Help with buying leads to extend a satellite cable

quad_red

Hi folks,

Would really appreciate a bit of (pretty basic) advice.

We have just bought a house (yeah!). It has a sky dish on the roof and a satellite cable coming out of the wall (see attached pic). Money is tight so freesat is the way forward. It's the first time I've lived someplace that this was an option - it's been packaged cable all the way in previous rented places.

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I just bought a Humax Freesat box and want to hook it up. But the satellite cable barely comes out of the wall by half a foot. I need to extend it to get it to the box.

Can anyone please point out exactly what I need to buy to do this? I can see plenty of coax extenders but no satellite cable ones.

Would these two work?

http://www.powercity.ie/?par=30-70-DV0610&pages=1&prod=DV0610&brands=FLEMMING&image=

http://www.powercity.ie/?par=30-70-V6010&pages=1&prod=V6010&brands=FLEMMING&image=

Thanks v much,
Quad

STB

You should eventually put in a wall plate where that cable is coming out the wall.

Quickly you could just buy the second cable linked above and one of these (a back to back)



The one in the centre. Any satellite shop will have them.

quad_red

Thanks STB.

Gonna have to clean the cabling up alright. Sure there's an aerial on the roof with a cable coming off it but I can't find where it goes!

May also get a quad LNB fitted to the dish.

Now to find a satellite shop around Dublin city centre!

paulhardman

You don't need a satellite shop - B&Q, Woodies etc sell them, as well as Maplin if you are desperate!

Gerry Wicklow

https://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/1076947/Trail/searchtext%3ESATELLITE.htm

Cheapo quality but does the job if you're not feeling too brave.

pauld

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0096CP9MC/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


I bought the above, works perfectly with Sky +, well made, connectors already attached.

Liameter

How to fit an F plug: http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/fconn.htm

Kristopherus

If you can get to the Homebase store in Fonthill that is closing down you may get a very good deal in Satellite cabling. They had a 25m roll of satellite cable for half price of around €9.

Liameter

Just be aware that any cable whose type is not specifically stated (e.g. WF100) is likely to be steel-cored RG6. You can test the core wire with a magnet.

You get what you pay for. Copper is very expensive.

quad_red

Liameter wrote: »

Just be aware that any cable whose type is not specifically stated (e.g. WF100) is likely to be steel-cored RG6. You can test the core wire with a magnet.

You get what you pay for. Copper is very expensive.

Does it make a big difference to image quality?

Liameter

Silly question. How could it possibly make a difference to picture quality? It makes a difference to the signal attenuation and to the reliability of the cable (if outdoors). Most of the time, RG6 will be fine. The problem is, in the small number of cases where it's not fine, you'll have to do the job over. Not easy if it's plastered in or difficult to access. So you need to consider whether you are taking a risk. That's all I'm trying to explain. A bit like deciding whether remould tyres will be OK.

S28382

Liameter wrote: »

Silly question. How could it possibly make a difference to picture quality? It makes a difference to the signal attenuation and to the reliability of the cable (if outdoors). Most of the time, RG6 will be fine. The problem is, in the small number of cases where it's not fine, you'll have to do the job over. Not easy if it's plastered in or difficult to access. So you need to consider whether you are taking a risk. That's all I'm trying to explain. A bit like deciding whether remould tyres will be OK.

How is it a silly question?

Just because you might know what you are talking about and some others might not doesnt mean any question they might ask is silly.

Im pretty sure that you had to learn whatever it is you do and along the way you asked some "silly" questions.

Liameter

That's it. To learn means to look for the answer.
http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/poor_quality_picture.htm

Tony

If its just a few metres RG6 will be fine although if there is a b and Q near by look out for Philex PH100 cable, its really good quality.

dodzy

As STB says, fit a wall plate for a cleaner finish. Then just a 1mtr sat cable. Looking at your pic in the OP, it appears that the cable has recessed so the fitting will have to be redone before you go any further. If you're around D15, I'll give you the bits you need as a house warming gift;)

quad_red

Aw, thanks dodsy!

Unfortunately I'm in Skerries, a long long way away.

Guys, really appreciate all the advice and input. I doff my hat at board's once again. Loving the freeview (my god, it puts the image quality of our old UPC into perspective!).

STB

quad_red wrote: »

Thanks STB.

Gonna have to clean the cabling up alright. Sure there's an aerial on the roof with a cable coming off it but I can't find where it goes!

May also get a quad LNB fitted to the dish.

Now to find a satellite shop around Dublin city centre!

There is every chance that this has been combined with the satellite cable and fed to that room that way on the one cable. In order to split the satellite and terrestrial cable back out you use one of these connected to that cable coming out the wall.




You will need a standard coax to coax cable to connect from that to your TV for Saorview etc. The other output for satellite will be your current fconnector satellite cable that you already have.

Have a look around for any UHF wall ports around the house first.

quad_red

Thanks lads!

Didn't even know you could do that.

