DIY satellite installation

[lukebe]

I can't get my head around a couple of new concepts related to satellite TV over terrestrial. I prefer to have a crack at it myself to learn how it all hangs together.

1. So I read you cannot split the RG6 cable from an LNB to a decoder like the good old terrestrial where you could split the cable and run it to seperate rooms. So I'd have to assume the LNB's act like a tuner? and thats what I need a dual LNB is I want to watch 2 seperate channels?

2. Why do the foxtel units require a phone line connected to them? Must be foxtel specific.

3. As I understand it I would need a dish (KU 65cm), LNB, RG6 quad and some f-type male connections. Are there any like control hub/grounding blocks or similar you would need for a simple home installation?
Is there any protection mechanisms I should put in place to avoid surges?

One thing that makes me think I'm missing something is I think of a hotel with 200 rooms and surely they dont have 200 LNB's on a sat dish. Would be funny to see. Can anyone clear this up for me?

Thanks all,
Luke

[b_franklin]

I can't get my head around a couple of new concepts related to satellite TV over terrestrial. I prefer to have a crack at it myself to learn how it all hangs together.

1. So I read you cannot split the RG6 cable from an LNB to a decoder like the good old terrestrial where you could split the cable and run it to seperate rooms. So I'd have to assume the LNB's act like a tuner? and thats what I need a dual LNB is I want to watch 2 seperate channels?

2. Why do the foxtel units require a phone line connected to them? Must be foxtel specific.

3. As I understand it I would need a dish (KU 65cm), LNB, RG6 quad and some f-type male connections. Are there any like control hub/grounding blocks or similar you would need for a simple home installation?
Is there any protection mechanisms I should put in place to avoid surges?

One thing that makes me think I'm missing something is I think of a hotel with 200 rooms and surely they dont have 200 LNB's on a sat dish. Would be funny to see. Can anyone clear this up for me?

Thanks all,
Luke

1. thats correct, u need a dual lnb

2. to order box office movies.

3. no need for any other devices for surges, but that doesnt mean u cant make up ur own and experiment

as far i know about hotels and apartments they use multiswitches and i large satellite dish, not sure of size.

i hope that helps ur journey into the sat world

[twamp]

1. ...So I'd have to assume the LNB's act like a tuner?

Kinda. The satellite sends two different polarisations at the same frequency (there can actually be 4, but that's for another time), but only one can be sent down the coax at any given time. There is separate content on each polarisation. The decoder box will send control signals up the coax to the lnb telling it which polarisation to allow through. A dual lnb will allow independent polarisation switching of two coax lines.

One thing that makes me think I'm missing something is I think of a hotel with 200 rooms and surely they dont have 200 LNB's on a sat dish. Would be funny to see. Can anyone clear this up for me?

They generally convert (transmodulate) it to cable television, and use regular cable tv receivers. Note that foxtel/austar cards will happily work in either satellite or cable decoders.

[Jumpingmanjim]

as far i know about hotels and apartments they use multiswitches and i large satellite dish, not sure of size.

i hope that helps ur journey into the sat world

In a hotel they will typically have a bunch of decoder boxes, near the reception, one for each channel. So if a hotel had Sky news, Fox sports 1,2 and 3 and Showtime, then they would have a box for sky news, a box for Fox sports 1, a bo for Fox sports 2, etc,etc. They would then pipe them through ordinary coax to each persons room (using signal amps of course). In all my years of visitng hotels, i have yet to see a hotel where every room has it's own box.

In residential apartment blocks it's different. They have a Dish on the roof, and the signal is sent over wires encrypted to each apartment, as each tenant is supposed to organize and pay for their own subscription.

Also, could someon explain to me why in the Austar propaganda, it says that some channels aren't available in big Apartment blocks, surely their equipment can handle both horizontal and vertical transmissions.