New to CBAND, have 10' Winegard, Need LNB / Receiver / Positioner Reccomendations

[viperware]

Hello, I am new to C-Band. I live in the L.A. area and have a 10' Winegard dish that came with the house. I am not sure what I need to receive modern FTA signals. I live in an area that does not receive ATSC television broadcasts so I would primarily like to try to get network feeds. Here are some pictures of the setup. I am not sure about the details on the actuator other than it was made by HTS. Any model info on the unit has faded away. There is some rust on the extendable arm and the back cap to the motor assembly is no longer completely sealed so I would not be surprised if the actuator is broken. It seems to be in the "West" position. There are 3 coax wires coming from the LNB and one coming from the actuator. I have the IQ Prism receiver that was left with the dish but it is analog and can likely no longer receive stations. It looks like the original receiver was also a positioner. I have a Viewsat PVR 7000 that I never used from years ago. Will that receiver be able to tune channels? I'm kind of lost on what hooks up where on the receiver side since there are 3 cables coming from the LNB and only 1 input on the receiver. Hopefully someone here can give me some advice on what I should do first to test this gear or give me recommendations on what I need to update this system. My inclination is that I should get an Edison mio 4k receiver, a C2-PLL LNB, a new actuator, and somehow a discontinued ASC1 to move the dish. Here are photos of the equipment. Please share if you have an idea of what I need to do next. Thanks for looking!
-paul

 

[viperware]

The rest of the photos...

 

[Magic Static]

That is a Winegard Pinnacle perforated dish. Very nice dish. A deep dish with a .278 FD ratio. Good for Ku reception also and I wouldn't doubt you will find a Co-rotor C/Ku feed under the hood. Those actuators are tough. I seen ones looking a lot worse still in operation. The one receiver has polarrotor and actuator connections on it and may still operate these functions until you locate an ASC1. I really enjoy my Edision OS mio 4K.

 

[viperware]

That is a Winegard Pinnacle perforated dish. Very nice dish. A deep dish with a .278 FD ratio. Good for Ku reception also and I wouldn't doubt you will find a Co-rotor C/Ku feed under the hood. Those actuators are tough. I seen ones looking a lot worse still in operation. The one receiver has polarrotor and actuator connections on it and may still operate these functions until you locate an ASC1. I really enjoy my Edision OS mio 4K.

Thanks for this info! Do you think I will need to replace the LNB to tune 4k channels or is the OEM LNB sufficient?

 

[Magic Static]

Thanks for this info! Do you think I will need to replace the LNB to tune 4k channels or is the OEM LNB sufficient?

The LNB doesn't care what's in the signal, analogue or digital, 4K or SD, it's all the same.

 

[viperware]

The LNB doesn't care what's in the signal, analogue or digital, 4K or SD, it's all the same.

This is great news! Also, after reading your initial post, it occurred to me that the polarrotor is probably another moving part inside the feedhorn. I inspected the other end of the cables running to the dish and 2 are coax, the other 2 are likely for the actuator and polarrotor. One of the coax connectors is lopped off at the receiver side so it's obvious now which cable carries the signal. In theory I should be able to wire this receiver up and get it moving. Any tips on which wires go where? The red and black are heavier gauge so I'm pretty sure that bundle is for the actuator. Beyond that it's just guess and check for me. Thanks!
-paul

 

[Magic Static]

Yes the red and black are the actuator motor wires. With them are the sensor wires. There are several types of sensors, three wire optical and hall effect sensors and two wire reed switch sensors. You want to have a two wire sensor in the actuator. You will need to remove the cover and look inside. The polarrotor is a three conductor connection and it looks like they are using a shielded two wire conductor to accomplish this. Probably shield is ground, red is 5v+ and yellow is pulse from the sensor. If not switch the yellow and red.

 

[Brct203]

Well I was typing about the wires buy Magic Static beat me to it.

I would also strongly recommend that you pop open the cover of the actuator. A general mechanical inspection would be a good idea too, if possible to check for the condition of the screw and add grease if needed.

I would also recommend opening the LNB dome , but warning: wasps LOVE those things, so be careful. check for wasp nests under the dome but also in the feedhorn. That will also give you an idea of what LNB you have, and see if an upgrade would be needed. There's also a good chance that the connections could be less than perfect.

That ViewSat receiver might get you started, but is probably too limited to be very useful (DVB-S only?). Maybe give it a shot but look into upgrading to a more modern unit. For 4K, the Edision OSmio4K is excellent and reasonably priced. Our fellow forum member Titanium sells it and offers outstanding support.

