Building your own "superdish"

[bcwmachine]

Just because I could, rummaged around the loft in my shop and came up with a DirecPC foot/mast, Starband dish and arm, DirecPC FSS LNB. Would have used the Starband foot/mast, but it's being used for my wireless internet. Mounted the DirecPC foot/mast to the side of the house with one lag bolt into a stud (remember, this was just a test, and didn't want to have too many holes to patch). Put the Starband dish on the mast after removing the Starband plumbing, mounted the DirecPC LNB, ran a rg6 cable through the window, hooked it up to the sw21 in place of the 148 dish, 110/119 on the other input to the sw21. Used a digisat II to aim the dish, there are a lot of signals in that area. Finally had to find a good compass to find the right sat. Ran the superdish switch check on the 6000u, was really strange, had 119 but no 110, and only odd for 105. Scratched my head for a while, then put the 110/119 dish on input 1 of the sw21, and the 105 dish on input 2. Superdish switch check came out good, and channel 7000 said "Congratulations, you have a Superdish".
105 signal is a little low, will have to find the DirecPC birdbath and try that,
might match the LNB a little better. (I must have too much time on my hands).

Bruce

 

[sat4soris]

This is a new LNB that Eagle/Aspen makes. Do you suppose one could mount this LNB to a PrimeStar or Starband feed and get it to work for 105?

http://www.eagleaspen.com/documents/newp_P170+.pdf

 

[Stargazer]

Does the new 721 software allow you to use legacy lnbf's once you had DishPro connected to the receivers if you wanted to start using legacy lnbf's again?

 

[Bogney]

I have one of these LNBFs from Global Communications. It's a Ku FSS bandstacked LNBF for use with Canada's Star Choice.
--- WCS

I have a Canadian Star Choice dish with the LNBs for 107 and 111 degrees. If I pointed it at 105 amd ran one cable directly into my 6000, would you expect it to work?

 

[wcswett]

I have a Canadian Star Choice dish with the LNBs for 107 and 111 degrees. If I pointed it at 105 amd ran one cable directly into my 6000, would you expect it to work?

Only one way to find out...

--- WCS

 

[rudolpht]

Just because I could, rummaged around the loft in my shop and came up with a DirecPC foot/mast, Starband dish and arm, DirecPC FSS LNB. Would have used the Starband foot/mast, but it's being used for my wireless internet. Mounted the DirecPC foot/mast to the side of the house with one lag bolt into a stud (remember, this was just a test, and didn't want to have too many holes to patch). Put the Starband dish on the mast after removing the Starband plumbing, mounted the DirecPC LNB, ran a rg6 cable through the window, hooked it up to the sw21 in place of the 148 dish, 110/119 on the other input to the sw21. Used a digisat II to aim the dish, there are a lot of signals in that area. Finally had to find a good compass to find the right sat. Ran the superdish switch check on the 6000u, was really strange, had 119 but no 110, and only odd for 105. Scratched my head for a while, then put the 110/119 dish on input 1 of the sw21, and the 105 dish on input 2. Superdish switch check came out good, and channel 7000 said "Congratulations, you have a Superdish".
105 signal is a little low, will have to find the DirecPC birdbath and try that,
might match the LNB a little better. (I must have too much time on my hands).

Bruce

Very cool. I did talk to a distributor that Pro Brands direct may work, which you confirmed. Need dual LNB to make the SW^4 work vs cascading the SW22s on my end. Trouble is I think I gave away my DirecPC setup so can't just grab the LNB. Still on the hunt for one & would still like to know if any results with Starband dish.

Tim

 

[bcwmachine]

Just because I could,------------------------- (I must have too much time on my hands).

Bruce

Very cool. I did talk to a distributor that Pro Brands direct may work, which you confirmed. Need dual LNB to make the SW^4 work vs cascading the SW22s on my end. Trouble is I think I gave away my DirecPC setup so can't just grab the LNB. Still on the hunt for one & would still like to know if any results with Starband dish.

Tim

Tried it with the DirecPC dish (I found it), Quite a bit lower signal strength. (would only lock on a few of the even transponders). So far, the best combo is the Starband Dish with the DirecPC LNBF. (Which is quite old).

 

[rudolpht]

Would a dual FSS Ku LNB do both even & odd transponders (I'm assuming yes)?

Tim
Would you mind taking a quick scan of the other thread to see if you think those solutions would work.

 

[Bogney]

I have a Canadian Star Choice dish with the LNBs for 107 and 111 degrees. If I pointed it at 105 amd ran one cable directly into my 6000, would you expect it to work?

