Shaw Direct - Maximum Cable Run to help out a neighbor?

[-Jim-]

Gents,

I've sort of got the Shaw Direct setup at the Cabin working. (I'd post a bunch of photos but can't seem to get that working here... Here's a link instead on the install so far...)

Tough installation - Location - Help PLease - Digital Forum

It's a 350 foot cable run from the dish to the cabin on RG6 Quad Shield (outdoor buried in plastic pipe) from a 60e Dish. Signal strength on Channel 299 is ~76% and on Channel 284 ~94% with about 35 feet of Cable when tweaking right at the dish. I ran out of Cable after only 2 of the 4 runs (and had to leave) so the Phillips Multiswitch is not connected. I also didn't have time to check the signal strength at the Cabin end of the cable, but I did plug it into the Cabin cables and it worked great on 299 and 284 (and others) before I disconnected it and left. (My initial tests with a long 330 foot test cable prior to install showed only about a 2% drop in signal strength versus the 35 foot cable setup.)

My helpful neighbor wants to share the Dish with me (not the same account - he'll buy his own if the system will work to his place further away from the dish) and as I'm not using the Cabin for a long while, I gave him my DSR-505 and a Phillips SDW5005GN In Line Satellite amplifier in case he needed it to run from the cabin to his house another ~260 feet away.

So my question is, should he be able to get enough signal without the Phillips SDW5005GN in line to run the DSR-505 from a dish ~610 feet away? (Is there a formula for this?) Or should he be able to get enough signal with the Phillips SDW5005GN in line to run the DSR-505? Or is the Phillips SDW5005GN not the right device for this application?

Eventually (next spring?) I'm hoping to complete the install and use the 4 input cables into the Philips SDW5058 Satellite Multiswitch and provide him with a couple of feeds off the 8 outputs as well as my brother in law next door. I was hopeful the 1.5 dB gain from the Multiswitch would provide enough boost for the ~260 to his house without any other amplification.

Should this work or am I just tilting at windmills?

Thanks for the assist.

 

[-Jim-]

Gents,

I was surprised no one chimed in but then running the Sat Receiver 600 feet away from the Dish is an unusual situation.

I've now got decent enough signal it seems at the Cabin with the RG6 Quad Shield Cable we used

Here's the data:

At the Dish prior to cable run install off short 30 foot cable:

On F1R Channel 299 - ShawDirect Reg - the strength is 72

On F2 Channel 284 - NBC HD - the strength is 94

At the Rear of the Cabin at end of 350 foot cable install:

On F1R Channel 299 - ShawDirect Reg - the strength is 71

On F2 Channel 284 - NBC HD - the strength is 92

After adding 248 feet of RG6 Indoor Dual Shield to the above to temporarily carry the signal over to the neighbor's house:

On F1R Channel 299 - ShawDirect Reg - the strength is 61

On F2 Channel 284 - NBC HD - the strength is 39

After adding a Phillips SDW5005GN In Line Amplifier in between the Cables to the above to carry over to the neighbor's house:

On F1R Channel 299 - ShawDirect Reg - the strength is 70

On F2 Channel 284 - NBC HD - the strength is 39


It dies off if we connect (via a barrel coupler) another 250 feet of the RG6 indoor dual I used for testing earlier to go over to the neighbor's place. (We are going to replace the Test Cable soon with outdoor RG6 Quad Shield Cable)

We installed the Multiswitch and the testing today went well, although not perfectly.

It's raining cats and dogs at the Lake with pools of water all over the road. (Not great weather to be mucking about with Sat Dishes and Cable trenches

) But the neighbor persevered, and connected the cables as described above from the multiswitch. The results are:

After connecting to the neighbor's house inside cabling to his TV:

On F1R Channel 299 - ShawDirect Reg - the strength is 53

On F2 Channel 284 - NBC HD - the strength is 79

Other channels on those "2 legs" into the Multiswitch (13V and 13V with 22 KHZ ) are good with similar numbers. I think we are losing a bit of signal to "rain fade", and also to an uncrimped connector at the end of the temporary (indoor RG6) cable. However the neighbor says the Picture is good (but not as good as from the local Shaw Cable company which is strange...) and the sound is solid. He is also only inputting to his LCD TV via a Coax cable. My target was to have the Signal at 70 minimum for both Birds at his house so no issues with snow /rain fade would occur.

I wonder if we'd see any benefit installing the Phillips SDW5005GN In Line Amplifier after the Multiswitch? I think it's worth a try. What do you think? Any other ideas?

Thanks for the assist.:up

 

[-Jim-]

The Plan...

The neighbor got a couple loose connections solid when he tried the Phillips SDW5005GN In Line Amplifier, but it gave no joy regardless if it was after the multiswitch, or before cable entry into his house. He didn't have the numbers handy, but thought they were about 58 on Channel 299, with 284 still solid at about 90.

It turned out a really loose connection was right at the multiswitch. He is using twist on F connectors now. Based on my investigation I've decided PPC EX6WS (or EX6XLWS) would be best for the exterior connections. So I am planing to change all of them in the spring as it's getting quite nasty out there => -10 C and getting colder by the day...

But at least the signal at the neighbor is strong enough he gets a good picture. (I just worry about Rain Fade, Snow Storms, etc...)

So a move towards a 75e Dish seems warranted as the most cost effective next move. I've read posts where both Dishes were "professionally algined" side by side, and the 75e consistently gave a 10 point increase in signal strength. So if the signal on Channel 299 goes to 80 before the multiswitch, hopefully it won't degrade as much going the last 250 feet (and still remain above 70).

We are definitely going for the 75e Dish, and will haggle for it with SD when negotiating the neighbor's account and recievers. The next step after that, if there still are issues, would be a move to RG11 Cables...OMG!

At least that's the plan...