 

[viperware]

Ok! I popped the cap off and it is in much better condition than I expected. The spiders who lived there but have since moved out were good housekeepers. The insulation on the red conductor is split but everything else seems to be ok. I'm going to follow the wiring sequence noted above and see if I can make this thing move!

 

[Magic Static]

Wow, crude but performs the function. That is your basic glass reed switch. So it looks like you use the green and white wires in no particular order.

 

[viperware]

Wow, crude but performs the function. That is your basic glass reed switch. So it looks like you use the green and white wires in no particular order.

Haha you weren't kidding about the crudeness. The East and West buttons are literally momentary switches for the actuator motor. The way I wired it, East goes East and West goes West and limits seem to be working on both ends. How are you supposed to know when to stop? Or are there only 2 positions necessary for a dish this size? I connected an RG6 cable from the VHF out to a CRT television and did channel up and down for a while. Just slightly different versions of static on each station. There are no menu buttons on the receiver itself. There are also 2 choices to connect the LNB coax to, V/C and H/KU. I tried both and still haven't tuned a channel. Inspect the dome next?

 

[Magic Static]

I have no experience with that receiver, though I figured you couldn't receive any signals with it. It's just something to control the dish But even that seems to be limited. There is a lack of controls and displays on the front. With only one coax used it is more than likely a C-Band only LNB. You might find something with the Viewsat on C-Band if you remember how to set the LNB up in the receiver.

 

[(((Garyd)))]

The rest of the photos...

It's deep low noise dish, the only problem I had was the mesh would blow out from the wind glue them in also when the dish is at zenith pull and push the bottom rim for play if you have it tighten the top and bottom bearings up, remove pin turn nut, put pin back recheck or you will never track that dish

 

[waylew]

There is 1 analog channel left,Cspan on ch7 at 131west,if you want to see if you can find it.
I would imagine all displays for that receiver are on screen,ch#,menus etc.If you're not seeing it maybe try the video output.
I also suspect that you don't have the remote,which will make programing or even changing the polarity,pretty much impossible.

 

[viperware]

I have no experience with that receiver, though I figured you couldn't receive any signals with it. It's just something to control the dish But even that seems to be limited. There is a lack of controls and displays on the front. With only one coax used it is more than likely a C-Band only LNB. You might find something with the Viewsat on C-Band if you remember how to set the LNB up in the receiver.

Yeah, the IQ receiver isn’t going to help me much more than testing the actuator, since I have no remote it will be difficult to do much else with it. But I am happy with that result. I setup the viewsat and tried to scan the satellites that were available on the stock firmware but to no avail. There were some blips here and there but nothing solid, so I wonder if it is receiving the signal from the LNB at all. It’s probably better I start with a supported piece of hardware from this point forward now that I have confirmed I have a working dish

 

[viperware]

It's deep low noise dish, the only problem I had was the mesh would blow out from the wind glue them in also when the dish is at zenith pull and push the bottom rim for play if you have it tighten the top and bottom bearings up, remove pin turn nut, put pin back recheck or you will never track that dish

Thanks for this, this dish is pretty well protected from gusts and I know it hasn’t been touched since it was in use and seems to have been installed at least semi-competently. I will check the dish for play tomorrow and if there is some I might follow up with you on the phone to make sure I do it right. Thanks again!
-paul

 

[viperware]

There is 1 analog channel left,Cspan on ch7 at 131west,if you want to see if you can find it.
I would imagine all displays for that receiver are on screen,ch#,menus etc.If you're not seeing it maybe try the video output.
I also suspect that you don't have the remote,which will make programing or even changing the polarity,pretty much impossible.

Yeah I’m kind of flying blind with this thing with no remote. There is nothing on screen when you change channels on VHF or composite. I’m totally ok with trashing this thing if I know for sure I can get it working with newer gear.

 

[(((Garyd)))]

The bearings will go bad on a dish that was never even used the wind is always pushing on th dish back and fort it wear away over time

 

[(((Garyd)))]

Yeah I’m kind of flying blind with this thing with no remote. There is nothing on screen when you change channels on VHF or composite. I’m totally ok with trashing this thing if I know for sure I can get it working with newer gear.

You need a satlook to track it

 

[primestar31]

Check on Ebay to see if you can find a remote. There's also this:

orbitcommunications.com

Believe it or not, this remote is said to work on that receiver. If you can't see this link, disable your ad blocker and hit REFRESH: Hampton Bay All-in-One Universal Video & Ceiling Fan Remote Control 481-353 792145350033 | eBay

UR8050T Remote Control Transmitter User Manual P01 Rhine Electronics

Remote Control Transmitter User Manual details for FCC ID CHQUR8050T made by Rhine Electronics Co Ltd. Document Includes User Manual User Manual P01

fccid.io