freesat installation help required - cabling etc.

[cs123]

I have decided to get a new tv (hd ready) with humax box that receives freesat and allows me to record & pause live tv etc.
However, I don't want to have cables visible all around the outside of my house, and want them to be concealed...so will have to employ an electrician to do the cabling, before the dish etc. is installed.
What i need to know is:
1. what type of cable is required to go from dish to aerial socket? would shotgun cable be sufficient, or pt100?
2. how many cables are required - if i have 2 from LNB on dish to aerial socket, is tv aerial cable also required or does this become obsolete?
3. what has to be on the ends of the cables - f connectors?
4. i currently have 1 aerial socket, so when this is replaced, does it need to be with a double or a twin socket? (and does it need to be 1 or 2 gang)

thanks in advance,
carol

 

[logiciel]

Hi Carol.
First it's best not to use the word aerial when you're talking about satellite installations.
The best way is to have a single length of shotgun, with f-plugs of course, direct from the LNB to the receiver's satellite inputs, with no sockets or anything else to interrupt it.
If your current "aerial socket" is connected to a rooftop aerial then you just keep it for use with the Freeview tuner in your TV.
If it isn't you could either remove it or have it replaced with a dual one with f-sockets for the dish connection.
The socket method would need a further length of shotgun from the two sockets to the receiver.

 

[MartinPickering]

so will have to employ an electrician to do the cabling,

I strongly recommend that you employ an installer who is familiar with coaxial cable. Electricians are generally good at their own job but many of them know little or nothing about coaxial cable.

There's more than one type of "shotgun" cable. WF65 (4mm) is generally OK for runs up to 20m with a Sky minidish in southern UK (strong signal) areas. WF100-twin (7mm) is generally good for double that length under the same conditions.

 

[grahamlthompson]

Just to add you can combine the terrestrial aerial with one of the pair of cables required for a sat pvr. This requires a diplexer at the top end and a special wall plate at the TV end. However if the existing TV aerial downlead is OK why bother just run shotgun or two single sat grade coax cables from the lnb.

 

[MartinPickering]

Just to add you can combine the terrestrial aerial with one of the pair of cables required for a sat pvr. This requires a diplexer at the top end and a special wall plate at the TV end.

Or another diplexer.

 

[cs123]

Thanks all.

I live out near Ely, Cambs and the area has a really weak signal strength from the terrestrial aerial - all neighbours have a satellite dish.

Would wf100-twin cable be ok (cable has to go from dish on 1 side of house, through loft & down wall cavity to other side of house, which would probably be 50m+)?
(If so, do you know where i could purchase this from please - and also explain if the mention of "twin" means i only need 1 wire from lnb through house & out at tv socket on wall?)

Could you also recommend a diplexer & wall plate at tv end please, as i don't want to buy the wrong things...

Carol

 

[MartinPickering]

The signal reaching your Digibox depends not only on the cable but the dish size. As there's not much you can do about the cable (even WF125 cable wouldn't make much improvement) I'd recommend using a zone 2 dish, to be on the safe side.

 

[grahamlthompson]

Thanks all.

I live out near Ely, Cambs and the area has a really weak signal strength from the terrestrial aerial - all neighbours have a satellite dish.

Would wf100-twin cable be ok (cable has to go from dish on 1 side of house, through loft & down wall cavity to other side of house, which would probably be 50m+)?
(If so, do you know where i could purchase this from please - and also explain if the mention of "twin" means i only need 1 wire from lnb through house & out at tv socket on wall?)

Could you also recommend a diplexer & wall plate at tv end please, as i don't want to buy the wrong things...

Carol

Twin cable is just two single cables glued together. If you are using WF100 then it will likely be easier to use two single cables rather than twin (It's called shotgun because if you look at the end it looks like a twin barrel shotgun pointing at you ). Sky use WF65 for upgrades because it's small enough to fit through a single hole. Because of the length of the cable run it would be wise to go up a dish size. ie if you are in a Sky zone1 area fit a zone 2 dish, this will give you better rain fade margin. There's loads of kit that will do what you want. Try browsing the satcure website.

You can get a 60cm dish and quad lnb from fleabay from as little as £25.00

Using a diplexer will also lose a little signal strength, if your freeview signal is that poor it would be better to avoid this arrangement