High Dollar DSR-920

[linuxman]

I talked to a guy at ATS Electronics and he was very helpful in making sure that I had the setup for lnbs and not lnbfs, and advised me to hook to an old servo motor right out of the back of the unit which I did.

The servo motor doesn't move at all.

When unhooked from the motor I get a steady 4.91V out of the +/- output and a 2.81 out of the pulse.

He said I shouldn't be seeing the 5.0 volts but for like 3 or 4 seconds when changing channels.

I just called back and it looks like it will have to go in for repair.

It might all work out for the best. I can get the batteries changed, and maybe by the time it is back can have it's separate dish setup and waiting for it.

So my low-cost receiver will soon be an average cost receiver.

Unless one of you guys have one to sell for what it would cost me to repair this one. He said I am looking at about $125 - $130 to repair this one. I can get a refurbished 920 from them for $249.00 plus shipping.

I have two other options:
1. Leave it slaved to the Pansat indefinitely. It works great like this with all channels etc. Just a pain in the butt to have to change the satellite and polarity.
2. Buy a C/KU voltage controlled LNB, which he said that if I did that, I would still have to have an external switch to change it from C to KU.

So what do you guys think?

Which way should I go?

Thanks for everyone's help so far,

Fred

 

[tdti1]

ATS is great, there prices are also very good and there service is fast, I would probably send it in and get the battery done at the same time of course this is really all up to you.

 

[linuxman]

While I am thinking this over, I have a couple of questions.

1. Has anyone had good success using a 920 with the voltage controlled C/Ku LNBS? Like the BSC-621 or the one that SatelliteAV sells for $50.00?
No problems with SQ etc?

2. What kind of external switch was the guy talking about for switching between C and Ku using voltage controlled LNBS?

3. What is the cost of the external switch, or point me to a site that sells them?

If someone has had good success with 4DTV and those LNBFS, I might be better off going in that direction. I can always get my neighbor to change out the battery for free. I have done him a lot of favors with computers.

Thanks,
Fred

 

[gabshere]

is that saying you would like to try one..... i have one , was prepping my rig for it and already have a BSC-621 c/ku the one that works with 4dtv.

mine isn't installed so i don't know SQ

I'm also thinking not rush in and get it fixed yet .... its just a 5 volt supplied to the polarity switch right ?? its not constant ... ?? maybe something can be configured to send 5 volts via a toggle switch or rocker type switch.

I'm sure you check the connections inside the unit nothing out of the ordinary.??... I had something like this happen with a disqec switch .... intermittant with power it was a poor solder connection (easy to fix kinda... hard to see but it was there)

 

[linuxman]

Hey George,

All it needs to switch polarity is the 5 volts sent to the servo motor. Skew is another matter though. I believe the pulses is what adjust the skew, and that wouldn't be easy to rig up.

I have not checked inside the unit, but that is a possibility. Could have my neighbor check it.

I would probably just go ahead and get the BSC-621 if someone will chime in about the tech support guy mentioning a switch to change from C-Band to Ku.

Do you really need an external switch for the 920 to jump between the two bands?

 

[linuxman]

Got this off the 4DTV forums:

To use a BSC621 with a 4dtv you must use separate c and ku coax runs.The ku attaches to the port on the end of the lnbf and the c connects to the port marked RCV,if I recall correctly.The port marked C is unused.If you only have one coax you're pretty much stuck with just Cband,remove the short jumper wire and attach the coax to the RCV port,set the 4d for cband lnbf and polarity will switch.If you have coax for both c&ku set the 4d to Cband and Ku band LNBF's.They do work when installed correctly

Note a BSC621-2 will NOT work with a 4DTV.

So that route is looking better.

Just need an opinion from someone here who has used the BSC-621 with 4DTV.

 

[linuxman]

Well Sh*t,

I'm going to tell this on myself in the hopes that some other poor dumba$$ like me doesn't make the same mistake. It has always been my policy to tell the truth and shame the devil, so here goes. Please don't throw tomatoes or rotten fruit through the computer screen at me.

I had the polorotor wires hooked to the grnd/pulse/+or- 5v above the m1-m2 motor controls. I didn't discover my mistake until a short while ago while looking at some of the frequently asked questions on the 4DTV forum and looked at the picture on the back with labels. I looked at that description, and then it hit me.

DOH!!! !

I hooked it up to the right terminals, and now it is controlling the servo motor without a problem. Switches back and forth from one to the other like it was made for it.

I don't think the motor control pulse was harmed any, and I know the servo motor was not hurt. So there you have it. The whole story.

I can almost hear all you old-timers laughing your a$$es off, so let it all out, and make fun of me for a while and let's get it over with.

Thanks for everyone's help,

Fred

 

[tdti1]

Glad you fixed the problem, easy for someone who never played with this stuff before to make mistakes, I thought you may have had a lose wire but I read that you said the old owner also had issues with the 920 so I did not bring it up and figured that was the problem he had.

 

[linuxman]

Thanks for understanding.

I am as geeky as any of the guys on "Beauty and the Geek".

If I was 35 years younger, I could win the show.

 

[dem0nlord]

These things happen. I had my 922 out at the dish while I was aligning it a while back, and screwed around for an hour wondering why I couldn't get anything. Finally I noticed I had swapped the C and Ku coax.


Anyway, to answer something you were getting at earlier, I know the 905 and 922 work fine with C/Ku LNBFs, no extra switches needed, but with 2 coax runs of course. I've just never had a 920. I'd be kinda hesitant to use one though, they just aren't of the quality the good LNBs are. HBO on G1 is the real test if you ever want to try.

