Running Sat. Cable in Walls?!

I am currently trying to buy all the supply's needed to run the sat. cable in the walls and have wall jacks to hook into. Right now the cable runs from the sat.(HD) to a distribution module in my basement then back out of the basement, up the back of my house and into the rooms where I have tv's which are 3 upstairs and one in the living room. I just purchased 150ft. of RG6 double cable for 20 bucks. I need 2 lines to run to my tivo unit I have in our bedroom. I just wanna make sure that RG6 cable is going to be ok?! I did do some research and plus the ebay listing said that the cable was cabable of caring great picture over a long distance. I do have to go from the basement to the attic, 20ft. across the attic, then down into the wall. I have to do this to 2 other rooms upstairs. Also the connectors that you don't need a tool to crimp them on, how do they work?? Or should I just buy the tool and do it the normal way. Thanks in advance.

 

the RG-6 is what you will need.
I would spend the money on the crimp style connectors and the crimper.
the twist on type connectors are not that reliable and will not stay on as well as the crimp. personally I like the compression type connectors instead of crimp but either will work in your situation.


Good luck.

 

Thanks a lot!! I am looking now for around 300ft or so of cable. I have enough now to do our bedroom one but that is it. Well Thanks again!
Chris

 

your local home improvement stores (Lowe's or Home Depot) should have the cable in 500ft boxes...........

 

I've bought the cable, crimpers, and connectors on eBay. The box store prices were way too high for me. Got good quality stuff, too.

 

I have boughten everything on ebay so far! I just bought 25 rg6 connector crimp type for 3 dollars on ebay. What kind of crimper should I buy. There is one at lowes for 15 bucks. I couldn't find one like that on ebay. Also I saw some for 8 dollars but 10 bucks for shipping, so if I am going to spend that much I might as well go to lowes. I am trying to get everything I need before I start the project. Thanks

 

You might want to run 3 rg6 cables to each location. 2 for the Sat receiver and 1 for over the air (OTA) signals. If you are looking at getting D*, you can not combine (diplex) an OTA antenna with the Sat. signals with their new DVR.

You've probably already considered this, but you might also want to run 2 Cat5 lines to each outlets (1 for internet and 1 for phone).

 

you want to get the compressor type fittings and the compressor itself for the ends of the RG6 cable. Do you have Dish or Direct tv? I'm sure you are aware that with Direct TV you can not have any splitters. It must be a straight feed from the dish itself or the multiswitch. As for running a 3rd line for the off air, no need. Just get yourself a small antenna that will connect into the back of the receiver in the OFF Air location. Also if you plan on putting anymore DVR/Tivo's in your house you can buy dual wire so you can run that together as one and not have to run 2 separate single lines to each location

There is a lot of small things to go over that I really cant keep typing about (it will be to long) If you have questions PM me, I am a satellite installer/tech. Sometimes the smallest thing can cause problems and it can be a little tough for someone who doesn't fully know what their doing.

 

I have Direct. I just upgraded my living rm tv to HD in October and absolutely love it. Only thing is I am paying 10$ extra a month and only getting 10 channels. I don't have HBO or SHO HD! I don't even get my locals. They said I needed an Off air antenna which is like another dish that sets next to the one I have now!! And even then the tech said that it probably wouldn't work!!! I don't understand that but oh well. They said it is some contract between my locals and the sat. company's!?? The phone lines I am going to do later. One thing at a time. If I have 2 to 3 things going at once then I get stressed and worked up. I am very organized at projects. I did re wire the first floor but they just aren't in the wall yet. The one runs up through the heater vent. The other 2 are very very old wire and outlets that still work. I am right now a high bidder on 760ft of cable on ebay so that should be plenty!! I can add another 3 sat. recievers to this module I have in the basement so I plan on putting one in my bathroom and kitchen and basement!! HA HA JuST KIDDING!! Well Thanks for all the help and will post again if I run into problems.

