My New Dish Farm

[iBoston]

I tackled it. In total it was 3 separate RG6 cables chewed out all the way to the copper wire. I had about another 3 that were chewed up along the outer metal strands spread over 6+ inches of the RG6, and then another 3 that had little nicks that i just wrapped with Electrical Tape. Two of the RG6 cables i had to throw in a patch cable with male to male connectors. Ugh, hate that, and the rest i completely swapped out the cables.

I then had to replace two blown out Diseqc 1.0 switches, and 1 blown out Diseqc 1.1 switch... Port 3 on the diseqc 1.0's were shot, which makes sense, as thats the port that goes to the chewed out cables, and the diseqc 1.1 switch had a few blown out ports. - Glad i keep a stash of those things on hand.

I then ran through my Sweep Boutique List and scanned all the different channels on all my satellite receivers, and everything is working again!!

I still have other issues i need to work on, ill save those for another day. I will probably tackle the USALS dish that is sitting on the ground next.

 

[FTA4PA]

I tackled it. In total it was 3 separate RG6 cables chewed out all the way to the copper wire. I had about another 3 that were chewed up along the outer metal strands spread over 6+ inches of the RG6, and then another 3 that had little nicks that i just wrapped with Electrical Tape. Two of the RG6 cables i had to throw in a patch cable with male to male connectors. Ugh, hate that, and the rest i completely swapped out the cables.

I then had to replace two blown out Diseqc 1.0 switches, and 1 blown out Diseqc 1.1 switch... Port 3 on the diseqc 1.0's were shot, which makes sense, as thats the port that goes to the chewed out cables, and the diseqc 1.1 switch had a few blown out ports. - Glad i keep a stash of those things on hand.

I then ran through my Sweep Boutique List and scanned all the different channels on all my satellite receivers, and everything is working again!!

View attachment 156645

I still have other issues i need to work on, ill save those for another day. I will probably tackle the USALS dish that is sitting on the ground next.

Sounds like you had quite the job to do. Glad you got it done and all channels are back to normal.

 

[iBoston]

Its so nice to have my channels back.. I'm slowly getting things back to top notch. My elevation was off on 101w, and i got that fine-tuned back in, and now am getting rock solid signals on 101w. I also adjusted my 121w side car lnbf to re-obtain all signals there. I also pulled off all the wires on the fallen USALS dish. It is now disconnected and ready for me to put back into place. I am going to sit that out for awhile before i decide if I am completely done with USALS.

 

[mr_rye89]

Fun stuff. The wind did a number on a couple of my dishes this spring. The 90 cm was pointed towards the house and the sidecar Ku lnbf on the 9 footer gets a whole lotta nothing now. I parked the 90cm on 103w and I think I’ll put the 1m on 125w when I get home……

 

[iBoston]

Through all these repairs, I had a step back. my KU 125w fixed dish went out of tune from a wind storm. I went up to the storage container and its attached to a 2x8 board that runs along the storage container for a roof that extends out from the storage container to house wood. The wind pulled on the HEFTY screws and loosened it allowing it to wiggle right off a signal lock. I tightened things back up and got it re-tuned. I had no PBS for a couple days.

I just spent the last hour or so re-scanning 34.5 west for the Carribean beam that miraculously extends up to my location. I plan on putting up a sensitive KU lnbf on it to see if i can obtain some of the hard to get Venezuela signals on it... There are some great radio stations on this bird too. There has been a lot of activity on this bird which i enjoy checking out.....

 

[iBoston]

Well, i just put in the new LNBF : Inverto Black Ultra 0.2dB Twin Output

Went from no lock to solid lock. I had a no-name Universal LNBF, and this seems to make all the difference. I got about 40 new audio/video channels... Yea, most are in Spanish, but I'm okay with that. Arirang South Korean channel is in English...

I feel like i got a Christmas present.

