# Deca Broadband help



## sanelyinsane (Dec 5, 2010)

Ok, I just got Directv installed yesterday and my installer was pretty booked, so he gave me the Deca to install myself. I think he left me with bad instructions from what little I have read. First off if anyone knows of a user's/install manual for the Deca please point me to it. Given a manual, I can figure all of my noob questions out :/

They were installing one dvr/hd receiver and one hd receiver and using the @home package.

Now, I have interenet through twc. It comes out of the wall as a coax into my Scientific Atlanta cable modem. From there it goes via ethernet to my router's wan port. And from there my computers are connected wired and wirelessly.

The installer gave me a splitter and cables and told me to split the coax to the cable modem and to the deca. Then he said to plug the deca into one of my router's lan ports. From what I read this doesn't seem like it will work. When I hook this up as such I see the CLink flashing orange and the network link not on (hmmm, I'm guessing its not liking being on my router's lan port).

Do I need to hook up to the router? Also I'm assuming this device talks wirelessly to the cable boxes. If not, how is it suppossed to communicate?

Looking at another post, my setup is similar to post #7 by sigma914 at 05-20-10, 09:48 PM.

However, the line coming in for the deca/internet is connected to twc and not to the splitter for the satellite dish. And the wiring between the deca, router and "wall connection" is as described above. My dvr/hd receiver is connected as shown on the left and my hd receiver is connected as shown as the receiver on the right.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=2459468#post2459468
(since this is my first post, the board won't let me link to another post, lame, so please prepend the "www dot dsbtalk dot com slash" to the above)


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

OK .. The coax splitter needs to be connected to your DIRECTV coax. If you have an Ethernet drop near either your HD-DVR or your HD Receiver, that will be the best place to do this.

You'd unplug the coax going into the receiver, connect it to the input for the splitter and then one output would go back into the receiver and the second output would go into the the Internet DECA.

The Ethernet cable on the Internet DECA would then connect to the Ethernet port near the receiver .. and back into your router/switch.

Hopefully that's clear enough.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

sanelyinsane said:


> The installer gave me a splitter and cables and *told me to split the coax to the cable modem and to the deca*.


Wrong. Split the DirecTV coax, not the cable modem.


> Then he said to plug the deca into one of my router's lan ports.


 right.


> From what I read this doesn't seem like it will work. When I hook this up as such I see the CLink flashing orange and the network link not on (hmmm, I'm guessing its not liking being on my router's lan port).


This is because it isn't on the same coax as the other DECAs are in/on the receivers. The blinking cLink is because it can't "see" the other DECAs to sync with.


> Do I need to hook up to the router? Also I'm assuming this device talks wirelessly to the cable boxes. If not, how is it suppossed to communicate?


 It doesn't wirelessly unless you have a wireless adapter connected to the DECA's ethernet port, otherwise you need to use an ethernet cable to connect the two.


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## sanelyinsane (Dec 5, 2010)

Ok, that makes sense now. So the deca does plug into the wireless lan, but needs the directv coax. Since I have an hd reciever/dvr combo and an hd receiver, does each device need a deca off of it or just one deca if they are all off of the same splitter to the satellite dish?


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## mobandit (Sep 4, 2007)

If the boxes are H/HR24 series boxes, no.


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## sanelyinsane (Dec 5, 2010)

Ok, cool, thank you for the education, I know enough to be dangerous here.

So the point of the deca is to connect the directv coax network to the internet. Unfortunately my network router and my directv coax are nowhere near close to eachother. So this brings up a wireless question. Is there some type of wireless adapter (essentially a stand-alone wireless card) I can plug into the deca's ethernet port? I would need to program this adapter with the appropriate security and passphrase/password to connect too.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

sanelyinsane said:


> Ok, cool, thank you for the education, I know enough to be dangerous here.
> 
> So the point of the deca is to connect the directv coax network to the internet. Unfortunately my network router and my directv coax are nowhere near close to eachother. So this brings up a wireless question. Is there some type of wireless adapter (essentially a stand-alone wireless card) I can plug into the deca's ethernet port? I would need to program this adapter with the appropriate security and passphrase/password to connect too.


A "Gaming" adapter is what you need, like *Cisco-Linksys WET610N *


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

veryoldschool said:


> A "Gaming" adapter is what you need, like *Cisco-Linksys WET610N *


Yes....that will work just fine for the OP's purposes.

