Installation Help - Cabling

[D-Train]

Forgive me if this question isn't appropriate here. I'm sure it will show some lack of knowledge in the installation arena.

I'm on the lease plan with dish, and am currently swapping out a 322 receiver for an 811 receiver. I had the 322 in one room and existing cabling in my house went from the 322 to the living room TV. It worked perfectly with the UHF remote and since the basement under the living room is finished, worked perfectly with the existing in-wall coax that previously distributed cable to the living room. With the 811 I want the reciever to be in the living room and use component cabling to the TV. I'd like to use the existing in-wall coax as part of the run between the outside dish and the receiver. I tried this and it partly worked. It could lock on all transponders except for some even numbered transponders on 119. I then tried it where the existing 322 is and it locked onto everything. Why is this? Are different types of cables needed from what may currently be in the wall? I'd rather not have to fish additional cables to make this work. I recently spent a couple hours in the attic doing this for a light fixture, and it wasn't fun!

Any help greatly appreciated.

In case you're wondering why I didn't call Dish. I just spent a half hour on hold with them waiting to activate the receiver. I'd like to avoid doing that again if possible.

Thanks!

 

[toledotech]

Is the cable in your home rg6 and did the 322 rec have diplexers in the line?

 

[D-Train]

Bummer... I looked at the cable (more like the 2 feet I have access to on one end) and I could make out some writing that looked like "RG 597U". Sounds like it's probably RG-59. In that same 2 feet I also see a part where the outer coating is damaged. No telling what the condition of the rest of it is. There are no diplexers to my knowledge.

I found this little tidbit at http://ekb.dbstalk.com/69:

Why can I only get some channels?

You probably have a bad cable.

The LNBs switch polaritization using a change of DC voltage. 13 volts gives you odd polarization transponders. 18 volts give you even polarization. Even and odd transponders use opposite polarization to prevent adjacent "channel" interference. A bad high resistance cable may not be able to get 18 volts to the LNB. Isolate this problem by going to the point dish screen and seeing which transponders are working. If they are all odd, you've got your clue.

What's the diagnosis here? Do I need to replace the cable with RG-6? Anyone have experience attaching new cable to one end of an existing in-wall cable and pulling the new cable through?

 

[wobbie]

Diognosis??? The mice or squirrels in your house are chewing on the cable. Just kidding. Not too much you can do other then replace the cable especially since it appears to be RG59. Chances are that the existing cable is tacked or nailed to the studs in the wall. If not, you can strip back about 6 inches of cable wrap the stinger around the existing cable wrap with tape and pull the new RG6 thru the wall. If the existing cable is nailed or tacked and you have a phone jack near by in the room, try the phone wire, alot of times they will not be nailed or tacked. Good Luck

 

[D-Train]

Thanks toledotech and wobbie. Now I know why that dead squirrel I found looked a little fried

I gave the cable a good tug and it doesn't want to move. I guess I'll have to find another way.

 

[wobbie]

If you can cut the part where it is damaged and replace the fitting, you could try the existing cable. It may work for ever it may not work at all. That's up to you, if it may be too much work to replace you could try the old cable. We used the existing 59 cable in my brother-in-laws house as it would have been impossible to replace or fish new wire and he has not had any trouble with his system for the last three years. He is also running all DishPro equipment. Just a thought.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Yeah - he said his 322 worked fine. You'd think the 811 would be OK, too.

Sounds like he's just marginally outside the capability of RG-59. Remember, that old wire just has higher RF & DC loss factors - short (very short) runs should be OK.

SO - maybe the 811 has a weaker power output or less sensitive tuner. Replace as much of the RG-59 as possible, then cross your fingers.

 

[D-Train]

Just to clarify, the receiver isn't the issue here. In switching to the 811 I'm trying to relocate the receiver. The RG-59 run used to be between the receiver and the television, which works fine. Now I'm trying to use the RG-59 run for between the receiver and the switch and it just doesn't cut it.

I think mentally I've prepared myself for the inevitable... I'll need to go up into the attic and fish some new RG-6 to that location. I would like to add speaker wire to the walls so if I can do that at the same this isn't so bad.

If I add more RG-6 to that location, what's the max length from the switch to the receiver before resistance becomes an issue? What if that same length includes one or two connectors?

 

[installer_in_Fla]

The "run between" is the backfeed from the TV2 port of the 322 ... hence, 59 is suitable. It's a standard RF signal traversing the line. The 322 works fine because it's using the 6. You would have to replace that 59 with 6 which I think was allready said.
What kind of switch do you have?
Some will tell you no more than 250 feet. UNFORTUNATLY I have hade to run cable about 400 feet in some Sears and Wachovia Banks. Signal degrades slighlty with DP stuff. Legacy equipment is much more sensitive to cable length between lnb and switch.

 

[SimpleSimon]

The signal degradation depends mostly on the type of cable in use. Copper-clad steel won't carry near as far as solid copper.

If you've got to go a LONG way, step up to RG-11. Considerably more expensive, tho.