Coax cable on roof too hot?

[Chardo]

I'm finally taking the plunge and switching to DTV. I'll be installing it myself. The way my site lays out, I will be mounting the dish at one end of the roof, running the cable across the roof (about 20 feet), and then into the attic on the opposite side.

Those shingles can get pretty hot. My question, will the coax get too hot on the roof (could it melt or lose function)?

[Neil Derryberry]

I would think it would be ok heatwise, but I wouldn't run it across the roof for other reasons.... water. If the cable jacket splits, melts, or otherwise opens, rainwater will get in and cause you trouble.

[Mark Lamutt]

I've had coax running across my roof for the last 15 months, and have never had a problem with it. My coax isn't tacked to the roof.

[DarrellP]

Why can't you go into the attic on the end the dish is located on and run it through the attic? Is it not possible to run the cable through the attic or mount the dish elsewhere?

[Steve Mehs]

It should be fine, my grandfather had coax on his roof for his OTA antenna for over 10 years, until one windy fall day when the antanna blew down. And there was never any problems, it went through the 90 degree summers and the -5 degrees winters.

[Chardo]

Darrell,

I have a split-level house. There are two roofs. The "lower" roof is where the dish will go (clear line of sight). The greatroom directly below has vaulted ceilings throughout, so there is no accessable attic below the dish. Unfortunately, the clearest line of sight is at the far end of this lower roof. I will need to run the cables across the roof to the accessable "upper" attic.

As you can tell from my other thread about outdoor multiswitches, I intend to run the dual-LNB cables to the multiswitch located under a soffit/eave on the other side of the roof. From there, I will run 2 cables (UTV receiver) into the attic and down through a closet directly below into the bedroom, and the other cables directly through the outside walls to their receivers.

[AllieVi]

Originally posted by Chardo
I'm finally taking the plunge and switching to DTV. I'll be installing it myself. The way my site lays out, I will be mounting the dish at one end of the roof, running the cable across the roof (about 20 feet), and then into the attic on the opposite side.
On the roof is the traditional place people put dishes, but you may want to consider a ground-level mount instead. If there's a good place for the cables to enter the house, a ground mounting has some significant advantages. Some are:

No climbing on ladders
Easier to install
Easier to aim while standing on the ground vs on a ladder
Easier to re-aim when the need inevitably arises
Much easier and more effective grounding capability
The antenna is much less likely to be a lightning rod
Possibly easier to run the cables

My dishes are on poles in the ground. Many people don't consider this option because it never occurs to them. Installers typically aren't interested because it means concreting a pole in the ground, an impractical thing for them to do during a typical visit.

[John Corn]

Allie, thats exactly how I mounted mine as well. :)
Living in Ohio, it also makes it nice to knock the snow off it as well.

[AllieVi]

One additional thought... I actually concreted two poles in the ground and am currently using two dishes, both aimed at the 119 location for my DISH 300 system's three receivers When I eventually upgrade to DISH 500, I'll install separate dishes aimed at the 110 and 119 satellites. That setup will allow me to separately aim the antennas and not be concerned with a skew setting. Alternatively, the two poles would allow me to use a DISH 500 antenna aimed at 110/119 and have a second antenna aimed somewhere else (probably 148 for locals in my case).

[Chardo]

Interesting idea, but I would end up with the dish on my front lawn. The back and side yards don't have a clear line of sight.

John Corn: Is snow on the dish a frequent problem? I'm on Long Island, where a few inches of snow is routine (although rare in recent years) and a foot or more is not unusual. All dishes I see are on the roof, where snow removal would be a major hassle. Do my neighbors lose their signals after a snowfall?

[Steve Mehs]

Snow is an issue but that big of one. The only time you'll lose your signal becasue of snow is when the snow is real wet and heavy and stickes to the dish and a pile starts to build up.

[Karl Foster]

We get tons of show where I am, and I have never lost signal because of snow accumulated on the dish itself, only when the storm is passing. Mine is high on the roof and I've never had to clean mine off. I have thought about moving it, but I guess I am lazy. BTW, I have two lines that run down part of the roof (about 15 feet) and then under the eaves and down the back of the house. Never a problem.

[brothernet]

If your cable is burning on the roof rap it with tin foil or some reflective material to cool the cable.

[Mike500]

Coax on the roof is fine. However, coax that is not designed or rated for direct burial used for that purpose, would be a problem, and have a limited life.

[scooper]

No issues here with my 4 coaxes running from my Dish500 over the edge to my ground blocks, the cables just sitting on the roof (no connections until the ground blocks). And it gets HOT up there in the summer.

[hax0r]

I had some coax running across the roof of my house in Tucson (average daily summer temperature: 110 degrees) for over a year. Aside from a bit of bleaching (the plastic sheathing was looking a bit on the grey side instead of the nice, dark black it started out with) everything was working fine.

FWIW :)