I have been an ExpressVu subscriber since 1997. Back in 1997 ExpressVu was broadcasting from one of the Anik satellites using a Linear LNB. I still have a couple of these LNBs kicking around. My new Fortec Lifetime Ultra just arrived today and I am anxious to get it going. Is my old ExpressVu LNB capable of picking up both the Horizontal and Vertical transponders, or do I need to buy a new Universal LNB to use instead?
24" dish & ExpressVu LNB setup?
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welcome davage! 
That was one of the first LNB's I got when I got into FTA. Mine says "Dish Network Canada" on it
They work great for FTA and most are duals so you could run 2 receivers off one LNB
That was one of the first LNB's I got when I got into FTA. Mine says "Dish Network Canada" on it
They work great for FTA and most are duals so you could run 2 receivers off one LNB
I had barely finished pressing the "Post Quick Reply" button and I've got 2 responses! Thanks guys!
I have what appears to be a 24 to 26 inch ExpressVu reflector that I'm going to use until I save my pennies to buy a 39" or 1.2M reflector. I am hoping that it'll get me a few channels - the University Network in particular, I'd like to see the Late Dr Gene Scott on the tv screen once again. I haven't seen him since my C-Band days about 14 years ago.
Thanks again for the quick responses.. I'm hoping to pull my old ExpressVu dish and LNB out of the storage bins tonight or tomorrow and see what I can find.
I have what appears to be a 24 to 26 inch ExpressVu reflector that I'm going to use until I save my pennies to buy a 39" or 1.2M reflector. I am hoping that it'll get me a few channels - the University Network in particular, I'd like to see the Late Dr Gene Scott on the tv screen once again. I haven't seen him since my C-Band days about 14 years ago.
Thanks again for the quick responses.. I'm hoping to pull my old ExpressVu dish and LNB out of the storage bins tonight or tomorrow and see what I can find.
you should be able to get the good Doctor even with the smaller dish
Here is a picture of my ExpressVu KU LNB (2nd from right)
http://www.satelliteguys.us/attachment.php?attachmentid=12286&d=1159143884
Here is a picture of my ExpressVu KU LNB
(2nd from right)http://www.satelliteguys.us/attachment.php?attachmentid=12286&d=1159143884
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Davage said:
Dr Gene Scott is alive and well in re-runs, his wife has taken over for him since he passed away so you can catch her on at times...
One more quick question. For my ExpressVu LNB, is it considered a "Universal" LNB? What frequency should I be punching into my Fortec receiver for the LNB freq?
How about the possibility of using an eliptical Starchoice dish? I found one out at curbside one garbage day, so I picked it up. It appears not to have been abused at all - I think that somebody just decided to go back to cable (ugh). The LNB has 4 outputs on it, and is capable of picking up signals from both Anik Birds. I wasn't sure if there were any sort of electronic switches built into this LNB and if it was compatible at all with a Fortec receiver. Any chance of using this one too? I have a Diseqc switch that came with the receiver, so I'm thinking that I could point an old 26" ExpressVu reflector at one bird and the Starchoice reflector at one or possibly 2 other satellies. ?
That would work too.
The LNB’s are 3.8 degrees apart so you could get 2 satellites 4 degrees apart. One line from the LNB would get both. The only difference is one satellite you have to send a 22k “tone” to it (the receiver does that in the setup)
The LNB’s are 3.8 degrees apart so you could get 2 satellites 4 degrees apart. One line from the LNB would get both. The only difference is one satellite you have to send a 22k “tone” to it (the receiver does that in the setup)
Thanks again for all of the great LNB info! I'm thinking that I'm going end up buying the larger reflector sooner vs later. Now I just need to find the time to get the dish put up. (Having a 1 year old baby boy doesn't leave much in the way of "spare" time these days.)
davage
here is a post on using my StarChoice dish for getting IA5 & AMC4 (97 & 101). It was set up to receive a bunch of religious channels
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showpost.php?p=545931&postcount=8
here is a post on using my StarChoice dish for getting IA5 & AMC4 (97 & 101). It was set up to receive a bunch of religious channels
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showpost.php?p=545931&postcount=8
Iceberg: That Starchoice reflector looks identical to the one that I've got. I'm pretty sure that it is a 75e model like yours. I've printed out a list of FTA channels, and I see lots on IA5 @ 97, and I see IA6 listed as having CBS Newspath feeds, and the University network on it. Is there much in the way of other feeds on IA6 to make it worthwhile to try point the dish at 93/97? I used to love watching the wild feeds on C-Band years ago.
