Is it possible...

[swampman]

I've done some searching but havent really found the answer. Has anyone ever tried connecting say a Dishnetwork lnb onto a big dish maybe along side the c-band lnb? Seems like I've read articles in the past about doing that on 1 meter Primestar dishes, but cant remember where. It would take some engineering I'm sure. Is it even possible on a BUD? Sure would end rain fade problems with mini dish programming.

 

[turbosat]

Wouldnt be too sure about that (rain fade fix) I put a dishnetwork lnbf on a 1m primestar last summer, before I killed the account. Took some twisting too, finally got both satellites on the primestar, but when it rained hard, it still washed it out. True, it did seem to last a little longer before it cut off, but it still went out lol. I think its something to do with the wavelength of the ku band signal. Anyway it was an interesting experiment, and I had enough of dishnetwork shortly after that and quit them. On my 5'solid ku dish, heavy rains will even wash out G10 too so I doubt theres a perfect solution.

 

[dfergie]

I cut my original feedhorn (went to a LNA) with a hacksaw mounted it and tried both Dish and Direct and didn't get a signal with my 10' BUD, but I might try again with a signal meter

 

[linuxman]

Hey Swampman,

I put a DirecTV LNB on my 10' Pinnacle on Saturday morning using an existing threaded hole on the scaler ring to get the free channels on DBS satellites and it works fine.

I'll try and get some pics today. I used the little aluminum flanges that I had made for the experiment to lengthen the focal distance on my 4DTV BUD for this project.

The LNB ended up setting just outside the scalar rings and is about 6 degrees off of where it should be, but I get great signal with it.

Fred

 

[swampman]

True, it did seem to last a little longer before it cut off, but it still went out lol. I think its something to do with the wavelength of the ku band signal.

Yeah on my Primestar I also notice it will last a little longer...but not much. I was just curious as to wether someone subscribing to Dish or Directv could basically just move the lnb over to the BUD. Can't really see those companies having anything to say about it. But I remember in the article I read this person built an adjustable bracket to set focal ratio as needed, and it eliminated his rain fade problem completely.

 

[swampman]

Hey Swampman,

I put a DirecTV LNB on my 10' Pinnacle on Saturday morning using an existing threaded hole on the scaler ring to get the free channels on DBS satellites and it works fine.

The LNB ended up setting just outside the scalar rings and is about 6 degrees off of where it should be, but I get great signal with it.

Fred

Yes that's what I'm talking about. Except not just the freebies. I meant actually transfering the lnb and coax from a subbed package over to a BUD.

 

[linuxman]

I meant actually transfering the lnb and coax from a subbed package over to a BUD.

The only reason it might not work for that is that Dish uses both 119 and 110 at the same time and their receivers expect a certain type of switch to change back and forth between both of them and to use a type of polarity so that it is seamless to the end user.

Fred

 

[Anole]

I see two problems:

You are quite right that a subscribed Dish receiver expects both birds to be available full time.
You mess with that, and the results will be unpredictable.

No one said explicitly, but if you tried mounting a Dish TWIN LNB on your existing dish, it's almost guaranteed that the two LNBs will have the wrong spacing.
That means both will never be focused at the same time.
And that will lead to rain-fade.

 

[swampman]

Well OK guys, I guess that makes sense. Too bad these providers dont offer, say a 4 footer as an option for the people that experience rain fade. I know back in the day, Primestar did. Offered a 1.2 meter to areas like the northwest and Florida who get more rain than most.

 

[linuxman]

This is how I mounted my DBS to the Pinnacle.

I used an existing threaded hole in the scalar ring with two aluminum strips that I had previously constructed. The Direc LNBf fit almost perfectly between the two strips with double sided adhesive tape between the strips and the LNBf with a hose clamp for good measure. I used a 1-1/2" by 1/4" bolt with a lock washer between the head and the strip on the back side of the scalar ring, and a lock washer and the nut between the strip and nut on the front side.

It isn't going anywhere. Also as you can see, It isn't perfectly in line with the arc, but with dbs satellites, you don't have to be perfect. I get 99% SQ on everything on the West side of the arc, and about 75% SQ on the East side.

Here are the pics:





The best part is, I haven't found any channel that has a lesser SQ on the regular Ku with this in place.

Fred

 

[swampman]

Nice little setup Fred. What are some of those free dbs channels you bring in?

 

[linuxman]

You can get these channels with a DBS LNBf:

Iceberg's list!

Fred

 

[equant]

You can get these channels with a DBS LNBf:

Iceberg's list!

Fred

It's never been clear to me what kind of receiver is needed to get the FTA DBS channels. If I'm interested in GOL TV, and I have a circular LNB, can I receive it with a traditional FTA receiver, or do I need a special receiver?

Thanks,
Nathan

 

[linuxman]

I think GOL TV is in Iceberg's list above.

If you have a circular Ku LNBf and a DVB receiver of most any brand, the receiver can be setup to receive this channel.

I can get it on my Pansat 3500, and my Coolsat 5000, so I assume that most of the others can too.

I just put that LNB on a different port on my diseqc switch and tell the receiver where it is.

Fred