 

[Mr Tony]

To use a BSC621 with a 4dtv you must use separate c and ku coax runs.The ku attaches to the port on the end of the lnbf and the c connects to the port marked RCV,if I recall correctly

now I know why I could never get a signal. I was using the wrong output

D'OH

 

[Mr Tony]

I had the polorotor wires hooked to the grnd/pulse/+or- 5v above the m1-m2 motor controls. I didn't discover my mistake until a short while ago while looking at some of the frequently asked questions on the 4DTV forum and looked at the picture on the back with labels. I looked at that description, and then it hit me.

at least you didnt do what I did once. I hooked the polorotor cables wrong (yes I know red positive black ground) but somehow had the black wire hooked up by the polorotor to red

fried the part in my Pansat 2100 box that controlled it (smoke came out)

 

[linuxman]

Thanks dem0nlord,

You have always been helpful to me, and I appreciate it.

I understand that the voltage controlled LNBs don't peak out as well as the Co-Rotor LNBs unless you move into the higher priced ones like you have. But I have been on a shoe-string budget since the beginning, and didn't want to spend any extra money on LNBs when I have perfectly good ones here for the C0-Roter II.

I am thankful, I got the Polorotor thing straightened out.

I have one of the Geo-Sat Pro voltage controlled single output C-Band LNBFs ordered for my family C-Band setup. I have already set them up with a motorized Ku dish. I am going to try the trick of using USALS on the Ku motor and DiSEQc 1.2 on the VBox II I am going to order for their big dish all on one coax.

I'll let you know how well that one works once I have it installed.

Fred

 

[linuxman]

Hey Iceberg,

I remember reading about that at one time.

The thing about mistakes are that we always learn from them. At least I try to learn.

Just like you won't never smoke another one unless it is by accident!!

And I'll try to look a little closer to the fine print next time.

 

[tdti1]

fried the part in my Pansat 2100 box that controlled it (smoke came out)

HAHAHAHA! that reminds me I did that one time, my buddy was thinking about getting a 922, and so I brought mine to his place, we had it hooked up had some beers and bbq, anyway I brought it back home wanted to sleep but thought I should hook the 922 back up before I knock out incase someone wants to watch tv in the morning, my getto servo cable (I don't have ribbon) is not the same color like most peoples setups, and l mixed up my power, I sat on the couch to turned it on to get the gude smelt something burning I did a speedy gonzales run and a baseball dive to the wires and yanked them out as fast as I could lol.

Waited 5 minutes plugged it in the right way this time and all was good.

 

[gabshere]

great to hear you got it figured out fred

picked up my dish tonight, i will post elsewhere.... but i'm still nowhere near lucky as you...... cause you got all that primestar stuff , non-pens ect....

now i just gotta get this stuff set up and figured out..........

 

[linuxman]

I've done the same thing with computers tdti1.

Set there and wonder why something wasn't working for an hour and finally look at the right setting, and bam! Now it works.

I don't know George, you are pretty darn lucky yourself. I'll look at your pics in the other thread. The non-pens are out there too. May not be new, but you can find them. Almost all commercial buildings that have KU dishes are on non-pens. Get the dish and the mount.

Fred

 

[dem0nlord]

I have one of the Geo-Sat Pro voltage controlled single output C-Band LNBFs ordered for my family C-Band setup.

Damn. I have one of the GeosatPro C/Ku LNBFs and an Astrotel C band LNBF both barely used and collecting dust. Just used them a bit when I was goofing off with a 1.8M for a couple of days here a few months ago. Would have made you a deal. At some point I should really have a "garage sale" and get rid of some of this excess, too much has accumulated here.

Like you I can't seem to limit myself to 1 dish. I need to get that 1.2M back in action, the BUD stops at 37.5W. I think I can see Hispasat if I get the 1.2 on the garage roof, and being a universal, get a few other extra things too.

 

[linuxman]

I wish I had known about your LNBs dem0nlord.

I would have taken them off your hands.

Oh well, maybe in the future. I'm sure I will think of a reason to put up another dish.

 

[linuxman]

Stopped by an old friends office today because a mutual friend had told me that there was a dish in his yard.

Tried to con him out of it, but he said he was still using his with an analog and DSR-905 sidecar attached. So we talked a while, and his secretary was listening. Just as I was getting ready to leave, she spoke up and said her father had a dish, but that I probably wouldn't get it for free.

She gave me his number and I called him, drove out to look at it. He had it up about 10 years, and took it down about 5 years ago. He had it stored in sections in the rafters of his shed.

It was a 10' SAMI Model SC10 mesh dish. I looked over the sections, and was impressed by how smooth the surface was. Flat and smooth. The holes in it were tiny. I couldn't even get the point of my pen to go all the way in. There were a couple of imperfections in the surface but not much. I asked him how solid it was at the outer extremities. He said it was rock solid. It only had a Von-Weise V76-10 18" actuator with it, but combined with the off-set polar mount etc. I liked it.

I asked him what he wanted for it and he said $50.00. I tried my best to get it at a lower price, but no go. I finally said I would take it. We started loading the pieces in my van, but the sections wouldn't fit. I asked if he had a pick-up and he said yes. I asked him if he would deliver it, and he said because I met his price, he would deliver the sections for the same money. It was about 20 miles away.

I really haven't been looking for a 10' dish because of putting them on the roof, but I couldn't say no on this one.

It was filthy dirty. Mud daubbers nest, wasps nest, and bird crap all over it, so the first thing I did was to spray it with some Krud-Kutter, and hose everything off.

It was still damp when I took the pics.



This should be a signal sucking machine.