Getting to start over!!

[mrmoose2003]

I've been a Dish subscriber for almost 6 years. Last week, one of our wonderful Florida T-storms took out both of my receivers and both SW21s (the dual LNB survived, surprisingly). So I now have the opportunity to upgrade all my equipment to the current generation.

I'm leaning towards a 301 and 721 with a quad LNB, but my primary question is: is there any real advantage to setting the system up with Dishpro?

It sounds like I would need to lay all new cabling and ground blocks, plus a standard quad LNB is not Dishpro compatable, right?

And if anyone is really ambitious...the dish itself is grounded to a 6-foot copper grounding rod at its base, I have a ground block grounded to the house's plumbing, and both receivers were connected to (real, not crappy) surge protectors. Anything else I could have done?

Thanks!

[boba]

Dish Pro Quads are available. If you are going to buy all new equipment go with DP it is DISH's future method, and no you do not have to replace all cables etc. Just because your older components weren't tested to 2150 mhz. it doesn't mean they won't work it just means they weren't tested.

[Kenster]

Was this a direct lightning strike? If so, make sure your cable is not fried. A family member of mine had a strike that burned the coax all the way to the end, where it fried his new TV and VCR, leaving scorch marks all along the way.

[Chris Blount]

Hi mrmoose2003 and welcome to DBSTalk.Com! :hi:

Definitely go with the Dish Pro stuff. You will need a Dish Pro Quad and your existing cable should work.

[scooper]

I was going to say, that it depends if his cable will be OK - the DishPro stuff needs higher (in frequency rating) than the older Legacy equipment. I might put a QUAD in if I was in his shoes - but it would probably be the legacy one, not the DishPro.

Moose - each tuner on a 721 will require its own cable run to the QUAD, as will your 301. Plan accordingly...

[mrmoose2003]

I had a tech out who checked the whole system and and the cable wasn't fried. It didn't seem to be a direct strike but had to be within a few feet because it smoked several thousand dollars worth of electronics (all surge protected and grounded) in one corner of the house.

The existing cable is decent quality RG6. As long as I'm doing another run from the quad to the 721, what do I need to look for in terms of cable specs?

Thanks!

[boba]

DISH recommends that ALL connectors, ground blocks and cables be rated to pass 2150 MHz. They have not tested a lot of the products in the market place so there are a lot that will work but are not specifically rated. There also will be some that won't work which will probably show up as a loss of channels or digitizing due to frequency loss.

[Wolfmanjohn]

The grounding block for the cable should have been connected to the house electrical ground, so the ground potential in the cable is the same as that in the receivers. Grounding to house plumbing may allow for different potential to build up in the cable and receivers, thus contributing to fried electronics. This difference in potential can discharge itself on YOU, too, when you touch the electronics. Not all grounds are created equal.

Good luck,

John

[mrmoose2003]

I was talking with Dish support while getting my new 301 authorized this past weekend and asked about Dishpro. When I asked what benefits I would get by upgrading to Dishpro, he said nothing--it mostly makes things easier for the installer. Hmmm.

[scooper]

Exactly - If you are using only the number of recievers that can be serviced by the Legacy switches / LNB's, there is no real reason to switch to DishPro (which costs more to boot !). Also, keep in mind that ALL the Dishpro models can use either type, but the older Legacy receivers (including the 6000, if I remember reading here correctly) require the use of a $70 Legacy adapter for each tuner.