Switches and More Switches Question

[linuxman]

I have some switches left over here from bygone days, and I was wondering if any of them were of any earthly value for FTA?

Here are some pics:


I have some SW-21 switches too, but I think they are only good for use with Dish Network receivers and LNB's.

I am going to be hooking up my Primestar next weekend, and I have read about Direct TV 2x4 multiplex switches, 22K switches, and others being used for the original LNB's that come with Primestar, and for use with the Invacom LNB's should I ever upgrade.

A picture is worth 1000 words. If some of you have pics of the switches in the above paragraph, could you post them for viewing? And perhaps explain the use for them.

Thanks, Fred

 

[mastermesh]

I think most of what are in those pics are just splitters... the up to 1ghz ones are mainly used by cable companies basically - to get good internet speeds without degrading like some other splitters do.

All of those should work fine for coax connections. I, myself have at least two of those that you posted. I don't think those are diseqc switches though, so you'll probably need to buy one of those to get the primestar's signals together to go in to the reciever... but once you get signal to receiver, those should work to send signals through the rest of the house or whatever. I have a surge protector between my reciever and diseqc switch going in to the motor, so I think almost any splitter should work, but you need to have at least one diseqc somewhere between lnb(s) and receiver if you want multiple lnbs to go in to one line to the receiver... and the primestar (or invacom quad too) sort of count as multiple lnbs in a way since you have multiple coax ports going out... got to get those multiple signals in to one signal, and diseqc is the way to do it.

 

[linuxman]

Thanks Mastermesh,

So these switches except for perhaps the circuit protector are for use after the receiver for getting signal to the rest of the house.

I knew I had to have a Diseqc or 22K switch of some kind for the LNB on the Primestar because of the two outputs.

Just trying to learn more about switches, and would still like to see some pics and explanations of the multi switches I mentioned.

Fred

 

[Mr Tony]

2nd one is a diplexer to combine OTA & Satellite down one line to the reciever

 

[techpuppy]

Sorry I don't have a picture handy to post, but the switch I use looks a bit like the picture you posted on the right except the body of the box is larger. A 4x1 switch is what I use. It lets me have 4 lnbs running to my receiver. There are 5 coax connections on the switch, one for the cable going to the receiver and of course the 4 coming from the various lnbs. I use a primestar dish with the separate outputs which use up two of my ports on the switch. You may already know this, but if you are planning on aiming for G10R, most of the stations are vertical polarity so there's no need to wait for a switch before enjoying FTA. That's what I did. When I eventually bought a switch all I had to do was hook up the Horizontal which only gained me a couple of channels on G10R. Later I added an old 18" dish for NASA and audio and another LNB is strapped onto the Primestar lnb for receiving White Springs on IA7. My receiver treats each port on the switch as a separate "antenna". After setup the receiver and switch automatically switch to the lnb needed for a particular channel.

 

[mark_calgary]

None of the devices in your pictures is a switch. First one is a surge protector, second is a diplexer and the last two are cable TV splitters.

The only one of any real use for satellite is the diplexer. With two of them you can combine your cable or OTA TV signal and satellite signal from your LNB into one cable and then separate them at the other end. Useful if, like me, you weren't smart enough to run more than one coax cable from your basement where your dish coax enters the house, into your bedroom and need both cable TV and satellite there.

As TV is generally 50 to 860ish MHz and the output of an LNB is usually 950 to 2150 MHz they can coexist on the same cable and (mostly) not interfere.

Since neither the surge protector nor the splitters is rated above 1GHz they are not useful for satellite signals. You could conceivably use them to split the TV output of your receiver to drive multiple televisions.

 

[linuxman]

Thanks Iceberg,

I just found your thread about Cascading Multiswitches, and am reading through it now. There is a link there in post -reply #8 by Orthoclipse that has a pretty good explanation about different switches.

I'll have to read the link a couple/three times to understand what the other author is saying, but I have to do that with about everything I read. It takes a while to sink in sometimes. That's why I was asking for pictures.

Fred

 

[Mr Tony]

Here is a list of different ways of hooking up multiple LNB's/recievers from Sadoun
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Installation/Multi-lnbf-Switch-setup.htm

 

[linuxman]

Thanks Techpuppy,

What you are describing is something I might like to try since I have a few extra dishes now. The one main 40x30 Primestar I will have motorized. I am keeping the second for family room tv. I have a DirecPC dish that I might use for experiments etc, or set it up on G10R. I have another Primestar 36x26 that I might experiment with too, and the 4x1 or something similar, and just have one cable to the receiver.

Where can you get a 4x1 multiswitch, or 4x2?

