FTA Questions re Dishes

[deej11]

I'm a newbie to the FTA world and this site, so I hope I'm posting this in the right place. Thanks in advance for the great site and any assistance in answering these questions:

1) I'm considering the Winegard 76 cm and 1 m dishes. I found a site that sells the 76 cm for approx $50 and the 1 m for approx $125. Could someone tell me in a simple of terms as possible the major advantages of the 1 m and if it's worth the extra money?

2) I'm currently a Direct TV subscriber and plan to continue with either it or a Dish network subscription long-term. I'd ideally like to have just 1 dish on my roof though, rather than 2 or 3 to avoid the clutter, multiple wires, etc. I've heard it can be kind of a pain though using 1 dish for both FTA and DBS though. Is there anyone out there that uses one dish for both FTA and DTV/Dish subscriptions -- can it be done and how much of a pain is it to do so?

Thanks again!

 

[mchomicz]

Double check with that web site for delivery cost of the 1M dish. The price is pretty good at $125 but unless you can pick the dish up in person - chances are pretty good you will spend another $100 on shipping, as the 1M dish is too big for standard FedEx Ground or UPS delivery.

I've been told to go for the biggest dish I could afford when I was starting out and so I bought a 1M Winegard dish. It's a great dish and I like it very much. But if I were to start over - I would first get a 76 cm dish. Gain may not be quite as good as the 1M dish but it's significantly easier to work with (I now have both a 1M and a 76 cm dish)

As for your DBS + FTA on a single dish question - yes, it can be done. But again - I would recommend to learn to walk before trying to run. Get a dish (I'd recommend 76 cm to start with; if you later decide it’s not good enough - you can always sell it on ebay later on especially if you keep original packaging) and mount it statically (without a motor) and start catching birds. Once you get a feel for it - start adding more variables to your setup (a motor, a bigger dish, a switch, multiple LNBs on a single dish etc).

Hope this helps,
Michael

 

[PSB]

1/The bigger the dish the more signal it collects and the better signal quality you will get, meaning when it starts to rain you will hold onto your picture a lot longer. A big dish will also help pull in weak signals that you would otherwise not be able to view.

2/Having both DirecTV/Dish and FTA KU channels on the same motorized dish can be done but if you move/motor the dish then you will lose your Dish/DirecTV signal until you return the dish to the starting position, that may be important if you have more than one TV/Viewer.

Welcome to the SatelliteGuys.US FTA Forum

 

[Shawn95GT]

I'd stick with a dedicated dish for direcTV or Dish Network. It seems that they are pushing their multi-sat dishes these days so a legacy LNB pointed to 110 or whatever may not satisfy your reciever anyways.

Like Michael said - watch the shipping.

Sadoun is getting really competative and their ebay auctions are looking good as of late.

I started out with a ex-Primestar dish and I think I'm going to go with a Fortec 90cm dish now. I like the Fortec because it's mount will mate right up to my SG2100 motor.

There are a lot of options and that Winegard 76cm dish is a nice piece. It's supposed to be built like a tank. Read through the reviews section when you get some time. There is a lot of good info there.

 

[Cascade]

deej11, if you're feeling creative you can win an Invacom SNH-031 LNB here:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=66990

Welcome to Satelliteguys FTA

 

[PSB]

Good idea Cascade

The Winegard DS2076 is amazing value for money and out performs many cheaper/larger dish, and its all American made

Paired up with an Invacom LNB its an awesome combo!

http://www.dmsiusa.com/ds2076.htm

 

[drhydro]

I have to agree with the comments concerning the winegard DS2076 dish. I put mine up last fall, and it withstood the brutal winter weather we get in northern vermont with no problem. High winds (50 mph gusts) did not faze it at all. BUT as PSB said, the bigger dish will collect more signal. I often lose one of my fav. channels (the Tube) when it rains, with a bigger dish i would most likely keep the signal longer.

 

[Mr Tony]

I have a 30” winegard too. Love it. It’s held up through 2 MN winters. But bigger is better

I am getting a 36” dish soon and will have a review up by the weekend. I will be doing a comparison between a 30” and a 36” so that might be able to help

 

[PSB]

Can't wait for the review, I recently changed from a 31" Winegard to a 36" dish and the signal gain was nothing to write home about. But when I added the Invacom LNBF to the set up that is where I seen the real benefit............

 

[PopcornNMore]

Pete,

1) Can I still get into the Invacom QPH-031 $86 shipped deal or did you get your first 50 customers already?
2) Since this LNBF receives both circular and linear polarizations, could I output one of it's outputs into my DirecTV receiver and another output to my FTA receiver? I would then use my FTA receiver to move the dish to the DirecTV satellite and view the programming on my DirecTV receiver.
3) Does this new LNBF have 2 or 4 outputs?

Thank you in advance, Dave

 

[PSB]

1/ I don't sell or answer sales questions on the forum : (

2/Yes

3/ 4 .............2 LP and 2 CP.

 

[Ashley@sadoun]

Is there anyone out there that uses one dish for both FTA and DTV/Dish subscriptions -- can it be done and how much of a pain is it to do so?

Thanks again![/QUOTE]

You can use a T90 dish and get both your fta and your directv through the same dish.
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Products/WF/T90-90cm-toroidal-wave-frontier-multifeed-dish-antenna.htm
you will have to buy new lnbs for the directv, they are called M20R, for the T90 you have to have reversed polarity lnbs so your directv lnbs wont work. The basic linear lnbs for fta will work on this dish though.

 

[deej11]

Thanks so much everyone for all of your great responses -- very helpful. And thanks again for the great site!

 

[Mr Tony]

almost forgot...welcome to the site

 

[PopcornNMore]

So Pete, I would then assume that in order to use the new Invacom QPH-031 to receive both linear FTA and circular FTA (Echostar) using the same dish and receiver, I would need to take 1 CP output and 1 LP output of the LNBF to an DiSEqC switch and hook an output of the switch to my FTA receiver?

 

[PSB]

That would work, I will be using independent receivers. One set for LP and one CP. This LNBF is going to save a lot of wear and tear of the motor, and full strength DBS signals from my 36" dish : )