It works pretty well, by the way.


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## sanelyinsane (Dec 5, 2010)

cool on the adapter. Oh, I had read on another forum there's a strict power on ordering including the swim module. I assume it gets its power just from one of the coax's as there is no separate power port?


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## bobnielsen (Jun 29, 2006)

The SWM power comes from the Power Inserter through the coax.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

This sounds like roughly what you have ..










Is it safe to assume that you have one HR24 DVR and one H24 Receiver?

If so, then the two black set top boxes shown above simply connect to the splitter directly (through house wiring of course). The DECA for Internet would need a power adapter and a link to your switch. It's OK to use a gaming adapter connected to the Internet DECA and then wireless to your switch.


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## sanelyinsane (Dec 5, 2010)

I took a look at model numbers. I have an H21 DVR HD Reciever with a Regular DECA and a H24 HD Receiver. And yes Doug, that is the picture for the receivers, antennae, and swim and they connect through the house wiring.

Oh, so here's a question. Can I just use a plain splitter to split the cable to the regular Deca on my DVR and feed that into the broadband deca? That would be the most attractive solution for me as my wireless receiver and adapter would have almost direct line of sight. Or do I need the broadband Deca to plug directly into the swimm via house wiring, i.e. hook up a cable in another room?


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

sanelyinsane said:


> I took a look at model numbers. I have an H21 DVR HD Reciever with a Regular DECA and a H24 HD Receiver. And yes Doug, that is the picture for the receivers, antennae, and swim and they connect through the house wiring.
> 
> Oh, so here's a question. Can I just use a plain splitter to split the cable to the regular Deca on my DVR and feed that into the broadband deca? That would be the most attractive solution for me as my wireless receiver and adapter would have almost direct line of sight. Or do I need the broadband Deca to plug directly into the swimm via house wiring, i.e. hook up a cable in another room?


Use one of these: http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.as...0-MHz)&c=Satellite Splitters&sku=874409002404


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

For the HR21, you will need a DECA connected inline on the coax to to the HR21. You'd unplug the coax from the back of the HR21, connect the coax to the end of the DECA and then the tail of the DECA would connect back to the HR21. The Ethernet connection would then connect from the DECA module to the Ethernet port on the HR21.

That would get the HR21 connected to your network.

the H24 has built-in DECA, so connecting the coax directly from the splitter to the H24 is correct (as shown in picture above).

Lastly, you will need another DECA with a small power supply. The coax from the splitter will go into one end of the DECA, the power supply will connect to the other end and the Ethernet will connect from the DECA to your wireless game adapter.

Now, in all honesty, you should probably just call DIRECTV and ask them to finish the job that they didn't finish to begin with. It sounds like you might be missing some parts and they're supposed to run a cable from the splitter to your router location for whole home DVR Service. With none of that happening, and (while you appear to be getting a grasp of the concept) you not knowing the exact steps, calling DIRECTV back to complete the install correctly may be the best route.

The parts list you should have:

Dish
4-way green splitter
power inserter (for dish)
HR21
H24
DECA (for HR21)
DECA (for Internet)
power inserter (for Internet DECA)

and, if you plan on connecting wirelessly to the the Internet, you also need a wireless gaming adapter that you will have to set up using a PC before connecting to the Internet DECA. If the DIRECTV tech had run a line from the splitter to your router, then you could have connected the Internet DECA there.


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## toneman (Oct 23, 2007)

Rather than create a new thread, I figured I'd just post my question in this one so here goes...

Currently my setup is SWM 2-way to a 2-way green splitter (family room) and bedroom; from the 2-way green splitter one output goes to the PI (w/ IRD out terminated), and the other output to an HR24. Now I want to stick in the BB DECA module somewhere inline within this setup; what would be the most ideal way to install it--connect from wall to PI, then connect the 2-way splitter to the PI IRD out, then connect from the 2-way to each the HR24 and the BB DECA...or, connect from wall to 2-way splitter, then connect from 2-way to each the HR24 and PI, then connect the BB DECA to the PI IRD out?

Yes I reckon there's probably a more-ideal way to do this but I should point out that I'm currently running a 2-way (rather than a 4- or 8-way) from the dish so it's not possible at this time to connect each the PI and/or BB DECA to their own dedicated ports on the SWM.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

"I would" connect the BB DECA to the SWiM PI IRD port.


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