Sweet.
Quad

kuro_man

...or a de-combining wall plate

quad_red

Lads, I really appreciate all the advice.

And I know this may sound stupid/impossible but is it possible that a dual LNB can come down one cable and NOT need to be split to record one channel and watch another?

Basically, I bought a HUMAX freesat box. It's got two cable inputs at the back. I connected the one dish cable that came out of the wall to it. And I confirmed last night that it is able to record one channel and watch another. With one cable going into it.

ie. I recorded a brian cox bbc doc thing (on bbc 3 i think) last night at nine pm. I watched the first 2/3 mins before the mrs wanted to turn over to another program (about misbehaving kids).

Now, I went to check the recording of the cox thing. I wanted to know whether it cut the recording off when I changed channel or if it kept recording what was onscreen (the new show)...

And it had recorded the entire documentary. I fast forwarded through the entire thing. The full thing, the full hour, is there.

I didn't think that was possible...

Tony

Its most likely that both channels were on the same transponder.

quad_red wrote: »

I didn't think that was possible...

quad_red

Tony wrote: »

Its most likely that both channels were on the same transponder.

And that works going through one input on the freesat box?

Really? Class!

Tony

Its not as good as it sounds, bear in mind there are typically only 4 to 8 channels on a transponder.:)

quad_red wrote: »

And that works going through one input on the freesat box?

Really? Class!

quad_red

Tony wrote: »

Its not as good as it sounds, bear in mind there are typically only 4 to 8 channels on a transponder.:)

Why would it not be good? What are the limitations?

As in, this will happily record one channel and allow us to watch another.

What advantage would separate wires from a dual/quad lnb give?

Cheers
Quad

Tony

No it wont, its just coincidental that the two channels you tried were on the same transponder so you are limited to recording/watching only these channels. Think about it, why would anyone bother with two cables if they did not need to As a test try recording again and see how many other channels you can watch at the same time.

quad_red wrote: »

As in, this will happily record one channel and allow us to watch another.

quad_red

Tony wrote: »

No it wont, its just coincidental that the two channels you tried were on the same transponder so you are limited to recording/watching only these channels. Think about it, why would anyone bother with two cables if they did not need to As a test try recording again and see how many other channels you can watch at the same time.

AH!

So it's limited to specific channels and I totally fluked it! :O

Tony

quad_red wrote: »

AH!

So it's limited to specific channels and I totally fluked it! :O

Yeah I think so but maybe a good day to buy a lotto ticket:)

quad_red

Tony wrote: »

Yeah I think so but maybe a good day to buy a lotto ticket:)

Snip.

Gerry Wicklow

Tony isn't allowed to answer such questions directly on here, but have a look at his site for all the info you need. You wont be disappointed.

http://satellite.ie/index.html

Tony

Thanks for the kind words Gerry.

Peter Rhea

quad_red wrote: »

Basically, I bought a HUMAX freesat box. It's got two cable inputs at the back. I connected the one dish cable that came out of the wall to it. And I confirmed last night that it is able to record one channel and watch another. With one cable going into it.

Is this one of the HDR1000 boxes? I believe they have an internal link to the 2nd tuner & will automatically detect if 1 or 2 cables are connected, allowing you to watch/record channels on the same band & polarity, rather than just the same transponder.

On the older Foxsat boxes, this had to be manually set up, by connecting a cable between lnb-out & the 2nd tuner input, along with selecting single cable mode in the setup menu.

Tony

I stand corrected, this should really increase your choice if you have a 1000

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Is this one of the HDR1000 boxes? I believe they have an internal link to the 2nd tuner & will automatically detect if 1 or 2 cables are connected, allowing you to watch/record channels on the same band & polarity, rather than just the same transponder.

quad_red

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Is this one of the HDR1000 boxes? I believe they have an internal link to the 2nd tuner & will automatically detect if 1 or 2 cables are connected, allowing you to watch/record channels on the same band & polarity, rather than just the same transponder.

On the older Foxsat boxes, this had to be manually set up, by connecting a cable between lnb-out & the 2nd tuner input, along with selecting single cable mode in the setup menu.

Aw epic!

Yeah, its the Human HDR-1000S
http://www.humaxdigital.com/uk/products/product.php?gid=135

Peter Rhea

It's still not the 'real deal' in terms of full PVR flexibility but it's better than only having access to 1 tuner.

As already mentioned, your choice of programmes will be limited to channels from the same frequency/polarity 'block' from the lnb & each tuner can decode 1 transponder (multiplex of channels sharing a carrier frequency), so you can: record 1 programme & watch any other from the same 'block', record 2 programmes from the same transponder & watch any other from the same 'block' or, record 2 programmes on different transponders & watch a 3rd on one of these transponders.

Tony

You could also use a pair of combiners to send a UHF/saorview signal down from an aerial using the existing cable, might be worth trying an attic aerial to start with, you can always get it fitted outside afterwards if this does not work.