I answered an ad in our local paper about becoming a dish network installer. This is a little summary of my experience and why I decided not to do this business after a week of training. The company is doing superdish
installs and upgrades almost exclusively. First, I was told how much money I could make. (lots) This was interesting because of course, everyone wants to make lots of money. The General Manager told me I would be
paid $50 a day for training, up to 7 days. I was told to report the next day for a week of training. The next day, I was assigned to work with a two man crew who were splitting the money they made. On the first job, I found
out that these guys were not grounding their dishes. I asked the General Manager about proper grounding and he said ground the Superdish with the messenger wire on the RG6, connect it to the "34" switch, then to the ground
block. Then run a wire from the ground block to a proper grounding location. I know the messenger wire isn't a sufficient ground for a dish. But the boys who were "training" me were just cutting about 6" of the messenger
wire off to get it out of their way so they could hook up to the LNB's. No ground on the dish. They could only get 119 on that install, the leader of the two went back twice and still hadn't resolved it. We worked together a
couple of days, and I noticed that a lot of Superdish upgrades were being hooked up to the existing rg59 cable instead of replacing the cable with rg6. This was because replacing the cable would be time consuming and the guy
training me would not make any extra money for it. The pay sheet says $70.00 for a Superdish upgrade, $100.for a Superdish install, and states "ALL CUSTOM WORK IS PART OF THE INSTALL". You know how difficult
it can be to fish cable. Anyway, every night I did my homework on the Internet about this business and found out a lot. One day we went on a trouble call (pays $25.to the subcontractor/installer if it's not his own mistake) and the customer stated he didn't have his even numbered channels coming off his Superdish. My trainer diagnosed the problem by checking the wire, finding it was rg59, and said "I don't want to replace that ____ing wire". My trainer then hooked up a receiver he had with him, which did the exact same thing of not picking up the even channels. Then he called Dish, told them the customer needed a new Receiver, and we left for the next job. I was beginning to see clearly how money could be made at this business, and it was starting to stink. Most of the time when I asked him a technical question, my trainer would say I don't ____ing know. They really liked him at the shop, because he got a lot done and filled out his paperwork neatly and correctly. The last day was the clincher for me. We went out to install a Superdish, and it was a $500,000. house, with rg59 installed throughout it's
beautifully finished interior. No sign of a way to run new rg6 cable. So my Installer/Trainer hooked the Superdish to the rg59, as usual. One of the wires that was running from the Receiver poked me and shocked me. I figured it must be pretty hot so I stuck my meter on it and measured 48 volts. I informed my trainer of how much voltage there was and he snapped "how am I supposed to know how much voltage there is?" I said "well, you'ld
better know" These wires carry enough voltage to spark plenty. After the Install, the owner was asking the "trainer" how he had gotten it to work, since three other people had told him his wiring was incompatible with
superdish. "Trainer" just shruggs it off. So after work I call the General Manager and ask him if we connect Superdish equipment to rg 59 will it fail Q.C. ? he says "Yes". Then he says "If they catch it" (he does Q.C.) He
said that rg59 would last a while, then go bad. Then he said "well, you could get them to sign a waiver that your'e hooking up to the wrong kind of wire, if they want it done" I said "Where on the paperwork is there a place for a waiver?" he said "There isn't one" I said "Could this be a fire
hazard?" Then he said, "I guess you'ld better not be messing with getting them to sign a waiver, there's too much liability" "You need to discuss these things with your Manager, I've turned it over to him now" I went home that
night and discussed it with my Wife. I came to the conclusion that if I were to start this business, I couldn't make much money doing it the right way, since most of the work in this area is done in homes with existing rg59
that was installed for cable tv, and I would only consider doing it the right way with all new rg6 wire. I just don't want to burn anyone's house down, or even cause them to lose their tv signal due to shoddy work. and since "ALL
CUSTOM WORK IS PART OF THE INSTALL", I would say Dish Network is either going to wise up or replace a lot of receivers, and have a lot of trouble calls.
