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  • #1

    Puzzled newbie seeks assistance

    Okay, I'm thinking I made a mistake in trying to do this myself.

    Had an H20 for about three or four years. Have an oval dish, with what my receiver thinks is a 5LNB dish, but when I look at it, I only see three "things" pointing at the dish, with empty space in the thing that holds them.

    DirecTV beginning to offer free on-demand content, I decided to bite the bullet and go for a DVR. Got my HR21-100 a couple of weeks ago and did a self-install, setting it up for a single tuner, since I only have one run of coax coming into my house.

    After a few days, decided it would be nice to have two tuners active, did a little googling and ordered an SWM8. Got it today.

    First thing that has me scratching my head: I ordered the SWM8 because I only have one run of coax coming into my house and I don't want to run any more cable, right? Okay, well it appears that I have two choices for installation, either of which requires running more coax! I can either run three more runs of coax to my house and put the SWM8 and power inserter inside (my original plan) OR I can mount the SWM8 outside near the dish and THEN run coax from the power inserter (must be inside) out to the SWM8! So how have I accomplished the one-wire goal? What am I missing?

    Secondly, although (as stated above) my receiver says I have a 5LNB dish, but at the dish I only have *two* wires coming out (only one of which runs to the house), not four. Does this fact, coupled with the fact that there are only three "things" (maybe one or more contain more than one LNB?) pointing at the dish, say that I have an oval slimline dish that is 3LNB?

    Not ready to give up yet, but as you can see, I have a lot of questions.

    TIA for any assistance,
    TL
    Tags: None
  • #2
    On the first point, the one wire that goes from the SWM1 port inside your house is where you connect the Power Inserter. Then, take the output from there and connect it to your HR21. Basically, the power goes back up the same cable that brings the signal in from the SWM8 unit.

    On the second issue, I really don't know what dish you have, but if it's oval, there really should be at least four outputs on it. If there are not four cables, could there still be four connectors?
    Been here a long time . . .

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    • #3
      Slimline-5

      Thank you for your reply, figured out the coax-from-dish-to-house-thing after I posted my previous message.

      I'll take and post some photos of my dish tomorrow morning (I'm Eastern time, it's dark here), but here is what I can tell you.

      1. The dish has "Slimline" printed on it.
      2. If I go to "System Setup|Info & Test" on the receiver, the dish is labeled "Slimline-5"
      3. If I go to "System Setup|Satellite Setup" the dish is displayed as "04: Slimline-5" and "02: Multiswitch"
      4. If by "wires" we talking about coaxial cable, then there are only two "wires" running from the "head" (whatever the thing that holds the LNBs is called) down the "arm" and mast of the dish. One of these is connected to nothing, the other runs into my house.

      If there are two more RF jacks on the dish, where would they be located?

      Thanks,
      TL

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      • #4
        Sounds like you need to unscrew the LNB at the end of the arm, and put two more cables on the two unused connectors. Then, connect the other end of those cables to the ports on the SWM8.
        Been here a long time . . .

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        • #5
          Will take a look in the morning.

          Originally posted by WK-Michael View Post
          Sounds like you need to unscrew the LNB at the end of the arm, and put two more cables on the two unused connectors. Then, connect the other end of those cables to the ports on the SWM8.
          Michael, thank you for your help. I'll take a look tomorrow morning and see if I can find those other two connectors. When you say unscrew the LNB, I'm not sure if you mean all of them, or what, but I'll see if I can figure it out.

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          • #6
            When you get up there, you'll likely see a nut on the arm of the LNB. If so, that's the key.
            Been here a long time . . .

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            • #7
              Ayup, four connections, only two connected.

              Originally posted by WK-Michael View Post
              When you get up there, you'll likely see a nut on the arm of the LNB. If so, that's the key.
              Looks like all I'll have to do is run two more 13' cables to add to the existing two, connect the four to the SWM, mount the SWM outside, then switch the connection inside to the power inserter.

              Thank you for your help!

              One thing still has me puzzled -- was I supposed to have all four "wires" connected to get all the satellites/channels? Because I have the mega-package and get everything, pretty much. Oh well, I won't ask any more questions as long as everything works.

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              • #8
                Yeah - you really do need all four for it to work properly.
                Been here a long time . . .

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                • #9
                  Up and running

                  Less than an hour to have everything working, once I had the first clue what I was doing.

                  Thanks for your help, Michael!

                  TL

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