High pitched squeal coming from satellite receiver.

[coldmeat]

Ok so I decided to move the unused satellite receiver from the basement into my room, but the room is 50 feet away so I went to Walmart and picked up a 50ft coaxial cable. When I get home I plug it in and it makes a really high pitched squeal all the time when the receiver is off, and when the receiver is on it squeals off and on every second. I also don't get a steady signal, sometimes it says the satellite is unavailable, sometimes it works fine and others the video is all choppy. I've checked the living room satellite and it works fine.

Are these signs that the cable is broken and I should get a new one? Or is it something wrong with my receiver? It worked ok in the basement last night. The squeal only happens when the coaxial cable is connected and only this one and it doesn't even matter if it is connected on the other end.

As I'm typing this it seems pretty obvious it's the cable haha, but I spent all that time fishing it through the hole in the floor and through the basement that I want to be sure.

edit: or maybe I bought the wrong cable? I just assumed all coaxial cables are the same. I bought a digital coaxial that said it was meant for tv, satellite, cable etc.

edit2: One thing I did notice is that this cable has a shorter pin on the end than the one that was connected before.

edit3: it sounds like it's coming from the power supply.

 

[Modelworks]

If the sound is coming from the PSU area then disconnect that cable ASAP or you could burn out the receiver, they have very weak current limits for what they send out to the dish. It is probably a high resistance short somewhere in the cable. Disconnect the cable at both ends then use a meter set to ohms to measure between the center pin and the outer shield , there should be no reading, if it is something like 10K or lower then you have a bad cable. A meter is the only way to test for shorts in the cable.

 

[coldmeat]

Where would I get a meter? How much do they cost? Would it be more work to get one or to just go to Walmart and exchange the cable? I haven't been keeping it plugged in.

 

[Modelworks]

It would be cheaper to just exchange the cable. A multi-meter can be bought just about anywhere, walmart, radio shack, sears.
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_1...2345000P?keyword=meter

 

[coldmeat]

ok well ya I just returned it. I had a black one and this one is white. I don't see any difference between the two other than color.

 

[coldmeat]

Wow I think there might be two problems here. The receiver is getting pretty hot and it's just been sitting here plugged in but off for the last couple of hours.

 

[coldmeat]

Ok it was definitely the cable, because it's working perfect now. Maybe I did buy the wrong type of cable.

 

[alfa147x]

rg59 vs rg6 possibly ?

 

[coldmeat]

They were both rg6. The one that actually worked doesn't list satellite as one of the uses for it while the other did. It must have just been a broken cable.