 

When you went with the high def package, did directv send a contractor out to do the upgrade? A lot of the contractors will half ass it and tell you things that arent true because they want to get done quicker etc. It sounds like you have the triple sat dish up there, not to big and has 3 LNB's on the front, is that correct? The proper dish that should be up there is the KA/KU dish, it is a bigger dish and picks up 5 satellites unlike the triple sat which picks up 3. The KA/KU has the extra LNB's for your locals in HD. You should def have more channels in HD as well, should be your locals, any movie channels, ESPN channels plus a decent amount of others. Depending if your close to any towers that broadcast your local channels, you can sometimes pick up a small off air antenna that you can connect in the back of the receiver, then you must re-do the satellite set-up process to recognize the off air channels. There is no need for that huge off air that connect to the dish mount itself.

Do you have Movie channels? If so are you saying you don't have them in HD at all? When you get a chance look at your dish and tell me what you have, i hate seeing techs do this to people when it takes an extra 5 min to put up a proper dish. The KA/KU dish will bring in all your channels, HD or not, every channel you are paying for will come in through that dish.

Just out of curiosity, where are you located? And do you know who the company was that did your install?

 

Just a general tip on coax cable, I used to work for the cable company and dish as well (cable guy jokes-quit it-I know them all )

RG6 will do ok as long as it does not get splitted so much, if you ever need to run a cable for more than 200ft use RG11 then, it is thicker and it does not degrade your signal, rg11 will do great in runs of 200ft-300ft distance, not that you will ever have a tv that far, but believe me people with pools and large homes want that sometimes, and the problem comes when they have cable instead of sat.

Just a tip.

 

My dish is the 3 LNB. It is a bigger dish than I had it is like an oval shape. I still don't understand why I can't get my locals in HD! I don't even get the east and west cbs, abc, fox, or nbc in HD. It is some contract they told me between two company's!!! I get espn, espn 2, a discovery, and the rest are a movie like channels where they play movies old and new in hd all the time. I live in Williamsport, PA. THe guy that did it was from Selinsgrove, Pa about 50 miles south of me but the company name on the van was from NY state. I only ran the rg6 cable about 80ft -90! I did have to put one female - female connector on. What it is, is I put our tivo unit in our bedroom when we got our HD reciever. So I only had one cable running to it which in return the reciever displayed a message that the other sat in cable wasn't attatched!! So I ran the double rg6 cable from the basement up behind the laundry chute, across the attic ceiling and down into the wall. I still have that message. I hooked it up last night and it wasn't aquiring any info from the satellite, so I went to the two connections I had in the basement and re did two of them and I finally have sat. but the message is still up there. I restarted the reciever about 3 times still there.
So I think it is my crimping job!! They are lose!!!! I pulled about 10 ends off after I crimped them. They broke!! I know I bought them on ebay so I am gonna have to spend more money and just buy the ones I should have boughten at the store!! ANY SUGGESTIONS!! Here is the link>> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=015&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=250079939093&rd=1&rd=1
They have a double cylinder on the end where the cable goes in! I bought the crimper from radio shack for 12 bucks. Has 2 different crimping sizes and I am using the rg6 one. THANKS

 

ok if you have the 3 LNB's up there but have that big oval dish you prob have the SLIMLINE one. I am a tech out in the philly area and as far as I know no matter what your locals should be coming in. You may have to do the force download to see if it works or not. First thing is to check your responders.

Go into your setting>set up> satellite, then test your signal strength. You will see a little (+) tab on the right side, make sure it is highlighted in yellow and check and see what your transponders read on the 101, 110, and 119 satellite. Also just out of curiosity, I assume you have a switch in your basement? What is it if you have one and how many lines are running to the switch?

If it shows you have a decent signal (over 70) on the 101, 110 and 119 satellite, then you can try a force download on the receiver. Hit the red reset button, when it reboots and the blue screen comes on type in 0,2,4,6,8 then wait a second and you should see the download screen for the download. If not try again.

