Newbie needs some advise!

[Bollox]

Hello all, I have been a Dish customer for several years and recently added an addition to the house therefore I need to expand my system.

I tried to expand the system via Dish but they played me up and wanted to charge me hundreds of $$$ to do so.

So I bought a couple of recievers new in the box with no smart cards, I did however call Dish and confirm with them that they are good no balance etc and not stolen.

After a trip to India via phone and 45 mins talking to Dish tech they finally sorted out the smart cards and are sending me new ones.

Back to me question now you have the lowdown on the situation.

I have a twin Dish 500 system, I believe one is HD not sure.

Currently running 4 TV with two receivers.

322 & 622HDDVR

New recievers are 311 & 211HD.

1. Can use one Dish to support my set up? if so can someone point me in the right direction as to which model?
2. How do you support the 4 recievers, Multiswitch? if so which one?
3. Can I intergrate a FTA set up with my system, I'm intrested in a movable dish and scan search system, do I need to keep both systems seperate or can I use some "box" to switch between them? If someone would kindly help with the specs I would be more than happy.

I have a budget of around $500 to get this done is this possible?

 

[CowboyDren]

You really need a Dish 1000.2 to get all of the channels that are in HD. To feed four receivers, you will need a multiswitch, like a DPP44. You'll run three lines from the 1000.2 LNB to the multiswitch, and then one line from each output of the multiswitch to the separators at each receiver.

Technically, there's nothing keeping you from using your current DPP Twin LNB to feed the multiswitch, you just won't be getting channels off of the 129w orbital location. Again, run two wires, one from each output on the LNB to the input of the multiswitch. You didn't mention a wing dish; do you have another dish pointed directly at 129w or 61.5w? If you have a wing dish, you don't need to buy a 1000.2, but you will have to run a pair of wires from the D500 and then a third wire from the wing dish directly into the multiswitch instead of to the D500 IN port.

I can't speak for the FTA part of the question, except that saying every level of complexity you add to the Dish wiring is going to degrade your signal level to the Dish receivers, and some of us can't afford any degradation at all.

 

[Bollox]

Thank you for your quick response, yes I have two dish units or a wing dish, one dish is poniting in a differant direction than the other, although these dish's are linked, one dish has three wires coming from it going to the other dish, then two feeds running back from that dish to my AV panel then it dyplexes out from there to the rest of the house, make sense?

 

[CowboyDren]

Yup; you have a D500 watching 110 and 119, with a wing dish pointing at 61.5. The wing dish is fed into the DPP Twin, using the Twin's internal multiswitch to feed the receivers all three orbital locations. It's not difficult to rewire for an external multiswitch, but it will have to be done.

 

[Bollox]

Thank you again, would anybody have a wiring schematic showing the re-wiring that has to take place.

I have ordered the multiswitch and it should be here next week.

Regards

 

[CowboyDren]

I'm looking through the manuals at the Dish Network Tech Portal, but all of the diagrams are really sophisticated; too complicated to answer your question. Most of the diagrams include diplexers and weird wiring that you just don't need to worry about [yet].

The simple truth is, you need to run three wires from the LNB outs (two on the DPP Twin, one on the wing dish) to the inputs of the DPP44 multiswitch, and then one wire each from the outputs of the DPP44 to the separators at each receiver. It's really very simple to implement.

 

[Bollox]

OK I went up and took a good look at what the installers have done, I didn;t however take the Dual LNB apart to check the wiring.

What they have done is taken one wire from the wing dish to the dual LNB I can see three wires going to the dual but they must had made a connection somewhere inside the LNB cuase only two wires are going from the base of the dual LNB to the AV panel, thats where it splits off into the house, any ideas?

PS thanks again for your help

 

[CowboyDren]

Yes, there are three ports inside the DPP Twin housing, one input (fed by the wing dish) and two outputs (one per receiver, two receiver max). When the multiswitch gets to where you are, unscrew the two wires from the AV panel, and plug them into the multiswitch, inputs #1 and #2. Take the DPP Twin housing off of the arm, unscrew the wing dish feed line, and plug that [wing dish feed line] into the multiswitch, input #3. Now put the Twin LNB back on the arm; you shouldn't even have to re-peak it. Now your multiswitch is fully populated; plug in the power wart to verify that it's okay.

