Slightly complex (maybe) Dish installation question

[shoulda2]

Thanks for taking time to read this post, I appreciate the help/advice anyone can offer... I am fairly new to DISH and have only been a customer for about 4 months.

As a side note have done cat5e cabling and large scale networks, but I am a newb when it comes to TV/SAT cabling so please be gentle...

The current install is

--Dish about 40ft away on the north side of the house that is almost to the woods line and points generally in a South-ish direction (Installer set it all up and it works great).
--Hopper in the main living room (main level)
--Joey in the guest bedroom (2nd floor)
--Joey in the master bedroom (main level)
**From what I can see in the crawspace there are two dish cables coming in. One of them seems to go to a 1:2 splitter, and then to the Joeys. The other runs directly to the Hopper from what I can tell. (does this make sense?)
-- I have two rooms (kids bedrooms) that do not have dish but have cable wall jacks ( I found out there they terminated under the house to a non-used splitter that was left over from comcast)


We are adding a pool house ~75ft away from where the dish cable comes into the house and I want to switch the layout to this..

--Hopper in the main living room (main house/main level)
--Joey in the master bedroom (main level/main house) *** This is optional see note below
-- 2x Joeys in the Pool house (one tv inside in the main area, and the other under a canopy outside)
*** Comcast called me up and offered me a $5 a month uptick on my cable internet that doubled my speed, and gives me 24 months of their lower tier digital TV. The nice thing is that without High Def/dvr the extra boxes are $1.50 a month via comcast and that works great since the largest tv in the guest bedroom/master is 32'' and high def isn't that needed.
--Comcast would likely be ran to all three upstairs bedrooms, and potentially our master bedroom.. It seemed more economical to just do this vs getting another hopper etc... I have tested this out and it works fine, so I am good here.

The questions I have are ..

1.) Is this as simple as taking the cable that is connecting to the two joeys and tracing it back to the dish and re-routing it to the pool house (replacing it with premium rg11 buried cable ina straight-ish line). I would connect it just like it is under the house to a splitter then running it to the independent joeys I want to use via RG6? (Effectively in my mind this just moves the two joeys that are currently in my house to a different location and that should work?)
2.) Any suggestions on RG11 vs RG6 cable ran in a conduit (I can run it in the same one as phone and internet, or use a buried cable outside the conduit in the ditch).. The total run from the dish is less than 125' which I read should be fine without terrible signal loss.
3.) Would you recommend anything different?
4.) Are there better brands/types of cable out there I need to look at to minimize signal loss ?
5.) Should I just throw in the towel before starting and just call dish to send a tech out to help?
6.) As an alternative to #5 if there are any pros are in the Nashville TN area I could pay you in beer to help out

Thanks again,
~Shoulda2

 

[lownote2]

**From what I can see in the crawspace there are two dish cables coming in. One of them seems to go to a 1:2 splitter, and then to the Joeys. The other runs directly to the Hopper from what I can tell. (does this make sense?)

There would be two lines from the dish. Those two lines have to go somewhere to what is called a node. I am guessing that the 1:2 splitter you see is actually a tap. The tap says Host/Client on it. That host line would be going to your hopper and only your hopper. The client line can be split to joeys. The joeys don't run back to the dish, they work off and get all their info from the hopper. That is why you need that tap and must have the node that should be located somewhere.


Ok, now for the rest of your questions. I'm not clear, are you wanting to move only the joeys to the pool house or the whole thing. You definitely want RG6, and make sure it is swept test to 3ghz. RG11 seems a bit overkill. Not only that but if you had any future problems no installer is going to have the tools/fittings for it. Definitely use conduit.

If you're only moving joeys just come off of that tap under the home on the CLIENT side only. Or if you can find the node and it's easier it may be terminated, you could remove the terminator and run off of that just as easily. That just depends on which location is easier to get to the pool house.

If you're wanting the whole hopper/joey setup at the pool house I would recommend getting dish back out and paying the customer labor. It would be do able as it is now, but from the dish to your house then back to the pool house would make me leery of the length of cable from that dish to hopper and you may have issues.

