My dish install is on hold, waiting on family members to help me put the 10 footer on the mount, so I started thinking about how I am going to get the cable from the dish to the house. I am also going to put a motorized Primestar near the bud. I have been dreading digging a trench deep enough for conduit, and I knew that I got a piece of ribbon cable when I picked up the dish. I thought that it might be about 40', but was surprised after rolling it out that it was 100'. That was good news, but I finally measured how much cable I need to get from the receiver to the dish and I need about 150'. Is it feasible to splice the control wires to sprinkler cable & connect 2 rg6 cables to the 2 coax cables in the ribbon cable to make up the difference? Of course the connections would be put in weather proof boxes. I'm not worried about the control wires, but would the bullet connections on the rg6 insert too much loss?
C & Ku Cable run from dish to house
- Thread starter glater
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I would avoid inline splices, good cable is not that expensive. Yes, trenching for 1-1/4" conduit is a PITA, but it will allow you to pull extra wires for future expansion. A lot of system troubles are connector/cable related, trying to relocate a splice a year from now will drive you crazy.
Cadsulfide, I appreciate your advice. I'll give it some thought, since I'm at least a couple of weeks from starting that part of the project. Right now I'm just trying to gather what I'll need. Just keep in mind that I intend to mount a weatherproof box (above ground) on a pipe, next to a tree for protection from the mower. That's where I was planning to put the splices for the motor & control wires and also for the barrel connections for the coax. So, I will know where the splices are if I have a problem. I would be putting the 3 rg6 & wires in conduit to the house (approx 50'). I realize that it would be better to have a continuous run. I do have a 1000' roll of indoor rg6 that could get me the 3 continuous coax runs and I saw on another thread where a lot of folks use it outside, so that would be a possibility for running through conduit and then buying full runs of wire for the motor & control wires. Lots to mull over. I'm impatiently waiting for help to get the reflector on the mount, trying to make sure that the dish doesn't get away with a strong gust of wind, especially after what Goaliebob just went through. Thanks!
New cable will take one more variable out of the equation. The old stuff runniing on top of the ground for a temporary setup will get you up and running. I hope your reflector mounting goes well.
A Suggestion would be Install DiSEqC Switches In your weatherproof box, it will avoid splices of coaxial cables. This is something that is needed if a decision to add other dishes, you could then connect them to DiSEqC Switches at your box. I assume you are going to use BUD with FTA Receiver.
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Calsulfide, thanks again for the reply. I will be using the ribbon cable temporarily on the ground for sure. Home Depot has a walk behind trencher for $150 a day and I've priced out conduit, elbows, sprinkler wire (longest I found was 100'), so that wouldn't be an option if I want a full run. I'd like to avoid spending the money on a trencher if I can. Of course, it might be a bargain, if I hurt my back using a pick and shovel. Anyway, any and all suggestions are welcome. Not sure about the motor sensor wires yet. From another thread, some folks seem satisfied with sprinkler wire and others say you need shielded wires to avoid pulse count errors.
jgbalyless, thanks for the input & yes I plan on using a visionsat IV200, that I just purchased (should be here tuesday). I'm going to use a Houston Tracker 9, to move the dish. Came with the dish. I'm keeping ku separate on a motorized dish. The only fixed dish that I will have is for Hispasat (for baseball). I have to keep that one on the chimney stack. No los from where I will be putting the motorized primestar. Hopefully by late summer, maybe a 4dtv sub or w5 package. Just want to get the free cband first. This project is going to take a while, just can't seem to stay home long enough to make any progress.
jgbalyless, thanks for the input & yes I plan on using a visionsat IV200, that I just purchased (should be here tuesday). I'm going to use a Houston Tracker 9, to move the dish. Came with the dish. I'm keeping ku separate on a motorized dish. The only fixed dish that I will have is for Hispasat (for baseball). I have to keep that one on the chimney stack. No los from where I will be putting the motorized primestar. Hopefully by late summer, maybe a 4dtv sub or w5 package. Just want to get the free cband first. This project is going to take a while, just can't seem to stay home long enough to make any progress.
If the soil isn't too rocky I've used a tiller for trenching.
Just remove the outside tines so you are just using the 2 inner ones, depending on the tiller it should get you a trench about a foot wide and 8" deep, or so.
You still have to use a shovel to remove the loosened dirt, but it takes most of the heavy work away.
Just remove the outside tines so you are just using the 2 inner ones, depending on the tiller it should get you a trench about a foot wide and 8" deep, or so.
You still have to use a shovel to remove the loosened dirt, but it takes most of the heavy work away.
phlatwound, My wife has been suggesting that I try my son-in-law's Poulan tiller. I told her it would dig up too much of the yard. Never thought, that I might be able to take off the outside tines. That might be the answer. I'll check into that. I do have a lot of rocks, but when I built my house, I used a 4 ft tiller mounted on the back of my tractor to loosen some of the surface rocks and it worked good to get the ground ready for grass. It's solid limestone about 18" down. Thanks
Glater;
If you have a tractor, just use one cultivator shovel on the 3 point to dig the trench. As long as the pipe is well below the sod (8"), it shouldn't frost heave. Consider pulling a run of CAT5 for the sensor wires in addition to the sprinkler wire for motor drive. That will allow for all kinds of future additions.
If you have a tractor, just use one cultivator shovel on the 3 point to dig the trench. As long as the pipe is well below the sod (8"), it shouldn't frost heave. Consider pulling a run of CAT5 for the sensor wires in addition to the sprinkler wire for motor drive. That will allow for all kinds of future additions.
Cadsulfide, all I have now is a small Kubota14hp tractor with turf tires. It won't pull a cultivator shovel. I bought a middle buster for my old 40hp tractor when I bought this property to try to dig a trench for electricity to my well pump. Didn't even scratch the surface. One thing I don't have to worry about is the frost line. Our year round average temperature is about 75 degrees. Only gets into the mid 20's a couple of times a year. cat5 is a good option. Wish I'd have got some when I worked at the phone company. When our contractors mined cables, there were always long runs of cat5 in the dumpsters. Been retired too long, so no contacts there. Thanks again.
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