Basics of satelite installation

I was wondering if someone could give me some pointers or the basics that I would need to go about tv and satelite installation- things seem to have moved on a lot and the available items is a bit bewildering.

I have been reading up a bit around the subjects so have a very basic grasp of the concepts. Also we do have a dish already in place as well as a tv aeriel it is just I would like to redo the wiring, boxes etc.

Essentially as with most of the things in the house we have moved into, things are a mess and in dire need or rationalising.

The satelite dish has 3 wires coming under the eaves into the attic- two brown and one black. The two brown appear to be unshielded rg6 type wires that head down through the floor, through a cupboard, inside the lathe and plaster cavity wall (non insulated) and into the back of the living room. I can trace them and have undone the cable clips- they move inside the wall. One goes to a F-type unshielded wall socket in the living room. the other runs to the room next to it- small sitting room and terminates with a coaxial wall box which I assume is wrong.

Both the brown satelite wires travel with 3 other brown wires that I assume come from the tv aeriel although their exact origin is uncertain. They terminate in the same sitting room with coaxial ends and have just been left inside the wall so I assume were no longer used. It does explain why we have never had tv reception thougth if we having been trying to plug our tv into either a satelite cable with tv coaxial end or a box with nothing connected behind it!

The black wire that comes from the satelite dish heads into a junction box but then doesn't seem to go anywhere.

TV ariel cables go everywhere- to all rooms which we do not need.

We are wanting to get a freesat box, nothing fancy but to future proof the set up in case we change our mind. Probably just going to run new satelite and tv cable (PF100) to the living room and sitting room by pulling them through with the old unshielded satelite cable. Probably will try to run tv aeriel with them, again to each of these rooms so each cable will only be split the once.

I have heard for things like sky+ that each setup needs two cables so do I just run two to each room (4 in total) along with the tv cable?

I was just going to rip out all the other mess and junctions in the loft. We do not watch tv in other rooms and although all bedrooms have tv extensions in them I was going to remove them. The kids (1 and 3) do not need tv and when they are old enought to, I imaging things will have moved on considerably.

So for simplicity can I just take a wire through the wall to the satelite and put a shielded splitter in the attic before taking 4 cables downstairs to the living rooms (2 to each)? Do I need to factor in a signal booster or 4g interference remover? Or is it best to just take individual cables directly from the dish to the downstairs? Again is it just a similar process for setting up the tv aeriel with a splitter in the attic? Last time I did one it was just a single cable through the house to the tv...things have moved on considerably!

I know it would probably be far quicker to get in a cable installer but I want things as conceiled as possible running through the walls and I am pretty sure they will not have the time nor the patient to be fishing things thrhough all our walls!

I was going to replace the outlets in each room with the shielded variety as believe this is the now done thing although screwfix doesn't seem to sell them.

Thanks for the help!

Rob

 

Thanks for the reply.

Yes we would be going for something similar- probably the 4 LNB with two wires to each living room. We currently have 3 wires coming from the satelite- one to each room and have yet to work out what the other wires does/goes but somehow I think it ends up behind a panel that had sky cables written on it with what looks like a telephone exchange coming out of it! The 3 cables that descend with the other satelite cables (2) terminate with coaxial plugs.

The tv cable (which runs over the roof- again unshielded) just disapears to the back of the house and I plan on chasing it down later on tonight.

I'm thinking it is time to start again!

I kind of want to get this sorted as at the moment I have the carpet and hatches open in the living room that is getting totally gutted. Plently of opportunity to crawl around under the house and route cables!

 

I had read the WF/PF100 was slightly better with copper instead of aluminium shielding although I wholeheartedly admit this is an area I know very little about and you are no doubt correct.

I had hoped to just re-route the existing setup but even I noticed it is a load of mince! Things with old houses are never simple it seems!

 

The runs will be relatively long- back of the house to the front inside the attic then down the height of two rooms plus the furthest away room will be another 10-15m or so. Approx 30-40m. I'm not sure if that constitutes long or not but I am sure it will feel like it pulling it through the walls!

I cannot comment on the quality of our signal. We have only 8 channels on freeview but as of last night that has been with the tv connect to a box with no attached cables!

 

Thanks- that site is where I have gotten my information so far. It's quite good but scary how things had advanced in such a short interval! I had hoped that I could just drag a cable from dish to tv!

 

Had thought of going with the PF100 that our host supplies- apparently it is the same as or at least very similar to the WF100. i'm sure there are slight differences but doubt that i would notice!

 

Is there considerable difference between the pf100 and wf125 other than slightly less signal loss which I presume is exaccerbated by the length of the run?

What slightly concerns me is that sites mention that it is a less flexible cable which might make it more difficult running it through the walls. I had considered forming some form of conduit with pipe over the existing wire to ease passage and damage to the new cable.

 

I think you might be right- we have never had satelite before but as we have the dish thought we should get it hooked up and working...it's not like we have a reliable tv cable as back-up.

Out of interest what is the difference in wf100 and pf100? I can't seem to find clear answers. Both seem to be copper shielded and foam filled.

 

Very nice! Not sure I can justify another tool however given the number of joins I am hoping to have to make. I have always done it with a stanley knife or is this a no no?

Can you recommend a good splitter for the tv cable (the choice is a bit bewildering!)? I might go whole hog and just replace the aerial whilst I am up on the roof anyway- it has definitely seen better days!

I will look at the satelite dish over the weekend to see how many LNB outlets I have to play with.