Semi technical guy looking for DIY installation advice/equipment reccomendations.

[Hinkdad]

I am looking to upgrade a second DirecTV dish on an out-building of mine. I already have an 18" round dish installed there and an active receiver, but I recently upgraded my programming to HD and to get local channels. My house was upgraded to a slimline-3 which has 4 lines that run from the dish into a multiswitch. This in turn runs two dual tuner DVR's (HR24's) and a regular H24 receiver. In order for me to now receive HD and local channels in my out-building I need to upgrade to DirecTV's slimline dish from my current 18" round. The current 18" round on the out-building has a dual LNB with two lines running from it. I will attempt to state what I think I know and I am looking for some direction here before I go spending a lot of time and money on this project.

Do I need to buy another slimline-3 dish system just like on my house or can I buy a SWM system to simplify the upgrade?
From what I can tell with the SWM system I can use my existing cabling and not have to run two more wires.

Can I align the dish without a fancy signal reader?

What hardware exactly will I need?

 

[raoul5788]

I am looking to upgrade a second DirecTV dish on an out-building of mine. I already have an 18" round dish installed there and an active receiver, but I recently upgraded my programming to HD and to get local channels. My house was upgraded to a slimline-3 which has 4 lines that run from the dish into a multiswitch. This in turn runs two dual tuner DVR's (HR24's) and a regular H24 receiver. In order for me to now receive HD and local channels in my out-building I need to upgrade to DirecTV's slimline dish from my current 18" round. The current 18" round on the out-building has a dual LNB with two lines running from it. I will attempt to state what I think I know and I am looking for some direction here before I go spending a lot of time and money on this project.

Do I need to buy another slimline-3 dish system just like on my house or can I buy a SWM system to simplify the upgrade?
From what I can tell with the SWM system I can use my existing cabling and not have to run two more wires.

Can I align the dish without a fancy signal reader?

What hardware exactly will I need?

to Satelliteguys!

How far is the outbuilding from the 6x8 multiswitch? If it's within 150 ft you can likely just run a cable from the switch to the building and be done with it. That's if you are going to use a receiver and not a dvr, which would need two cables run to it. If it's farther, then you will need a new Slimline dish and lnb installed on the outbuilding or nearby on a pole, or another possibility is to use RG11 cable from the multiswitch which will carry the signal further than the standard RG6.

 

[Hinkdad]

Running a new cable to the building is not possible, I need to know what equipment I need to replace my current setup.

 

[Jimbo]

If running a new line from the existing dish is not an option, you'll want a SL3/5 depending on your current set up.
I would go with a Non SWM and run 2 lines to the place your recvr is in, you said you have 2 lines running to the location in the out building already, set up the Slimline dish and connect the existing 2 lines to it.
You didn't say if the one out there was a DVR or not, if it is, you'll want the dual line, in single, you'll only need one of them.

IF you WANT to get into the SWM SL3/5, you'll only need 1 of those lines to the recvr, but you'll need to get a Power Insertor as well to run the voltage for the LNB.

 

[spaceghost]

You will need to get another slimline dish. Whether is the standard 4 port lnb like your current or swm, it wont simplify anything unless you plan on putting in a DVR.

Check your local craigslist. It shouldn't be hard to find a slimline dish for a few dollars.

Yes, you can DIY. Read a few tutorials on youtube to get a feel on how to set one up.

 

[Hinkdad]

Just to clarify,

The outbuilding is a 1/2 mile away from the house, It was a separate system for the same address/account. I ran 2 lines because when I installed the dish I figured it made sense to run two in case something happened to one of them, I had a backup. The plain old receiver is hooked up in the out-building so it only has one tuner. If I install a dish like the one on my house, I have to run two more cables and get some kind of multiswitch. Can anyone provide links to what I need?

