Question

[garn9173]

My dishback back period has expired with Mediacom (thank God) and i'm a free agent of sorts. Qwest had an insert in the local paper this past Sunday that caught the attention of my wife and I, but first I had some questions regarding DirecTV that I hope you guys could answer for me:

Question #1 (sorry for the length, but wanted to set the question up):

Up until August of 2005, I was with Dish Network, both my wife and I were extremely pleased and satasified with the service. To make a very, very long story short, we were forced to give up our dish because it was not grounded and according to the subcontractor who was assisting me (Blue Sky Satellite), the only way the dish could be grounded was to have a major source of electricity close by, like a central air unit. Is this correct?

I own a townhome, the front faces the south and there are no major sources of electricity close by, like a central air unit (mine is on the back side of the house), that the dish could be grounded to.

Question #2:

Do DirecTV receivers need to be plugged into a phone line? What about the TiVO HDTV receivers, do they need to be plugged into a phone line?

Question #3:

At the present time, my wife and I do not have an HDTV, however, if we were to purchase one in the future, is there a charge for existing customers to upgrade to an HD receiver?

Thanks in advance.

Jason

[kaminsco]

My dishback back period has expired with Mediacom (thank God) and i'm a free agent of sorts. Qwest had an insert in the local paper this past Sunday that caught the attention of my wife and I, but first I had some questions regarding DirecTV that I hope you guys could answer for me:

Question #1 (sorry for the length, but wanted to set the question up):

Up until August of 2005, I was with Dish Network, both my wife and I were extremely pleased and satasified with the service. To make a very, very long story short, we were forced to give up our dish because it was not grounded and according to the subcontractor who was assisting me (Blue Sky Satellite), the only way the dish could be grounded was to have a major source of electricity close by, like a central air unit. Is this correct?

I own a townhome, the front faces the south and there are no major sources of electricity close by, like a central air unit (mine is on the back side of the house), that the dish could be grounded to.

Question #2:

Do DirecTV receivers need to be plugged into a phone line? What about the TiVO HDTV receivers, do they need to be plugged into a phone line?

Question #3:

At the present time, my wife and I do not have an HDTV, however, if we were to purchase one in the future, is there a charge for existing customers to upgrade to an HD receiver?

Thanks in advance.

Jason


Question 1.
A dish can be grounded to a grounding rod which is usually a 8 ft pole drove into the ground. Search post, the will reference the proper electrical standard for this.

Question 2.
Phone hook need mainly to order PPV movies. some also will state it is also to verify your location is tied to the account.

Question 3
Yes, a new leased receiver and current HD programming is offered at $9.99/month. the type of receiver will determine the cost.

[White_Horse]

A to Q1: I don't know there....

A to Q2: According to DTV's legal mumbo-jumbo, all receivers need to be plugged into a phone line. In reality, they really don't. What you miss by having the phone line disconnected: no caller-id, possibility of some sports packages not working (I have NFL Sunday Ticket and have not had any problems), can not order PPV via remote, must be ordered over the phone or through the internet.

I don't have any of DTV's Tivo units, but as far as I know they don't need the phone line to operate, you'll just have a nag message about not having phoned-home, but don't quote me on that. It's VERY unlikely that you'll get an HD Tivo based receiver from DTV. They stopped making the Tivo based units over a year ago. DTV has their own branded dvr unit they've been shipping since the fall. As far as I know all new installs get DTV's dvr unit. The only place I've heard of people getting a DTV Tivo unit now is Ebay or some online vendors, but they're apparently getting some $$$ for them too. DTV's dvr units use the satellite to get their info and receive software updates. The only reason they would need a phone line I mentioned in the paragraph above.

A to Q3: What kind of deal you get depends a lot on the CSR you get when you call to upgrade, how long you've been a customer, how good of a customer you've been (paid bill on time, buy extra services (sports, ppv, etc)), what promotions they are running at the time, how long since you're last upgrade on service, and the phase of the moon. Some people have paid $300 just for the equipment to upgrade to HD with DVR, others have paid $0 and everywhere in between. There's really no way to tell what kind of deal or cost you'll get.



