One for the Sky experts!

Ivrytwr3

Hey all,

I have never had Sky and have decided to take the plunge in time for Xmas viewing! The engineer is coming out next week to fit a dish and install a Sky+ box for me.

My house has an aerial in the roof which runs to aerial points in 4 bedrooms and the lounge.

My question is, what will the Sky engineer do when he installs? Will he attach the dish to the wall and run direct to the lounge, or will he run to the loft junction box? Making use of all the aerial points available?

Also, when the EON heating engineer comes to service my boiler, i pay him at extra to service my fire (which he isn't supposed to do!) So, for extra payment, is there anything i should be asking the sky engineer to do which would be beneficial for my sky viewing pleasure?!

Thanks

Kurtis_Blue

You Sky installer will put the dish on the wall and run one twin feed to the new sky box.

You may have enough trouble getting him to do that to a good enough standard, I wouldn't get him to do any further work, not sure what else the majority of them can do, car wash? ironing?

In future you can feed the aerial direct to the "RF In" on the Sky stb then take a feed from the "RF Out" back up to the loft box to enable the other rooms to watch the same Sky channel selected downstairs as well as freeview.

macman

Sky installers aren't even allowed in the loft for health and safety reasons. The cable feed will come down the outside wall by the shortest route to the entry point (slung over the roof if they can get away with it).
They have such a heavy workload that there's no way they have time to do anything else. If you want additional work done then best to get in a local recommended independent sat installer.

Ivrytwr3

that's the thing - i don't know what additional work is possible and what is recommended.

Heinz

The previous standard Sky box was not Sky+ and needed just one feed from the dish and so Sky fitted an LNB on the dish with one output and ran one lead to wherever the box was to be located.

Now, the standard box is a Sky+ box (which is really a Sky HD box) and so Sky fits an LNB with 4 outputs and uses 2 for the first box (leaving the other 2 outputs avaible for use on another box - e.g. in a bedroom - if one is required).

The standard of workmanship varies vastly and so many people with basic DIY skills run the cables* themselves before the fitter arrives. Knowing where the dish will need to be sited is, of course, necessary before such action though.

* Rather than relying on the fitter to run an extension cable at the time, properly installing a telephone extension point where the Sky box is to be installed is a particularly easy DIY project.

Tropez

Generally Sky installers attach the dish to the roof and where possible run the cable through the guttering to as close to the drill point as possible.

As stated above, they are not allowed to go into the loft. He has no need to do anything with the aerial or junction box anyway.

He likely will not do anything else for you, nor is there anything that you could reasonably expect him to do to enhance your viewing. He is going to attach a dish, set up your box, make sure it works and then leave. He may leave his contact number should you have a problem within 30 days but unless you have a problem there should be no reason to contact him.

The only thing you might need to ask him to do is if you have your phone number automatically withheld and the box is being connected to your phone line is ask him to add prefix 1470 in the installer menu so that the box doesn't have issues communicating with Sky.

spike7451

Tropez wrote: »

Generally Sky installers attach the dish to the roof and where possible run the cable through the guttering to as close to the drill point as possible.

As stated above, they are not allowed to go into the loft. He has no need to do anything with the aerial or junction box anyway.

He likely will not do anything else for you, nor is there anything that you could reasonably expect him to do to enhance your viewing. He is going to attach a dish, set up your box, make sure it works and then leave. He may leave his contact number should you have a problem within 30 days but unless you have a problem there should be no reason to contact him.

The only thing you might need to ask him to do is if you have your phone number automatically withheld and the box is being connected to your phone line is ask him to add prefix 1470 in the installer menu so that the box doesn't have issues communicating with Sky.

Sky installers aren't allowed onto roof's unless the dish is sited on a chimney anymore due to H&S reasons & the is a maximum height at which they can install,usually the height of a normal 2 story home.

Tropez

spike7451 wrote: »

Sky installers aren't allowed onto roof's unless the dish is sited on a chimney anymore due to H&S reasons & the is a maximum height at which they can install,usually the height of a normal 2 story home.

Yeah, it was a poor explanation on my part.

I meant the side of the house as close to the roof as is possible and convenient. Saying "roof" was just lazy of me.

spike7451

Tropez wrote: »

Yeah, it was a poor explanation on my part.

I meant the side of the house as close to the roof as is possible and convenient. Saying "roof" was just lazy of me.

Mind you seeing the way some of the dishes are installed,bolting one to the roofing tiles would be more secure!