prepping for install 2 coax enough?

[redbandit98]

Well, my participation in the dish network forum was short lived. I went down and talked to them and there was really nothing that could be done without having to pay a bunch of money. Anyways Im now signed up for direct tv. I am getting one HD DVR receiver and one non DVR receiver. I am rewiring my feed to the dish. After thinking long and hard about it I decided to trench an ugodly long trench around a ditch and several trees and go underground with my feed. (it was strung through the air) I am just wanting to know if two rg6 coaxes going out to the pole into the house is sufficient? I am going to run two addlt lines for backups with them. Also, what do you guys use (if any) for a jbox going into the house? I would like to mount a box on the side of the house with 1.5" conduit going into the ground for the coax and to cover the hole up I am going to drill through my siding. I also would like to mount the grounding block in there for a clean install.
thanks

 

[bbixler]

Well, my participation in the dish network forum was short lived. I went down and talked to them and there was really nothing that could be done without having to pay a bunch of money. Anyways Im now signed up for direct tv. I am getting one HD DVR receiver and one non DVR receiver. I am rewiring my feed to the dish. After thinking long and hard about it I decided to trench an ugodly long trench around a ditch and several trees and go underground with my feed. (it was strung through the air) I am just wanting to know if two rg6 coaxes going out to the pole into the house is sufficient? I am going to run two addlt lines for backups with them. Also, what do you guys use (if any) for a jbox going into the house? I would like to mount a box on the side of the house with 1.5" conduit going into the ground for the coax and to cover the hole up I am going to drill through my siding. I also would like to mount the grounding block in there for a clean install.
thanks

you will need 4 lines just for the HD dish so if you want extra ones you will need to run 5 or 6 total

 

[redbandit98]

ok thanks a whole lot. I know stupid question for you guys but I have no clue, I am not a satellite man, obviously. :tux:

 

[ebms1]

Well, my participation in the dish network forum was short lived. I went down and talked to them and there was really nothing that could be done without having to pay a bunch of money. Anyways Im now signed up for direct tv. I am getting one HD DVR receiver and one non DVR receiver. I am rewiring my feed to the dish. After thinking long and hard about it I decided to trench an ugodly long trench around a ditch and several trees and go underground with my feed. (it was strung through the air) I am just wanting to know if two rg6 coaxes going out to the pole into the house is sufficient? I am going to run two addlt lines for backups with them. Also, what do you guys use (if any) for a jbox going into the house? I would like to mount a box on the side of the house with 1.5" conduit going into the ground for the coax and to cover the hole up I am going to drill through my siding. I also would like to mount the grounding block in there for a clean install.
thanks

if you are going to have just a grn blk maybe a big junction box would be good with a hole coming out the back to the attic wall

 

[dishcomm]

Well, my participation in the dish network forum was short lived. I went down and talked to them and there was really nothing that could be done without having to pay a bunch of money. Anyways Im now signed up for direct tv. I am getting one HD DVR receiver and one non DVR receiver. I am rewiring my feed to the dish. After thinking long and hard about it I decided to trench an ugodly long trench around a ditch and several trees and go underground with my feed. (it was strung through the air) I am just wanting to know if two rg6 coaxes going out to the pole into the house is sufficient? I am going to run two addlt lines for backups with them. Also, what do you guys use (if any) for a jbox going into the house? I would like to mount a box on the side of the house with 1.5" conduit going into the ground for the coax and to cover the hole up I am going to drill through my siding. I also would like to mount the grounding block in there for a clean install.
thanks

Go with 4 runs minimum.. 6 if you can afford the cable.
It is always a good idea to have extras as backups in case one or more fail.
Also........MARK the cables on both ends...You can do this with colored tape. Or you can use black elect tape. What I did when I repwired my house was for each cable I used one piece wrapped around each end then two and so on. At the switch inside the garage I used a Sharpie and wrote on the wall what room each cable reperesents by the number of wraps.
In your case the markings are to determine which cable is which.

 

[redbandit98]

Yes I plan on marking the wires, I have a label maker here at work we use to label wires with. Let me make sure I am getting this right. The only box that requires two feeds is the HDDVR correct? I am getting another HD receiver for my bedroom but it is not a DVR so it should only require the one cable correct? So bare minimum I need is 3 right now.Im gonna run 6 total, one extra in case I want to add a receiver to another bedroom in the future and two spares. I have a 1000 ft roll of cable my brother in law told me to use what I wanted. He used to do cable installs back in the day. Im doing good so far..free RG6, free stainless 2" pole, free (if you can call it that) receivers and dish. All I need to buy is a few 90's, a short run of ground wire, and a few bags of quickrete.

thanks

 

[bbixler]

If you are getting a non-SWM HD dish then you will need 4 wires from the dish, even if you only had 1 HD receiver. You need all four wires from the dish to get HD service. The tech will probably run the 4 wires from the dish to a multi-switch and then run cables from there (non-SWM will be 2 to each DVR and 1 to all other receivers).