 

[iBoston]

I have a fixed 9' dish pointed at 127w. We had a major 3 day blizzard recently that hit much of the U.S. I guess i didn't lock it down good enough. It rotated on the poll a few inches! Its been that way for about 4 days. Its a calm day, a bit cold at 24 F degrees. I got up on the storage container and rotated it back into position. I think i even got it a bit more fine tuned then before.... Luckily, i was able to keep my gloves on with the exception of typing in a new frequency on the portable tuner, and screwing/unscrewing the coax cable at the dish.

 

[FTA4PA]

I have a fixed 9' dish pointed at 127w. We had a major 3 day blizzard recently that hit much of the U.S. I guess i didn't lock it down good enough. It rotated on the poll a few inches! Its been that way for about 4 days. Its a calm day, a bit cold at 24 F degrees. I got up on the storage container and rotated it back into position. I think i even got it a bit more fine tuned then before.... Luckily, i was able to keep my gloves on with the exception of typing in a new frequency on the portable tuner, and screwing/unscrewing the coax cable at the dish.

Glad you got it locked back in and better. Hope mine stay put. My hands don't tolerate the cold at all any longer so mine would likely be that way until spring.

 

[iBoston]

Glad you got it locked back in and better. Hope mine stay put. My hands don't tolerate the cold at all any longer so mine would likely be that way until spring.

I usually don't fix it until spring, but this took out a couple important services that the family watches. I figured i would give it a go.. I have a pernament ladder up against it, and its encased in snow, so very safe to climb up. I just made sure i had a good footing when i rotated it back....

 

[primestar31]

I usually don't fix it until spring, but this took out a couple important services that the family watches. I figured i would give it a go.. I have a pernament ladder up against it, and its encased in snow, so very safe to climb up. I just made sure i had a good footing when i rotated it back....

I used to drill through my polar mounts, and bolt them to the pole. I finally realized that IF the winds/storm was bad enough to spin the dish, maybe I should let it. They'll ALWAYS spin OUT of the wind, and be better off for it.

You just mark between the mount and pole a line up and down, to make it easy to spin it back into place.

 

[iBoston]

Yes, i marked it with 3 lines from soap stone. I also agree with the philosophy. If the wind is soooo strong, its probably best to let it give, rather than trying so hard to prevent that from happening, which might cause other more serious issues.

 

[iBoston]

Little update. After re-doing my EPG, and now having 14 days of EPG data, i have come to realize how much i am now utilizing the Timer and the AutoTimer features. The result has been that a few times i went to watch something, and i couldn't because two different channels were being recorded at the same time , and ate up both my tuners. Today, i hooked in a 3rd tuner. The 3rd tuner won't get my any KU, because i only have 4 port multi switches for the KU side. But, 3/4 Cband dishes are on 8 port multi-switches, which accounts for most of the stuff that's recorded. With this upgrade, it should significantly make it less likely ill run into a situation where i cannot watch what i want. The new 3rd tuner connection takes priority, which will make sure it leaves the KU/Cband tuners available as last resort. - In another words, by default if i start one record, and it happens to fall on 101w/103w/127w , then it will prioritize tuner 3. Then if a second record at the same time starts, it will utilize tuner 2, and then that will leave me tuner 1 to watch anything on the network.


I am now utilizing all 4 tuners on my Unit.

1. Full C/KU network.
2. Full C/KU network
3. Cband 101w / 103w / 127w
4. USALS KU

Ps. Although, i no longer have USALS, it turned into a fixed dish situation which is locked on 113/117/121w KU. So, those 3 birds can only be accessed by the living room tuner. This summer, i plan on bringing that into the house network as i have decided USALS and I don't get along. That will free up the 4th tuner.

 

[iBoston]

I just had a bizarre thing happen to which i have never seen before :

So, i had setup a timer event. I noticed that when i went to watch it, it was 0 minutes. That happens when you cannot get a lock on the signal. So, i manually tuned to the channel, and it came in... Okay, why didn't it record. I noticed a couple days later the same thing...

So, then i turned to the channel, and this time no lock... I have 3 tuners on the back of the STB i use for Cband.. I assumed this to be an issue with the latest tuner... But, it took me awhile to confirm that because i was having intermittent locks/unlocks that made no sense. At one point, i thought i had the wrong diseqc command for it, but i was looking at all the switches and it looked like i had it set right.. I was scratching my head.

