Communal system being shut down due to poor infrastructure

[nigea99]

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@MarkRoscoe wrote:

@nigea99 

Many thanks I will go and have a read at the glass forum. What would be your gut choice in my predicament? Wait for the PUK or get the hidden dish?

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I guess I should warn you that the majority of discussions are probably about 'Teething problems' and also misconceptions about how SKY Glass / Pucks work

A few of the Oracles and Super users have SKY Glass and I think find it good & improving as bugs get fixed. 

I am a dinosaur and really like my ability to record on HDD & not keen on all the streaming   apps - I really don't want to have to sign up to all the different Catch up / Streaming apps  (I think some of which are not full HD) thus Glass /Pucks are not currently for me but your requirements for using SKY may be different 

Different people have different priorities and viewing habits

[Godfrey]

@MarkRoscoe  My personal viewing preferences, particularly having complete control of time shifting live events means that I will stay with Sky Q where my recordings are on a physical hard drive within my Sky Q receiver. 

Before you go for Sky Glass, check that all your present favorite channels are presently available to Glass subscribers.  I would never purchase the present low quality Sky Glass TV display panel.

Godfrey.

[MarkRoscoe]

@nigea99 

Bring back VHS (lol)

I would rather "record". Then, when I am at a loss as what to watch I can dig in the hard drive and find that lost  Led Zepp concert I recorded 12 months ago.

[GD1]

@MarkRoscoe  In that case Glass won't be for you.  As mentioned it doesn't record but uses playlists and this can be temperamental at present.

[MarkRoscoe]

@nigea99 @Godfrey @GD1 

Due to the potential "issues" with the PUK's and the time involved I will go for the "hidden dish", run shotgun cable around the garden in trunking, (plastic tube) so it's there for the Q system if/when required.

Cut the current single feed into my property and connect this to my new dish and cable. Keeping the 2nd cable stowed if/when required.

Last issue is the LNB, do I fit a single output unit and call it quits or is there merit in fitting a better LNB? Is there a dSCR LNB that will allow me to get my ageing SKY+ box back to full capability?

[Godfrey]

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@MarkRoscoe wrote:...Last issue is the LNB, do I fit a single output unit and call it quits or is there merit in fitting a better LNB? Is there a dSCR LNB that will allow me to get my ageing SKY+ box back to full capability?

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If your present Sky+ box is capable of accepting a Single Cable Router signal source then you would have the option of installing a satellite dish in your garden fitted with a traditional Quad Universal LNB feeding its four output signals to a Unitron dCSS-422 placed in a watertight box beside that remote dish, or at the other end of your garden cable duct. 

The Unitron dCSS-422 would then be capable of supporting the full facilities of either a Freesat, Sky+HD, or Sky Q receiver, if they could accept a Single Cable Router signal source, or reduced facilities if they could only accept a Legacy signal source.

(NB   A two way signal splitter would be required to provide a compatible Sky+HD receiver with the two SCR inputs that it would require for full facilities, SCR Channel 1 and channel 2 are manually selectable (9, 11 and 14 in any combination) any other selections will result in sat signal issues.)

Godfrey.

[MarkRoscoe]

@Godfrey 

If my thinking is right.....and it won't be, it looks like I am re-creating what is the current communal system for my own personal use? The pictures show the current system feeding my house and the 4 neighbours.

[Godfrey]

@MarkRoscoe  What your picture displays is a rather damp backboard with a variable gain 'Trunk' amplifier feeding an old eight port Legacy Universal LNB multiswitch Integrated Reception System installation.

If the Amplitude and Modulation Error Ratio quality reaching the residents was adequate a Sky Multiple Development Unit trained engineer could have been asked to install a Unitron dCSS Sky Q Plug-In adaptor in order to provide two residents with a Sky Q compatible SCR signal. 

Have the communal maintenance engineers revealed if the problem is being caused by old defective coaxial cables between this central communal multiswitch and the communal dish / individual residents properties , or just water getting into the IRS components.

Godfrey.

[MarkRoscoe]

@Godfrey 

They say its degrading cables between the "master box" and our local box. They also pointed out that there was no power and inadequate earthing within our local box.

