General Instrument Super 350i - Doorstop?

[N6BY]

Hello. A General Instrument Super 350i receiver was included with the 10 ' Unimesh dish I got recently.

Am I correct in assuming that it will not receive DVB, just analog? And its only use would be as a dish motor controller?

If so, I already have a GBox to control my motor and I am willing to mail the Super 350i to anyone who wants it -- just for the cost of shipping.

 

[turbosat]

There's still some wild feeds on cband analog if you like to look for them. Watched a college basketball game last night on an analog channel. But if you've got a dish mover already and don't care about analog, I guess you could call it a doorstop.

 

[equant]

In addition to the already mentioned wildfeeds (I watched a Phoenix Suns game recently) there are some permanent channels that are of interest to some people. Look on lyngsat for NTSC channels. Of interest to me are CSPAN1 & 2... The Arts Channel and PBS.

Not a lot of analog, but in my mind it's worth keeping.

Plus, when you get your second cband dish and it doesn't come with a receiver? How will you move it?

 

[N6BY]

A second 10 foot C-band dish is unlikely, but I do have a 90cm KU dish that I'd like to motorize. (The C-band dish is very poor with KU band because of the large mesh size).

I wish I could use my GBox to control both the C and KU band dishes. It would be easy to rig a switch for the power/sensor wires, but it would confuse the postitioner memory.

I suppose I could use the GI 350 to control one of the dishes, but its very big and heavy, and there is no room left in my AV cabinet.

The other option is to replace the 10' mesh with a solid aluminum 8 footer that would work with both C and KU bands. Its tempting because Glorystar Satellite Systems has them in stock and they are only a 10 minute drive from my house.

What do you guys think I should do? Money is not an issue.

 

[dougbrown]

If money is not an issue then spring for a nice new solid dish with a h2h mount, and ship it to me at.....
Just kidding But really go for it if you can afford it.

 

[Machman]

Personally, I'd get a DG380 motor and put the 90cm on it. If it doesn't perform to your expectations you could replace the dish with a 120cm and the motor would still be up to the task. Unless you have severe rain fade issues I don't think there's anything on Ku that you can't get reliably with a well-aligned 120cm. In addition to having USALS, you might also find out later that you need the extra gain on C-band that the 10' gives over an 8' for DVB-S2 or whatever.