Multiswitch and SKY Please Help

[Deano]

Hello,

I am new to these forms and I cannot find much that will help me to my specific multiswitch question.

I am moving into a new house in the next few weeks and each room has a Digital Satellite Standard Coax cable. It is usually used to connect a Digital Freeview Aerial on the roof but I intend to use this for satellites.

Well let me explain

I have bought a Triax 5 x 8 way multiswitch,
I have also a Quatro LNB with 40mm Collar with bracket so I can connect it to my Sky minidish.
I have 2 aerials amplified and combined going into the Aerial Socket on the multiswitch.

What my question is well will my setup work. I intend to run the following

2 Sky Plus Box (Living Room), (Bedroom 1)
3 Sky Digibox (Kitchen), (Bedroom 2), (Bedroom 3) FTA

I have heard of Insertion Loss from the Quattro and some people including an Aerial / Satellite installer said not to worry. I intend to do all the internal work with putting face plates and such

The questions are,
1. What type of face plate will I need for the living room and bedroom 1 I assume a 4 output plate, FM, TV, Sat 1 and Return? I also believe I need two cables?

2. If I connect the Multiswitch output directly to a Sky digibox will this work or must I use a faceplate to diplex the signals.

3. Will I need to amplify my signal using an IF Amp before the Multiswitch?

I do intend to get a proffessional aerial installer to mount the aerial and the modified Sky dish to get best results.

Will this setup work or am I missing something?

[rolfw]

If you are using a multiswitch, then you would normally use a larger dish than a Sky minidish, perhaps a Zone 2 minidish, but there is not as far as I know, a quattro LNB made for those dishes, so best to use a conventional dish, perhaps a Fracarro Penta 68cm, this should give you enough signal to overcome any insertion loss from the multiswitch.

You will either need to run second cables to the two rooms with Sky + boxes, or use a couple of Stacker/de-stackers, global make a good one apparently.

You can buy a Sky+ system outlet plate, it will have two satellite feeds and a TV and FM/DAB connector, it takes two cables.

You can run a satellite receiver straight from the multiswitch feed, but it is better to ruin it through a diplexed outlet.

[Deano]

Hi I was thinking of using Stacker and Destackers but I am unsure of their application what I mean Is to run two cables to the rooms with Sky plus will ensure that I can use a triplex plate for a least one of them rather than a stacker I cant seperate the Aerial feed at the opposite end or can i?

Also i am using a Zone 2 Minidish at present, I will try with the Zone 2 Dish and see how I fare because I have a budget of around £400 to do this entire job so I would like to save money where possible so I will try the multiswitch with my current Sky box.

There is a Sky bracket that allows any 40mm LNB to fit onto the end of the dish. Triax make it for the Triax brand Sky dish but it works in all other ones.

[rolfw]

Yes, the bracket works, but the LNB will not perform well, as it is not made for the Sky dish.

I believe that the stacker carries UHF as well.

[Deano]

No what I mean is the stacker takes 2 feeds and combines them down one cable the destacker takes them apart. Leaving me basicly with two satellite outputs so how can I further extract this to get UHF Surely that wont work will it?

[rolfw]

The UHF signal is diplexed out from the first output, using a diplexer or outlet plate.

[Deano]

Thanks I will try that, I will try my Sky minidish but I am not very hopefull it will work but if I have to buy new dish what size do you recommend?

[rolfw]

Not saying it won't work, just that you won't get the best out of the LNB, as it is designed for a conventional dish. No harm in trying it first, as it may produce satisfactory results, perhaps a little extra noise.

If it doesn't produce the goods, then any reasonable 70 to 80cm dish will do, but best to cross that bridge when you come to it.

[satelliteman]

Change the dish to a Penta 68cm and use a quattro systems LNb. As Rolf said the quattro LNb won't perform well on a eliptical dish as mini dishes require a matched LNb.

If you want to use the mini dish, an option is to install a Quad and use a multi-switch that supports Q2 technology. This will allow a switch to function with the use of a matched quad for the dish. my pennies worth.. LOl

SM