Should I just fix the install myself?

[scoobee001]

Long time listener... first time caller here.

I wanted to get peoples opinion about what I should do. Let me explain my situation. We moved into a new house 2 months ago and used Dish's dishmover to mover the service from my old house to the new one. To save the long story, the installer did a poor job on the install. He was new (1 month on the job) and never did a pole mount. It took him 8 hours to do the install on his SECOND visit. We won't get into why he came out twice. Anyway. We had a working dish when he left. I did a quick look over the work, and although, it isn't how I would have done it, it worked. I admit I should have looked over the install more closely but he was there 8 hours... I was just happy that he finally got it working.

Fast forward 2 months now, and add some heavy winds in over that time. The pole now moves. In doing a more thorough look at the install, the rest of the job is just bad. The pole now moves in the cement. The cables don't have a drip loop on them at the dish. I didn't have him bury the line because at the time of the install we hadn't had rain in about a month, so he would have been there another 8 hours trying to bust through the clay. That has allowed me to catch the fact that the lines to the dish don't have outdoor connectors on them. The ground wire isn't connected to anything, and they non outdoor connections are laying on the ground, and would have been in the ground had I let the installer bury the lines. All of which probably won't cause me a problem for a short while other than the pole moving. I have shored that up temporarily, but it will need to be fixed better come spring time. This begs the question. Should I call them back to fix their install or should I just fix the install myself. If I call them back, should they be allowed to charge me to fix their mess? I'm not above doing it myself and actually prefer redo this install myself, but the wife says to get them back out to the house to fix this issues that they caused.

Sorry for the long winded story, but what are peoples thoughts on this?

Thanks for your help
Jeff

 

[FriedSlug]

I went through the bad pole install last year. I had to fight with E* to get them to redo the install for free. Looking back I would have saved a lot of time and aggravation if I bought a bag of cement and fixed it myself. Just my 2 cents.

 

[chainblu]

Any service work comes with a 90 day warranty. Call 'em. Maybe you'll get a better installer this time. And yes, point out anything you think needs attention.

 

[rich88]

Long time listener... first time caller here.

I wanted to get peoples opinion about what I should do. Let me explain my situation. We moved into a new house 2 months ago and used Dish's dishmover to mover the service from my old house to the new one. To save the long story, the installer did a poor job on the install. He was new (1 month on the job) and never did a pole mount. It took him 8 hours to do the install on his SECOND visit. We won't get into why he came out twice. Anyway. We had a working dish when he left. I did a quick look over the work, and although, it isn't how I would have done it, it worked. I admit I should have looked over the install more closely but he was there 8 hours... I was just happy that he finally got it working.

Fast forward 2 months now, and add some heavy winds in over that time. The pole now moves. In doing a more thorough look at the install, the rest of the job is just bad. The pole now moves in the cement. The cables don't have a drip loop on them at the dish. I didn't have him bury the line because at the time of the install we hadn't had rain in about a month, so he would have been there another 8 hours trying to bust through the clay. That has allowed me to catch the fact that the lines to the dish don't have outdoor connectors on them. The ground wire isn't connected to anything, and they non outdoor connections are laying on the ground, and would have been in the ground had I let the installer bury the lines. All of which probably won't cause me a problem for a short while other than the pole moving. I have shored that up temporarily, but it will need to be fixed better come spring time. This begs the question. Should I call them back to fix their install or should I just fix the install myself. If I call them back, should they be allowed to charge me to fix their mess? I'm not above doing it myself and actually prefer redo this install myself, but the wife says to get them back out to the house to fix this issues that they caused.

Sorry for the long winded story, but what are peoples thoughts on this?

Thanks for your help
Jeff

Outdoor connectors?? Indoor Connectors??

The connectors we use are determined by the cable (RG6, RG6 Quad-shield, and RG59), not inside vs. outside.

Are you perhaps talking about compression connectors vs. crimp connectors??

 

[osu1991]

He is probably talking about silicon filled crimp on connectors. I would just do it myself and be done with it.

 

[scoobee001]

Sorry, the correct terms were escaping me when I wrote the post earlier today, I was talking about weathertight compression ends. I'd post a link but i don't have enough posts yet.

Silicon filled crimp ends would be ok too but my preference on the wiring that I do is the compression ends. The ends that this guy used were basically the same as what you get at Lowes. They do the job, but not something I want to bury in the ground.

 

[dishcomm]

Long time listener... first time caller here.

I wanted to get peoples opinion about what I should do. Let me explain my situation. We moved into a new house 2 months ago and used Dish's dishmover to mover the service from my old house to the new one. To save the long story, the installer did a poor job on the install. He was new (1 month on the job) and never did a pole mount. It took him 8 hours to do the install on his SECOND visit. We won't get into why he came out twice. Anyway. We had a working dish when he left. I did a quick look over the work, and although, it isn't how I would have done it, it worked. I admit I should have looked over the install more closely but he was there 8 hours... I was just happy that he finally got it working.

