My New Dish Farm

[iBoston]

How do you handle the 13/18V from each receiver or is that not a problem?

If, say, I have receiver one on a vertical channel on satellite A and I switch receiver 2 the same satellite, what happens? If it's vertical, do both receivers see vertical? If it's horizonal, does the LNB switch and receiver one ends up looking at a horizontal signal? I'm concerned about overloading things if all these receivers are sending LNB voltage down the cables, although I guess it's all in parallel so it shouldn't be a huge problem.

That is what the multi switch is for. The multi switch handles all that. All the receivers plug into the multi switch. The most common are 4 receiver inputs and 8 receiver inputs. The ones on my storage containers are 4 receiver inputs. The multi switch expects the voltages from the receivers to know which LNB ports to send you through too. The multi switch has 4 outputs to LNB's 13/18 22khz off 13/18 22khz on. All of your LNBS need to be dual output. So, one is always in the vertical and one is always in the horizontal. With this setup any person on any of the 4 receivers can watch any channel independently no matter what the voltage polarity is and no matter when its 22khz on/off.

Then by putting a diseqc 1.1 switch between each receiver and the multi switch, you can then have each receiver access up to 8 Multi Switches independent of any of the other receivers. So, any receiver(TV) can watch any channel on any satellite on any polarity independent of any other receiver(TV). In one word , "SLICK"

I will also add that all of this can be done without a multi switch, but then you would have to have the same number of LNB coax outputs as the number of receivers you wanted. SO, if you wanted to have 4 receivers, then all your satellites would need to have quad output LNBFs, and then you would need to use Diseqc switches and/or 22khz switches to jump to the individual LNBFs. I think this route is a bit more expensive, and requires more cabling to the dishes.

 

[Martyn]

Ahh, dual output LNBs. OK, it all makes sense now.

Will a Dish/DirecTV multi switch work or do they have some weirdness or proprietary protocol?

This is great. It really helps. Thanks!

 

[danristheman]

Ahh, dual output LNBs. OK, it all makes sense now.

Will a Dish/DirecTV multi switch work or do they have some weirdness or proprietary protocol?

This is great. It really helps. Thanks!

I use Directv switches for my setup martyn look at my pic.

 

[Martyn]

I use Directv switches for my setup martyn look at my pic.

That's great. I can find these relatively cheaply!

Thanks.

 

[danristheman]

Remeber anything more 2 lnbs go to external powered you will see the difference. You can find them online for cheap. No problem.

 

[Cham]

Hi Martyn,
No problem here with the polarity voltages. Right now I only have LNBFs, so they need the 13/18v polarity signal, but the Zinwell switches provide this power rather than from the receivers. Each Zinwell powers two dual LNBFs (C or Ku band doesn't matter). The input ports are marked V and H, and V+22KHz and H+22KHz. These are 4X8 switches so I could run up to 8 receivers independently of each other on these switches. These multi-switches are powered and supply the appropriate voltage to each LNBF port, taking most of the electrical load off the receivers and remainder of the circuits. I have a 24Vdc 10A power supply powering the Zinwells, they can each consume up to 750mA (at 24V), and seem to handle the PLL LNBFs I have just fine.

Trick is to use dual LNBFs so receivers are completely independent of each other. Right now I have 8 dishes hooked up this way, and I can watch any polarity on any of the LNBS (Satellites) without affecting the other receivers' reception.

The diseqc switches allow the receiver to select which Zinwell to choose. In my case I have three receivers that connect to three diseqc switches. I have four Zinwells running so if I add a 5th the 4-port diseqc switches need to be switched out for the diseqc 1.1( 8) port switches.

To throw a knuckelwrenchen into the mix, one receiver controlls a diseqc motor that controls one of the dishes. The motor is between that receiver and diseqc switch. Problem here is that each receiver can only watch whatever satellite the controlling receiver is set to on that particular diseqc port, but each receiver can watch any TP, V or H; and in this case Rc or Lc as well. All the receivers still have access to the other 6 dishes.

And this is a basic system compared to what some of the guys here have! Like many of us say, the fun is setting up this stuff and getting it to work. Who cares about watching TV right?

 

[danristheman]

Hi Martyn,
No problem here with the polarity voltages. Right now I only have LNBFs, so they need the 13/18v polarity signal, but the Zinwell switches provide this power rather than from the receivers. Each Zinwell powers two dual LNBFs (C or Ku band doesn't matter). The input ports are marked V and H, and V+22KHz and H+22KHz. These are 4X8 switches so I could run up to 8 receivers independently of each other on these switches. These multi-switches are powered and supply the appropriate voltage to each LNBF port, taking most of the electrical load off the receivers and remainder of the circuits. I have a 24Vdc 10A power supply powering the Zinwells, they can each consume up to 750mA (at 24V), and seem to handle the PLL LNBFs I have just fine.

Trick is to use dual LNBFs so receivers are completely independent of each other. Right now I have 8 dishes hooked up this way, and I can watch any polarity on any of the LNBS (Satellites) without affecting the other receivers' reception.

