split dish 500?

DaveGrissom

Member
Original poster
May 6, 2006
5
0
Fayetteville, GA
What is the easiest way to split a dish 500 into 2 separate dishes? I have a tree problem where I can get sat110 at 118 to 120 signal strength, but cannot get sat119 at all in summer due to trees/leaves. I moved the dish to another place in the yard Trying for a better shot at the sky to get both sats) where I can get 119 at 120 plus on the signal strength, but no 110 at all in this location. I assume I can use 2 separate dishes to get both sats? I also have another separate dish pointed at 61.5 which gets great signal as well. My receivers are a 522 and a 4700. My 2 switches in the current setup are SW21. I do not believe any of the LNBs are dish pro (the 500 is not, the single dish for 61.5 may be, not sure). My ultimate goal is to get all 3 sats fed to 2 current receivers with good signal... plus I want to put another receiver in soon. My location is Fayetteville, GA (south of Atlanta). Thanks!
 
do you have two lines ran to the 522? cause it doesn't sound like everything is hooked up right. according to your description, you have 3 tuners hooked up to three satellite locations, through 2 legacy switches.... something aint right there...
if you plan on sticking with the legacy lnb's on the dishes, the best thing to do would to find a Legacy 64 switch... it has inputs for three satellite locations, and outputs for four "tuners" or receivers...
Or another option would be to upgrade to DishPro, but then you would need to update all the LNB's to DishPro, buy a DP34 switch, and get a legacy adapter for the 4700...
I would just look for a Legacy 64 switch, that would be the easiest, and probably cheapest, route...
 
only two receivers at the moment

Right now I only have two receivers connected. I plan on adding a third receiver later this summer. There is only one cable connected to my 522 (It only has jacks for one sat-in cable).
 
Solution 1.
Buy
1. another dish, shell only (you can get a Dish 500 )
2. SW64
3. 2 dual Dish legacy LNBs

Solution 2 (expensive)
1. another dish
2. Three DP duals
3. One DP34
4. Dish pro to legacy adaptor for the 4700

Solution 3 (Possibly cheapest)
1. 2 DirecTv single satellite dishes
2. 2 DirecTv dual LNBs
3. SW 64




The cheapest way is to use the sw64 solution. The only pain with the sw64 is that you have to connect a power supply. You have to be careful because, if you accidently connect the line with the power on it to the LNB or the receiver, you will ruin one of them; it has to go to a specific port on the switch. Also, if you want to change it in the future, the Dish Network LNBs are D shaped, unlike the DirecTv ones. So, if you want to change it to Dish pro later on, you would have to replace the DTV dishes. I just mentioned the DTV dishes because they tend to be cheaper.
 
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Yes you can use three seperate dishes in three different locations.
The 110 and 119 dishes should be the same as your 61.5 dish. It's probably a dish 300 type with a single LNBF. For 110 and 119 you don't want to use any LNBF's with built in switches for this set-up.
After setting up the three dishes without any onboard switches, connect them to a SW44 switch, selling on e-bay fairly cheap, note this is an SW44 and not a DPP Plus 44 switch.
This will allow for any future satellite input you may want. (4 sat. inputs)
It has outputs for 4 tuners. Note I said 4 tuners and not necessarily any 4 receivers. Cascading another switch would be necessary as an example for 4- 625 receivers.
This is an example for outside legacy equipment. If you were starting from scratch, I would suggest something different.
 
Clancy said:
After setting up the three dishes without any onboard switches, connect them to a SW44 switch, selling on e-bay fairly cheap, note this is an SW44 and not a DPP Plus 44 switch.
This will allow for any future satellite input you may want. (4 sat. inputs)
It has outputs for 4 tuners. Note I said 4 tuners and not necessarily any 4 receivers. Cascading another switch would be necessary as an example for 4- 625 receivers.
This is an example for outside legacy equipment. If you were starting from scratch, I would suggest something different.
You can use a sw44, but, with the SW44 you will only get 61.5 on some of the ports..For example, if you were to run another line to your 522, you would only have 61.5 on one line or, if you were to add another receiver later, you would not have the 61.5 signal on that receiver. the SW 44 is only a little cheaper than the SW 64. Also, before mentioning EBAY...make sure that the SW64 or 44, has all parts! Lots of people sell incomplete kits...You will need...
1. The power inserter (a little silver thing)
2. The power supply (black brick)
3. The switch itself
 
doesn't an old dish dual LNB just have a 22khz switch in it? Why not use 2 single LNBF's and hook 119 to the "22khz on" side of the switch and 110 to the other?

Or am I totally off base?
 
Nope. There is no 22K in the dual LNB's. Plus the OP has 3 satellites to pick up so the only ways are posted above (SW64 or switch to DishPro)
 
DaveGrissom said:
Right now I only have two receivers connected. I plan on adding a third receiver later this summer. There is only one cable connected to my 522 (It only has jacks for one sat-in cable).

Dave,

If you do indeed have a 522, IT DOES HAVE TWO SATELLITE INPUTS and BOTH MUST BE CONNECTED for the receiver to function properly, unless you have a Dish PRO PLUS TWIN LNBF or a Dish Pro Plus 44 switch used in conjunction with a Dish Pro Plus seperator.

If you use a Dish Pro Plus Seperator you still need to connect the two feeds to BOTH the satellite inputs.

John
 
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new question! After thinking about someone asking my what i was getting from the 61.5 sat it dawned on me I was only getting a single PBS channel for Atlanta... the rest was stuff i was not watching. So I used the 61.5 dish with a single LNB to point at 110 and the other dish to point at 119. All is well with single strength, but now I think have a switch problem. If I take the cable in from 110 and 119 and run the both to the SW21 I cannot see both satellites when i do a check switch. Any suggestions? One LNB has two cable connections and the other has 4 (2 for 119 and 2 for 110). What is the correct switch to get this setup to work? i am running two cables out from 119 and 2 out from 110, I have 2 sw21 switches, feeding 2 receivers.
 
DaveGrissom said:
new question! After thinking about someone asking my what i was getting from the 61.5 sat it dawned on me I was only getting a single PBS channel for Atlanta... the rest was stuff i was not watching. So I used the 61.5 dish with a single LNB to point at 110 and the other dish to point at 119. All is well with single strength, but now I think have a switch problem. If I take the cable in from 110 and 119 and run the both to the SW21 I cannot see both satellites when i do a check switch. Any suggestions? One LNB has two cable connections and the other has 4 (2 for 119 and 2 for 110). What is the correct switch to get this setup to work? i am running two cables out from 119 and 2 out from 110, I have 2 sw21 switches, feeding 2 receivers.

You should be able to make it work now!!
 
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