My dishback back period has expired with Mediacom (thank God) and i'm a free agent of sorts. Qwest had an insert in the local paper this past Sunday that caught the attention of my wife and I, but first I had some questions regarding DirecTV that I hope you guys could answer for me:

Question #1 (sorry for the length, but wanted to set the question up):

Up until August of 2005, I was with Dish Network, both my wife and I were extremely pleased and satasified with the service. To make a very, very long story short, we were forced to give up our dish because it was not grounded and according to the subcontractor who was assisting me (Blue Sky Satellite), the only way the dish could be grounded was to have a major source of electricity close by, like a central air unit. Is this correct?

I own a townhome, the front faces the south and there are no major sources of electricity close by, like a central air unit (mine is on the back side of the house), that the dish could be grounded to.

Question #2:

Do DirecTV receivers need to be plugged into a phone line? What about the TiVO HDTV receivers, do they need to be plugged into a phone line?

Question #3:

At the present time, my wife and I do not have an HDTV, however, if we were to purchase one in the future, is there a charge for existing customers to upgrade to an HD receiver?

Thanks in advance.

Jason

[garn9173]

Question 1.
A dish can be grounded to a grounding rod which is usually a 8 ft pole drove into the ground. Search post, the will reference the proper electrical standard for this.

That's all that needs to be done, nothing more nothing less? Why the hell didn't Blue Sky do this back in August 2005?

[bwaldron]

That's all that needs to be done, nothing more nothing less? Why the hell didn't Blue Sky do this back in August 2005?

I'm not an expert or an electrician, but I am under the impression that you would also need to wire such a ground rod back to the main house ground. Or at least that's what I was told many years ago when I did my first self-install.

[kaminsco]

That's all that needs to be done, nothing more nothing less? Why the hell didn't Blue Sky do this back in August 2005?

Not sure why they did not. No clue why in the world they were reffering to an AC equipment.

Do a search on grounding in the forum. The dish grounding is mainly to prevent the static build up on the dish for lightning strikes. It is similair to putting an outdor antenna up. There is grounding on the coax line coming into the house also. Some claim that you can use your copper piping in the house also.

The National Electric Code (NEC) parts 810 and 820 explain in detail how satellite systems must be grounded.

Try these threads.
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=76087http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=74770

Here is a link to someone who sells them:
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=GRROD4

[purtman]

One other suggestion. If you get the DirecTV, order your pay-per-view over the internet. That way you can get it on all of your TVs and it costs less than via the phone or remote.

[garn9173]

Thanks to everyone who's replied. I've attached a picture of the front of my home taken from the county assessor's web site from when I had Dish Network. There's basically nothing on the other side of the "decorative" fence other than a patio. I supposed a grounding rod could be driven in directly to the right of the dish, there's a couple of bushes there covered in mulch.

Edit: More information on my home. As I said, i live in a townhome, the front faces the south. My unit is in the middle of a 6 unit building. The only external water spicket is in the garage (north side) and the electrial meters and what not are on the end, so my choices are pretty limited when it comes to grounding.

[jpl]

I'm not an electrician, and I've never installed a dish, but I do remember some of my EE courses in college. From an electrical perspective, ground is ground. Why would it need to be grounded to the house, or to a poll? As long as the circuit indicates that it's grounded, why does the source of the ground matter (with obvious exceptions, of course - you don't want to ground to, say, a pool of water)? I don't doubt that what people are stating in this thread is correct, as per the recommendations in the dish installation - just sounds odd to me. When I replace an electrical outlet in my house, e.g., the grounding wire is really just connected to the box containing the outlet - it's not really going anywhere -- but testing with a polarity tester still indicates that the circuit is indeed grounded. Again, not doubting what people are saying - just curious.

[kaminsco]

I'm not an electrician, and I've never installed a dish, but I do remember some of my EE courses in college. From an electrical perspective, ground is ground. Why would it need to be grounded to the house, or to a poll? As long as the circuit indicates that it's grounded, why does the source of the ground matter .

Agree! Common sense tells me the same, a ground to the ground...it is all being sent the same place...the ground! It is taking out the overload and/or the static build up.

[carl6]

Not all grounds are created equal - follow the electrical code, there is a reason why it exists.

Carl

[garn9173]

If I decide to go this route, I just want to have all my bases covered. On the day of install, I don't want the installer arrive and say he cann't install because he cann't ground the system.

I'm fed up with the Mediacom/Sinclair flap, Mediacom doesn't carry NFL Network, and none of the local teleco's provide cable service, so it's either Mediacom or dish for me. I would love to have Verizon move in with it's FiOS or AT&T and their new cable service, but that's not going to happen anytime soon.