Too bad, it could have been a fun business.
installs and upgrades almost exclusively. First, I was told how much money I could make. (lots) This was interesting because of course, everyone wants to make lots of money. The General Manager told me I would be
paid $50 a day for training, up to 7 days. I was told to report the next day for a week of training. The next day, I was assigned to work with a two man crew who were splitting the money they made. On the first job, I found
out that these guys were not grounding their dishes. I asked the General Manager about proper grounding and he said ground the Superdish with the messenger wire on the RG6, connect it to the "34" switch, then to the ground
block. Then run a wire from the ground block to a proper grounding location. I know the messenger wire isn't a sufficient ground for a dish. But the boys who were "training" me were just cutting about 6" of the messenger
wire off to get it out of their way so they could hook up to the LNB's. No ground on the dish. They could only get 119 on that install, the leader of the two went back twice and still hadn't resolved it. We worked together a
couple of days, and I noticed that a lot of Superdish upgrades were being hooked up to the existing rg59 cable instead of replacing the cable with rg6. This was because replacing the cable would be time consuming and the guy
training me would not make any extra money for it. The pay sheet says $70.00 for a Superdish upgrade, $100.for a Superdish install, and states "ALL CUSTOM WORK IS PART OF THE INSTALL". You know how difficult
it can be to fish cable. Anyway, every night I did my homework on the Internet about this business and found out a lot. One day we went on a trouble call (pays $25.to the subcontractor/installer if it's not his own mistake) and the customer stated he didn't have his even numbered channels coming off his Superdish. My trainer diagnosed the problem by checking the wire, finding it was rg59, and said "I don't want to replace that ____ing wire". My trainer then hooked up a receiver he had with him, which did the exact same thing of not picking up the even channels. Then he called Dish, told them the customer needed a new Receiver, and we left for the next job. I was beginning to see clearly how money could be made at this business, and it was starting to stink. Most of the time when I asked him a technical question, my trainer would say I don't ____ing know. They really liked him at the shop, because he got a lot done and filled out his paperwork neatly and correctly. The last day was the clincher for me. We went out to install a Superdish, and it was a $500,000. house, with rg59 installed throughout it's
beautifully finished interior. No sign of a way to run new rg6 cable. So my Installer/Trainer hooked the Superdish to the rg59, as usual. One of the wires that was running from the Receiver poked me and shocked me. I figured it must be pretty hot so I stuck my meter on it and measured 48 volts. I informed my trainer of how much voltage there was and he snapped "how am I supposed to know how much voltage there is?" I said "well, you'ld
better know" These wires carry enough voltage to spark plenty. After the Install, the owner was asking the "trainer" how he had gotten it to work, since three other people had told him his wiring was incompatible with
superdish. "Trainer" just shruggs it off. So after work I call the General Manager and ask him if we connect Superdish equipment to rg 59 will it fail Q.C. ? he says "Yes". Then he says "If they catch it" (he does Q.C.) He
said that rg59 would last a while, then go bad. Then he said "well, you could get them to sign a waiver that your'e hooking up to the wrong kind of wire, if they want it done" I said "Where on the paperwork is there a place for a waiver?" he said "There isn't one" I said "Could this be a fire
hazard?" Then he said, "I guess you'ld better not be messing with getting them to sign a waiver, there's too much liability" "You need to discuss these things with your Manager, I've turned it over to him now" I went home that
night and discussed it with my Wife. I came to the conclusion that if I were to start this business, I couldn't make much money doing it the right way, since most of the work in this area is done in homes with existing rg59
that was installed for cable tv, and I would only consider doing it the right way with all new rg6 wire. I just don't want to burn anyone's house down, or even cause them to lose their tv signal due to shoddy work. and since "ALL
CUSTOM WORK IS PART OF THE INSTALL", I would say Dish Network is either going to wise up or replace a lot of receivers, and have a lot of trouble calls.
Too bad, it could have been a fun business.
