Advice on ability to move from Sky back to FTA and saorview

kala85

I am in the process of getting sky installed and I have a few questions. I met with the installer last week and he advised that I needed to have two cables -( shotgun cables installed from the dish to the sky box to give me two signals into the sky box so that I could record and watch TV at the same time. These cables are fairly thin in comparison to the coaxial cable that was in the conduit up to now.

1.The shotgun/ twin cables will be going into a conduit with an insulated wire which provides power to a socket in the TV room. Is it safe enough to run the shotgun cables and the power cable in the same conduit. Is there any danger that they could over heat? Does one of these thin shotgun cable do the same job as my present co-axial cable? Is this cable high enough quality to combine FTA and saorview on its own should I decide to ditch SKY next year?

2. My present set up is one Free to Air and Saorview aeriel pick up a signal and each signal goes into a box/ junction in the attic which combines the signal together and allows it to go down through the single coaxial cable .How does this box work?

Would it be possible that it could take two signals from the dish and put it into the single coaxial cable and into the living room and that the signals could be split again in the living room to give two feeds to the sky box?

The Cush

kala85 wrote: »

1.The shotgun/ twin cables will be going into a conduit with an insulated wire which provides power to a socket in the TV room. Is it safe enough to run the shotgun cables and the power cable in the same conduit. Is there any danger that they could over heat? Does one of these thin shotgun cable do the same job as my present co-axial cable? Is this cable high enough quality to combine FTA and saorview on its own should I decide to ditch SKY next year?

2. My present set up is one Free to Air and Saorview aeriel pick up a signal and each signal goes into a box/ junction in the attic which combines the signal together and allows it to go down through the single coaxial cable .How does this box work?

Would it be possible that it could take two signals from the dish and put it into the single coaxial cable and into the living room and that the signals could be split again in the living room to give two feeds to the sky box?

1. I've never used shotgun cable so wouldn't be able to advise, have you googled it?

2. Saorview and satellite signals can be combined on a single cable because they operate at different frequencies and so don't conflict (Saorview 470-790MHz, satellite I.F. 950-2150 MHz)

3. There are units called stacker/destackers which can combine 2 satellite feeds down a single cable, the cable must be of very high quality to carry one of the feeds as it's shifted upwards in the frequency band to avoid conflict with the other feed, http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/stacker2.htm.

kala85

Thanksfor your reply.How much do these stackers cost.

The shotgun can be is like ct65 twinning cables

kala85

Could I run saorview and two sat cables using the stackers all on the one cable.

What kind of connection do I need in order to combine the free to air and a saor sat signal

kbell

http://www.tvtrade.ie/global-stacker-destacker.html

The Cush

kala85 wrote: »

Could I run saorview and two sat cables using the stackers all on the one cable.

Yes, using a sat/terrestrial combiner before the stacker.

kala85 wrote: »

What kind of connection do I need in order to combine the free to air and a saor sat signal

FTA satellite and SaorSat combined on 1 satellite dish would be a job for a professional if you haven't done something similar previously.

Thurston?

kala85 wrote: »

The shotgun can be is like ct65 twinning cables

Well known cable manufacturers figures for '100' & '65' type cable:

Attenuation (dB/100m @ 20C)

               '100'             '65'

460 mHz         <15              <21.4

860 mHz         <19.5            <30

1000 mHz        <21.5            <32.5

1750 mHz        <29              <42

2150 mHz                         <47

Figures for higher frequencies from an online calculator (agrees with manufacturer on frequencies listed above), '100' type cable:

2150 mHz          31.8

2500 mHz          34.3

3000 mHz          37.6

3500 mHz          40.6

3750 mHz          42

'Stacked' satellite band goes up to 3700 mHz. From these figures, looks like the stacker/destacker + '100' cable would win in the signal loss stakes: figures I looked at previously (posts now deleted) suggested otherwise. What cable you currently have installed is another matter though.

kala85

If I take out the sky can i still run the saorview and free to air through one ct65 cable.

Also are these cables safe as they seem to be very thin compared to the existing coaxial cable ( which is probably ct100 or ct 80)

The conduit will have any electrical power cable and two ct65 cables . Will this be safe to have this cable running alongside together. Is there any danger the cables could melt or cause a fire

Thurston?

kala85 wrote: »

The conduit will have any electrical power cable and two ct65 cables . Will this be safe to have this cable running alongside together. Is there any danger the cables could melt or cause a fire

If you want a definitive answer to this question, you'd be better off asking in the electrical forum.