Satellite Installation


  #1  
Old 02-18-02, 11:10 AM
eswhite
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Question Satellite Installation

I am in a delimma. I currently have a Direct TV satellite dish on my roof that connects into my house through the attic. In the attic I have the 2 lines coming into my house from the dish...they are split into two more lines that are hot.There are 2 more lines not connected in the attic (all I can see are the ends due to the insulation).

The house was prewired for 4 spots. (Family Room/Guest Room/Master Bedroom/Basement) I can't see where the lines are going in the attic due to the insulation.

The electrician wired the house originally for cable and we have a line going out of the house at the electrical box as if we would be connecting to the cable line from outside at the street.

I am finishing the basement and can access the line that would be the cable entry point of the house. Can I tap into that line and bring two seperate Satellite lines into the basement or does that have to be done by running dedicated lines from the attic? How do I allow for the lines not connected in the attic to be connected?
 

Last edited by eswhite; 02-18-02 at 11:26 AM.
  #2  
Old 02-18-02, 12:27 PM
scrubs
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satellite install

From your explanation, there are four wires currently in the attic going to the areas you designated. To locate which line is going to which, go to one of the locations pull the end of the coaxial cable from the box. Peel back a short piece of the cable exposing the ground and the center conductor,then with a wire ground across the center conductor to the ground shield on the cable which makes a direct short. Then go to the attic and peel back exposing the same parts of the cable on both cables found. With an Ohms meter using the red & black leads, touch one to the center and one to the ground shield. If this is the one grounded it will show on the meter. If not it will not move. You can locate all cable locations in the house this way. I feel when installed, the four cables were intended to be connected to the TV cable coming in from the street. A four way splitter was to be used to get a signal to all TV's in these areas. Also, from your explanation, you have a Direct TV sat ant. with a dual LNB. You will have two cables coming in from the annt for two seperate receivers in the home. I have found from experience, that it is best have a direct line going from annt to receiver without any breaks or splitters in the line. This gives you two LNB's and allows seperate TV signals to two rooms at the same time. From there with splitters you can run lines to other rooms watching the same stations.
Now, you want to have Direct TV signal to the basement. Will you have a receiver in the basement? If so you must have a line from the annt thru the attic, to the basement to the back of the receiver. Or, you can run a line from the receiver,located in another room, out to a splitter, then down to the basement. The draw back is You will have to tune the receiver from another room or watch what someone else is watching since you will not direct access to the receiver. Hope this helps. Scrubs
 
  #3  
Old 02-18-02, 01:33 PM
joelp
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You have to weigh the cost. For each TV, you need a seperate box if you want them to run independently. There are a number of Satellite Dish splitters available. I currently have one that splits the Dual LNB into 4 separate signals. You will need to feed the splitter with both LNB's from the dish. Several companies offer splitters that go up to eight signals. Remember that each time you split the signal, you weaken it slightly.

Direct TV charges by the access card so you will need to buy a box and register the card. That is an addition $5.00 I believe.

Write back if you want more details. I would also recommend that you check the coax being used. Need special low loss stuff.
 
 

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