Installer question

[monlover]

HI,
First of all, thanks to all for making this forums the best and the most friendly educational for all professionals and newbies.
I'm a handy man, installing flat screens, hocking up entertainment centers, also since I have couple of MS certs, I'm setting up home networking.
Now I found some customers asking for FTA installation and set up, so I need to buy the appropriate tools to do the job correct and fast with not damage. Pleas see below some questions I hope I get it answered and I will be thankful in advance:

What is the best signal meter under 100 dollars?
What type of campus I should have to use to start pointing the dish?
Looking at the cable junction box, how you find the specific cable going to a specific room, is there any tracing device you attached to one end and get a tracking signal at the other end??
DP34 switch can be used to combine dish network and FTA signals? If it is not, is there such thing??

Thanks in advance.

 

[fanquon]

HI,
First of all, thanks to all for making this forums the best and the most friendly educational for all professionals and newbies.
I'm a handy man, installing flat screens, hocking up entertainment centers, also since I have couple of MS certs, I'm setting up home networking.
Now I found some customers asking for FTA installation and set up, so I need to buy the appropriate tools to do the job correct and fast with not damage. Pleas see below some questions I hope I get it answered and I will be thankful in advance:

What is the best signal meter under 100 dollars?
What type of campus I should have to use to start pointing the dish?
Looking at the cable junction box, how you find the specific cable going to a specific room, is there any tracing device you attached to one end and get a tracking signal at the other end??
DP34 switch can be used to combine dish network and FTA signals? If it is not, is there such thing??

Thanks in advance.

The best is use a small tv plus the customer or your own receiver to check the signal. Check the Satdoun website for satellite location and look angle.
Home depot or loews where they displace the cable accessory section has the cable trace device. DP34 switch can not be use for two difference satellite system.

 

[monlover]

The best is use a small tv plus the customer or your own receiver to check the signal. Check the Satdoun website for satellite location and look angle.
Home depot or loews where they displace the cable accessory section has the cable trace device. DP34 switch can not be use for two difference satellite system.

Thank you for the reply,
so, is there any switch can accept dish netwrok and fta at the same time??

 

[gillham]

Thank you for the reply,
so, is there any switch can accept dish netwrok and fta at the same time??

Not really for a standard installation. If you have a fixed dish FTA setup with a band-stacked LNBF, you could use it with a DP34 switch and DN 110/119 satellites. Basically you would put the FTA fixed dish on the 3rd satellite port of the DP34. The dish receivers would see it as connected but no satellite. The FTA receiver would need to know about band-stacked LNBFs and be setup to use DiSEQc port 3.

But... this would not be that useful, since you need a dedicated cable for the FTA receiver anyway. You're much better off just keeping DN & FTA separate since you have to run an RG6 for each and every receiver, you can't share the cable. When you keep them separate the FTA receiver can use all different kinds of switching and a motor. That really isn't practical when you limit it to DN compatible switches.

 

[lownote2]

Thank you for the reply,
so, is there any switch can accept dish netwrok and fta at the same time??

What exactly are you wanting to accomplish? Are you wanting to run DN and FTA both through a switch and then from that switch go to DN receiver and FTA receiver?

If so I really see no reason to do that. There's hardly anything but NASA on 119/110 unless you like to watch a lot of DN's commercials and info channels.

What is the best signal meter under 100 dollars? Channel master analog battery powered, but really I wouldn't go to that expense. Just make sure settings are correct and use customers tv/receiver. Have them help you watch the meter if possible. If you were really going to do a lot of installs then spend the money on a birddog, which is expensive, but lets you know what satellite you're hitting. Maxpeak and Supersat buddy are good to, but also, very expensive and hard to justify for only a few installs
What type of campus I should have to use to start pointing the dish? Suunto makes a great compass for azimuth and inclination, but again.. expensive. ($140 or so). Just go to your local retail store to the camping section and but a $4 compass and you'll be fine.
Looking at the cable junction box, how you find the specific cable going to a specific room, is there any tracing device you attached to one end and get a tracking signal at the other end?? Yes. A cable toner can be found on line.. a mapper is even better. look on ebay under cable mapper or toner. Toner is cheaper, mapper is better. Toners are around $5 and up.... Mappers usually around $35 and up

DP34 switch can be used to combine dish network and FTA signals? If it is not, is there such thing??
Why combine? Nothing from E* to watch anyway. Run them seperate. I really don't think they'd combine, but I could be wrong. Never used a DP34 for FTA, and I've got about 5 of them on my truck. Maybe I'll try one sometime just to see. I have used plenty of the zinwells that Directtv uses for FTA and they work great. But I've also never combined another subscription service with FTA through the same switch.
Thanks in advance.

 

[monlover]

Thank you for the info

:upThank you very much for your generosity,
I really appreciate all that info you are sharing here.
I got a toner from Ebay, it is under 10 dollars.

Thank you again for the info.