Thanks for your response too Mark,

At least now I can make use of the signal after it get to the receiver for other TV's in the house etc. I too have made some of those same mistakes in the past about cable runs. If we could all see what we would need 5 years from now it would make life a lot easier.

Thanks, Fred

 

[Mr Tony]

a diseqc switch will allow you have 4 LNB's to one reciever
a multiswitch allows you to have up to 4 recievers on a dual LNB

Sadoun carries both

Diseqc
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Products/DiSEqC/SDS41C.htm

multiswitch
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Products/S/S-SM24-2x4-multi-switch.htm

 

[linuxman]

Thanks Iceberg,

That is a good link, I'll have to spend some time there absorbing info too.

Fred

 

[linuxman]

"a diseqc switch will allow you have 4 LNB's to one reciever
a multiswitch allows you to have up to 4 recievers on a dual LNB"

Ok, now I understand.

Techpuppy was describing a Diseqc 4x1 switch in his post above, and I think I have that concept down.

I guess I got confused reading all the Primestar threads about 22K switches being used to feed the H and V into one port on a Diseqc switch, and DTV multiswitches doing something similar. I think sometimes I read too much.

Thanks again Iceberg, Fred

 

[Mr Tony]

a 22k switch is basically the same as a 2x1 Diseqc switch
The reason someone may use a 2x1 diseqc over a 22k switch is Universal LNB's have a 22k "tone" built in so you cannot use a 22k with a Universal

Some receivers won't allow you to use a diseqc switch with a motor. a 22k switch would work in this case

You can use both in some applications. I have a 4x1 switch and each input of the 4x1 has a 22k switch on it. I can have 8 LNB's on one receiver

I have a 22k switch on my motorized setup. One for KU band and one for the few free DBS channels out there

 

[linuxman]

a 22k switch is basically the same as a 2x1 Diseqc switch
The reason someone may use a 2x1 diseqc over a 22k switch is Universal LNB's have a 22k "tone" built in so you cannot use a 22k with a Universal

Some receivers won't allow you to use a diseqc switch with a motor. a 22k switch would work in this case

You can use both in some applications. I have a 4x1 switch and each input of the 4x1 has a 22k switch on it. I can have 8 LNB's on one receiver

I have a 22k switch on my motorized setup. One for KU band and one for the few free DBS channels out there

Aha!

So using the LNB that comes with the Primestar which is a standard I think, I could use a 22K switch for switching polarities, and have it run into a single port on a Diseqc 4x1 switch which sits between the 22K switch and the SG2100 motor when I get it, and have three other ports available for experimental antenna's/LNB's.

Correct?

 

[Mr Tony]

bingo

so if you have it on port 2 (the 22k switch) then say V would be 22k off and H would be 22k on. You would need to create a second satellite that would be G10 because you can only have one set of switches in the menu per satellite

So you could have G10 V and G10 H as the satellites

I did that when I used a P* LNB for G10 too

 

[linuxman]

Very cool!!!!

The Pansat Menu and I have become very close, and I understand exactly what you are talking about in setting up separate satellites for each polarity.

Can you get a 22K switch from the Rat Shack? Or is that something from satellite dealers only?

You guys are great!!! If you can make me understand, you can make anyone.

Thanks again Iceberg, Fred

 

[Mr Tony]

havent seen a 22k in Rat Shack.....most of them are satellite dealers only or EBay

 

[linuxman]

Great!!!

I'll order it when I order the motor.

Thanks to all of you.

Fred

 

[mastermesh]

Essentially, I have found that when it comes to FTA, Radio Shack is totally useless... They do have a few speaker wires and coax cords and connectors, but as far as know how or special equipment comes, forget it. I've stumped the local guys at the radio shack here in town and in surrouding towns on more than a few occassions. It's really funny. They don't have a clue.

Them: So you need this for what?
Me: I need it for my free-to-air satellite receiver and motor setup
Them: HUH (scratching head)
Me: Uh, never mind... I'll just take two of those and one of them over there.


Also, about 98% of the dish network installers are clueless, and a good number of them won't return any phone calls or emails if you even mention fta since they think fta is only about illegally receiving their echostar signals...

And as far as actually tracking KU birds, they are clueless to:

Me: I'm trying to set up my fta motor. Do you know of anywhere I can get a satellite meter or something like that?
Them: No, why do you need something like that. Our guys always just know where the satellites are. Hey, let me give you a brochure for our latest special package....
Me: uh, never mind... (walking out of store)

 

[linuxman]

Hey Mesh,

I would go along with that allright. Rat Shack employees and Dish installers.

I have stumped them more than a few times myself, and I don't know squat about electronics compared to some of the people here.

The problem with Dish and DTV installers, is that they think there are only 2 or 3 satellites up there.