# Using existing internal wiring in my house to connect to a Satellite dish.



## Tintagel (3 Jan 2016)

If I install a satellite dish can I run a cable from it, to connect to the existing internal cables that are already in place in my house from my old analogue days? There is a box on the outside wall of my house where these cables are located.   These are about 20 years old and seem in good condition.

One satellite dish installer has suggested this. Another satellite installer wanted to throw new cables over the outside roof of my house to connect to a TV point located at the far side of my house.


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## Leo (4 Jan 2016)

If you want to be able to record while watching another channel, you'll need at least two cables from the dish to the sat receiver. If you want to watch/record different channels in more than one location, then you'll need more cables from the dish to each of these locations. So watching/ recording in two locations will require four separate cables from the dish. Are the existing cables in a suitable location to make this happen? Most analogue TV setups only used a single RF cable. 

If the cables are 20 years old, I'd be replacing them as they do deteriorate over time and you could end up with a picture that keeps breaking up due to signal losses.

Most of the analogue TV cables were run along the front of houses, it's illegal to put a dish on the front of a house without planning, so that could cause you problems in reusing the existing cables.


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## Tintagel (4 Jan 2016)

Thanks Leo. My old UPC cable runs underground and there is a box at ground level in my house where this UPC cable is then split/connected to 3 internal cables located in the same box. These then are transferred to various rooms around my house.

I have 3 outlets in my house, spread around various rooms. I'm not sure why I need two cables running to each room outlet. Is it not possible to run 3 cables from the satellite dish to connect to the 3 existing cables that are in the box at the side of my house. The signal would then be transferred along this existing cable and in to a set top box in each room? Does every set top box require two cables?


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## Leo (4 Jan 2016)

The problem here is you have a single UPC cable entering the house from outside. With the old analogue signal, that one cable carried all the supported channels, your TV or set top box then decoded or demodulated the signal. 

Satellite does not work the same way, each cable from the dish can only bring you a single channel at a time. You will need a separate cable from the satellite dish to each satellite receiver, or two or more cables if you want the ability to record one channel while watching another channel. To watch different channels in a second location, you'll need a further feed or two all the way from the dish to a dedicated satellite receiver in that room.


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## Tintagel (5 Jan 2016)

Thanks Leo. This is more complicated than I thought. The dish installer that I spoke to does not want to chase cables or even run them across my attic space. He wants to run them down a side wall, then drill through for one of the TVs'. I can live with this for one of the connections. However on the other side of the house, he just wants to throw the cable over the roof, down the side wall and drill through wall to second room. This wall of our house forms our neighbours side passage.
If anyone knows an installer who will chase cables let me know.


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## PaddyBloggit (5 Jan 2016)

Where are you based?


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## Leo (5 Jan 2016)

Yeah, your installer wants to do the quick/easy job. Doing it properly is a lot more time consuming and difficult and brings additional risks of hitting power cables / water pipes when drilling through walls / ceilings. A good electrician to run the cables might be an option also if you know someone reliable...


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## Guns N Roses (7 Jan 2016)

Tintagel said:


> The dish installer that I spoke to does not want to chase cables or even run them across my attic space. He wants to run them down a side wall, then drill through for one of the TVs'. I can live with this for one of the connections. However on the other side of the house, he just wants to throw the cable over the roof, down the side wall and drill through wall to second room. This wall of our house forms our neighbours side passage. If anyone knows an installer who will chase cables let me know.



There should be no need to chase any cables! 

The dish should be placed just under the eaves, run the cables in through the ventilation gaps in the soffit and through your roof space to just above where you want to place your satellite receiver. Use plastic cabling conduit to run the cables down along the interior wall and paint the conduit to match your existing walls. Your dish installer sounds like a "cowboy" and I would avoid like the plague.


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## Guns N Roses (7 Jan 2016)

Tintagel said:


> If I install a satellite dish can I run a cable from it, to connect to the existing internal cables that are already in place in my house from my old analogue days?



I assume you mean the old coaxial cables? As far as I know these are not compatible with modern satellite receivers and dishes.


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## roker (23 Feb 2016)

I think it's the same coax cable just different connectors. I have 3 cables coming from the dish, 2 to the new box as Leo said for recording and 1 to the old box in a bedroom.


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## Leo (23 Feb 2016)

Satellite really needs a better quality cable, look for cable specified to WF100 at least. Satellite signals use higher frequencies than cable TV, so attenuation will be more of an issue and cables specified for satellite use will use better quality materials for the dielectric and have much better shielding. Given the original cables are ~20 years old, they may result in too much loss/ interference for the receiver to handle. Certainly no harm trying what's there, but don't be surprised if you need to replace it.


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## trajan (2 Sep 2018)

This reply is late but I want to get back to the original substantive question: 

Can existing co-ax TV cable be used to also distribute additional TV signals from a satellite dish ?

The answer (as readily suggested by your first TV installer) is YES.
All you need are:
1. A signal combiner to add you sat TV signal to the old analogue cable at the box on the outside wall;
2. Signal splitters (one per TV) which re-separate the sat TV signal from that of your existing analogue/digital antenna. [Splitters are just combiners wired in reverse. Each costs ~ €5.]
3. A combo set top box - this decodes both sat and Saorview channels. You may have one already.
If not I strongly advise looking at [broken link removed] which is good value for €59. Recording on a mem stick is possible with this and it also has scart & HDMI ports, YouTube via ethernet port, etc.

On the red herring of view + record at the same time, please discuss this with your first installer as he will give you pro advice here. Maybe it would depend on the sophistication of your combo box.
But always question the need for additional cabling and especially across-roof cables, drilling holes in walls/window-frames/partitions, etc. This is costly and looks bad. Loose cables around the floor is a danger for people at night too.


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## Leo (4 Sep 2018)

trajan said:


> This reply is late but I want to get back to the original substantive question:



More than two years on... let's hope they're well sorted at this stage 




trajan said:


> On the red herring of view + record at the same time, please discuss this with your first installer as he will give you pro advice here. Maybe it would depend on the sophistication of your combo box.



Not sure what you mean by 'red herring'?


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## trajan (4 Sep 2018)

The original poster only wanted to know if he could add in the sat TV signal through his existing TV wiring. He made no demand for concurrent viewing + recording. While this feature may be handy to have sometimes, it's rarely exercised and I think hardly worth all the rewiring/house-damage that it might entail with enlarging an existing 1- or 2-wire conduit.
Yeah, I'm late. But there's still some of us getting with the programme  as far as sat TV is concerned.


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## Leo (4 Sep 2018)

Fair enough, I run into clashes from time to time with recordings and I have a dual satellite + digital terrestrial combo that can record from all three at once. My technophobe parents make heavy usage of background recording, I would have thought it was a high use feature for anyone that has ever gotten used to having it. 

It's possible run two LNB feeds from a dish over a single cable, but it involves more expense of stacker / destacker boxes and needs high quality cable runs.


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