Need help with DSS Multi-Switch (1 Viewer)

[Bob McElfresh]

I'm helping someone with their HT gear and they want me to install a Multi-Switch on their DirectTV system. They have 2 receivers now and they had the install guys run a third wire to a bedroom.

They have a Terk 2-in/4-out MulitSwitch. The dish is on the side of the house at head-height with the 3 lines running from it. Looks simple enough.

Here are my questions:

A) The dish has a single "horn", but since they already have 2 receivers hooked up I am assuming this is a dual LNB system. I take the 2 wires feeding the 2 receivers and plug them into the inputs on the Terk MultiSwitch? Is it that simple? I thought I saw a diagram that showed different voltages on each of the 2 wires from the LNB. Is this something I have to worry about?

B) I know about putting a terminating resistor on a CATV splitter to prevent reflections. Do I use one of these on the 4th output of the multi-switch? If not, what can I do to cover/protect that output?

C) My Dish receiver has a "Check Switch" feature that I sometimes have to run. After hooking in the Multi-Switch, do I need to go to each receiver and perform any setup functions? (This is a DirectTV system).

Any advice or links would be appreciated.

 

[Robert_J]

A. It is a dual LNB. Just take the two coax cables and connect them to the multi-switch inputs. Don't worry about the voltage.
B. Most don't need a terminating resister so you can probably skip that. For protection, I've seen small plastic caps that fit on the connector. Radio Shack has some tape for protecting coax connections you could try.
C. You don't need to do anything to the receivers.

-Robert

 

[Grant B]

C) My Dish receiver has a "Check Switch" feature that I sometimes have to run. After hooking in the Multi-Switch, do I need to go to each receiver and perform any setup functions? (This is a DirectTV system).

Bob
The check switch for Dish is mandatory.
For Directv it is not. Go to System; then system test.
That'll give you a test on signal,tuning, phone and smart card.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Cool. Thanks for all the feedback guys. It looks simple enough, but if I did not ask for help, Murphy's Law would let me mess something up.