After much jumping around of channels, i found that i could replicate the issue if i went from a DiseqcA service to a DiseqcB service. - No lock. But here is where it gets weird. I have two different satellites on DiseqcB. One with 22khz off and one with 22khz on. I could change channels from DiseqcA to DiseqcB with no 22khz and it worked every time, but if i changed from a DiseqcA to DiseqcB with 22khz on, the service failed to lock.. Additionally , if i tuned from Diseqc A to Diseqc B NO 22khz and locked that channel, I could then turn to the channel with the 22khz on, and then the DiseqcB 22KHZ on would lock.


I played with the Tone 22khz settings for many many minutes until i exhausted all ideas... I was totally puzzled. As a last resort, I thought, well, ill swap out the Diseqc 1.0 switch. (Thinking that wouldn't be it, because it had no problem switching between A and B ports (which are the only ports utilized on that switch) Well, i swapped the diseqc switch, and WAM BAM works perfectly.

I threw that diseqc switch into the trash. - I have never had an issue like that were it would switch ports, but screw up the 22khz tone... But, at least i found the problem, and now can record that service that was failing.

I can tell you one thing, when you have multiple satellite receivers, multiple tuners and multiple Diseqc 1.0 and Diseqc 1.1 and multi-switches and what seems like miles of RG6 cables, you really have to keep things clear in your head, labelled well, and organized... But, even with all that, you will just have days where your scratching your head saying, Okay, I'm lost...

 

[Conway]

I am happy to report, over the last few days, i have fine tuned each of the KU birds to the weakest channel(s). Ie, Montana PBS, LPB, NBC 1-4 Muxes...

I am happy to report that i am getting everything without any glitches. I also welded stabilizers onto the dishes to keep them from bouncing around in the wind. and.... I finally got all the multi switches properly hooked up. I also added 91w side lobe lnbf to my 87w dish.

So, thanks to this setup i can instantly turn to any KU channel on 30w,87w,91w,97w,103w,121w and 125w. I am also hooked up to to 4 separate rooms. Mucho Happy!

View attachment 119229

Ps. I will be putting silicone caps on all the empty available slots on the switches.

Ok I'm pulling a Homer Simpson here and Drooling!! Nice set up man!!

 

[a33]

After much jumping around of channels, i found that i could replicate the issue if i went from a DiseqcA service to a DiseqcB service. - No lock. But here is where it gets weird. I have two different satellites on DiseqcB. One with 22khz off and one with 22khz on. I could change channels from DiseqcA to DiseqcB with no 22khz and it worked every time, but if i changed from a DiseqcA to DiseqcB with 22khz on, the service failed to lock.. Additionally , if i tuned from Diseqc A to Diseqc B NO 22khz and locked that channel, I could then turn to the channel with the 22khz on, and then the DiseqcB 22KHZ on would lock.

So, you have a 0/22kHz switch 'behind' (or rather 'before'?) a 2/1 or 4/1 diseqc switch?
So: Receiver -- Diseqc -- 22kHz -- LNBs?

I wonder if you measured where the switched power went, in the no-lock situation: back to port A of the diseqc switch, or to the non-22kHz port of the 22kHz switch (on the Diseqc-B path)?

Is the 22kHz of the Ecoda-type: power through and 22kHz through, on both ports?

I'm also puzzled a bit, what exactly might be the cause.

Greetz,
A33

 

[iBoston]

So, you have a 0/22kHz switch 'behind' (or rather 'before'?) a 2/1 or 4/1 diseqc switch?
So: Receiver -- Diseqc -- 22kHz -- LNBs?

I wonder if you measured where the switched power went, in the no-lock situation: back to port A of the diseqc switch, or to the non-22kHz port of the 22kHz switch (on the Diseqc-B path)?

Is the 22kHz of the Ecoda-type: power through and 22kHz through, on both ports?

I'm also puzzled a bit, what exactly might be the cause.