[jpl]

Not all grounds are created equal - follow the electrical code, there is a reason why it exists.

Carl

I agree that you should follow the electrical code. I wouldn't advocate anything less. And it's true that not all grounds are created equal - but ground is relative to the voltage of the circuit. So if a circuit is grounded, it's grounded. I followed the links in one previous posting and it appears that the problem is potential static buildup on the dish. Ok, enough said. Like I said, I agree wholeheartedly with Carl - follow the code. It just appeared odd to me... and I was just wondering if anyone knew the reason. Back on topic...

[BattleScott]

I'm not an electrician, and I've never installed a dish, but I do remember some of my EE courses in college. From an electrical perspective, ground is ground. Why would it need to be grounded to the house, or to a poll? As long as the circuit indicates that it's grounded, why does the source of the ground matter (with obvious exceptions, of course - you don't want to ground to, say, a pool of water)? I don't doubt that what people are stating in this thread is correct, as per the recommendations in the dish installation - just sounds odd to me. When I replace an electrical outlet in my house, e.g., the grounding wire is really just connected to the box containing the outlet - it's not really going anywhere -- but testing with a polarity tester still indicates that the circuit is indeed grounded. Again, not doubting what people are saying - just curious.

In household wiring utilizing metal junction boxes, the ground wire is connected to the receptacle box as well as the ground lead of the outlet. This is to ensure that if the hot wire dettaches from the outlet for any reason, the surrounding box and plate does not become energized and present a shock/fire hazard. In more modern systems PVC boxes eliminate the need for this connection.

Generally, outdoor electrical devices like satellite dishes require a seperate 'earth' ground to provide an adequate path to dissipate extremely high static charges and potential lightning strikes. The standard wiring of the circuits inside a house are not adequate to dissipate that type of energy and would expose any electronic equipment to overload damage and possibly any unlucky occupants in close proximity to potential electrical shock.

Any electrical supply house should be able to supply you with the correct length of copper rod for the job (even the Big Box warehouses in our area carry them). Just hammer it in and leave a few inches exposed for the installer to connect the ground lead from the dish.

[garn9173]

I've pulled the trigger and have installation scheduled for next Saturday. I'll feel alot better when it's all said and done and the installation is complete.

[garn9173]

Installer is here and he says the system cann't be grounded. I asked about the grounding rod and couldn't do it because it's "not code", he did say, you could do that yourselves and make it look like you made the effort to get it grounded.

Installer is probably no mre than 25 and just out to cover his butt.

[Wolffpack]

Wow, talk about getting it completely wrong. :nono2:

[BattleScott]

Installer is here and he says the system can't be grounded. I asked about the grounding rod and couldn't do it because it's "not code", he did say, you could do that yourselves and make it look like you made the effort to get it grounded.

Installer is probably no mre than 25 and just out to cover his butt.

The NEC stipulates that it can be grounded using an 8' grounding rod only if it is connected (bonded) to the structures service ground by #6 copper wire.

Sounds like he was saying that if he were to see a wire connected to it, he could assume that it was connected properly and then do the install.

If you're gonna do it, do it right. Hammer in the ground rod and tie it back to the service ground with the #6 wire. Better safe than sorry...

[Wolffpack]

But doesn't code call for it to be grounded?

[BattleScott]

But doesn't code call for it to be grounded?

Yes.

[Wolffpack]

Just not SOP for DTV installers I guess.

[BattleScott]

Did he do the install, or did he say he couldn't do it because of the grounding issue?

[harsh]

To make a very, very long story short, we were forced to give up our dish because it was not grounded and according to the subcontractor who was assisting me (Blue Sky Satellite), the only way the dish could be grounded was to have a major source of electricity close by, like a central air unit. Is this correct?No, that is not how things should be grounded. If there isn't a nearby metallic pipe or electricity meter, a ground rod can be driven.Do DirecTV receivers need to be plugged into a phone line?According to policy, yes. In practice, only if you watch PPV events to subscribe to sports packagesWhat about the TiVO HDTV receivers, do they need to be plugged into a phone line?If you don't have an always-on Internet connection.At the present time, my wife and I do not have an HDTV, however, if we were to purchase one in the future, is there a charge for existing customers to upgrade to an HD receiver?Yes, a substantial charge (up to $99 per HD receiver and $299 for each HD DVR).