Questions about adding a Ku dish to go along with my BUD

[warnerwlf98]

Hi all!

I've been lurking around here for a long time before trying to post. I have a 10' metal mesh BUD that serves my C band needs, but I'd also like to add a Ku dish too.

The only real channels I watch are the networks out of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico to get Leno earlier, but the rest of the time, FTA is just a hobby (like the rest of you here) and I just like to see what I channels I can find. I also need a project to keep my mind focused on . . . I just finshed my engineering PhD that I worked on for 6 years. This made me hate projects, except for this kind of stuff though

Right now I'm using my 15 year old analog receiver as a dish positioner while I use my Pansat 3500 and the loop through to do the decoding. I'd like to add a motorized Ku dish to this setup and I'd like to know what additional equipment I'd need to get it set up.

I'm thinking I'd need a DiESqC switch to feed my Ku and C band signals through the Pansat. If i did that I'm not sure if I'd need some kind of filter to remove the Ku signal on the Pansat's pass through to feed into the analog receiver though. I don't know if that extra signal would be harmful to the analog receiver at all.

I'd appreciate any suggestions you could offer me. Thanks.

 

[voomvoom]

The Pansat will set-up for a Diseqc Switch. Lets say Port One is for your current BUD and Port Two is for your new KU Dish. If you get a dish and motor from one of the Sponsers (you will see 3 at the top of the page, Sadoun, GoSatellite, and SatelliteAV) above, they will probably throw in a Diseqc Switch with your order. You shouldn't need a filter from the Loop-Out of the Pansat to the Analog Receiver.

And Welcome to SatelliteGuys...!!!

 

[warnerwlf98]

The Pansat will set-up for a Diseqc Switch. Lets say Port One is for your current BUD and Port Two is for your new KU Dish. If you get a dish and motor from one of the Sponsers (you will see 3 at the top of the page, Sadoun, GoSatellite, and SatelliteAV) above, they will probably throw in a Diseqc Switch with your order. You shouldn't need a filter from the Loop-Out of the Pansat to the Analog Receiver.

And Welcome to SatelliteGuys...!!!

Thanks . . . will do!

 

[starman345]

Congrats on the PhD, quite an achievement and .......

 

[Cham]

I have much the same setup you are looking for. My analog receiver runs the motor actuator for the C-band dish, and the Pansat 3500 runs the Ku H-H motor and C-band polarotor. The RG6 from the LNB port on the Pansat connects to the motor (receiver) port, then a jumper from the motor (LNB) port to the DISEqC switch. From there you can pick which DISEqC ports you want to use for C or Ku band LNBs.
For analog reception using the old receiver I just have a jumper between the 3500's LNB bypass port (it won't pass the 14/18v lnb power) to the analog receiver's C-band (or Ku) LNB port. You will have to turn on the 3500 in order to power the LNB however, and you must have the pansat switched to whatever DISEqC port required for analog. I have my C band on port 1. Seems to work.
Hope that helps.
Congrats on your Phd!
-C.

 

[warnerwlf98]

I have much the same setup you are looking for. My analog receiver runs the motor actuator for the C-band dish, and the Pansat 3500 runs the Ku H-H motor and C-band polarotor. The RG6 from the LNB port on the Pansat connects to the motor (receiver) port, then a jumper from the motor (LNB) port to the DISEqC switch. From there you can pick which DISEqC ports you want to use for C or Ku band LNBs.
For analog reception using the old receiver I just have a jumper between the 3500's LNB bypass port (it won't pass the 14/18v lnb power) to the analog receiver's C-band (or Ku) LNB port. You will have to turn on the 3500 in order to power the LNB however, and you must have the pansat switched to whatever DISEqC port required for analog. I have my C band on port 1. Seems to work.
Hope that helps.
Congrats on your Phd!
-C.

Thanks for the congrats guys. It was a tough road, totaling 10 years in grad school. It was amazing that I finished, considering I actually quit once (for 3 months).

I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but do you think if it would still work if the switch were placed directly between the Pansat and the coax's from the C and Ku feeds?

 

[Cham]

The switch can be anywhere after the Ku motor (the major load in the circuit). The DISEqC switch might only handle 100mA and the motor might take 250mA or more, keep that in mind for sure. The switch has to be between the Pansat and the various LNBs, best place is right after the Ku motor (in the circuit) have the two LNB feeds connect to the switch at that point. I have a little white aluminium box to house my DISEqC switch, grounding block, and terminal block for the BUD positioner motor and polarotor lines to keep everything dry.
-C.

 

[boomer_106]

It might be possible that your existing C band dish could be converted to do KU as well. Usually if a regular pencil erasor will not fit through the holes in the mesh then, it should work for KU. I added Ku to my dish. I mention this in case you would like to have only one dish.

 

[Anole]

You might consider:
- a 36" (90cm), or 39" (1 meter) dish,
- suitable LNB (Standard, or maybe Universal if you want 58°w, or birds way east)
- Horizon to Horizon motor, like STAB HH-90

For an education in switches, take a look at our Switch FAQ.

LNBs downconvert C-band or Ku-band to a common range of 950mhz to 1500 or sometimes 2100mhz.
FTA receivers all tune that range, and only know what frequency to display, because they calculate it based on the Local Oscillator frequency of the LNB (which you provide).

Outfitting your BUD to receive Ku-band is a possibility, as suggested above.
There are a number of factors to be considered before making that a recommendation.
For instance, if you mesh is very open , or your positioner is very coarse, or.... you get the idea.

 

[warnerwlf98]

It might be possible that your existing C band dish could be converted to do KU as well. Usually if a regular pencil erasor will not fit through the holes in the mesh then, it should work for KU. I added Ku to my dish. I mention this in case you would like to have only one dish.

I was thinking about this too. The holes in my dish are very small - about 3 mm at the largest, so that wouldn't be a problem. The coarseness of my positioner is something I'd have to find out by actually trying it, although I can tune in the channels on the Anik satellite with a 7/8 FEC.

My feedhorn is only outfitted for 1 LNB though and I'd have to look for a bracket to house both of them. I'd rather not have to stick a whole new feedhorn on there because I'm afraid I'll mess something up. I don't mind monkeying with anything attached to the feedhorn - I bought a new C band LNB last year.

UPDATE: I looked into it a little, and it does look like I'll have to go with a new feedhorn if I go in this direction. Unfortunately, a new Ku dish is the best option now. I can tweak a little dish and get it to work eventually, but if I screw up something with my BUD, I'm afraid I'll never get it back in working order again. The thing is 17 years old and I'm happy it still works. I'll just have to figure out a coax configuration with the switch to make everything function properly.