Fast forward 2 months now, and add some heavy winds in over that time. The pole now moves. In doing a more thorough look at the install, the rest of the job is just bad. The pole now moves in the cement. The cables don't have a drip loop on them at the dish. I didn't have him bury the line because at the time of the install we hadn't had rain in about a month, so he would have been there another 8 hours trying to bust through the clay. That has allowed me to catch the fact that the lines to the dish don't have outdoor connectors on them. The ground wire isn't connected to anything, and they non outdoor connections are laying on the ground, and would have been in the ground had I let the installer bury the lines. All of which probably won't cause me a problem for a short while other than the pole moving. I have shored that up temporarily, but it will need to be fixed better come spring time. This begs the question. Should I call them back to fix their install or should I just fix the install myself. If I call them back, should they be allowed to charge me to fix their mess? I'm not above doing it myself and actually prefer redo this install myself, but the wife says to get them back out to the house to fix this issues that they caused.

Sorry for the long winded story, but what are peoples thoughts on this?

Thanks for your help
Jeff

You are understandably shell shocked. I will speculate your biggest fear is calling Dish and having them send a tech to fix the job and having another inexperinced or uncaring tech do the work....
You have three options. One, Spend the money on cable ,fittings, a crimper and do the job yourself.. That would be moderately priced, plus your time. That assures you have the work the way you want it.
Two, call Dish back to send a tech to complete the work properly.
That's free. One way you could get them to do it right is to make sure you are present during the work. It is your right to ask( not tell) the tech to make sure the job is of the highest quality and doen to Dish Network's specifications.
THree, you can hire a local home theatre/ satellite company to do the work. This will be expensive. But these guys do the best work because these are small companies and the last thing they need is bad word of mouth going around the community in which they work...
Oh yeah......There should be ABSOLUTELY NO SPLICES in the run from the Dish ot the ground block. If there are , the install tech really screwed up. Splices anywhere in the cable between the dish and the ground block are a violation of Dish's rules.

 

[Frank Jr.]

I read your post shortly after you first posted. I had to think about it for a while because I have conflicting thoughts. My first impression was to recommend that you do it yourself. (provided you know what you are doing). I guess I thought that way because I installed or I should say reinstalled my system over the years. I have all the proper tools and supplies. I am a DIY sort of guy. The original installation wasn't bad but because I have more time to devote to the installation and upgrades over the years I could do it myself on my time schedule. With that said I now think it may be better for you to give Dish a call and let them fix it. That way you don't have to pay for tools and supplies. If you start the repairs and break something you are on the hook for it. Give Dish a shot at making it right. Just my 2 cents. Good luck with what ever you decide.

 

[scoobee001]

Frank Jr, I agree with you. I have the tools/skills to do it myself other than the signal meter to point the dish. That's the part that puts me on the fence. I can fix everything up to the dish including the pole mount, but pointing the dish... I am relying on the meter on the screens in the receiver. IF that's accurate I can do it, if not... I'll have a nice pole (thats what she said) and some well terminated cable for Dish to fix.

 

[Frank Jr.]

Frank Jr, I agree with you. I have the tools/skills to do it myself other than the signal meter to point the dish. That's the part that puts me on the fence. I can fix everything up to the dish including the pole mount, but pointing the dish... I am relying on the meter on the screens in the receiver. IF that's accurate I can do it, if not... I'll have a nice pole (thats what she said) and some well terminated cable for Dish to fix.

It is ok to peak a dish with the meter from the receiver. The hand held signal meter is normally used for on site surveys and convenience. Best peaking comes from the receiver signal meter in my opinion. Trouble with that is not being able to see or hear the meter tone from the receiver. My dish antenna is not on the roof so peaking the dish is just a matter of patients and walking back and forth. Obtw welcome aboard. Think about becoming a Pub Member. Really great forums and threads in there.

 

[TheKrell]

Best peaking comes from the receiver signal meter in my opinion. Trouble with that is not being able to see or hear the meter tone from the receiver.

I've had success with a couple of cordless phones in intercom mode. (All of my multi-handset cordless phones have such a mode.) Just put one next to the TV and take the other one to the antenna. A crappy (1) alternative is to use a cell phone and call home.

Note 1. Cell phone service may cost extra, depending upon your plan.

 

[8arrett]

Intercom Feature On Phones

I've had success with a couple of cordless phones in intercom mode. (All of my multi-handset cordless phones have such a mode.) Just put one next to the TV and take the other one to the antenna. A crappy (1) alternative is to use a cell phone and call home.

Note 1. Cell phone service may cost extra, depending upon your plan.

I used the intercom feature on my cordless phones not too long ago to peak my 61.5 dish. I'm glad you mentioned that - time to check my 119/110 again. I hope the OP is successful with "his" re-install. --Mark

 

[scoobee001]

I think I am going to end up fixing it myself. If I make sure the skew and elevation are locked down tight, I should "in theory" only have to dial in azimuth using phones once I get the pole reset and plum. And if I run my own line, I can bury a 3rd line now for the receiver that we are going to eventually get for our basement tv.

I am very shell shocked with the sub that dish sends to our area. When they did the install at my old house, the installer did a great job. In and out in like 1.5 hours, no problems or complaints to be had. When they did my inlaws install, they guys they sent were unprofessional. They tried to write the job off as uninstallable due to line of site issues, but once we got them to do the install, it was actually done well. Signal in the 70s or better across the board. LOS issues? Now on the install on my new house, they kept the unprofessional staff, and brought the install quality down to the same level. Thankfully there's not much dealing with them after the install is done. If my wife holds up her end of the deal, the next move is out of Erie to somewhere warm where I can deal with a new installer... or just do it myself.