Greetz,
A33

The 22khz switch is built into the 5x8 multi-switch. The multi-switch allows up to 8 separate receivers to access two different satellites (Both Vertical & Horizontal)

For this particular situation, Tuner -> Diseqc 1.0 (Port B) -> 5x8 MultiSwitch -> 4 LNB lines. (2 for one satellite H&V dual LNBF and 2 for the second satellite H&V dual LNBF) 22khz on/off within the Multiswitch determines which pair of LNBF lines to utilize. Sat 1 or Sat2. - I knew the problem wasn't within the MultiSwitch, because i was not encountering the problem on any of the other receiver slots on the multi-switch. This problem was only occuring on one of the satellite receivers. This narrowed the problem down to a tuner configuration error, a problem within the receiver, or a problem with the one diseqc switch that was inbetween the receiver and the 5x8 multiswitch or a problem with the specific port on the multi-switch that the receiver was hooked too.

I did no voltage measuring. Once i realized the problem was solved when i switched the diseqc switch, it wasn't worth my time to troubleshoot a small piece of hardware that i bulk buy at about 2 bucks a pop.

 

[iBoston]

Ok I'm pulling a Homer Simpson here and Drooling!! Nice set up man!!

Its grown a bit since that image, and have added 6 or more satellite dishes since then. But thank you.. It is a fun hobby... I'm not sure where my preferences come from, but I relish in not having to wait for a satellite dish to MOVE. Instant access to all my preferred channels. - I rarely move my moveable dish any more.

 

[a33]

For this particular situation, Tuner -> Diseqc 1.0 (Port B) -> 5x8 MultiSwitch -> 4 LNB lines. (2 for one satellite H&V dual LNBF and 2 for the second satellite H&V dual LNBF) 22khz on/off within the Multiswitch determines which pair of LNBF lines to utilize. Sat 1 or Sat2

So, I would guess an inrush current problem from the combination of Multiswitch and 22kHz-ON-LNB, causing a reset of the diseqc switch to default port (due to maybe a too small capacitor inside).
Though we cannot check that anymore.

But if it works fine now, there's no problem anymore.

BTW. Good differential testing!

Greetz,
A33

 

[iBoston]

Just an update. Over the years i have expanded which created some inconsistencies between different setups. It was a bit annoying as because there were switch differences between units, it would cause me to loose certain satellites when i did firmware updates or restore backups. Then i had trial and errors to re-gain them. I spent all day yesterday and this morning reorganizing cables and switches, and even though it was a pain in the butt, all receivers have the SAME configuration to access all satellites. This will just make things go so much smoother and make it very zippy when i do updates on receivers.

During that process, i also worked on my Digicipher configuration. If your keeping up with this thread, you know i have 4 tuners hooked into my main living room receiver. But, the Digicipher only works on tuner 1. The problem is every time i wanted to utilize digiciper, i had to go into setup and disable tuners 2,3 and 4 so that when i tuned to a channel, it was sending that signal to the DCII commercial receiver. This would then mess with any recordings that are queued. Yet, another pain... So, i moved the signal that the DCII receiver utilizes from the living room, to the Kitchen/Dining room STB. Being that receiver only utilizes Tuner 1, when you turn to a channel, the signal is always ported to the DCII commercial receiver as well. However, its still controlled and watched on the Living room TV. So, there is no down side, just upside. -- This is because the DCII services are sent out the ASI port to a DVB modulator which puts out the signal at cband frequency 4070, which then is split/sent to all Diseqc switches at Port 4 allowing me to watch DCII/Turbo8psk channels on a standard FTA satellite receiver.

This has been on my to-do list for well over a year. It feels good to have it done. I also made Full Image backups of all my satellite receivers. I have a bizarre issue on one of my STB's that after a few months, seems to mark the system READ ONLY , and cannot make any updates to files on the satellite receiver. I have been unable to figure out why it happens, but it only takes me about 10 minutes to then just push the backup image to the device to get it working again, and now with the modifications i made will then require no further action on my part to gain access to all my signals.

 

[Josephinelcajon]

I lost my original picture but I had this in the back of my truck at one time. Yes they all worked at the same time.