Are many people using two dishes to get all signals?

[Bugman33]

Just curious. My triple lnb dish worked fine when the trees bordering our house were barren but now that spring has sprung... I'm getting zip on Sat B but 90's on the other two. I'm seriously thinking of dusting off my old dual LNB that had a add-on kit for the triple and putting the Sat B LNB on a separate old round dish. Then I could try a different location for the Sat B setup.

I'm on the road most of the day and I've seen quite a few houses with two DTV dishes right next to each other (not a DISH & DTV setup), and I've often wondered if this is a good solution, going back to an "exposed" junction box on the back of the dish after the triple setup supposedly eliminated some/all of the problems of exposed junction boxes or whatever they are called.

Anyone out there doing this want to share their experience(s)?

 

[damaged]

I myself do not use 2 dishes, but yes, I have seen people on here who do exactly that, I beleive it requires a multiswitch with a flex-port (correct me if I'm wrong people), as far as I can tell, it seems to be a very reasonable solution, and is a fairly common setup (for people who have need for locals that are not on the 101,119 or 110) since some locals reside on a different bird and a secondary dish is a common D* solution for that situation.

 

[VIPERS-PIT]

I have a AT-9 and 72.5 dish. The 72.5 goes into the flex port, but since half the transponders on the 72.5 are dead, you only need a single lnb on that dish.

 

[mjones1973]

He's trying to get the 119 using an old Phase II dish and external multiswitch, no flex port needed... The 119 LNB can be put on a single dish and mounted elsewhere as long as the runs from it are hooked correctly to the multiswitch and the Sat C kit still...

 

[boba]

From your other post you have a H20 receiver. Forget about using a second dish and plan on upgrading to the AT9 dish. Contact Directv about an upgrade, future HD is going to be on Ka band.

 

[Bugman33]

From your other post you have a H20 receiver. Forget about using a second dish and plan on upgrading to the AT9 dish. Contact Directv about an upgrade, future HD is going to be on Ka band.

That's a possibility down the road, but is that new 5-lnb dish going to point at a different direction than my current 3-LNB does? See, what I'm thinking is that with two different dishes and mounting locations, maybe I can sneak a peek at a satellite that is somewhat obscured during early summer thru fall. I was probably going to mount the single LNB dish on the fence post so I can shoot it almost due west. My main dish is on the roof (100' away from that) on a 2-floor colonial. Some trees are
100+ feet tall.

If the 5-LNB dish has band provisions for significant variances in obstructions (my trees and my neighbor's), then yeah... that should get me everything again.

 

[cobra2225]

with dtv i have to use 2 dish's. 1 to recieve locals

 

[Optical Serenity]

I currently use a 3LNB dish, however the HD Locals are available to me. Should I use my old 1LNB dish to get the bird that has the HD Locals? How do I input the signals into my H-20? I didn't know this was possible.

 

[Jimbo]

Just curious. My triple lnb dish worked fine when the trees bordering our house were barren but now that spring has sprung... I'm getting zip on Sat B but 90's on the other two. I'm seriously thinking of dusting off my old dual LNB that had a add-on kit for the triple and putting the Sat B LNB on a separate old round dish. Then I could try a different location for the Sat B setup.

I'm on the road most of the day and I've seen quite a few houses with two DTV dishes right next to each other (not a DISH & DTV setup), and I've often wondered if this is a good solution, going back to an "exposed" junction box on the back of the dish after the triple setup supposedly eliminated some/all of the problems of exposed junction boxes or whatever they are called.

Anyone out there doing this want to share their experience(s)?

Bugman33,

As for the 2 different dishes, YES it can be done with good results, I did this when HD first came to sat, I had my original set up then added a 2nd dish and pointed it at the 119 bird, I also got a better signal that way.

I also have a freind that is in the same situation as you are, we just have not gotten together to set his up yet.

As for the 2 dishes you are currently seeing on many homes, most of the time the 2nd dish is pointed at a different location in order to get the locals for their area.

As for the suggestion of putting up a AT-9 dish, eventually YES you will have to go that route, unless they bring out a different dish in the future, something that D* is known to do, change, they are always changing...

An AT-9 will not help you in your situation if you cannot get the sat signal now.
Moving the dish where you can get all the sats would be the best senario, but I know a lot of people have an area thats available, and thats it, like me !!!