The diseqc switches allow the receiver to select which Zinwell to choose. In my case I have three receivers that connect to three diseqc switches. I have four Zinwells running so if I add a 5th the 4-port diseqc switches need to be switched out for the diseqc 1.1( 8) port switches.

To throw a knuckelwrenchen into the mix, one receiver controlls a diseqc motor that controls one of the dishes. The motor is between that receiver and diseqc switch. Problem here is that each receiver can only watch whatever satellite the controlling receiver is set to on that particular diseqc port, but each receiver can watch any TP, V or H; and in this case Rc or Lc as well. All the receivers still have access to the other 6 dishes.

And this is a basic system compared to what some of the guys here have! Like many of us say, the fun is setting up this stuff and getting it to work. Who cares about watching TV right?

Your setup is close to mine Cham with out the motor i have 3 recievers in 3 different rooms i have 8 lnbs 4 22khz zinwells. All of them change channels really fast.

 

[Martyn]

Can I have a motorized C-band antenna (via ASC-1) and a motorized ku-band dish controllable from two receivers and both on Diseqc? I know I can do one on Diseqc and the other on USALS without too many problems, but I'm having trouble figuring out the wiring for this.

I would love to have control of the motorized dishes from both the ham shack and sofa.

 

[Magic Static]

Can I have a motorized C-band antenna (via ASC-1) and a motorized ku-band dish controllable from two receivers and both on Diseqc? I know I can do one on Diseqc and the other on USALS without too many problems, but I'm having trouble figuring out the wiring for this.

I would love to have control of the motorized dishes from both the ham shack and sofa.

Recent thread discussing the options here ASC1 Setup with 3 Receivers

 

[Cham]

I was controlling the Ku dish using USALS, and the ASC-1 in-line to do the diseqc 1.2 for the C-band actuator from the same receiver. For a while now though I have the USALS motor on a different receiver or the TBS5980.

 

[iBoston]

I finally put a side lobe KU lnbf on my 10' Cband dish. I now have access to the KU spots i didn't have fixed locations on. I am in the middle of assigning ASC Mover positions for the KU positions.

I was also outside finding spots for the 1.2m and the 9' dish i recovered from California. I believe i have lined up where i want to put them. Next, gotta get the OK from the wife.

 

[iBoston]

Updated Dish Farm.
1.2m dish put back into service after being driven about 2300 miles.

I had to move a few dishes to make room for this. I re positioned what was pointed at 97w for 125w. I then took the dish that was pointed at 118/121/125 and moved it in between my 103w dish and 125w dish. It is pointed at 97w.

I then put my new 1.2m where the 118/121/125 was. I plan on adding a side car lnbf back to 125w so i can reclaim 118w. I also plan on adding side car lnbfs to the new 1.2 to acquire 107w and maybe 117w.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Wow! I’m impressed!

 

[iBoston]

Some people inquired about a schematic on my satellite network. I took the time today to build one, and ill clean it up more, but it's good enough to show.

Here is a link to a full resolution BMP of the schematic.
TinyUpload.com - best file hosting solution, with no limits, totaly free

 

[RimaNTSS]

Looks complicated iBoston Mine diagram is bit simpler (I think). Antennas are in yellow boxes, Diseqcs (6 pieces) are in blue. All together 12x Quad LNBs and 8xSingles. ( satellite tuners in 3 receivers and one TV. 5 terrestrial tuners. And only 2 TVs. But lots of streaming possibilities. That is the plan, I still need to do some work this summer

 

[comfortably_numb]

Some people inquired about a schematic on my satellite network. I took the time today to build one, and ill clean it up more, but it's good enough to show.

View attachment 134015

Here is a link to a full resolution BMP of the schematic.
TinyUpload.com - best file hosting solution, with no limits, totaly free

Wow! Very impressive. Nice work.

 

[MosFET77]

Some people inquired about a schematic on my satellite network. I took the time today to build one, and ill clean it up more, but it's good enough to show.

View attachment 134015

Here is a link to a full resolution BMP of the schematic.
TinyUpload.com - best file hosting solution, with no limits, totaly free

Wow, that's like 3,000 worth of dish! lol very impressed! makes my 2 dish's look like nada! lol I choose Iboston to do the next give away lol

 

[iBoston]

There is actually more. My son loves Disney channel, and i had an extra DSR6000 dedicated for that channel., So i have that hooked into the 5x8 multi-switch with a spare STB that supply's the voltage to the line for the appropriate polarity, which is UDP streamed to my sons computer in his room. He worshiped the ground i walked on for days.

Ps, i have a 9' Cband dish that ill be setting up this summer, so that will also add to the network. My goal is to as many FTA channels on fixed dishes as possible.

 

[MosFET77]

Disney comes on one of the southern sats?

 

[iBoston]

Disney comes on one of the southern sats?

Need a Digicipher receiver.