Max distance between dish and digibox?

[ColinConxa]

Hello folks - just joined and hoping someone can help. I live in Spain near Barcelona and enjoy watching British TV and radio via a Sky box (non subscription, FTA or Freeeview or..?..). I need to re-locate our 120 cm satellite dish during a house refurb and an ideal site is about 50 metres from the digibox. I realise a cable without unions or junction boxes will be an advantage - can I expect things to work? I think there are different types of cable (?) what should I ask for, for best reception?
Many tks in advance. Colin.

[lunsat]

50 metres is about near the limit, though should work with loss of the weaker transponders. If signals are strong in your area and you throw in an inline amplifier you might be OK.

[henrik67]

I used to live in Spain installing sky/tv aerials on the costa del sol and signal can be a nightmare for some..in the costa a 1.3 prodolin or a 1.2 channel master was perfect but where you are a 1.2 seems rather small as you might run into difficulties with certain beams but if it worked before then it should be fine even with a longer cable run... the best cable to use is cable thats foam filled(dialectic) but you will find that in spain this is almost always used anyway/snap/crimp connectors are preferred also and note your receiver plays a vital role in receiving channels in a stable manner as does your choice in lnb..50 metres and even 100 meters should be fine otherwise companys would not sell drums of a larger size but as i say your dish/lnb/scew adjustment and receiver are the main thing here/after that a good choice of cabling should work and deliver an acceptable signal.

Also try and avoid inline amps if you can as they can cause more problems with added db noise,in other words they can be more hassle than they are worth especially in an area where you are struggling to get a signal from wherever you are on the sats footprint.

Cheers

Henrik

[uk_bttv_satuk]

As a ex cable tv and Sky installer:

Use GOOD cable from the lnb to the box. Not the cheap thin rubbish. I have my motor dish at back off garden and goes along the ground, up the side off the house into the roof and down the fireplace into the front room and no problems. I had loads of RG6 from the cable install days and used that. RG59 is rubbish as well.