Re-use Sky+ cables?

[SatQuery]

Just had Sky Q installed replacing our old Sky+ box. The existing cabling went from the dish directly into the wall behind and then all around the house to a centralised distribution cabinet. So all very neat. However the engineer said he couldn't use the existing cables so had to bypass all that with a cable running straight from the dish, down the wall outside and through the wall to the TV. I can't recall why he had to replace the cables...and after googling a bit I'm none the wiser. Can somebody explain? Thanks.

[Godfrey]

@SatQuery   In all probability, the combiner in your centralised distribution cabinet, and the filtering in your room media plates would have been designed for Legacy Universal LNB satellite signals that would lie between around 950 MHz - 2.2 GHz. Unfortunately Sky Q requires the satellite dish LNB to be changed for a Wideband LNB which has satellite signals which lie between around 300 MHz - 2 GHz.

So without modification your present satellite distribution system cannot distribute the full range of satellite signals produced by a Wideband LNB, because it is already using the space below around 950 MHz to distribute VHF / DAB radio and Terrestrial Television signals.

Godfrey.

[TimmyBGood]

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@SatQuery wrote:

The existing cabling went from the dish directly into the wall behind and then all around the house to a centralised distribution cabinet. So all very neat.

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From memory (and @Godfrey will correct me if I'm wrong) it's potentially possible for a customer to re-use elements of an existing cable distribution, but only by replumbing it themselves to remove any distribution hardware and faceplates and so create a single contiguous twin cable run between dish and main Q box location, with the other cable runs and outputs becoming obsolete.  This would have to be done prior to the Q installation date (or retrospectively at the customers own risk)

A Sky installer simply doesn't have the time, equipment or training for such a task, and so will always bypass a setup like that by running a whole new cable, or refuse the installation entirely.

[SatQuery]

Thanks for the explanation. I just didn't want a hole through the wall if it wasn't entirely necessary. Sounds like that was the only realistic option. The cabling all around the house is RG6 if I recall correctly.