jmarnell
Well-known member
I'm afraid we are the latest victim of Heartland's messed up coax wiring jobs! We finally purchased satellite equipment for our Cyclone 4005, using DISH network equipment. While hooking up the satellite dish through the UDC for the first time, I could not get a signal to the main living room receiver. I used my coax tester on the line, and there was no signal getting through. I found the splitters in the cabinet above the TV, and tested every coax cable. Nothing. So I went in to the basement area behind the UDC, where I noticed something not right. As you can see in the photo, the satellite cabling for the bedroom on the right is correct with the orange and gray cabling. But the cabling on the left for the living room satellite connection is black, not what Heartland's cabling diagram indicates it should be. So I continued removing wall plates and testing various lines. I was very surprised to find I finally got a signal from the UDC, but on the OTA antenna line in the bedroom! Somehow in their wiring job, Heartland apparently ran the satellite cabling for the living room from the input jack in the UDC through the OTA antenna and then to the bedroom! Wow, I have no idea why or how they did that. But short of tearing out walls or ceilings there was no way to check further. So I finally resorted to using a fish tape in the wall behind the outlets in the living room and after a lot of trial and error I found a route where other wires enter the basement area. That allowed me to pull through a new quad-shield coax cable to the living room outlet and then directly to the UDC. Once I did that, the signal from the satellite came through perfectly! So success in the end, but a frustrating several hours of testing cables and figuring out how to run new coax cabling. Now I'm just worried what I will find when I go up on the roof to mount the satellite dish. I'm afraid the cabling coiled in the roof may be messed up too. At least now I know how to run a new line if necessary!