Newbie question 2 unit 2 lnbs

[rdel]

I bought a 31in dish, a fortec star lifetime ultra with a fortec lnb, What I want to do is point the 31 in dish at g10r and hook up to a dish network dish for the music channels. The dishnetwork unit is hooked up and we receive normal programing on it.
How do I hook my ultra to the 31in and the dish network dish? I read somewhere that you can't hook two units to one lnb (my dishnetwork lnb) because both units will power it. I have a 4-1 diseqc switch.
Help Please
Thank You for your help
A special thanks to Iceberg for the help he has given to me over the past couple of weeks,
Rdel

 

[Tron]

For many reasons it might be best to keep your Dish Network subscription system separate from your FTA system and intall a second DBS dish (an old 18" D* would do) for the music at 119..

For starters, what kind of LNB does your subscribed Dish Network dish have intalled on it? If it is a one-piece LNB (the 110 and 119 "eyes" are part of the same unit) you will have trouble hooking it up to anything other than a Dish Network receiver.

If it is a one-piece DP LNB (DishPro) it can be done, but since the LNB has a built-in DiSEqC switch, it is a real pain to include a second dish. Also, DP LNBs use stacked frequencies, all H transponders are stacked at frequencies above the V ones, so you have to edit your TP list (again, a pain). If it is a one-piece "Legacy" LNB, its totally useless to a FTA reciever since the integrated switch is proprietary.

If you have one of the old style Dish500 dishes with 2 separate LNBs, you're in business. Assuming you have dual-output LNBs (and you only have one TV with Dish Network), you'd run a cable from the unused output of the 119 LNB to an input on a DiSEqC switch, run the output from your G-10R dish's LNB to another input on the DiSEqC switch, and run the output from the switch to your receiver. Then you'd have to setup your receiver to "look" at the appropriate ports on your switch for the satellite you're watching.

Of course, if you have more than one TV hooked up to Dish Network, you'd be out of luck there as both outputs on your Dish 119 LNB would be used. You could split one output, but then you'd have to use DC blocks and only one of your recievers (either the Dish one or the FTA one) would control polarity (with a DC block on the other "slave" receiver to prevent it from sending out power to the LNB)..

If you decide to install a separate dish just for the music, I recommend going a step further and installing a "REAL" FTA dish (30" or more) on a motor. That way you can get everything else on the other birds (IA-5, AMC 1, 4, SBS-6, etc.) up there as well.

 

[rkrenicki]

The OP stated that he had a 31" in dish (probably the Fortec Star 80cm)

The other thing you can do, is if you have a Legacy Twin on the Dish 500 (basically, a double-eye, but does not have DP or Dish Pro printed on it) you can use a connection off of that, I do not recall which is which, but its just a 22khz switch in it, so one eye would be 22k on, the other 22k off. (its the DP Twin that has the propritary switch in it, and the DP dual is just stacked, making it a pain.. no switching involved)

But honestly, setting up another dish might be easier.. look out for old DirecTV single sats, Phase IIs, Voom dishes, or Dish 300 dishes. These are all small 18" dishes (except the Phase 2, the far dish in my avatar, which is a multi-sat dish) and would do you just fine. These are all easily found cheap (perhaps even in the dumpster at a local apartment complex?)

 

[rdel]

Thank You Tron and Ultatryon
Now I have a legacy dishpro with built in switches on the dish, But I have a seperate units dual lnbs in the other room I can change over to, I think I will try the seperate heads lnb and hook it up to a dis switch.
Thanks Again
rdel