C-BAND to FTA question
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Your old feed and lnb will work, but you'll have to use the existing receiver to select which polarity Very few FTA receivers have a means of running the polarity servo. The LNBF's polarity is selected by the voltage supplied down the coax, by the FTA receiver.
Since you are getting a Gbox to move the dish (Via the FTA ) why use the analog to switch polarity? The DMX241 is not an expensive LNBF.
Since you are getting a Gbox to move the dish (Via the FTA ) why use the analog to switch polarity? The DMX241 is not an expensive LNBF.
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Thanks guys for the info. I had a friend come over and upon closer inspection the dish isnt worth putting money into. Several of the bolts snapped off due to rust and the pole is in bad shape as well, but its been 15 years so I am going to purchase a new setup so I wont have to worry about converting everything.
Your question highlighted my problem. I too have a 10 ft. dish with a Drake 1824 analog receiver that are all working well. I want to get PBS which has gone digital so I bought a Sonicview SV-360 Premier receiver. It seems to be working as I get about 48 channels on W-1. Mostly ION TV. However the blind search doesn't find PBS. I use the Drake to adjust polarity and position. What am I missing?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Copas
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Copas
Sorry to hear that the dish isnt worth saving! what size is it?.A new dish will most likely be your biggest investment unless you can find someone with a used one.I thinkWS international is still running a very good deal for a 6 foot dish if your interested.
advice and help sought
Current system includes a 10ft mesh dish and dsr922 (no KU, but fairly certain the extra cable was buried during initial install( . Would like to convert to FTA after the 1st of the year then use either a dsr410/ or the dsr922 for the w5 SLR programming options. (We get no CABLE service and barely get DSL, here)
Questions are: (we only have a modest budget)
Besides a preprogrammed FTA receiver, what will I need? (a dish mover?) (a new LNBF ((w/ KU?)) ) (How do I know what LNBF is on the dish, it's the thing under the Cone right? Or should I even be concerned?)
Equipment Suggestions? (only thing I've looked at is the TRAXIS DBS4000, which seems good)
Are there any resources for wiring this all together? (I'm not as geek as I think I am)
Appreciate any effort to educate this fool. Thanks.
Current system includes a 10ft mesh dish and dsr922 (no KU, but fairly certain the extra cable was buried during initial install( . Would like to convert to FTA after the 1st of the year then use either a dsr410/ or the dsr922 for the w5 SLR programming options. (We get no CABLE service and barely get DSL, here)
Questions are: (we only have a modest budget)
Besides a preprogrammed FTA receiver, what will I need? (a dish mover?) (a new LNBF ((w/ KU?)) ) (How do I know what LNBF is on the dish, it's the thing under the Cone right? Or should I even be concerned?)
Equipment Suggestions? (only thing I've looked at is the TRAXIS DBS4000, which seems good)
Are there any resources for wiring this all together? (I'm not as geek as I think I am)
Appreciate any effort to educate this fool. Thanks.
Is it a fixed dish, or does it have an actuator?
it's the thing under the Cone. Model #'s? It's probably a corotor feed with an C band LNB bolted onto it, but I might be wrong. Might upgrade to a C-Ku LNBF, but it's all up to what you want.
Yeah - ask for it in a new thread when you get your equipment list together. But think you could just slave the FTA to the 922 or vice-versa.
FTA receiver Suggestions? Yep! What I think is the "Bang for the buck winner". an SSO: SatHawk or Solomend or Openbox.
Forget about a "Preprogrammed" receiver. All receivers, no mater what brand, only come with some basic TP info that may or may not help with programming. Some dealers may program the active TP's from some previous week, but you still have to program the mover's locations. Satelliteguys forum is full of info, and the members can help you with setting it up. Have a nice day!
I'd really be interested in hearing what he has? Those 6 foot dishes will leave him "wanting" on Cband feeds and if there's any way of saving that old dish, assuming it's something in the 8 to 10 foot range, then by all means try to save it! AND, how does a schedule 40 pipe go bad unless some dumbazz ran over it with a D-9???
My 10 ft Winegard dish was installed around 1992 and is still kicking arse! I've got two 12 footers about 40 miles from here that were were given to me and were put up in 1983 that are still usable!! At least ONE of those will wind up in my farm.
So if you would, please "enlighten" us with some details as to what you have now.
My 10 ft Winegard dish was installed around 1992 and is still kicking arse! I've got two 12 footers about 40 miles from here that were were given to me and were put up in 1983 that are still usable!! At least ONE of those will wind up in my farm.So if you would, please "enlighten" us with some details as to what you have now.
It moves, good strong motor and actuator.
The Coronator feedhorn with a Cband LNB sounds right (going from memory) -
A New Feedhorn LNBF with C/KU is the DMX241 , right? (found new for only 20bucks? Is this an easy change and is this what we should get??
So... we don't need a separate box to move dish/polarity for FTA (all that is handled by the FTA receiver?)
FTA receiver Suggestions? Yep! What I think is the "Bang for the buck winner". an SSO: SatHawk or Solomend or Openbox.
Forget about a "Preprogrammed" receiver. All receivers, no mater what brand, only come with some basic TP info that may or may not help with programming. Some dealers may program the active TP's from some previous week, but you still have to program the mover's locations. Satelliteguys forum is full of info, and the members can help you with setting it up. Have a nice day!