Only one way to find out...

--- WCS

My Canadian Star Choice dish is receiving 105 OK. I get a signal on 16 of the possible 24 transponders. I assume the rest are inactive? I only get video on channel 7000, a Superdish still frame. Should I get any thing else on my 6000? I hooked it up to a SW21 with 110 on the other input. Odd and even for both 105 and 110 were detected.

I bought the dish for $45.08 USD + $16 shipping from: KuSat in Canada: http://www.kusat.com/catalog/product_info.php?currency=USD&products_id=35

 

[Guest]

Bogney, what are your signal strengths?

 

[sat4soris]

I put an old primestar feed and LNB on a starband dish, ran the V pol output to sat 2 of a SW21 and got a lock on 105 with a signal strength of 70. Only a few odd transponders showed any reading. I ordered this LNBF

http://www.eagleaspen.com/documents/newp_P170+.pdf

today and will try to mount it to the primestar or starband feed (both the same) and see if I can get both pols.

 

[Guest]

Any idea how much HD programming I lose if I stay with 61.5 until Dish replaces the 105 FSS with a real DBS satellite next year ? Then I can just re-point my 61.5 to 105, no Superdish needed.

 

[Bogney]

Bogney, what are your signal strengths?

For now, I am getting low to mid 40's on the Star Choice dish. However the dish is temporarily installed indoors looking through an open window. I wanted to prove it would work before mounting it on the roof. I assume that the strengths will be higher outside.

 

[HokieEngineer]

I am using a 1 meter channel master dish, getting signals of around 73-80 on the transponders that are up. Goto www.lyngsat.com to find out what transponders are currently working. Here is a link to the LNB i am using, it is a dish network expressvu lnb, with dual output. I didnt know they made a linear LNB!!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3053790345&category=32848

If you buy from that guy, hes a little slow shipping, and the LNB is used, so YMMV.

So now I am trying to build a 3 lnb rig to get the 110 and 119 off the same dish. The 110 is easy, just glue it to the FSS lnb and I get a signal strength of ~103. The 119 however is tricky. By free hand, i can get a max of like 60 on 119. Bummer. Anyone know if I skewed my dish would that help? My mount doesnt have a skew option but i think i could rig one up.

Also my idea to get both 105 and 121 seems to be a pipedream if I cant even get good signal on 119.

 

[wcswett]

My Canadian Star Choice dish is receiving 105 OK. I get a signal on 16 of the possible 24 transponders. I assume the rest are inactive? I only get video on channel 7000, a Superdish still frame. Should I get any thing else on my 6000? I hooked it up to a SW21 with 110 on the other input. Odd and even for both 105 and 110 were detected. I bought the dish for $45.08 USD + $16 shipping from: KuSat in Canada: http://www.kusat.com/catalog/product_info.php?currency=USD&products_id=35

Lyngsat lists 17 active transponders, so that's pretty close. My 6000 gives me video just on channel 7000, the "you have a superdish!" test card. It also gives me two other channels in the guide but tuning to them gives the "subscription channel to which you haven't subscribed" error.

--- WCS

 

[wcswett]

So now I am trying to build a 3 lnb rig to get the 110 and 119 off the same dish. The 110 is easy, just glue it to the FSS lnb and I get a signal strength of ~103. The 119 however is tricky. By free hand, i can get a max of like 60 on 119. Bummer. Anyone know if I skewed my dish would that help? My mount doesnt have a skew option but i think i could rig one up.

Yes, I would think that you would have to skew your dish to get decent signals on all your LNBFs since the satellites all have different elevations. I have kept a 90 cm. dish on 105 but I'm tempted to move it again since there's nothing to look at there.

--- WCS

 

[Ken_F]

Bogney,

My [24"] Canadian Star Choice dish is receiving 105 OK. I get a signal on 16 of the possible 24 transponders. I assume the rest are inactive? I only get video on channel 7000, a Superdish still frame. Should I get any thing else on my 6000? I hooked it up to a SW21 with 110 on the other input. Odd and even for both 105 and 110 were detected.

For now, I am getting low to mid 40's on the Star Choice dish. However the dish is temporarily installed indoors looking through an open window. I wanted to prove it would work before mounting it on the roof. I assume that the strengths will be higher outside.

Might you consider repointing to 121 to find out what kind of signal you can get? The satellite at the 121 is operating at roughly the same power that AMC-15 will use late next year.

 

[Bogney]

Might you consider repointing to 121 to find out what kind of signal you can get?

I will definitely try that. It may be a couple of days before I get to it.