Oh yeah, get rid of those fittings you bought, these are the ones you want.....
http://cgi.ebay.com/50-Compression-Connectors-Snap-N-Seal-F-RG6-Cable-Coax_W0QQitemZ150089847925QQihZ005QQcategoryZ32843QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
you just need the compression tool as well, buy one from lowes or something, compress the couple of fittings you need to then return it.

If none of that works then get someone out there to fix it correctly, someone is just pulling your chain about the local HD's it sounds like because I never heard of that. I would also ask for some sort of compensation from Directv

 

Ok, well I will check to see if radio shack has the connectors. I would like to do another room this weekend. Here are the crimpers I bought http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104050&cp=&sr=1&origkw=coaxial+crimper&kw=coaxial+crimper&parentPage=search
Let me know if these will work w/ the correct connectors??!!

About the local channels, I get them they just aren't in HD!! Which again I don't understand!! I guess I will call them sometime this weekend and find out why again and post back!! I will tell them I know a tech from philly and he told me to call!! I hope that radio shack has these connectors b/c I don't wanna wait, if not I guess I will have to!!!
Thanks for the help and I'll post back!!!

 

those crimper's are the wrong ones, you need to get a compression crimper. Looks like this.....
http://www.accessorywarehouse.com/images/LCCT1_digicon_crimper-L.jpg there are other types of crimper's like this but it is specific for compression fittings. Like I mentioned just go buy one from home depot or lowes, use it for what you need then return it.

Have you tried that download I mentioned? If possible which one of these does you dish look like more.
Does it look like this one http://www.1st-satellite-info.com/_images/promo/directv.jpg

this one
http://s94765130.onlinehome.us/DSCN8764-1.JPG

maybe this one?
http://fixmysatellite.com/productimages/au9.gif

If it looks like the 1st one, its the wrong dish and you wont be able to receive your locals in HD, the second and third pic are the dishes that you could use. Although if you have dish in the second pic, sometime the way it connects the LNB's can be by coaxial cable or by little plug wires. If its uses the cables and the techs that installed it didnt make their own jumpers and used the ones provided that is prob your main problem. The ones provided with that dish are to short and they push away from the connection which wont allow you to get certain HD channels.

The 3rd pic is of the newest KA/KU dish which is the main HD dish which everyone should get when they upgrade to HD. If that is the one you have you should def be getting your HD locals plus all the others.

Last thing you can do it also check and make sure your receiver is set up properly. Go into the set-up> setting> repeat satellite install, and make sure it is set on the 5 LNB's and proceed with the set-up. They may have you set up with on the 3LNB which will also cause you to not get any local HD channels.

 

Are there any other crimpers or connectors that will work? I really don't wanna spend 90 dollars for the thing!! I know that lowes don't have this!! I already looked there and I only saw 2 different ones. I am not a cheap person but wow. Only to do about 15 more connectors that is crazy!! I will have to check ebay for it. I have yet to go to radio shack to see if they have the comp. connectors. It has been crazy around here lately.

About the dish, I think it is the 2nd one. The 2nd and 3rd one are I think the same size as the one I have. I don't think it says slimline on it though. No one in this area gets HD locals from direct b/c of some sort of agreement?? Again I don't know whay. If they go through the local cable company (COMCAST), they get them! Well I appreciate all the help and tomorrow I may try that setup thing on my reciever. Be my luck, I'll screw it up!! THANKS
Chris

 

I found the exact tool on ebay, but this one is a universal comp. tool, will this work?? http://cgi.ebay.com/Coax-Connector-Tool-RG-6-RG-59-RG-6Q-RG-6U-Digicon-CATV_W0QQitemZ330089392055QQihZ014QQcategoryZ73166QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
If not the exact tool from the website you sent me is on here for 60 dollars less. Thanks again!!!

