New install tomorrow - A couple of questions from a new customer.

[scott12v]

I'm brand new to Dish and new to Satellite TV. I've been a Comcast customer for the past 10 years (and hated them every second). I've recently moved into a new home and have decided to give Dish a shot.

My primary question is about mounting the Dish. My ideal location would be about 150' from the house on a pole in the ground next to our existing utility pole. I already have an empty conduit run from this location to the house. Is 150' too far? Are there any other problems with doing this? I was going to go ahead and run the RG6 myself so that the installer wouldn't complain about the distance. Do I just need 1 RG6 cable or do I need to run multiples? I was also planning on mounting my OTA antenna on or near the dish, so I guess I need at least a second RG6 for that.

If it matters, I'm signed up for the DishHD Silver package and will be getting a 622 and 2 211s.

I've read through the first 10 pages of threads, but am still kind of confused about needing multiple dishes. Hopefully I can get by with a single dish and a single run of RG6 to the house (or 2 if I need one for the OTA signal.)

I'm in the Pittsburgh area.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[hobojoe]

you better have some big pipe you need at least 4 if your going to put the switch near the house one for each sat another for the off air ant. the 150 is OK as long as your entry point is close to the TVs. i think the power inputs on the new switches help on long runs. i think 200ft is max

 

[scott12v]

you better have some big pipe you need at least 4 if your going to put the switch near the house one for each sat another for the off air ant. the 150 is OK as long as your entry point is close to the TVs. i think the power inputs on the new switches help on long runs. i think 200ft is max

Thanks for the response. There's actually two conduits (one has a single RG6 from Comcast), so I *think* 4 wires will be okay.

So what do you mean by the "switch"? Some sort of box that combines the 4 cables into 1? And when you say 200' max, I guess that means from the dish to each TV? Meaning that I would only have 50' once inside the house? That definitely won't work for me.

 

[scott12v]

I guess a follow up question would be, if I have 4 RG6s coming into my house, how many need to be run to each receiver (TV)? I would assume that they are combined and only 1 needs to be run to each receiver?

Is there a FAQ somewhere? I hate to ask the most basic questions.

 

[teachsac]

Welcome.

How many dishes would depend on where they put your HD locals. They should come out sometime this year.

Anybody out there know where they're going to go for him?

Scott

 

[teachsac]

I guess a follow up question would be, if I have 4 RG6s coming into my house, how many need to be run to each receiver (TV)? I would assume that they are combined and only 1 needs to be run to each receiver?

Is there a FAQ somewhere? I hate to ask the most basic questions.

You'll need one line for each receiver. The 622 will come with a separator.

Scott

 

[scott12v]

Okay, I found the installation manual for the Dish 500/Dish 1000 and that cleared a lot of things up.

Basically, 3 - 4 RG6s from the Dish to the Switch which takes the signals and combines them to a single RG6 for each receiver.

If I understand another post I just read correctly, the separator that you mention means that I only need one line from the switch to the receiver even though the receiver has two tuners.

It does sound like I need a diplexer? to combine the OTA signal with the satellite signal though.

I had no idea there was so much to this... I figured one wire from the dish to a splitter and that was it!

 

[bhelms]

scott12v - A little clarification here: You'll have 3 sat. slots with the programming you mentioned and 4 tuners. There are various ways to configure this, but the most likely is that you will have 3 separate cables from the 3 LNBs to your switch location which is probably best at the house. That switch could be either a DP34 or a DPP44. If it's a 34, then there will be one cable to each 211 and two to the 622. All ports (in and out) on the 34 will be filled. If they use a 44 (I would ask for that, but it is more expensive) then there would be one open input port and the 622 could be fed with a single cable that would be split to the two tuner inputs using the separator that comes with the 622. (That separator does NOT work with the 34 switch!) That would leave one output port open on the switch for a future additional receiver. The 44 also needs a power insertor (comes with it) in the line from output port 1. Summary - you will need 3 cables from your post to where ever the switch is located then one cable from the switch to each 211 and either 1 cable to the 622 if it's a DPP44 or 2 cables if it's a DP34. 200' total cable length from LNBs to switch to receivers is OK with the DP and DPP equipment.

Regarding the number of dishes - you're in an area where you can receive the 129 sat. so they would probably give you the D1000, a single dish with 3 LNBs that will receive 110/119/129 sats. As teachsac mentioned tho' it all depends on which sat. will carry your HD locals if you're planning to sub. to them. I also don't know which sat, 61.5 or 129 will carry those HD LiLs. If it turns out that they will be on the 61.5 sat. then you will have a second dish pointed there with a single LNB and probably just a D500 with 2 LNBs pointed to 110/119.

Regarding the OTA antenna - I strongly suggest you run a separate coax for that primarily because with a 150' coax run to the house you will most likely need a preamp at the antenna. You can easily use diplexers to combine the OTA signals into one of the sat. cables, then split them back out again at the switch, but that becomes messy if it turns out that you need the preamp and really limits your options. Also - the diplexers impart some loss that might be critical in your OTA signal path. So the 4th coax is recommended, and for less interference to the OTA signals I also recommend that that one be quad shield type (others may disagree). You don't need QS for the sat. cables, but they do need to be good to at least 2200 MHz. While you're at it, it wouldn't hurt to run one or more extra coaxes if they will fit in your conduit(s) just in case you upgrade the system in the future! I would run one extra sat. cable and one extra QS cable for a total of 6! The extra cost if you do it now is just the cable itself. Since you'll be pulling 4, 2 more doesn't add much extra work now, but if you need to put them in sometime in the future you essentially get to repeat the whole process with greater cost and hassle.

