Trying to recognize which cable is connected to a dish

Martin I

New Member
Jun 29, 2019
3
0
Ecuador
Hi

I moved to an apartment building with 7 apartments and 9 DirecTV dish antennas on the roof. I was told that one antenna is for my department but I can not know for sure if the cable that reaches my floor is the one connected to some antenna.

Is there any way with a multi meter to find out if the cable is actually getting some signal from the dish?
Any ideas.

Regards
 

Claude Greiner

SatelliteGuys Master
Supporting Founder
Sep 8, 2003
13,213
3,776
Detroit - The Paris of the Midwest
Either trace the wire from your unit to the roof, or connect up a receiver and see what happens.

Either that or a $500 Directv aim meter would say its active.

If you went on eBay and bought a d12 (which cannot be activated) that would also work
 

slice1900

SatelliteGuys Pro
Feb 14, 2015
1,755
802
IA
Wow, what a mess. Imagine the fun an installer would have if they need it fixed and they have to figure out which dish is which!
 

Jimbo

SatelliteGuys Master
Lifetime Supporter
Jul 14, 2005
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NW Ohio - Buckeye Country
Wow, what a mess. Imagine the fun an installer would have if they need it fixed and they have to figure out which dish is which!
People that work in the business have tone tracers for that type of thing.

I have them for wiring, but not coax ...

I could rig it up to work, but they have a tool that does that.
 

raoul5788

Studebaker driver
Staff member
HERE TO HELP YOU!
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Screenshot 2019-06-29 at 7.58.30 PM.png This is what I use to trace cables.
 

Martin I

New Member
Jun 29, 2019
3
0
Ecuador
Thanks for the answers.
1) Are you paying for DirecTv service? Yes, but I have the "install it your own" kit that I can take from one home to another.
2) The tone tracer looks like a good idea. I'm checking for it online.
3) Sperry Wire Tracker also looks good.

I'm thinking about some thing else, if I can convince the building management, do you think it can be good to only have one DirecTV dish for the building (7 floors high), with some signal booster/splitters to serve all the departments.
What do you think? do you have any experience with those boosters ? Any model you recommend?

Regards
 

RC73 (two of them) failing on HR44 after one worked before

Cutting a Directv access card

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