well, lets put it this way. I scanned about 15-20 feeds last night when I was peaking my dish...so yeah 93 has a lot of feeds on it (news feeds)Davage said:
89 also has news feeds and sports feeds on it
There are a few options to do 2 LNB's on one dish
103/99-NBC news feeds on 103 but nothing on 99
101/97-good for religious programming or ethnics
99/95-the worst of the bunch. not much on either
97/93-pretty good batch for ethnics and news feeds
95/91-another ok setup (not alot on 95 but 91 has some feeds)
93/89-really good for feeds. Not alot up 24/7 but lots of sports/news feeds
91/87-feeds & PBS
89/85-feeds. 85 is tough to get in the northern states (I have a bugger here in Minnesota) so maybe not the best option
87/83-nothing on 83
Hi Iceberg: Last night, just for fun, I pulled out a 24" reflector, an old ExpressVu LNB and mounted it to an end-table that is destined for the garbage heap and I stood on the deck of my house pointing a dish for a couple of hours. The dish pointing screen in the Fortec leaves a bit to be desired, and my satellite finder wasn't much more help. But anyways... I managed to blindly stumble upon a couple of the satellites. I found AMC-4 and did a "Power Scan" to review the 3ABN channel and others. I really wanted to see if I could get IA-5, so I tinkered around with the transponder setup screens and Symbol Rates for a bit. I couldn't find AI-5. What I did notice is that the MPEG-2 / DVB Ku list that is linked to in one of the threads here seems to have different frequencies than what my Power Scan is finding. I'm pretty sure that I've got the LNB freq set to 10750, but this receiver was finding them on different freqs.. (or maybe it was just me transposing numbers in the dark) Anyways, right now I managed to blindly point the reflector at IA-8, and I was watching some ABC News this morning.
Now... One of the things that I'm hoping to try tonight or tomorrow night is to get the Starchoice reflector pulling in any sort of signal I can find. How do I know which of the 2 LNBs the signal is actually coming through on? You had mentioned a 22 Khz tone option, which I have seen in the menu. Is it a toggle switch of sorts, where if the tone is turned on, it will select the 2nd LNB, and if it is OFF, it will select the primary LNB? If so, which is primary, which is secondary.
(I'm trying to keep this thread on topic of LNBs )
Now... One of the things that I'm hoping to try tonight or tomorrow night is to get the Starchoice reflector pulling in any sort of signal I can find. How do I know which of the 2 LNBs the signal is actually coming through on? You had mentioned a 22 Khz tone option, which I have seen in the menu. Is it a toggle switch of sorts, where if the tone is turned on, it will select the 2nd LNB, and if it is OFF, it will select the primary LNB? If so, which is primary, which is secondary.
(I'm trying to keep this thread on topic of LNBs
)AMC4 has 2 really strong signals, 3ABN and Fox KUIL. I have been able to get those on a regular DBS dish (20") and a KU LNB. from 101W to 97W isnt much of a turn (if you put a mark on the mast it would be 1/16" off that mark) is IA5. There are some strong transponders so you should be able to get themDavage said:
on the top of the LNB it says "Sat A" and "Sat B". Sat B has the 22k built in (I think it says it on the top). If not, when you are behind the dish looking at the LNB's, the LEFT one has the 22k built in
correct. If the 22k is on then it goes to sat b and if off its sat a
now you will have to skew the dish to get better signal
a good site to use is
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Installation/Satellite-Heading-Calculator.htm
There you can put your latitude & longitude in and select a satellite. It will tell you elevation, skew and where to aim the dish
Iceberg: Thank you for your patience and valuable information. I can picture this FTA receiver giving me a lot of fun and experiments to try This seems like it is going to become very addictive. I really don't watch much TV at all, I prefer to listen to radio - I've had XM radio for a couple years now and listen to it 8 to 10 hours per day. I'm hoping to pull in a few of the FTA radio stations and give them a listen sometime. Thanks again, I'm sure that you'll see me around the forum quite often lending a hand where I can too after I've learned all the in's and out's of FTA.
This seems like it is going to become very addictive. I really don't watch much TV at all, I prefer to listen to radio - I've had XM radio for a couple years now and listen to it 8 to 10 hours per day. I'm hoping to pull in a few of the FTA radio stations and give them a listen sometime. Thanks again, I'm sure that you'll see me around the forum quite often lending a hand where I can too after I've learned all the in's and out's of FTA.Back on to the LNB topic. As I had mentioned in previous posts, I am using an old ExpressVu LNB from Bell's Anik Satellite days for my FTA receiver. I am quite surprised how good of signal I am getting on some of the birds with just a 24" reflector. Would I get better signal quality by purchasing a newer LNB or has the technology improved a whole lot since my original LNB was manufactured back in 1997?
There are LNB's with a lower noise ratio (.3 & .4) The ExpressVu LNB is a .7 or .6
I've noticed those are really stable though (the ExpressVu ones). I just went from one to a .4 and the signals were almost identical on the stronger signal.s It may help the weaker (but then again, so would a larger dish)
I've noticed those are really stable though (the ExpressVu ones). I just went from one to a .4 and the signals were almost identical on the stronger signal.s It may help the weaker (but then again, so would a larger dish)
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Valid point on the larger dish... I've already started looking for a deal on a 36 or 39 inch dish. I haven't tried to see if I can get Galaxy 10 on my 24" dish or not, I've spent a lot of time scanning the birds higher in the sky. I am in SouthWestern Ontario Canada, not too too far from Detroit. - Do you know if a 24" dish would be big enough for Galaxy10? I looked at the Galaxy10 footprint, and I think that I am in a zone that should have a pretty good signal. (Forgive me if I'm getting too far off topic for this thread). That's why I was thinking about possibly getting a newer LNB, just in case my 24" is marginal, I was hoping that a newer LNB would help me get Galaxy 10 with a little more signal quality. I can envision myself having a reflector permanently aimed at Galaxy10. I have a couple of 24" dishes that I can spare.
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