Welcome, BTW. Let us know what you decide...

 

[Liquidforce88]

I would run atleast 4 lines from the dish into the house. Depending on what dish system you get you may need that many lines. The least amount you are going to need from the dish to the house is 3. So I would run fuor "JUST FOR THE DISH" then another line for your OTA.

 

[scott12v]

bhelms,

Thanks for the great post, that helps a lot.

It does sound like the place where I want to put the dish won't work. I'll measure tonight to be sure, but my distribution point inside the house is at least 30' from where the cable will enter the house, so we're already at 180' before I even run any wires from the basement to the receivers. Each of them is at least 20'.

Now I just have to find a spot for the Dish that won't be too obnoxious. I guess the good news is that I won't have to run the lines since they'll be a lot closer to the house...I'll leave that to the installer.

Thanks again everyone...
Scott

 

[bhelms]

More thoughts...

It's always best to let the installer do the site survey first and then you can discuss your options with him. Also ask him about the HD locals. Most installs will include some moderate amount (50' ??) of "trenching" to run cable(s) to a post-mounted system if that's needed, but that would not include putting it into conduit or the OTA portion. If it were my system and the post mount is the only option, I would want to run the conduit/cable and set the post myself, so that would likely mean 2 visits from the installer. I'm not sure how well they'd like that, but I'll bet none of them like the trenching anyway so maybe they'd be glad to let you have at it first...!

The manual for the DPP44 switch says 200' max. but I'm not sure if that's a hard and fast rule. Technically it would depend to some extent on the quality of the coax. Lower-loss cable would mean that the run could be longer and still give the same performance, so I bet that 200' limit assumes worst case. With premium cable you could probably almost double that, but I would want to get more opinions on that possibility, hopefully from someone who has tried it, before laying it down. There are also in-line sat. signal amplifiers that could extend it somewhat. I don't have any experience with those, but you could search the topic.

Here's a link to some information on that DPP44 switch:

http://tech.dishnetwork.com/departmental_content/TechPortal/content/tech/equipment/dish_pro.shtml

PS - I'm from the South Hills area of Pgh. - my old "stomping grounds"...!

 

[Poke]

Good luck on everything and Dish Rocks!! Let us know how things go..

 

[scott12v]

Well, I did all of the cabling inside the house, so it is all Quad Shield RG-6.

I just figured that the installer wouldn't be willing to run 150' of COAX (at least not without charging me more), so I figured I'd do it myself. However, now that we're talking 4 runs * 150', that's more than I have right now and is actually a lot of money just for cable. I'll just make sure to have a long enough fish tape for him and see what he has to say.

South Hills? I'm from the North so I may make it to the South once every couple of years

 

[bhelms]

FWIW - I just bought 200' of Belden 1189A QS for $.15 per foot through one of our local electrical supply distributors (Hite company). They had to order it but I had it within a few days. That type is only rated to 1GHz so it probably wouldn't work for the sat. runs (I would need to verify) but it is probably a great choice for OTA, which is why I bought it. I was being quoted as much as $.39/ft from other potential suppliers, so I thought that was a decent deal.

You'll really like the 622 and right now E* is well on top with their HD choices (unless you're fixated on sports, but you can probably get most of what sports you want to watch via OTA HD.)

Have a great weekend and good luck with your project!

 

[bronzey214]

What's with the infulx of Pittsbugh people? I'm from southern Allegheny County and a tech w/ Dish, haha.

 

[stevo/65]

If you are going to run the lines yourself
then i would go with 4 lines from pole to house.
Also if you are going purchase the cable
make sure it is swept tested for 3 gigs
and is also rg 6 solid copper "not copper clad"
150-200 ft. would be fine

_______________

http://www.myspace.com/1_crazymexican

 

[scott12v]

What's with the infulx of Pittsbugh people? I'm from southern Allegheny County and a tech w/ Dish, haha.

I think we're finally getting fed up with Comcast! In my case, I had been planning to go with Comcast until FIOS TV is available (I already have FIOS Internet). Comcast waited two months for my install (new construction) and had no idea when it would be done, so I decided to go with Dish. I was still planning to switch to FIOS when it became available, but with all of the HD available on Dish, now I'm not so sure.

Can't wait until tomorrow to see it!

 

[scott12v]

Well, no Dish so far. They came out this morning and had no problem with the location where I wanted the Dish. I measured and it was actually 120' from the house, so we'll be able to keep the total distance close to 200'.

However, when he tried getting a signal, he couldn't get the 129 satellite no matter what. He tried it from my preferred location and several other places around the house, but some distant trees meant that he wasn't able to get a signal. After about an hour of trying, he called Dish and they said to add another Dish so I could get the HD channels off of the 61.5. Unfortunately, they didn't have an extra dish with them. The good news is, they're coming back tomorrow morning with a second dish.

He did say that the switch shouldn't be more than 10' from the actual Dish, but I think I have him convinced that we can do the switch inside the house. I also asked if I could get one of the 44 switches since they're powered (not sure if the others aren't?) and he said maybe, but he had never installed one of the 44s before.

I'll let everyone know how it goes tomorrow.

Scott