Single Family compound Directv HD installation

The MFH2 is essentially an 'industrial' multi-SWM package. Going 250' with SWM is well within the capability.

Depending upon the number of tuners in each location, you may be able to do either a single SWM box (8 tuners), a dual setup (2 ea), or one of the new(er) SWM16's.

In any case, it depends upon the location of the dish; I've designed several large 'private' systems like you're envisioning, both in the pre-SMW and after-SWM 'era'. Of course, going that route does mean that all your receiver systems have to be SWM capable, but these days, you'd have to have some really old boxes NOT to be 'swm-capable'.

I'm sure that in a couple days or so, there will be others who will have the time to put up diagrams and such, but just looking at your cables already run, I'd put the main dish system on the garage (IF the sight lines to the sats are good from there) with a 'standard' LNB system feeding the swm box(es), and route from there.

You'd need to be more specific on the number of tuners at each residence, but since you have 2 RG6 runs to each (if I'm reading correctly) that gives a lot of flexibility.

This kind of system, pre-SWM, used to be a real pain, but nowadays is easy.

thanks for that. I have been doing some poking around on weaknees and came to more or less the same conclusion. One thing that wasn't too clear however were the capabilities of the SWM Inline Amplifier
that they offer. Their installation info claims that it will allow up to 300' between the receiver and the SWM, but I've read (and as you stated) that you can go upwards of 250' w/o the amp. Seems like the amp should give you more than an additional 50'.

So if I'm interpreting your suggestion correctly, essentially you home the whole thing in the garage with a SWM8/16 then distribute the singleline outputs one each to the remote buildings (amplified if required) and split out at the remote buildings as required.

If this is in fact what you were suggesting, then it seems pretty straightforward to do. I would likely need to run 2 additional cables to the roof so that I can locate the SWM inside near the distribution frame to minimize the singleline cable distances.

Questions:

Both the SWM 8 & 16 only have 2 singleline outputs? If so then it seems that I'd be better off with 2 SWM8s rather than a single SWM16, as I need 3 outputs, one for each building. I think the 2 SWM8 is a little more expensive and a bit more complicated, so I'd rather not do this if I don't need to.

Or is it ok to split one of the singleline outputs more than once?

If I have Directv do any sort of install on this, what part will they do vs. want me to do? I'd prefer to just have them install the dish and get it pointed correctly then let me do the rest, just not sure if that fits their model or not.

thanks for your time

Peter

rpkh1234 said:

Questions:

Both the SWM 8 & 16 only have 2 singleline outputs? If so then it seems that I'd be better off with 2 SWM8s rather than a single SWM16, as I need 3 outputs, one for each building. I think the 2 SWM8 is a little more expensive and a bit more complicated, so I'd rather not do this if I don't need to.

Or is it ok to split one of the singleline outputs more than once?

If I have Directv do any sort of install on this, what part will they do vs. want me to do? I'd prefer to just have them install the dish and get it pointed correctly then let me do the rest, just not sure if that fits their model or not.

thanks for your time

Peter

Click to expand...

SWiM does look like the better option, but you're going to need to amplify the outputs to get the distance/range you have.
You'll need to think about how many receiver and tuners you'll plan to have.
Locate the dish centrally, and use an amp to feed each the out buildings.
Not sure what you saw on weakness, but Sonora has this the LA141R: http://www.sonoradesign.com/product_info.php?products_id=406&cPath=96&target=homeowners

Why you need to know your tuner count is no matter which SWiM you select, they are all limited to 8 tuners on an output, and the SWM8 two outputs isn't anything but an internal 2-way splitter.
The SWiM-16 has an advantage of being able to daisy chain another SWiM so you're not dealing with the splitter losses from the dish to the SWiMs.
Each SWiM output has a 30 dB loss range, so you need to add up the splitter losses and cable losses, so you don't exceed 30 dB, or the receivers drop below their minimum levels.

"Generally" bring the dish coax down the the central location, feed the receivers there without amps, and amplify the runs to the out buildings, where you'll need to split the coax if you have more than one receiver.

You might also look into RG 11 for the runs between the buildings, since it has about 7 dB less loss over 250' at the high end of the SWiM frequency range.

I've worked out some distances with RG6 and splitters from the SWiM [at the dish here] to receivers and keeping them within their minimum levels:



If you're going with either a SWM8 or 16, these are from their output, and not the dish.

You will need 4 cables to the dish, then split each of those out to the 4 inputs to each SWM box. Each of the SWM8's handles only 8 tuners max, no matter the number of outputs, the SWM16 'dual' output it really just two SWM8's in one 'unit', the only advantage is that one doesn't have to 'split' the dish outputs into multiples, it still has the 8 tuners per output leg restriction, it simply has two SWM outputs.

One can get SWM splitters anywhere along the output lines. Putting the SWM power feeders at the SWM location (garage, where I guess there is AC power), rather than at the end of the 250' RG6 line, is the way to go on that.

And yes, the cost (high) of the SWM16 really means that simply going with two SWM8's with some dish splitters is the way to go (pretty cheap, easy to get, not that big of a deal). I actually have never actually had my hands on one, it's a bit of a rare thing still.
Actually, looking up the current costing, it isn't that big of a deal, about a 30-40% more for the 16 v. 2-8's, and the availability is high.

And yes, the SWM output can be 'split' more than once; there are 2/4/8 type splitters, you can put them wherever in the system is needed, they are cheap.

Tons of wiring diagrams out there on mr. internet, on both the sales sites and others. Lots of places have cheap 'jumper' coaxes as well, I used to buy those in bulk for putting together systems, as well as the splitters.

Tons of places to get all this stuff, Solid Signal and others.

I use http://www.techtoolsupply.com/ but that's simply because they were among the first to have all the little bits and pieces, and are a bit more 'industrial' in nature.