Each of your four receivers will have a separator. One wire will go from each output of the multiswitch (there are four, along the bottom) to each separator. For starters, plug your trusty 622 back in, and use it's menu system to run a "Check Switch" to verify that everything is wired properly. Once the 622 is back up and running, plug in one receiver at a time, and do the same check switch from each one. It's a lot simpler to plug in than it is to type. Don't sweat it. The multiswitch will come with a wiring diagram.

 

[Bollox]

Thank you!, only issue is the dish is a 100 feet from the AV panel looks like I'm running more lines in the attic.

Do I need to dyplex the feeds to the recievers or are they good to plug straight in?

 

[CowboyDren]

Diplexers are for inserting non-Satellite programming (analog cable or over-the-air TV signals) into the same feed line that your satellite receivers use. Do you use an OTA antenna on the 622? Will you be using it for the 211k? If you're not using an OTA antenna or old NTSC cable, diplexers aren't something you need to worry about.

If you're talking about separators, the separator will be about 3" away from the SAT inputs on the receiver; you only need to run one feed line per receiver from the multiswitch to the new receiver locations. If you're not talking about separators, I'm not sure what you're talking about at all...

 

[Bollox]

On the feeds as they stand from the dish, they come in and have dyplexers on them to feed the other TV both are dual TV1 TV 2 etc, I'm thinking that the installer used this set up to provide the feed to the other TV's.

If I dont need them then thats fine I only have this installation as a referance point.

It is however my intention to run OTA signal to all recievers, is this possible ot I'm stretching the feasability of the system?

Yes I have a OTA cable to the back of the 622, can I use the multiswitch to spread the OTA signal also? or is that the separators you are talking about?

Thanks

 

[CowboyDren]

Oh boy. When you install the new multiswitch, the diplexers need to be between the switch and the separator, not between the LNB and the switch. It's sad that Dish didn't build OTA diplexing directly into the DPP44; it'd make life a lot easier for all parties involved.

It's almost impossible to explain by typing how the wiring for your situation is supposed to look; I see many documents with many wiring diagrams in your future. Ignore the diplexers and TV2 stuff at first. Just focus on getting the multiswitch up and running, then get the new receivers added on, and fix the TV2 problems after that.

 

[Bollox]

Jeez! the switch arrived man that sucker is heavyyyy! plus the smart cards arrives guess what wrong s # they are sending two new ones will this ever end???

Weekend warrior is in the offing I will however persist with this and see if I can get the system correct.

Thanks for your help and the warnings for pain to come, I will just get this right then a Hurricane will come through and blow the roof off the house!

 

[Bob Haller]

things will be easier and simplier to run a seperate cable for OTA.........

far less fuss, easier troubleshooting, better signal strength..........

just more work to run the initial cable

 

[CowboyDren]

Except that it'll more than double the cable routing. The diplexers also feed his TV2 locations.

 

[Bollox]

So its easier to run a seperate cable to the recievers?

I'm going to be in the attic anyway to run the new cable to the multiswitch and I have plenty of RG6 bought a whole drum of the stuff, just run it from the aerial to the AV panel and then use a seperate normal splitter then pull new cable to all the recievers.

Should get started on this this weekend, I will let you know how I get on.

cheers Stuart

 

[oljim]

Would have been cheaper to put up 2nd dish 500 for the 2 SD rec. and run the 2 HD on the dishs you have now

 

[sluggo]

the 311 and 211 will NOT need a seperator. Single tuner STB's

 

[Bollox]

OK guys rigged everything up like you said and on the 211 HD solo I'm only getting sat 119 no HD

Any suggestions? maybe I hooked up the LNB wrong both lines are on the one side of the dual LNB should I take a RG6 from each side?

Thanks

 

[Bollox]

Help guys the wife is giving me the stink eye and it's Valentines this weekend.