Ok, so i have posted this in some other areas, but to no avail. Sorry if you have had to read this before. But hopefully you home theater DIY-ers can help me out:

I have got Starchoice Satellite hooked at home. My setup is as follows:
-Dual LNB dish located on roof, 4 coax cables running down the side of house, buried in dirt along side of house, through hole into house, and run the the power box area. Cables are run to try to avoid power as much as possible. 90 degree crossings when unavoidable. Stayed far away from major power cable bundles.
-the cables are attached to 2 grounding blocks (each one services 2 cables). The grounding blocks are ground to the fuse box, same as the rest of the house's power.
-My house was wired with coax throughout, all coming out of a central hub. I took the 4 places I want satellite, unhooked them from the hub, and hooked them straight to the other end of the grounding block. I now essentially have the 4 lines running from the satellite, into the house, through the grounding block, then off to the 4 outlets. About 150-200 ft of cable each.
-From the outlets, I have coax running to the motorola HD receivers.
-All wiring and connections are brand new, less than a year old.

My problem is this:
Every couple of months, I get static buildup in the lines, which makes me lose my signal. I then have to disconnect everything, let it sit for a couple of minutes while the static rids itself, then connect everything back up again. Through process of elimination, I think I have found that the static is coming from the coax between the outlet and the receiver.

Is there anything that I can do to prevent this from happening?
Will one of those power bars where the coax run through it help? Something like:
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0926INGFS10087885&catid=21251&logon=&langid=EN

Thanks

Is it that people are tired of seeing me post this in various areas throughout the forum, or do people just not know the answer to this question?
Pleeeeease help me

Is it that people are tired of seeing me post this in various areas throughout the forum, or do people just not know the answer to this question?
Pleeeeease help me

The question is bogus. If you're wired as you describe and the ground block is actually grounded, there is no way you could get anything like a "static electricity buildup". Physically impossible.

Rather than assume that you have a clue about the cause, why not just post the symptoms?

Or the actual cause is to shill for the linked item (a major waste of $$).

The question is bogus. If you're wired as you describe and the ground block is actually grounded, there is no way you could get anything like a "static electricity buildup". Physically impossible.

Rather than assume that you have a clue about the cause, why not just post the symptoms?

Or the actual cause is to shill for the linked item (a major waste of $$).

Ok.
My setup is as I stated above.
My symptoms are as I stated above. I lose picture every month or 2. Says looking for signal. when i disconnect everything for a couple of minutes and hook it up again, it all comes back. If i switch the incoming feed to a different TV/Receiver (switched at the grounding block in the basement), there is no problem. however when i switch it back, problem still exists. Leads me to believe the problem exists between the grounding block and the receiver, but I am too stupid make any conclusions myself.

I have absolutely no intentions of buys a couple hundred dollar power bar from monster. I was wondering about a $25 version of something that does the same thing, found somewhere such as Costco.

Through process of elimination, I think I have found that the static is coming from the coax between the outlet and the receiver.


I think I understand your wiring diagram, and your problem can be traced back to ONE of the sat receivers - correct?

Things I would try:
Replace the one cable that seems to be the problem as stated above.
Put an outlet tester on the electrical outlet that is being used for that receiver (the type of tester that has 3 little lights on it).
If those two things don't have any effect, then you can try a ground breaker on the coax, but that should be a choice of last resort.

You may also want to go over to Dbstalk.com where the discussion is 100% satellite issues.

I also did a quick Google search and there are some forums for Starchoice users. It may be a quirk of your hardware and someone might have some ideas.

Not saying go away, just saying there might not be enough experience here to help.

When you drain the static from the cable, dont just let it go on the floor. If you do this, it will find its way back into the cable after a couple of months. This is called static migration.

To prevent recurrance, make sure you use a bit bucket when draining the static, then dispose of it properly outside of the house. (Static disposal). Be sure not to overfill the bit bucket. This would cause static overload which then will result in static cling if you get it on your clothing.

Just another night at the movies at Steve's house.

http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/photos/static.jpg

Thank you all for your helpful suggestions. I will start trying these.