So, unless you get a SWM dish, which only requires 1 wire from the dish to a multi-switch, then you will need a min of 4 lines running from the dish. It doesn't matter how many receivers or what the receivers are, if you want HD you need 4 lines.

 

[dishcomm]

Yes I plan on marking the wires, I have a label maker here at work we use to label wires with. Let me make sure I am getting this right. The only box that requires two feeds is the HDDVR correct? I am getting another HD receiver for my bedroom but it is not a DVR so it should only require the one cable correct? So bare minimum I need is 3 right now.Im gonna run 6 total, one extra in case I want to add a receiver to another bedroom in the future and two spares. I have a 1000 ft roll of cable my brother in law told me to use what I wanted. He used to do cable installs back in the day. Im doing good so far..free RG6, free stainless 2" pole, free (if you can call it that) receivers and dish. All I need to buy is a few 90's, a short run of ground wire, and a few bags of quickrete.

thanks

any room you may plan on converting to DVR service should be wired with two cables...This does two things. One, if you install the dvr you're covered. Two, if you don't install the dvr, you have a spare in case of coax failure.To answer your question, yes. The DVR's require two cables.
There is a switch called an SWM. This is single wire technology, but don;t worry about it. It requires that all receivers be of certin SWM compatible models.
Let's just get past the coax install. Keep it simple.
I am a former tech. I also have done tons of prewire jobs. I always tried ot advise the customer about redundancy.
I am a big believer in doubling up cables. Why? I don't want to have to do drywall repair if one these suckers fails

 

[dishcomm]

Yes I plan on marking the wires, I have a label maker here at work we use to label wires with. Let me make sure I am getting this right. The only box that requires two feeds is the HDDVR correct? I am getting another HD receiver for my bedroom but it is not a DVR so it should only require the one cable correct? So bare minimum I need is 3 right now.Im gonna run 6 total, one extra in case I want to add a receiver to another bedroom in the future and two spares. I have a 1000 ft roll of cable my brother in law told me to use what I wanted. He used to do cable installs back in the day. Im doing good so far..free RG6, free stainless 2" pole, free (if you can call it that) receivers and dish. All I need to buy is a few 90's, a short run of ground wire, and a few bags of quickrete.

thanks

Instead of 90* elbows, use 90* sweeps. Much easier to pull the cable thru and no sharp edges to screw up the cable jacket.

 

[charper1]

Instead of 90* elbows, use 90* sweeps. Much easier to pull the cable thru and no sharp edges to screw up the cable jacket.

yep! great point. I learned that the hard way a long time ago.

 

[redbandit98]

yes, I know about the 90's, I am an industrial electrician. :up Just for a laugh when I went to redo my service panel in my house somone had put a plumbers 90 coming from outside into the panel. I bet they had one heck of a time wrestling that 00 wire through there. Thanks for your replies.
matt

Also, I hate to keep bothering you guys but I assume its common practice to mount the multiswitch to the pole? This was how my previous one was done. I suppose as long as you make drip loops in it there is no problems?

 

[redbandit98]

well all is installed. Too bad I ran 5 cables too many :rant:. Its ok they didnt cost me anything. I was figuring on needing three cables and running three spares. Well the guy gets here and he says..man thats a nice setup you have there. (talking about my stainless pole I sunk him, the Jbox, weatherhead and all the coax pre ran) I said how many of these do you need? I have marked all of them on both ends and have ran all the wires into the house. His reply...one from the dish to the house and one to each receiver. I am not savy on this stuff but it is safe to say I got the one wire setup. If I would have known he just needed one wire to the house I would have just ran two cables. Oh well. If for any reason I need 5 more, they are there. : The dish does look cleaner though with just one lnb and no switch hanging off the pole.

 

[dishcomm]

well all is installed. Too bad I ran 5 cables too many :rant:. Its ok they didnt cost me anything. I was figuring on needing three cables and running three spares. Well the guy gets here and he says..man thats a nice setup you have there. (talking about my stainless pole I sunk him, the Jbox, weatherhead and all the coax pre ran) I said how many of these do you need? I have marked all of them on both ends and have ran all the wires into the house. His reply...one from the dish to the house and one to each receiver. I am not savy on this stuff but it is safe to say I got the one wire setup. If I would have known he just needed one wire to the house I would have just ran two cables. Oh well. If for any reason I need 5 more, they are there. : The dish does look cleaner though with just one lnb and no switch hanging off the pole.

We figured on older equipment that required two cables to each DVR and a 5X8 multiswitch.
Yours is a SWM or Single Wire Multiswitch setup..Good stuff..
BTW ,you'll someday appreciate the extra runs of cable...