sky cowboys

[Robbo]

All off topic confessions posts are now here:-

http://www.satellites.co.uk/satellite/meeting-place/114035-dodgy-installer-related-confessions.html

Lets keep all the confessions etc in the new thread.
Robbo

 

[Channel Hopper]

As for the actual thread, my 2 cents worth is this : 1) On large appartment blocks it is obligatory that there is one central aerial for TV and not a bunch of them 2) Dishes sticking out all over the place are ugly. Combining the two points, I think it might actually be a good idea to combine as many TVs onto as few dishes as possible, BUT with the owners consent and with the necessary safety precautions. Also new builds could cater for one single point of distribution of all "common" forms of broadcast with pre-installed wiring.

Cables in gutters ? Gutters that usually have moss and permanent moisture ? I guess it's perfect if you're looking for a quick and dirty solution .. .. .. you could even get entry into the house without drilling by coming up through the drains .. .. ..

In an apartment block, the chances of different phase supplies are miniscule, but even so, it should be checked. Best bet is to wire in the same way as the SMATV/CATV system, and then at least you can claim to have followed the procedures.

As for gutter running, with solid dielectric cable, I can't see any real issues unless the gutter is about to be replaced, or the house has no neat way of running exposed cable round/down it (anyone here tried clipping a neat vertical path down pebble-dashing ?)

Sometimes the only option is to throw a cable over a pitched roof, and I know which one I would prefer.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Have now got sky to disconect my mums neighbours feed from her dish and return her equipment to as it was and next door now have there own dish.
The guys who did the work said that it was a right mess before.

Just had one of my customers call me after their signal went off a few weeks ago. Turned out their dish was 'used' for the neighbours install by swapping out the quad for an OCTO, and in changing the front end the signal went from perfec tin all weather conditions to flaky in anything but clear sky.

When I got onto the roof there were shotgun cables running everywhere and so I realigned the dish and wrote him a short report to pass on to his neighbour and Sky.

Sky refused to put the system back as it was, nor refund him my callout. They also said there was no chance they would install a second dish for the neighbour as it could not go anywhere but the front of the property.

The upshot is him and neighbour have cancelled TV and broadband subscriptions, reverting to Freeview, and subscribing to Virgin.

Here's the reply letter.

 

[A nonymous]

Believe in Better my arse. Best thing i ever did was cancel my Sky subscription. The amount of money they charge and all they give you is repeat after repeat. I can get that on Freeview.

As for the original conversation of installing across two power phases, i have done that once on a commercial install in London where it was impossible to get a line of site to any satellite so the feed had to be taken from the system on the building next door. Both distribution systems were earthed to its own PME ( protective Multiple Earthing) and each polarity satellite feed cable between the two systems had a galvanic isolator fitted on both ends of the cable with warning tags stating the galvanic isolators were an electrical safety device and were not to be removed. The Galvanic isolator basically lets the signal through but does not allow any voltage to flow through it.

I'm guessing after two years they have probably been removed by some idiot. and used as a barrel connector.

Nano

 

[rolfw]

Yes, but of course that is only valid for that type of system, where you are feeding from an IRS tap or amp, the splits involving quad or octo lnbs cannot be isolated, as that disables voltage switching.