Some questions for you all

[badhat]

Well this is my first post so I would like to say hi to everyone. I have been wanting to play with FTA for so long and finally talked the wife into allowing me just one more hobby.

Ok now for my questions because I am starting to get a little brain pain. I have been reading the forums for about a month now so hopefully I am not repeating too much that has already been covered. I have a couple of the Primestar style dishes because the company I work for dropped hits2home because of the upcoming change to C band. I also have an assortment of LNB's model NJR2162F Single F connector and NJR2119F horizontal and vertical F connector. Which one would be best for me to use with a Fortec Star Mercury II receiver? I am guessing the single one changes polarity in a different manner than the dual connection LNB. The other thing that is concerning me is the LNB skew. I notice the different satellites have different skew settings. Does this mean that with this LNB type I would have to manually go out and change this setting each time I want to move satellites? I do have a little bit of money set aside for this project would you recommend another dish type/LNB that would work without having to manually adjust the skew? Plus I am going to go with a motor. Thanks in advance for any replies[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif].[/FONT]

 

[qwert1515]

If you use the single output LNB you can connect it directly to the motor which will be connected to your receiver.

If you use the dual output LNB (for separate H/V polarities) you will need to use some type of switch (Disecq or 22KHz) to combine the inputs and then connect it to you motor which will be connected to your receiver.

If you use a H-H Motor it will tilt the dish to compensate for the skew to each satellite.

 

[Anole]

motorized / skew

When your motorized dish is pointed due south, the skew is set to zero.
As the motor sweeps the dish east or west, it twists the dish, which applies the correct skew automatically.

Assuming the LNB with single output is a voltage-controlled one (I don't know about ancient hardware), then the receiver automaticallly applies 12 volts for Vertical transponders and 18 volts for Horizontal transponders.
So again, no problem.

Congrats on the Primestar dishes.
We all wish we had some or more, as the case may be.
Likewise, I applauad your choice of receiver.
I'm sure you'll be quite pleased with it.

edit: oops, took me too long to type. Qwert beat me to it.
Also , let us know which Primestar you have (should be a mold number on the back, or give Vert and Horiz measurememts)
There are threads around here for adapting the larger Primestars to the typical USALS motors; mostly they focus on lowering the weight by removing some of the existing mount.

 

[truckracer]

Welcome to the forum. You will find most everyone here very friendly and helpful.
The lnb you describe I am not familiar with. Is it C or Ku band? The single output would possible be the one you might try since it sounds like the other one has fixed H and V outputs. Those are useful in some situations but not normally for direct connection to a free to air box.

If you had an old multi-switch laying around that has two input ports one marked 13V (vertical) and one 18v (horizontal) you could use that lnb that way since the receiver sends either voltage according to what polarity it needs. The multi-switch could do your switching for you. Don't go buy a multi-switch just for that purpose unless you wanted more than one receiver using the same dish.

You may just be better off ordering a new lnbf for your purpose.

Are you considering C-band with Ku capability or strictly small dish KU?


Prime star dishes make good Ku band antennas. Several members here are using them.

A positioner motor on your dish would be ideal as well so you can view more than just one satellite.
sponsors on this site have some good deals. Check them out.

 

[badhat]

Well thanks for the quick responses. I will sleep a little easier tonight getting that stuff off my mind. So basically once I get the motor and the dish mounted I will set the LNB skew to 0 and not have to touch it again. Excellent.
To truckracer just Ku for now. I am currently renting and don't think my landlord would appreciate a big dish on his property.
To Anole they are 75E.