Bogus DSS hookup by Dish? (1 Viewer)

[Ann Durango]

DISH recently installed their system at my house. For several days i still had AT&T cable and could compare the picture quality. Cable is clearly better most of the time.:frowning: Was wondering if this partly has to do with how the installer ran the cable from the dish to the receiver. He used RG6 from the dish going to a dipole connector buried in the ground, then went from that to another dipole on the side of the house, which is connected to the older (and thinner) coax cable TV going thru the wall to another connector mounted on the inside wall. Then he ran RG6 again to the sat receiver. I called Dish technical help complaining about the picture quality and how the installer ran the cable with three connectors, rather than one straight run. The technician said that since the signal between the dish and receiver is just an uncompressed digital bitstream, the three connectors would not affect picture quality. Is this bogus? Or is he right? (P.S. Have been lurking on this forum for some time now and have already gotten loads of greater info. Thanks to everyone who posts good technical info and equipment reviews.)

 

[Eric_R_C]

First of all, if you are getting a picture, then the existing cable that the installer used HAS to be RG-6. That being said, more connection DOES mean loss of information.
Have you checked the tuning of the dish (antenna)? How high is your signal strength.
I have to say, this is kinda lazy. Most installs that I've seen have been through the wall, straight to the receiver. How far is your dish from the box? (distance-wise, and location-wise)
You say cable is better "most of the time"? Does this mean the same channels get better and worse throughout day, or are you comparing channel by channel (some are always better, some are always worse.)
I've installed and reinstalled my system on my house and motorhome, and on friends' homes also. It wouldn't be TERRIBLY difficult for you to run a single cable yourself, unless drilling into exterior walls makes you queasy.
You could always loosen and misalign the dish, or "damage" the old coaxial connector (run over it with a lawnmower), and tell them you now have NO signal. Make the guy run a new line then...

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Ann,

Unfortunately mini sat installers are notorious for their down and dirty “let’s see how fast we can get outta here” installations. For instance, I’ll bet he didn’t bother to ground the dish or the incoming signal? There should be a heavy-gauge ground cable attached between the dish and the electrical ground stake at your breaker panel. There should also be a ground tap in the signal (coaxial) line also attached to the same ground stake. Both these measures help protect your equipment should the dish be hit by lightning.

For several days i still had AT&T cable and could compare the picture quality. Cable is clearly better most of the time.

I find this to be highly suspicious, as it appears that the installer did not run fresh cable, but tapped into the existing wiring, that was already in the house. How are you getting both cable and satellite to your TV at this point?

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Ann Durango]

Thanks Wayne and Eric for responding. Really appreciate it.
I'm pretty sure that the original coax cable going thru the wall was RG-59, which was installed 15 years ago when I originally got cable TV.
On the connectors, he called them "dipole" connectors, although they look just like regular old splitters to me. One cable goes in and two go out. They're definitely not couplers. On the exterior connector mounted to the house wall he connected both the cable coax (now removed) and the coax from the sat dish. On the inside of the house there was a 4th "dipole" with input from the cable going thru the wall that was connected to the exterior "dipole". The outputs from the interior dipole were connected to the DSS receiver and the TV. If the DSS receiver was turned on, I got the DSS signal. If it was off, I got the cable signal. I removed this 4th dipole after the cable TV was disconnected at the pole by the cable company.
On grounding, he did not run a ground to the electrical panel. The dish is mounted on a metal pole driven into the ground. There's a ground wire connected to this pole that runs to a lug on the exterior dipole mounted on the outside of the house. The "technician" I talked to on the phone at DISH said that this was a "grounding block" as well as a connector, and that the system didn't need to be connected to the electrical panel ground or a separate ground rod.
On signal strength, when the technician set up the dish originally, it was about 75. I haven't checked it since but will do so tonight.

 

[Eric_R_C]

Well, for what it's worth, I've nver been able to get a DSS signal through RG-59, so obviously your mileage may vary.

The installer left it at a strength of 75%? That's crap! While you will certainly get a signal in good weather, you might experience drop-outs during a rainstorm or high winds. This guy was definitely in a hurry.

 

[Kevin_Kr]

Anne, I think you mean diplexers, also satellite can run easily through rg 59 , I have seen it numerous times.

 

[Ann Durango]

Thanks Kevin & Eric.

Eric, what minimum signal strength should I insist on?

Kevin, you could be right about their being called diplexers rather than dipole connectors. I could have misrembered what the installer said.

Do you guys think I should rant and rave and get DISH to reinstall the cable? Last time I called, the technician dismissed my complaint with the comment about "uncompressed digital bitstream," but I could try to be firmer. (Unfortunately that probably means being nastier since I was firm the first time.) I could probably run continuous new cable myself, but I don't have the tools to put connectors on RG6. Besides, if lightning does hit the dish and damage my equipment, I'd rather have them be liable, not me.

 

[Eric_R_C]

As I said, 75% WILL work (anything above 65% works in clear weather) so I don't know if they will come out for that. If try to get at least 85-90%. I've never gotten above 95%

If you get the screw-on connectors from Radio-Shack, it's a breeze. The hardest part is cutting the cable correctly, but I do it with a knife. You should consider buying Radio-shack's coaxial cable cutter (not the technical name

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Ann, you might try a different transponder setting. I’ve seen this it self make the readings jump from the 70s to 90s.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Eric_R_C]

Wayne, changing transponders doesn't do anything. Each transponder carries a specific range of channels. Some transponders can be more aligned than others, but they are all grouped together. If you had a bad transponder (or severely misaligned), there will be certain channels that will not come in.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Eric,

I did this at my sister’s in-law’s place a few weeks ago. Why did the numbers jump from the 70s to the 90s? (It's a Hughes system, if that matters.)

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Eric_R_C]

Why did the numbers jump from the 70s to the 90s?

Because you are thinking that something else is happening. The DSS satellite has 32 transponders (there are newer birds for newer channels and HDTV, but that's not important here.) Each transponder carries certain channels. Think of it like this: ke transponder 1 carries all the HBO channel, transponder 2 carries all the STARZ channels, etc. Now, the strength of each transponder varies slightly depending on your dish alignment. When you "switched transponders, you were simply "looking" at the signal strength of that particular transponder. You are still receiving ALL of the 32 transponder signals.
Here's another example. Your car has 4 cylinders. Each cylinder works in tandem with the others to move the car. You can inspect each one individually, and the car will still operate if 1 goes out. However, they are all necessary if you want your car to run smoothly.
My father-in-law's dish was misaligned when he had his roof fixed, and he hasn't bothered to fix it (I have my reasons for not doing it myself.) There are a few channels that will not come in because those particular transponders are below 60%. 90% of his other channels do come in, since the rest of the transponders are above 60%. HOWEVER, his channel guide is Butt-A$$ slow on ALL channels, so his system overall, while mostly working, is suffering the effects of this misalignment.
I'm not sure about your sytem, but on my Sony, whenever I go to the transponders, it always defaults to Transponder 2 (I forgot the reason.) Does your setting stay on the last transponder that you selected? I'm willing to bet it doesn't.
If fact, do you ever notice a defintite improvement when you "select" another transponder? There shouldn't be a difference.