Multiswitch question

[rhipps]

I am a 65 year old guy with a six week old knee (got a TKR) who can't do ladders. Is there anyway I can tell what multiswitch is installed in my system without climbing up on the roof to look at it?

Thanks in advance,

Bob in Virginia

[tfederov]

How many receivers do you have? What type are they? DVR or regular? If you have four or less regular receivers there's a chance that no multiswitch was used. If you have a combonation of DVRs and regular receivers, you may have one.

By the way, welcome to DBSTalk!

[TheGreatLogan]

I am a 65 year old guy with a six week old knee (got a TKR) who can't do ladders. Is there anyway I can tell what multiswitch is installed in my system without climbing up on the roof to look at it?

Thanks in advance,

Bob in Virginia

no that i know

[veryoldschool]

Multi-switches aren't "normally" mounted on the dish.
Listing what you have "could give us" an idea.

[smiddy]

I am a 65 year old guy with a six week old knee (got a TKR) who can't do ladders. Is there anyway I can tell what multiswitch is installed in my system without climbing up on the roof to look at it?

Thanks in advance,

Bob in Virginia

Hey rhipps, :welcome_s , you shouldn't have to climb up to your dish to see if you have a multiswitch on your dish. We do need a little more information to understand the question better however. If you have a Slimline antenna with an embedded SWM ODU LNB then you can tell this from the number of actual lines runing into your home. There should only be one. If there are four, then you don't have a multiswitch at your antenna. Now interior to your home you could have a few permutations of multiswitches depending.

How many and what type of recievers do you currently have installed?

[litzdog911]

Look for your satellite dish here and tell us which one you have ....
http://www.solidsignal.com/satellite/directv_dish_antenna_types.asp

[rhipps]

Hey rhipps, :welcome_s , you shouldn't have to climb up to your dish to see if you have a multiswitch on your dish. We do need a little more information to understand the question better however. If you have a Slimline antenna with an embedded SWM ODU LNB then you can tell this from the number of actual lines runing into your home. There should only be one. If there are four, then you don't have a multiswitch at your antenna. Now interior to your home you could have a few permutations of multiswitches depending.

How many and what type of recievers do you currently have installed?

Glad to be here and thanks to everyone for your prompt replies. I am a retired AF aviator turned computer geek in my dotage but still a relative newbie regarding satellite comm.

I have the HR-21 and DVR-40 recorders and two of the ancient RCA receivers that I received when I signed up for DTV back in Jan 03. I am on my third dish (the 5 LNB slimline) and have six lines running into my house.

DTV just installed a new multiswitch on the antenna pole below the dish a couple of weeks ago since I didn't have enough ports for my receivers. I can see a couple of empty ports when I look up at my roof.

Alas the tech didn't say what he was installing and when I asked if it was a SWM-8 I got a blank stare (sigh) :confused:

Cheers,

Bob Hipps
Toano, VA

[Michael D'Angelo]

:welcome_s to DBSTalk, rhipps!

If you have 6 lines going into the house you have a normal 8 output multi-switch and not an SWM8.

If all of your HD channels are working ok than you have an Zinwell WB68 which is the multi-switch you need and want.

BTW like said above the multi-switch should have been installed inside. Outside is not really good so you may want to call DIRECTV and have a tech come out and move it.

[west99999]

:welcome_s to DBSTalk, rhipps!

If you have 6 lines going into the house you have a normal 8 output multi-switch and not an SWM8.

If all of your HD channels are working ok than you have an Zinwell WB68 which is the multi-switch you need and want.

BTW like said above the multi-switch should have been installed inside. Outside is not really good so you may want to call DIRECTV and have a tech come out and move it.

Multi-switch outside is fine as long as it has weather boots and the connectors properly torqued to 30 inch pounds:)

[HDTVsportsfan]

Not to speak for Mike.....but I think what he was saying is it would be best if it were inside w/ the risk of future problems being alot lower.

[Simmerman]

It is also best if the multiswitch is mounted with the inputs running horizontally not vertically. This lessens the likelihood of water ingress into the fittings.

[Jables]

Multi-switches aren't "normally" mounted on the dish.
Listing what you have "could give us" an idea.

Well, around here they are - but this is a 95% E* area. Maybe they have a different policy, but it always seemed pretty retarded to me. What happens if you want to add a receiver? Guess you'll be trenching all the way out the the pole again, since your multi-switch is way out there. Plus it looks like a**.

[Mertzen]

Multi-switches aren't "normally" mounted on the dish.

You should come to nyc.. :hurah:

[RobertE]

Putting the switch at the dish is stupid.

[66stang351]

Glad to be here and thanks to everyone for your prompt replies. I am a retired AF aviator turned computer geek in my dotage but still a relative newbie regarding satellite comm.

I have the HR-21 and DVR-40 recorders and two of the ancient RCA receivers that I received when I signed up for DTV back in Jan 03. I am on my third dish (the 5 LNB slimline) and have six lines running into my house.

DTV just installed a new multiswitch on the antenna pole below the dish a couple of weeks ago since I didn't have enough ports for my receivers. I can see a couple of empty ports when I look up at my roof.

Alas the tech didn't say what he was installing and when I asked if it was a SWM-8 I got a blank stare (sigh) :confused:

Cheers,

Bob Hipps
Toano, VASounds like you got a WB68. Just so you know a SWM-8 will not work with your current system. Your DVR-40 and ancient RCA receivers are not SWM compatible.

[jdspencer]

The SWM-8 does have legacy ports to use with the older receivers.

[rhipps]

The SWM-8 does have legacy ports to use with the older receivers.

What I really need now is a SWM-8 or something with similar functionality for our motorhome Winegard "crankup" dish so we can use both ports on our DVR-40 when we travel.

However, the SWM is a bit pricey at present so I suspect we will wait until the price drops before upgrading.

Besides, who can afford to travel these days with the gas prices being what they are (sigh)?

:(

Bob in Toano

[66stang351]

What I really need now is a SWM-8 or something with similar functionality for our motorhome Winegard "crankup" dish so we can use both ports on our DVR-40 when we travel.

However, the SWM is a bit pricey at present so I suspect we will wait until the price drops before upgrading.

Besides, who can afford to travel these days with the gas prices being what they are (sigh)?

:(

Bob in ToanoNo such thing for your DVR-40. There are legacy ports, however, they work just like the ports from the dish and there are only 3 and your DVR-40 would need two of them. The only thing that a SWM would do for you is save one line to your HR-21.

To take advantage of the SWM you will need to upgrade all of your legacy receivers. The following receivers are SWM compatible: D12 (all), HR20 (all), H20 (all), H21 (all), HR21 (all including Pro), R16, R22.