as well. It just so happens to also be a DTV Slimline dish. He suggested I just tap into that dish rather than trying to get my own correctly positioned. I talked to my neighbor and he said that would be just fine. My understanding is DTV doesn't care about this since receiver access cards are used to authenticate channels, not the dish itself, and I will continue to maintain a separate account.
I went to work on this situation this afternoon. The first thing I found is that my neighbor's system is SWM. I've never actually worked with a SWM system before and don't entirely understand its purpose or function, so please forgive my ignorance. He actually has a SWM box in his house, which I've never seen before. Outside, he's got a 1-LNB (SL3S4NR2), 1-output cable running from the dish to the SWM adapter and then to his receiver.
My thought was to use my LNB instead of his, because it has a built-in 4 port multi-switch. It's my understanding that this multi-switch, combined with a B-Band Converter, serve the same function as a SWM. My 3-LNB is labeled SL5PIG-P. So I removed his LNB and put mine in its place. I wasn't surprised to see that he didn't have a signal, because I didn't touch his SWM equipment yet, which I assume I need to bypass and replace with the BBC. However, I also did not have a signal on my end. I tried with multiple cables but was not able to get anything. (We had confirmed a strong signal before I removed his LNB.) So I went from my SWM to my BBC to my receiver and got a whole of 0.
So my question is...Am I missing something obvious with this setup? For example, can only one port on my multi-switch be used? Would I be better off using a splitter than my multi-port? If I do that, I would need a SWM for my side as well, right? If I could get it to work with the multi-switch and the BBC, am I correct that I would simply eliminate the SWM box that he's currently using and go directly into the BBC and receiver?
Any thoughts or assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!