Helping a friend clean up this weekend

[jpitlick]

These pictures are of my friend's D* install from a few years ago. From what I've read here of proper installation standards, I'm guessing that QA was never done on his installation.

http://www.solidpcs.com/images/DTV1.jpg
http://www.solidpcs.com/images/DTV2.jpg

Our plan is to pull the WB68 and replace it with a SWM-8. We are going to run all new lines down from the dish to a new 4 port ground block. Jump the ground block to the SWM-8, which we are going to mount inside this
http://www.solidpcs.com/images/box.jpg
under the telco box.

I am cautiously optimistic that the cable runs from inside the house will reach the SWM-8 box. Otherwise, we'll have to mount the SWM splitter outside the box. We have PPC COAX RUBBER WEATHER BOOTS for all of the connections and 75 ohm resister caps for the unused splitter ports. I have all of the tools that we are going to need (compression tool, cable stripper, 7/16" crescent wrench, RG6 SCC cable). Any other suggestions? I'll post "after" pictures once we do the work this weekend. Thanks.

[dsw2112]

All I can say is HOLY #$%$!!! Unless that enclosure has ventilation I would not use with a SWM-8. While occasionally you hear of a SWM-8 failing when mounted outdoors they are made for that duty. Just make sure to use drip loops, correctly tightened fittings, and dielectric grease. You'll be just fine! good luck with that mess!!!

[jpitlick]

All I can say is HOLY #$%$!!! Unless that enclosure has ventilation I would not use with a SWM-8. While occasionally you hear of a SWM-8 failing when mounted outdoors they are made for that duty. Just make sure to use drip loops, correctly tightened fittings, and dielectric grease. You'll be just fine! good luck with that mess!!!

That's the first thing that I thought, too. We are planning to ventilate the enclosure. Thanks for the additional tips.

[jpitlick]

Update:
Pictures pending

Unfortunately, it turns out that both Lowe's and Home Depot do not sell SCC RG6, so we did not replace the cables coming from the dish. Though from inspecting a couple of the existing lines, the original installer used CCS. I still changed out all of the cable ends. There was some pretty nasty corrosion on some of the cables. I was actually surprised the system worked fine with the WB68.

My friend reported that he was having some problems receiving some of his channels. We're still going through some troubleshooting steps, but ultimately I am going to order some SCC RG6 off the internet and replace as much CCS as possible. At least from the dish to the SWM-8 and the SWM-8 to the splitter.

[jpitlick]

Does anyone have any recommendation for where I can find a good deal on SCC RG6? Either locally, I am in the Washington, DC area, or online. Thanks.

[Mertzen]

Oh man, I was just around the area on saturday. Had wire and all tools with me.

I do have some shorter pieces of SCC coax around if interested.

Do show the after pics soon.

[jpitlick]

Oh man, I was just around the area on saturday. Had wire and all tools with me.

I do have some shorter pieces of SCC coax around if interested.

Do show the after pics soon.

Define "shorter pieces". My friend's house is three stories, so we would probably need four 50' runs to replace the drops from the dish and then another 10' to 20' to chop into short patches to run from the ground block to the SWM-8 and and the SWM-8 to the splitter. If you have enough cable, I would be interested. Let me know. Thanks.

[CCarncross]

Does anyone have any recommendation for where I can find a good deal on SCC RG6? Either locally, I am in the Washington, DC area, or online. Thanks.

www.solidsignal.com has decent prices on bulk RG-6 Solid copper core.

[jpitlick]

Here is our midway picture after we removed the abomination from my first post:

http://www.solidpcs.com/images/after1.jpg

Here are the after pictures:

http://www.solidpcs.com/images/after2.jpg
http://www.solidpcs.com/images/after3.jpg

I know that it is not perfect. The lines coming out of the house were of varying length. The shortest being about six inches.

My friend discovered that he is getting 771 errors on channels that come from sat 103's even transponders. He is going to swap some cables to figure out where the problem is. We may still replace all of the exterior wire with SCC RG6, thought I have to say that it is working pretty well considering the use of CCS. I probably just botched a connector on one of the segments that goes to the the 18v/22kHz 103/110/119 connector on the SWM-8.

[Mertzen]

I would try to move the SWM splitter elsewhere since that one wire runs straight down in it. Easy way for moisture to get in.

Also your ground is not up to code since you are not using the minimum #10 solid from ground block to ground source.