 

that tool looks like it will work

 

Ok thanks! Also I checked the setup on the HD reciever and it says 5 LNB on the setup screen.

 

just out of curiosity, which HD channels do you get in? Are the ones in the 70's showing up?

 

YES they are!! Love'em!!! 70 and 71 are HBO and Showtime which I am not subscribed for. 72 and 73 are espn's 74 I get, 75 is TNT and about 5 others which are like discovery, and HDNet which is like a movie channel. Now 80's on up are the locals which I do not get. They are east and west of the locals. Again, I don't understand why I can't get them. And then finally an HD ppv channel. That is all the hd's. Now I don't have an HDMI cable. Should I get one and will that make the picture any better!!?? The pic is 100 times better than regular channels but I saw some cables for 100 bucks!! That is obsurd!! Again thanks again for all the help. I need to get this project done. The other 3 rooms should only take me a day if I can dedicate the whole day to it, but our 7 month old son cuts into the time, which is fine. He's great!! Thanks again for all the help!!

 

dont worry about that HDMI cable, IMO its worthless. Component cables work just as good, at least i have never been able to tell much of a difference between the HDMI and component cables.

I was looking it up for your area and I find it very odd that you guys dont get the local HD's. I assume its comcast out there and they have a contract with Directv in just about every other city for Directv to provide HD Locals. I'm guessing it will change where your at and they will come in soon.

Now if by chance you are semi close to the boradcast towers you can prob pull the HD locals off a small off air antenna which you hook into the back of the receiver, there is no need for that big one they say to put on the roof. There really little, like a pen and I know in philly in some areas we can put that on the back of a receiver and still pull an HD signal off of the locals. You can find them at Radio shack as well. SHould be cheap. You would put one on the back of the receiver where it says OFF AIR IN, go back through your set-up menu and then search for local networks. If it works then your in luck. If not I guess you will just have to wait till that contract is taken care of with Comcast

 

That sounds like what the direct tv told me. About being close to the broadcast towers, um I am about 75ish miles from Wilkes Barre/Scarnton area so I doubt I would pick anything up. I guess I could try if the part is cheap enough. I am hoping to get the wiring done this weekend. But I dont know if I'll have the tool in time. Any hints that you could tell me on how to use it. Thanks again!!

 

that tool? Its pretty straight forward, you will slide the connectors over the wire. With the cable there will be the copper wire that is stripped and then there will be the insulation that is stripped away a little and it will be a white covering. You want to slide that into the connector so it sits even inside the connector right before the threads start that you would screw the connector into the box. You'll see what I mean. The you just put the cable and connector through the open end side of the crimper and it will line up with a little hole, once in there you squeeze the handle and it will compress the connector onto the cable. Its kinda hard to explain but you will see how it works once you get it.

The cable will look something like this once stripped away, the copper comes all the way through the connector, and where the white part is, it should sit flat with the inner part of the connector
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Images/Products/size_3/CAPF100B.JPG

The off air piece should be like $5 at most. I will see if I can find one in our truck and I will just mail it to myself to save you some hassle. I will PM you later today after work and let you know.

 

I got the tool on monday and fixed the problem and the connectors are amazing. Well worth the money which wasn't much!!!Thanks for all the help everyone. Plan on doing another room this weekend!!!!!!

 

YOU do not need compression fittings for indoor applications - period!!!

fred

 

fewalt YOU do not need compression fittings for indoor applications - period!!!

fred>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

TO LATE!! I LOVE THEM THINGS!!!!!!! SO much easier to crimp and they look very professional!!!! Plus the job is done and I am so happy the way it turned out.

I want to thank everyone who posted all the great info!!!!!! Hope someday I can return the favor!!!!!!!
Chris Plank

 

Actually hex crimps are not good for much above 300Mhz, they were fine for the old days of cable, but now all should be compression. I could explain it but it would take a long time and a lot of typing.