I get the impression that they think it's a bit of a "dogs dinner" in there and sorting it out could be a nightmare as the management group of the conservation zone are not interested and don't appear to want to spend any money or get the planning aprovals to make things better.

Hence, my go it alone proposal.

[Godfrey]

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@MarkRoscoe wrote:.........They say its degrading cables between the "master box" and our local box. They also pointed out that there was no power and inadequate earthing within our local box.

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Alas, if the outer screens of each individual residents coaxial cable feeds, and the metal case of each active box, are not securely bonded to the building's PME the IRS distribution would be in contravention of the statutory legal safety requirement imposed upon communal IRS distribution systems. Sky MDU trained engineers are not therefore allowed to work on IRS systems that are not correctly earthed.

"We have a responsibilty for ensuring that any installation or maintenance work undertaken on an MDU system is safe and that any work carried out is to the correct standards. If a system has inadequate electrical safety protection, then we need to notify the appropriate body in writing, for example, the landlord or managing agent by giving our customer a copy of the Non-Compliance Report, also leaving one in the head end that is not earthed correctly. Difference between Earthing and Cross Bonding Earthing: • Usually carried out by an electrician as part of the original MDU System install on behalf of the landlord/ managing agent. There is usually a Main Earth Terminal (MET) to which the system can be connected. Where no MET is evident then advice should be sought from an electrical professional. • A minimum CSA of 4mm2 earth cable needs to be run from the rig (dish, dishes/aerials etc.) directly to the Main Earth Terminal (MET) as shown on the right. • It is not your responsibility to do this work. • Under NO circumstances are you to work on a head end/ system that is not Earthed."

Godfrey.

[MarkRoscoe]

@Godfrey 

I understand that the original installation engineers who did the work around our properties did the bare minimum to get the systems up and working. I and other residents seem to have been left "holding the baby"

As long as I can get things up and running, (thanks to your help & assistance) I will be a happy chap.

I have just remebered I have a wall panel, does this mess things up at all or can it just be "left as is"?

[Godfrey]

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@MarkRoscoe wrote:........I have just remebered I have a wall panel, does this mess things up at all or can it just be "left as is"?

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Either a Legacy Universal LNB signal or a Single Cable Router (SCR) signal will have no problem passing through the triplexer filter associated with SAT 1 on of your wall panel. It is just when a Wideband LNB is being used that this triplexer filter would require to be removed.

I note that you have a cable plugged into the IRS wall panel terrestrial television socket, if you cut the IRS feed in order to connect it to your new garden installation you will of course no longer have a signal available from the TV socket on your IRS wall panel.

Godfrey.

[MarkRoscoe]

@Godfrey 

Many thanks Godfrey. Things are a lot clearer now. I understand there is a meeting of the communal system engineers and the management company to discuss if there is a way forward. I dont want them to come along and botch something up in the short term and then I/we are faced with a bigger problem in a few months time, especially if I/we want to move to sky Q. 

May I call on your knowedge and experience again once I know if anything is happening. I did hear a rumour that I may be removed from the communal system and allowed to have my own "garden system". It would be nice if Sky came along and did the work for me!!

[TimmyBGood]

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@MarkRoscoe wrote:

 I did hear a rumour that I may be removed from the communal system and allowed to have my own "garden system". It would be nice if Sky came along and did the work for me!!

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Sky won't install a ground-mount setup: their people just don't carry the components, equipment and other kit required for that (paving slabs / bags of ballast, for example) or have the time to do so.  You'd need to commission an installation from a local independent installer / competent handy person to get a base, frame and upright in place and oriented correctly, ideally with a dish, LNB and twin cables run inside: Sky should then be happy to fit a Q box onto them.  They might be prepared to install a dish, LNB and cabling onto a robust existing upright, as long as there's correct line of sight from it.

 

[MarkRoscoe]

@TimmyBGood 

My intention was to fit a pole on the garden wall and run the cables around the garden in conduit, would that be sufficient for the Sky engineer to complete an install? I am not bothered about my current systemt being upgraded to Sky Q at the moment, just ensuring I have aviable Sky+ system in the first instance.