 

[Jimbo]

Just to clarify,

The outbuilding is a 1/2 mile away from the house, It was a separate system for the same address/account. I ran 2 lines because when I installed the dish I figured it made sense to run two in case something happened to one of them, I had a backup. The plain old receiver is hooked up in the out-building so it only has one tuner. If I install a dish like the one on my house, I have to run two more cables and get some kind of multiswitch. Can anyone provide links to what I need?

No, I would just use the two lines you have already out there and hook them to the SL dish (4 output). Unless you WANT to run new to the location, but if the cable is RG6 cable you should be good.
I would Re-term the connections at each end though.

 

[Hinkdad]

Doesn't a slimline-3 dish have 4 coaxial runs that go to it? Or is it that way on my house because I have 2 HR24's? Forgive me I know more about Cisco networking that satellite systems.

Do I need a multiswitch? The receiver only has 1 input.

 

[dfergie]

All you need is 2 lines to each receiver.

 

[BobStokesbary]

Hinkdad,
I can see that you are a bit confused. There are a couple of assumptions in your original question that need to be verbalized to provide a clearer picture. Let's take the SWM vs non-SWM. SWM really becomes necessary when you want whole home DVR. In addition to multiplexing the signals so that you only need one wire to a DVR it also provides the transport mechanism for sharing DVR recordings with other receivers. Unless I am missing something, it sounds like you don't care about whole home DVR in your outbuilding. So, incorporating SWM in your outbuilding setup would only complicate things and add unnecessary expense.

You want HD. Yes you need a slimline-3 dish just like the one on the house. A standard 3 LNB head will have 4 outputs on it. More than enough to meet your requirements. Each of the 4 connections can be connected to a separate tuner. You only need one, so the other 3 are just extra.

Can you aim it without a fancy meter? You sure can. There are a number of posts here where people do it all the time. Just research how they do it and it seems like a snap. I use a meter for our RV, but that is because I set it up multiple times during a trip. Since you are only going to do this once, the cost of a meter is simply not justified.

What equipment do you need? Obviously you need a slimline dish with a 3-LNB head and all the mounting hardware that goes along with it. Make sure you get a good place to mount it and make it firm. I would replace your existing coax with new RG6 and invest in some compression fittings and the tools to make that happen. It doesn't sound like you want a DVR at this location so a single wire is all you need. And that is basically it. You don't need a power inserter since this is not SWM.

Hope this helps,
Bob

 

[Hinkdad]

Hinkdad,
I can see that you are a bit confused. There are a couple of assumptions in your original question that need to be verbalized to provide a clearer picture. Let's take the SWM vs non-SWM. SWM really becomes necessary when you want whole home DVR. In addition to multiplexing the signals so that you only need one wire to a DVR it also provides the transport mechanism for sharing DVR recordings with other receivers. Unless I am missing something, it sounds like you don't care about whole home DVR in your outbuilding. So, incorporating SWM in your outbuilding setup would only complicate things and add unnecessary expense.

You want HD. Yes you need a slimline-3 dish just like the one on the house. A standard 3 LNB head will have 4 outputs on it. More than enough to meet your requirements. Each of the 4 connections can be connected to a separate tuner. You only need one, so the other 3 are just extra.

Can you aim it without a fancy meter? You sure can. There are a number of posts here where people do it all the time. Just research how they do it and it seems like a snap. I use a meter for our RV, but that is because I set it up multiple times during a trip. Since you are only going to do this once, the cost of a meter is simply not justified.

What equipment do you need? Obviously you need a slimline dish with a 3-LNB head and all the mounting hardware that goes along with it. Make sure you get a good place to mount it and make it firm. I would replace your existing coax with new RG6 and invest in some compression fittings and the tools to make that happen. It doesn't sound like you want a DVR at this location so a single wire is all you need. And that is basically it. You don't need a power inserter since this is not SWM.

Hope this helps,
Bob

Thanks Bob, and everyone else for your answers, I really appreciate your help.

I was under the assumption that all 4 lines had to be run to the dish and I needed a multiswitch. This cleared that up for me, I only have one tuner to connect, so I just need one line connected. You guys rock!

I will let you guys know how it goes.