Installer arrived!

[cobalt135]

Well, I figured the installer might reschedule due to the weather....sub zero wind chill and a little snow here and there. Anyway had a 12-4 appt. and he called about 11:45 and arrived about 12:30.

The install was for a 5LNB dish, 1 HD-DVR, and two SD receivers. He brought....

Slimline with SWM LNB
HR22-100
(2) D12-700

He put the Slimline on the roof and used both monopoles while I hooked up all the receivers. I forgot to tell him to not put any holes in the vinyl siding but he used two or three cable clips screwed in which kinda sucks but what is done is done. Ran the RG6 down the wall and into the crawl. Receivers are being activated right now. Will post pics of the install and check signal levels when he leaves. Stay tuned....

 

[Kevin1514]

Glad you had a good experience. Its nice to hear that once in a while. Enjoy D*.

 

[cobalt135]

Been playing around with the HD-DVR for a for a few hours to get a feel for things....Sooo much better than TW's software IMO. Got DirectvToPC running but only messed with it for about 10 minutes and VOD is still loading up it seems.

Checked in the attic and the dish mounting base is secured to a stud but one monopole is not, which does not seem like it will be a problem. Tommorow I plan on making sure all the hardware is tight and make some tick marks on the adjustments incase something moves.

Checked in the crawl and the groundblock is located immediately on the inside of the coax entry point and grounded to the cold water pipe right beside it. He installed a SWM splitter but left one port open with no terminator. I will prob. pick up a few tommorow and cap it off.

Checked signal levels and the lowest I am getting is a 92 for the most part. There are about 5 TP's below 90 but I am pretty sure they are spotbeams, still working on learning what channels are coming from what sat and TP.

Still working on the pics, dark out now.......does anyone thing it is strange to keep wanting to go outside in the freezing cold just to look at a dish?lol

 

[CincyTech]

If he used SWM and the one port is left open on the swm splitter it is probably because of the HD-DVR... i wouldnt terminate it....

 

[grydlok]

If he used SWM and the one port is left open on the swm splitter it is probably because of the HD-DVR... i wouldnt terminate it....

what???

 

[Rey]

Still working on the pics, dark out now.......does anyone thing it is strange to keep wanting to go outside in the freezing cold just to look at a dish?lol

I don't. but i'm just as bad

If he used SWM and the one port is left open on the swm splitter it is probably because of the HD-DVR... i wouldnt terminate it....

 

[cobalt135]

Here are the pics, sorry about the poor quality but it is dark in the crawl, overcast, and freezing outside.

I will end up re-routing the coax run from the dish into the attic in the spring to eliminate the run down the siding.

 

[NutFlush920]

I personally haven't put terminator caps on my open ports either. I don't really see a need for it I guess. I too only have 1 port unused on the splitter and my signal is just fine on the receivers.

 

[Jimbo]

Here are the pics, sorry about the poor quality but it is dark in the crawl, overcast, and freezing outside.

I will end up re-routing the coax run from the dish into the attic in the spring to eliminate the run down the siding.

From looking at your pictures, the one in the crawl with the open port ... I wouldn't worry about it.

Jimbo

 

[Liquidforce88]

You also have an inproper ground. That is not a copper clamp.

 

[scarebear]

ground is wrong unless it's 5' from the city water meter, ground block is required by NEC code to be on the outside of the home but if your cable never catches fire you're ok!
and don't worry about the terminators, some brands of SWM splitters come with none the WNC ones come with weather booties and 75 OHM terminators

(on second look the splitter is a wnc, tech removed terms and booties, bleh extra work)

 

[cobalt135]

I decided to not terminate the unused port on the splitter since it has been fine thus far, I am not sure why they would not have used a copper clamp though. I can't blame the tech for grounding to that pipe though as the service entrance and ground rod is maybe 40 ft. if you were to go over the roof to the other side vs the 12 ft. to where he grounded it. Not sure I would have liked a big ground going over the roof as there would be nowhere to hide it and not have sharp bends.

I was already going to re-route the coax come spring, but since I have some spare shingles to repair the ones where the dish is currently located, I may also re-locate the dish higher up on the roof just to future proof the LOS since there is an evergreen and another tree that will probibally cause problems in a few years and if I move the dish up about 9 ft. I will never have to touch it again. This would also make it easier to run a ground back to the main service ground the way it should be.

 

[Techfizzle]

the cable down the house looks unsightly. I would of drilled a hole in the roof near the foot and sealed it with silicone

 

[webbydude]

the cable down the house looks unsightly. I would of drilled a hole in the roof near the foot and sealed it with silicone

Only if you want a constant source of water leakage.

A better solution would be to tuck the cable under the soffit and corners of the siding.

 

[goaliebob99]

the cable down the house looks unsightly. I would of drilled a hole in the roof near the foot and sealed it with silicone

Any tech who did that would have been fired on the spot. Thats a huge NO NO! I dont know of any installation company who would write that off.

 

[iwc5893]

Any tech who did that would have been fired on the spot. Thats a huge NO NO! I dont know of any installation company who would write that off.

Yep...unless they're hack installers.

 

[585960]

the cable down the house looks unsightly. I would of drilled a hole in the roof near the foot and sealed it with silicone

awesome advice. Do the exact opposite, please. Couple of things, the higher you go on the roof, the unsafer, and signal doesn't get any better. If theres trees to consider, why was the dish put there in the first place. One of the support struts, looks as if its aligned directly along the mast foot, which really isn't a support. Pole mounts rule, no climbing, no weather can keep you from it (within reason) yada yada.

 

[NutFlush920]

I have a roof mount now but plan on going to a pole mount this summer. Mainly because of the snow here in NE Wisconsin. I have already had to go out twice and climb up a latter with my broom and don't want to do that next year.

 

[Jimbo]

the cable down the house looks unsightly. I would of drilled a hole in the roof near the foot and sealed it with silicone

I would have kicked your ass you for drilling a hole in a perfectly good roof that may or may NOT leak now.

 

[Jimbo]

Any tech who did that would have been fired on the spot. Thats a huge NO NO! I dont know of any installation company who would write that off.

You don't look around when you drive down the street then, it happens all the time.
I would have done as webbydude mentioned and run it down the side of the siding behind the corners if at all possible.