Eventually many of the channels will go to the MPEG4 band which is going to tha KA band as of now, so you will not be able to get the mpeg 4 channels when that happens with out changing dishes and probably receivers too.

Jimbo

 

[Jimbo]

I currently use a 3LNB dish, however the HD Locals are available to me. Should I use my old 1LNB dish to get the bird that has the HD Locals? How do I input the signals into my H-20? I didn't know this was possible.

Are your HD locals available VIA D* sats or OTA antenna ?
If you are talking about over D*'s sats, are they available in MPEG2 or MPEG4 ?

If MPEG4 you will need the AT-9 dish.

 

[Optical Serenity]

I can get HD locals through OTA antenna or D* with MPEG4.

So right now I have a 3LNB dish, and just using SD Locals, but I guess I need to get an OTA antenna as I've heard the AT9 dish is way more complex to point than the 3LNB was.

So, should I get an AT9 dish and deal with the aiming or should I get a OTA antenna? And if an OTA, which antenna? I'm about 20 miles away from the station transmitters.

 

[cobra2225]

I can get HD locals through OTA antenna or D* with MPEG4.

So right now I have a 3LNB dish, and just using SD Locals, but I guess I need to get an OTA antenna as I've heard the AT9 dish is way more complex to point than the 3LNB was.

So, should I get an AT9 dish and deal with the aiming or should I get a OTA antenna? And if an OTA, which antenna? I'm about 20 miles away from the station transmitters.

i got my ota ant. from radio shack,i bought the mid size one with a rotor, i'm about the same distance from my stations as you, and my picture quility (when roter is aliened right) is as good as d*

 

[Jimbo]

I can get HD locals through OTA antenna or D* with MPEG4.

So right now I have a 3LNB dish, and just using SD Locals, but I guess I need to get an OTA antenna as I've heard the AT9 dish is way more complex to point than the 3LNB was.

So, should I get an AT9 dish and deal with the aiming or should I get a OTA antenna? And if an OTA, which antenna? I'm about 20 miles away from the station transmitters.

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If you can mount the antenna and you are only 20 miles from towers (check antennaweb.org) see if all your towers are in the same direction. If you leave your zip code, we can check and let you know what to expect.

Personally I do the same as cobra2225 does, I bought a antenna from Rat shack for $ 100 and a rotior for 75 I think put it up and get everything that is available to me, all better than D*'s will be due to the lack of compression, (as for the compression, sometimes you can tell a big difference, other times not)

I spent a $100 on antenna because I knew I would have the option to turn it to pick up other cities, the one I choose went like 100 miles UHF I think, that said, if all the channels you need to get are much closer, you can spend a lot less on the antenna, I would recommend the rotor regardless, it's always good to have, put it up there and forget about it, til you need to move the antenna

Keep in mind, if you use D* for your locals, you only get the big 4 and NO sub channels.

Jimbo

 

[Optical Serenity]

Ok, thanks for the link, great website!

Antenna web says the following, the shortest distance to a DTV transmitter is 6.2 miles, and the longest is 24.7. Can you recommend an antenna?

Here is the chart I got:

 

[Jimbo]

Ok, thanks for the link, great website!

Antenna web says the following, the shortest distance to a DTV transmitter is 6.2 miles, and the longest is 24.7. Can you recommend an antenna?

Here is the chart I got:

How did you get that screen to come over in the correct format, I tried and it got all screwed up.

As for what antenna, just about any outdoor antenna will work for you because you are as close as you are.

If you chose one , get a VHF/UHF, most are but not all.

Most of your channels are in the same area, but not all, I would still recommend a rotor.

The VHF will allow you to still get your analog signal, in case your interested.

Look at the chart on the antenna itself and see what range it says it will handle.

Jimbo

 

[bgummy]

two dishes to get signals

Yes, I have two dishes too to get my local channels. I was hoping for one oval dish, but this was the best that they could do, (supposedly).

 

[tnale]

I have to use two dishes, one points at 61.5 and the other to 110, 119, 121.5. This got set up that way years ago so I could get CBSHD out of NY, and all the other HD channels. Since then Dish has moved HD to another satellite, but Voom now would also come from 61.5 I'm told.