Diseqc switch - indoors or outdoors ?

zagmund

Where do people normally put disqec switches - outside near the dishes, or inside at the end of the cable run, or does it matter ? Does it need to be a certain distance from the dishes and/or receiver, or can you just plonk it down wherever ?

I'm looking at this type of thing - http://www.satellite.ie/acatalog/Diseq_Switch_2_Way.html

Also, assuming I have enough LNB outputs from each dish can I run one set of cables from each dish into a switch for one room/receiver and another set of cables from the same dishes to another room/receiver ? From what I know (which is admittedly a bit vague) I should be able to do it OK, but is there anything about having two switches connected to the same LNB (not the same output on an LNB - different outputs) which might cause trouble ?

z

Rick_

You can get indoor or outdoor ones, it's purely up to you. I suppose for cosmetic reasons you might want to have an outside one rather then having two or more cables coming into your home and then being joined up, it's extra, unnecessary cable being used, not to mention the holes to be drilled for them. Join them all up to the Diseqc on the pole, then you just have one cable run and one hole to worry about.

I'm not sure about the second part, I'm sure someone will be along to help you out shortly.

Tony

I usually put them in a sheltered position near the dish

Sam Radford

Each LNB switch loses at least 4dB of signal so you'll reduce your "rain margin", which could conceivably cause problems if you are near the limit. It's generally recommended to use the next dish size up in order to compensate for losses in a switch.

Tony

I've found that when using good quality cable its not necessary generally to use a bigger dish. I've used an 80cm triax to run astra1/2 and hotbird and got levels within spec.

Sam Radford wrote: »

Each LNB switch loses at least 4dB of signal so you'll reduce your "rain margin", which could conceivably cause problems if you are near the limit. It's generally recommended to use the next dish size up in order to compensate for losses in a switch.

watty

Straight attenuation doesn't matter on the coax much as it attenuates the Noise too. I have only 30% level on the coaxs in the house but over 90% quality.

If the quality is the same with and without the switch, any level change is unlikely to matter.

axer

I just hooked up a diseqc switch on my sat lastnight. It makes much more sense to put it outside attaching it at the back of the dish. I have an indoor one and I just put it in a junction box to keep it dry.

I have a sky mini-dish (mounted on a speaker stand on my balcony) pointing to 19.2 so I got an old LNB from a friend and created a simple bracket to attach the LNB to the side of the mini-dish LNB arm. Now I have 19.2 and 28.2 feeding into a 2-1 diseqc switch and then on to my Dreambox 500. Happy days.