Wire for 10 ft dish install

[wagonman76]

I just moved to a new house this year and took my 10 ft dish with me. The HOA at the other place had been whining about it for the 17 years I was there. New house agricultural zoning and 9 acres yay.

Anyway, I got the dish up and dialed in. Old cable is run into my camper parked next to it. Old cable was maybe 50 feet long. To reach the new house I need more like 150 feet. I've been doing lots of reading but lots of conflicting info. What wire size should I have to run this reliably? I want it to work well but don't want to go overkill if I don't have to, it adds up fast.

I'm planning on running individual shielded groups for the actuator reed switch and the feedhorn servo motor. Don't want to lose counts due to voltage drop. Will 18 ga be ok or should I go bigger?

This is Michigan so we get subzero temps so cold thick actuator grease. What gauge should I run for the actuator? Will 16 ga be ok or should I go bigger?

I was looking at a 500 ft roll of RG6 quad shield at Home Depot. The guy there said it wasn't rated for outdoor. Even though on the website it said it was for outdoor so I plan to go with it. I will be running it all in PCV conduit when I do it in the spring.

 

[hank123]

The RG6 at Home Depot is going to be copper-clad. You're going to get a large voltage drop at 150 feet. You would be much better off going solid copper RG6.
Something like this.
http://m.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Perfect-V...3Aa86b29a31590a34fcc58f1a8ffb5a792%7Ciid%3A11

 

[wagonman76]

Thanks, I agree the solid copper is the way to go. Didn't know there were the 2 different types.

That one is dual shield. Will quad shield (solid copper) give any noticeable improvement over the dual shield?

 

[wagonman76]

Thanks, I agree the solid copper is the way to go. Didn't know there were the 2 different types.

That one is dual shield. Will quad shield give any noticeable improvement?

 

[ancient]

Personally, for that distance I'd run RG11. You might be able to get by with good quality RG6 but the thing I'd worry about just a little is having too much voltage drop to properly switch polarity in your LNB. It's probably not going to be a real issue until you go past 200 feet or so (provided the center conductor is solid copper, and I'm sure someone will say they've used RG6 for an even longer distance) but if you are only going to run the cable once you might be more comfortable over-engineering it a bit. I know I would.

Congratulations on having the good sense to get out of the stupid HOA. I could never understand why anyone would willingly live in one of those, especially anyone interested in TV reception.

 

[hank123]

I don't believe quad Shield not going to make much of a difference.


150 feet you may be looking at two-and-a-half decibel difference (I think). A power switch could be the better alternative then spending a lot of money on rg11

 

[ZetaMale]

coax cable loss per 100 ft table: http://www.w4rp.com/ref/coax.html

There are tables to show what kind of voltage drop to expect for a given wire size with a given current flow - that'll give you some idea what to expect. You'll have to know what an acceptable voltage drop would be in order to determine wire-size/coax-size and length of wire.

If your antenna is already set in concrete you should consider the largest gauge of wire for the actuator and largest coax that is affordable and practical. Either that or move the dish closer to the house. IMHO.

 

[wagonman76]

Thanks for the info. I am using the traditional servo motor setup to control polarity. So all polarity is switched at the box. I do use the FTA voltage to an 18/13v switch to switch between the LNBs, but use voltage blockers to isolate that from the real LNB voltage coming from the analog box. So the only power going to the LNBs is the straight voltage. Does that make a difference?

I never had problems with the old setup so I'll see what gives me the same or less voltage drop per the new length, for the power and control wires.

I did quite the site survey and this is the best place for the dish so it's in 2 cubic yards of concrete with a new heavier pole. I can see over the trees to the south taking into account future growth, and down to 139W, and some to the east which is better than I had at the old place. It's also next to the north trees so I get some shielding. So far it's at least as good of signal quality as before.

I was young and dumb and in a bind when I moved into the HOA. It started out ok but as power changed hands, rules started being created and pulled out from archives, etc. But I actually got great dish reception, and all the local channels with rabbit ears.

 

[Titanium]

The receiver provides 13/18Vdc polarity switching and DiSEqC 1.2 motor positioning data, which will not control the polarity servo or the 36Vdc actuator motor. An ASC1 controller is an example of a controller that will interface between the receiver commands and your dish to provide automatic actuator control and servo polarity switching / skew. The ASC1 also can provide the fixed 18Vdc for optimized performance (or switched 13/18Vdc if you wish to switch to a LNBF. Your feedhorn with quality LNBs can provide better performance and adjust-ability for each satellite and polarity.

150 ft distance is fine with shielded servo bundle and shielded sensor wire. As satellite ribbon cable is getting harder to source, I would recommend separate wire bundles for the actuator sensor and servo control. For the 36Vdc motor power use standard 14 gauge stranded zip cord. The Servo circuit: 18-22 gauge stranded 3 + shield. The sensor circuit 18 - 22 gauge stranded 2 + shield (or use the 3 + shield and have a left over spare leg). The 3 + shield is sold at Home Depot/Lowes as security system wire. available by the foot or on a reel.

for 150 foot run I would use a good quality solid copper core quad shield coax. While you might be fine with dual shield, the quad only costs a few more cents per foot and I would prefer to provide more shielding rather than less if it only is going to cost $10 or $15 more!

 

[wagonman76]

Thanks so much, that gives me some good direction. I was concerned that I might get loss in the control wires but I'll run with the 18 ga, I was considering the same wire you mentioned. And I agree, I'm doing this coax cable once.

I was recently looking at the ASC1, but they're pretty pricey for just the added convenience. Maybe someday when they appear used and lower priced I'll go for one. My GI 2710R does it all, it's just not automatic. I have the satellite positioning, polarity control and skew adjustment, and full 18V LNB power. I use the FTA box as a simple box for signal reception, and I use its 13/18v to switch between C and Ku LNBs with a multiswitch (however the 13/18v and multiswitch are voltage isolated from the full 18V power of the GI 2710R). So I just end up using 2 remotes and blind scan each bird's polarity separately. I use the FTA's polarity instead to select between LNBs.

I've thought about an LNBF someday, but I do like choosing individual parts on the Corotor.