Cabling......does it ever need replacing?

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bnewt

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Oct 6, 2003
1,440
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Shepherdsville, Ky
Will be upgrading to HD in the next couple of weeks & was curious about the existing cable from the dish. When should it be replaced? I have had E* for approximately 10 years. Do I need to have the tech replace that?

What type of signal strength should I be checking for in the Louisville, KY area? I want to make sure it is acceptable before the tech leaves.
 
Any tech worth his salt will look at the cable and make the determination. 10 year old cable could be a problem, but it really depends on what type of cable it is. Don't know anything about you signal strenth in your area, though.
 
bnewt said:
Will be upgrading to HD in the next couple of weeks & was curious about the existing cable from the dish. When should it be replaced? I have had E* for approximately 10 years. Do I need to have the tech replace that?

What type of signal strength should I be checking for in the Louisville, KY area? I want to make sure it is acceptable before the tech leaves.
Click to expand...

How old is the copper wiring in your house? Is it 10 years old are you going to have an electrician out to replace it? If your cable is RG6 you probably won't have any problems with it. If existing cable is RG59 which was used more 10 years ago you need to replace it. Is the outer jacket on the cabling breaking down? Replace it. Has it been subject to hurricanes or tornados something that might have damaged the cable? Replace it. Is it full of splices? Replace it.

Look at the signal strength on your current receivers if your meter shows that it is modified your new setup should be similar. If your current 119 trans 11 is 75% you should expect it to be the same area under the same weather conditions. If it is 50% suspect a problem.
 
As long as it's RG6 you should be good. Outside of that only cable that in the elements really needs to be looked.

This is why I do all my own cabling. That why I know it gets done right. Not that an installer is doing to do it wrong, but this guarentees the cable is run the way I want it. Plus the install time is greatly reduced when the cable is ready to go.
 
bnewt said:
Will be upgrading to HD in the next couple of weeks & was curious about the existing cable from the dish. When should it be replaced? I have had E* for approximately 10 years. Do I need to have the tech replace that?

What type of signal strength should I be checking for in the Louisville, KY area? I want to make sure it is acceptable before the tech leaves.
Click to expand...
depends on the quality of the cable and what the cable has been exposed to. Most times coax cable will function for many years.
Signals should be in the mid 70's on the 110 and 119. 129 should be in the 50's.
Signal strengths can vary from receiver to receiver. The length of cable from the dish to the receiver matters as well. Heck I have seen where two rceivers of the same model will give different signal strengths.
Here's the best course of action. Let the tech do his work. He is a profesional and wil do a better job if allowed to work unencumbered.
The most miswerrabe experience we as techs can have is from a customer who hovers over us and constantly interruprts with issues that should have been discussed BEFORE the work commenced. Save your queries about the functuion and use of the new equipemnt until after the work is complete.
Enjoy your new HD equipment!!!!!!!
 
I understand that there are qualified techs, but I also know that the ones that originally installed my equipment did not ground it, did a sloppy job of running the cable, & when inside leaned their dirty sweaty arms all over the freshly painted walls. When I had them come back to ground, they ran a loose wire to the water faucet. I said that won't cut it & they said that is all they were going to do. When I pay for something, I expect it to be right.
 
If youve got RG6 (on the sat lines, 59 is fine for TV2 feeds) then your good to go unless there are breaks in the line due to animals, lawn equipment or curious customers.

According to the NEC there are changes in the way electricity is used every year...RG6 from ten years ago is almost always as good as what we use today. Take it from someone who has some experiance in the matter...existing line 9 times out of ten is perfectly fine.

THE SIGNAL METER IS NOT A PERCENTAGE MEASUREMENT!!!
Drives me nuts when customers complain about only having a signal of 69-70% and that sometimes its higher or lower and they dont know why...cause they dont understand the concept of transponders.

Your right, some techs are lazy but not all...im pretty sure your capable of figuring out whether or not the tech you get is a good tech by see the work he does.
 
USMCGrunt0307 said:
According to the NEC there are changes in the way electricity is used every year.
Click to expand...
Key Words "In the ways its used" Voltage and amps to your Home has been the same for years way more then 10 years. 108-123 Volts, and 216-240 volts, Your not going to use 14-2 for your hot water heater. So why not use the proper RG-6 and avoid problems later. RG-6 thats 10 years old is fine if its Rated 2200 MHz Minimum. And not in extreme weather or extreme heat.
 
your signal doesnt depend on your area as much as your property in particular, but a good signal is going to be about 60, on a modified meter an excellent signal is 75+, 129 and 110 are going to be lower,
 
bnewt said:
I understand that there are qualified techs, but I also know that the ones that originally installed my equipment did not ground it, did a sloppy job of running the cable, & when inside leaned their dirty sweaty arms all over the freshly painted walls. When I had them come back to ground, they ran a loose wire to the water faucet. I said that won't cut it & they said that is all they were going to do. When I pay for something, I expect it to be right.
Click to expand...
unfortunately there are bad apples in every service business. So you are correct to be concerned.
Sweaty? That's why I bring a towel into the home with me when it's hot outside.. nothing bothers me more than getting my sweaty self all over the customer's house..
Now.....I believe it is the customer's and tech's responsibility to establish a repore prior to any work being done. Yes that takes more time but who cares. Making the customer feel comfortable with my presence in their home is key to a complaint free job.
There are far too many techs who are in this just for the money. They are always in a big hurry. Part of that rests on the shoulders of half assed fly by night contractors who load their people up with two days worht of work for a 12 hour day.
But as far as i am concerened there is NO EXCUSE for shoddy work, poor customer service and not doing the job correctly the first time. If it were up to me, poor customer service and bad workmanship would be grounds for immediate dismissal and blacklisting from the industry. These crappy techs and contractors who employ them have to be run out of the business. Until that happens, complaints such as yours and worse will continue.
 
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My messy installation (not done by me) has barrel connections where the coax comes out of the dish. This was done so they could spend less time on the ladder peaking the dish (just need to unhook the barrel to use the meter instead of directly connecting to the LNBFs on the dish).

Anyway those "labor saving" barrel connectors sit in the gutter. This is a short gutter that instantly clogs in the fall. After a couple of years one of the barrel connectors rotted out from sitting in water. I expect the other two connectors to fail next year. The tech just replaced the connector. I wanted him to eliminate the connectors with new cable (I had new cable) but that was evidently too much work. I would do it myself but I don't want to climb a 32-foot ladder to fix it.
I have DPP so I'll be calling them next summer to fix it again.
 
I cover all my exposed outdoor connections with silicone sealant. Impervious to nature yet peals right off if I need to make a change.
 

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