FTA Newbie starting with a Super Dish

[Tech#344]

Not all the all the LNBs with those lot numbers are bad, but almost all the bad ones I see have those lot numbers. I like the super dish LNBs they are on average the are pretty reliable, at one point there were over a million in use, but I only have to service the bad ones. Even the bad ones work most of the time, they usually only malfunction when the temperature gets above 80 degrees. The bottom line is that the LNB will probably work now but if it starts to act up when it gets warm you should know why.

 

[Mr Tony]

Also the thing to realize is a Dish receiver has specific frequencies to lock. So as example they must lock 12016. If the LNB "drifts" off of that frequency the receiver will freak out

FTA receivers have the ability to "drift" with it when doing a blind scan. When I do a blind scan that frequency may show as 12014, 12015, 12016 etc. So having a "bad" one isnt as bad with FTA as it would be with Dish or Direct

 

[dotbatman]

Well, I've tried several different times and wasn't able to get the dumb thing to work. I even took it out in the middle of an open field and couldn't get any signal quality on any birds. When an LNB goes bad is it normal to have > 80% signal with < 5% quality? How close would I have to get with pointing it in order to see a jump? I'm pondering if I should buy a satellite finder meter like this one: Amazon.com: LAVA Satllite Finder SF-95: Electronics

Also, is it possible to replace the LNB on this and still use it?

 

[PKTSNP]

I also have a SuperDISH (110, 119, 121)... everything is already wired up from a previous DISH Network installation. What do I need to do to check if it still works? I've been getting mixed information about using this dish for FTA but still unsure about which sats am I limited to. Is there a particular receiver that works better?

 

[Tron]

You will want to use the middle (FSS) LNB for FTA reception. The LNB is stacked, so the frequencies on horizontal transponders will not be what they are supposed to be.

Best to use a blind-scanning receiver. Set L.O. to 10750 and scan vertical only. The horizontal TPs will be found at frequencies above the vertical ones.

 

[kodaz]

perhaps i missed it, but i did not see anything about the pole you were using, compass to get the general direction or any reference to dishpointer.com for skew and height adjustment.
My experiences with superdishes have shown me they are fairly reliable for dispointers reference numbers to get you in as long as your mounting pole is plumb....
please make sure your starting points are correct or you will likely have a rough to never time getting a lock.
good luck
Kodaz