?Need a little more details.

 

[Scherrman]

I don't think he has a Tap. It sounds like the Node is outside and two cables come in from outside. The one cable goes to the Hopper and the other goes to a 2 way splitter. The two cables from the splitter go to his two Joeys. This is perfectly normal.

 

[shoulda2]

I only want the joeys in the pool house but the hopper in the main house... I believe that the node would have to be located outside and it's in a very convenient location to run a cable to the poolhouse from there if it's where I think it is.

Pictures would probably help and I will try and get some as early as tomorrow...

Really appreciate the responses guys.

 

[Dishman1978]

Yes it'll work. If I wasn't in California I would help you.

I don't know if you really need rg11. Rg6 should be good enough. All your cable runs are under requirements.

You are going to have to have an installer out anyways to add the 3rd Joey to your system. Unless you plan on purchasing it. I haven't heard of dish allowing self upgrades.


Good luck.

 

[vash1090]

Replace that 2-way splitter with a 3-way splitter (if not more difficult) and take a line (any coax will work) out to the boathouse. As long as you don't move the hopper, they joeys are real easy to mess with and will work up to 300ft cable length from hopper (well within range).

 

[shoulda2]

Thanks for reading this reply it have been a nightmare dealing with contractors and BS building something without a main contractor.. But I am about 2 weeks out from being ready to pull the wire through the conduit ...

I have decided to just move my two Joeys to the pool house and have just the Hopper in the main house (might add a 3rd joey at some point in the main house but not soon).. Mainly this is because comcast who I have my internet through called me up and offered basic digital tv for $5 more per month and doubled my Internet speed as well in that package... I can now get basic digital TV in my two kids rooms (good enough for them) + guest room + master bedroom for $5 a month added to my bill ( I negotiated little digital boxes for the bedrooms for free). However the main TV in the house + the two tv's at the pool house will all be on the better Dish service..

So the big questions i have are.

1.) Do I connect the long run (~180ft) from the node out of the client port to the pool house and then split it there to the two Joeys? Or is there a reason to connect two long run cables and have the splitter closer to the node? ( I would obviously prefer the first way for fewer cables in the conduit)
2.) I am intending to use RG11 not RG6 for the long run ~180ft, is there a reason I shouldn't do this other than cost? I am very likely going to run two cables through for redundancy in case one goes bad for any reason and leave extra lengths on the end to trim. However only one cable will be active (if I can do it the way I want)... I know I *might* be able to use RG6 but the contractor doing this is going to charge me the same either cable (11 vs 6)
3.) Is there a reason the same conduit can't share cat5e?


My connections ( you can't see the splitter for the joeys under the house but it's there, the tap seems to have a capped end for what I can figure is a third joey.)



Here is the pic from the side of the house to to the pool house + satellite etc.



a Pic of the coduit coming into the pool house (2'' and it will share ethernet cable)

 

[shoulda2]

Anyone ?

 

[Brian Fuller]

Running coax and ethernet together isn't recommended but in most cases interference is minimal. I can't recommend running it next to live phone line though.

As far as a benefit of the splitter before or after on paper it shouldn't make a differences though going 180ft you node may have some issues seeing the joeys due to db gain. I would try the splitter close to the joeys first but if it fails then run that second line. If this is an issues where you only have one chance then running two may save you some issues.

Also as a side not. Until you add that third joey. Remove the tap. Again for long cable runs eliminating any cable or connections anywhere in the system can help

If it is going to cost you the same then I would strongly consider the rg11 cable simply because it is such a long run.. Though one note of caution if you ever have issues most satellite techs don't have the equipment to work with rg11. Solid copper rg6 may be a better option. The benefit's of less db gain may be worth it though

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

 

[vash1090]

I did say earlier, joeys up to 300ft away from hopper. We have been gettimg reports of issues with joeys over 200ft away, but it all depends on the amount of resistance from distance and extra parts in the lines. Problem is that you won't know until it's installed because the hopper is the only thing that can test the quality of the Moca connection to the joeys.