My new TV for the sunroom arrived today. As soon as I got the change I opened the box and set up the stand in anticipation of watching the Cardinals-Pirates game tonight "outside." I moved the satellite receiver box from the bedroom down to the sunroom for the new TV, and when I plugged it in it said it wasn't receiving a signal. I went through the menus and got nowhere. I searched on Google for a result and got no where. I talked to one of my friends who also has a satellite and he told me that I likely needed to activate the cable outlet line I was now using. Simple enough. How hard could that be? I just needed to find the switch where the cable is coming into the house and switch the cable feeding the bedroom to the sunroom, so that the TV could receive the signal. The problem is that my cable splitter box looks like Clark Griswold's power outlet on Christmas eve.
There were nearly 30 coax cables running in every direction. It was impossible to tell which one went to what, which one was delivering a signal, where the signal was originating, or why there were several cables not connected to anything. After messing with this for a few hours I called Dish and was told what I expected - that a service call would need to be made to the house to activate the line. The cost, a "reasonable" $60. It feels like a rip-off but what else can you do? The guy I talked to on the phone said it could take them 2-3 hours to do the job so it would have probably taken me 6-8. Probably worth the $60, but talk about taking something simple and making it complex. I figured when I bought the TV I'd just be able to plug it into the wall and it would work.
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