My first post here. Thanks to all members...I'm an electrical contractor but a total noob about satellite. I've learned alot reading posts about similar problems.
I'm in Los Angeles. My customer owns a property that has two separate buildings on the same lot. The buildings (houses) have different street addresses, however (xxxx and xxxx1/2). The lot is on a hillside, and he has been told that only one of the houses, the "upper" house, has adequate LOS for a dish.
This upper house has had a working DirecTV installation for some time, but there has never been TV in lower house, as he rarely watches any television. He recently decided that he wanted to add DirecTV to the lower house, and as I understand the story, was told by D* that because the houses have different street addresses, he would have to pay full price for a second service, as compared to simply adding a second receiver to a single home. This brings me to my first question: does that sound correct?
So he decided to try to work around this: add a second receiver to the upper house (which D* came out and did) and then simply move the original receiver down to the lower house. My role: run a cable from the dish on the upper house to the location of the TV in the lower house.
I did some research, read somewhere and was told by someone (?) that GOOD RG6 can handle runs up to appx. 350', and the distance involved here is appx. 250'. I ran a single Carol brand C5785, a quad shield RG6, and used compression connectors on both ends. (My client indicated he had no desire or intention to use a DVR or watch HD programs).
There are 4 coax cables coming off the dish. They all run to a 4-"port" (sorry, i'm sure thats the wrong term) coupling (wrong term again?), which is grounded, and then are distributed to the TV's in the upper house. ONE cable ran to the original receiver (the one that was to be moved) so after D* did their thing, I simply disconected the the original coax from this coupling, and connected the new long run to the "coupling" at this point.
I was not present when the receiver was actually moved. I have been told that it took some time to aquire the signal, but did work...briefly. It apparently has not worked since. I tried to remedy the problem with an in-line amplifier (one properly rated for satellite, place about 20' from the dish) but this did not seem to help.
I spoke to an independant tech out here today...not a satellite specialist (an A/V and home theatre guy actually, with "some" experience installing satellite) who suggested that the lowest cost solution would be to call D* and tell them that there was a problem with signal strength the in the "bedroom", and speak about the problem as though the two buildings are actually ONE RESIDENCE (which they easily could be). He thought that the solution would likely be a powered multiswitch, and that there could be a cost of about $75 for the equipment.
Ethical issues not withstanding, it seems that the signal is too weak at the new location of the receiver in the lower house, and the length of the run could be the cause. If D* can solve this, that seems like the best possible solution. If they can't (or won't without charging in some way that is not acceptable to my client), what could be the possible fixes? (I have read many posts here citing the problems of amplification, but I doubt the labor and material costs involved in upgrading to RG11 are a viable option).
Is it possible that the problem could be solved by fine-tuning the aim of the dish, therby getting a stronger signal at the start of the long run, and having enough at the end for the receiver to work with?
What can be done to confirm that the in-line amp is getting the line-power it needs?
The receiver now located in the lower house is NOT connected to a phone line...can this be the cause?
Any other possible solutions and troubleshoots?
THANKS so much for sharing your expertise.
I'm in Los Angeles. My customer owns a property that has two separate buildings on the same lot. The buildings (houses) have different street addresses, however (xxxx and xxxx1/2). The lot is on a hillside, and he has been told that only one of the houses, the "upper" house, has adequate LOS for a dish.
This upper house has had a working DirecTV installation for some time, but there has never been TV in lower house, as he rarely watches any television. He recently decided that he wanted to add DirecTV to the lower house, and as I understand the story, was told by D* that because the houses have different street addresses, he would have to pay full price for a second service, as compared to simply adding a second receiver to a single home. This brings me to my first question: does that sound correct?
So he decided to try to work around this: add a second receiver to the upper house (which D* came out and did) and then simply move the original receiver down to the lower house. My role: run a cable from the dish on the upper house to the location of the TV in the lower house.
I did some research, read somewhere and was told by someone (?) that GOOD RG6 can handle runs up to appx. 350', and the distance involved here is appx. 250'. I ran a single Carol brand C5785, a quad shield RG6, and used compression connectors on both ends. (My client indicated he had no desire or intention to use a DVR or watch HD programs).
There are 4 coax cables coming off the dish. They all run to a 4-"port" (sorry, i'm sure thats the wrong term) coupling (wrong term again?), which is grounded, and then are distributed to the TV's in the upper house. ONE cable ran to the original receiver (the one that was to be moved) so after D* did their thing, I simply disconected the the original coax from this coupling, and connected the new long run to the "coupling" at this point.
I was not present when the receiver was actually moved. I have been told that it took some time to aquire the signal, but did work...briefly. It apparently has not worked since. I tried to remedy the problem with an in-line amplifier (one properly rated for satellite, place about 20' from the dish) but this did not seem to help.
I spoke to an independant tech out here today...not a satellite specialist (an A/V and home theatre guy actually, with "some" experience installing satellite) who suggested that the lowest cost solution would be to call D* and tell them that there was a problem with signal strength the in the "bedroom", and speak about the problem as though the two buildings are actually ONE RESIDENCE (which they easily could be). He thought that the solution would likely be a powered multiswitch, and that there could be a cost of about $75 for the equipment.
Ethical issues not withstanding, it seems that the signal is too weak at the new location of the receiver in the lower house, and the length of the run could be the cause. If D* can solve this, that seems like the best possible solution. If they can't (or won't without charging in some way that is not acceptable to my client), what could be the possible fixes? (I have read many posts here citing the problems of amplification, but I doubt the labor and material costs involved in upgrading to RG11 are a viable option).
Is it possible that the problem could be solved by fine-tuning the aim of the dish, therby getting a stronger signal at the start of the long run, and having enough at the end for the receiver to work with?
What can be done to confirm that the in-line amp is getting the line-power it needs?
The receiver now located in the lower house is NOT connected to a phone line...can this be the cause?
Any other possible solutions and troubleshoots?
THANKS so much for sharing your expertise.