What is TP ?? & SSO ????? & IFC??? - Thanks for the suggestions on receivers.... looking them up now.
Wrong, DMX241 is C band only, C & ku is DMX741. I don't know about the 922 being able to control the polarity on a voltage controlled LNBF, but all FTA receivers use that standard. Only a very few FTA receivers can operate a servo (on a polarotor feed).
Very easy.
At present, FTA could be added with your 922 doing the moving and polarity. The FTA receiver doesn't move the dish, but it can be programmed to send commands to a Gbox, or Vbox, which will move the dish.
TP = transponder, along with SR describes where on a sat you will find channels.
SSO = my "shorthand" for a SatHawk or Solomind or Openbox brand of HD and S2 capable FTA receivers.
IFC(???) ITC - In The Clear, unscrambled channels.
a 6' dish on c band is a compromised system at best. they do work for quite a bit of stuff up there but you will definitely come across feeds you can't possibly lock that a larger dish can easily. i would definitely go for the biggest you can get your hands on.
i do know from experience that a well tuned 7.5' dish will tune most anything in the sky. They 7.5' will yield lower signal quality levels than a 10' but it will get most dvb s2 also. (thats a new signal standard that is gaining popularity).
Get a free to air receiver that can do "blind scan" or "smart search" so it can find transponder frequency and channel info automatically. this is a must in the fta world. The older receivers had to have everything input into the menu's. You constantly had to rely on other sources for channel info that was often always outdated.
as far as lnbf's ....i had a bsc 621 c/ku lnbf combo a while back. c band part worked great but the ku performance was awful.
it didn't cost much but i wanted good ku reception. i don't know about the dmx 741...looks like the same junk to me.
If your dish has a corotor feedhorn with a c and ku lnbs, that will give you rock solid performance on both bands if the dish is setup properly and not warped. You do have to flip channels on the analog box to get the proper "horizontal" and "vertical" positions of the feedhorn. its not too confusing after you get the hang of it.
Or for top notch performance also you go with a good c band lnbf and use the big dish for c band only.
Then get you a small solid dish with a diseqc motor like an SG2100 and use a dedicated ku dish seperately. Your fta receiver (most have diseqc postioners built in now) can move the small dish.
a little switch called a diseqc switch which looks like a tv splitter can switch between your c band dish and ku band lnbf on the seperate little dish. This is setup in your "antenna settings" in the fta box.
i do know from experience that a well tuned 7.5' dish will tune most anything in the sky. They 7.5' will yield lower signal quality levels than a 10' but it will get most dvb s2 also. (thats a new signal standard that is gaining popularity).
Get a free to air receiver that can do "blind scan" or "smart search" so it can find transponder frequency and channel info automatically. this is a must in the fta world. The older receivers had to have everything input into the menu's. You constantly had to rely on other sources for channel info that was often always outdated.
as far as lnbf's ....i had a bsc 621 c/ku lnbf combo a while back. c band part worked great but the ku performance was awful.
it didn't cost much but i wanted good ku reception. i don't know about the dmx 741...looks like the same junk to me.
If your dish has a corotor feedhorn with a c and ku lnbs, that will give you rock solid performance on both bands if the dish is setup properly and not warped. You do have to flip channels on the analog box to get the proper "horizontal" and "vertical" positions of the feedhorn. its not too confusing after you get the hang of it.
Or for top notch performance also you go with a good c band lnbf and use the big dish for c band only.
Then get you a small solid dish with a diseqc motor like an SG2100 and use a dedicated ku dish seperately. Your fta receiver (most have diseqc postioners built in now) can move the small dish.
a little switch called a diseqc switch which looks like a tv splitter can switch between your c band dish and ku band lnbf on the seperate little dish. This is setup in your "antenna settings" in the fta box.
Chum1976 - In My opinion, a 6 ft dish is what I would recommend as a minimum for C band. It will get most of what's available, but I am sure, not all, especially the S2 feeds. With very carefull alignment, it may serve you well. It is a quick, fairly inexpensive, way of getting started in C band. And when you get that taste of C band, the 10 ft dish may be a project you may want to take on. Expanding on what LoneGunman said - If the sections of the 10 ft dish are not bent out of shape and the mesh doesn't have too many football sized dents or holes, (mesh can be repaired) I would recommend taking that 10 ft dish apart and at least storing it for a while. Then, when the urge get's you, cleaning it up and putting it back in service. Broken bolts can be replaced. Paint can be re-painted. The time you spend rehabilitating it may be very well worth it. Post some pictures, ask some questions, there's many members here that have done all of this.
welcome to the true fta experience. i agree with the guys as to getting a 10ft'er set up as it will work better in your favour.ive had mine for about 3 years and i love monkeying around with it in my spare time.ive been trying to alighn it up for over 8 months but still enjoy what satelittles i pick up for now.once you start experiencing this great hobby youll be hooked for life. youll always have the need to want to buy more stuff to keep up on the ever changing signal feeds. i was always happy with just anolog, then dvb-s and now im wanting a dvb-s2 box. this is the best hobby in the world cause it never stays the same and things are always chaging for the better.keep pointing at the stars and enjoy yourself.
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