Temporary combine of 110 and 119 cables

[matt1027]

I have a situation where I would like to temporarily combine two cables into one reciever and would like to know if I need to use a SW21 switch or if there is something cheaper that I can get at Radio Shack.

My outside setup is a SuperDish set up to receive the 119, 110 and 105 satetellites. There are 3 cables coming from it. I also have a Dish 500 recieving the 61.5 satellite.

So I have a DPP44 switch under the house to handle all that.

Inside I have 3 Dish 311 recievers.

The DPP44 has been giving me trouble and I'm going to replace it.

However, I don't need the 61.5 cable coming from the Dish 500 because Sky Angel went off the air. I also don't think I need the 105 cable any more because the local channels are now available on one of the other satellites, 119 or 110.

So, as I understand it, I only need the 119 and 110 cables and I can replace the DPP44 with a DP34.

I bought a DP34 on eBay but I'm trying to keep at least one of my 3 TVs going until it gets here.

So I'm thinking I can combine the 110 and 119 cables and run the signal in to one receiver until the DP34 gets here.

My question is do I need a SW21 or is there something cheaper that would work.

Any thoughts or suggestioins would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[garys]

No, the sw21 will not work. It is considered Legacy equipment and will not work with Dish Pro or Dish Pro Plus lnb's. If you are using a twin head, either 119 or 110 line should give you both, if not you could run two coax lines, one for 119 and the other for 110 to the receiver you are using and exchange lines and run check switch for the sat you want at the time. Since it seams you already have an sw21, you might have two older legacy lnb's, if this is the case, you could switch out legacy's for the existing ones, hook in the sw21 switch then change out the lnb's and switch when your new one arrives.

 

[matt1027]

Thank you for the quick response.

I guess the answer is that I can only hook up one cable at a time to the reciever until I get the DP34.

The SuperDish has two heads on it, one big one that says HDTV on the back and one small one that looks like a regular dish 500. The big one has two white plastic things (lenses?) and two cables coming out of it. The small one has one cable coming from it.

As a side question, if I pointed the Dish 500 where the SuperDish is pointed what satellites would I pick up, 110 and 119? Would they both be coming in on one cable? I guess I could hook that up to another individual receiver.

Is there any value keeping the Dish 500 pointed at the 61.5 satellite? Is there anything I can subscribe to or get for free from that satellite?

Is there something on the internet that explains the basics of all this Dish Network tech stuff. I would like to understood the technology so I could know what the options are.

Thanks again.

 

[skyviewmark]

I have a situation where I would like to temporarily combine two cables into one reciever and would like to know if I need to use a SW21 switch or if there is something cheaper that I can get at Radio Shack.

My outside setup is a SuperDish set up to receive the 119, 110 and 105 satetellites. There are 3 cables coming from it. I also have a Dish 500 recieving the 61.5 satellite.

So I have a DPP44 switch under the house to handle all that.

Inside I have 3 Dish 311 recievers.

The DPP44 has been giving me trouble and I'm going to replace it.

However, I don't need the 61.5 cable coming from the Dish 500 because Sky Angel went off the air. I also don't think I need the 105 cable any more because the local channels are now available on one of the other satellites, 119 or 110.

So, as I understand it, I only need the 119 and 110 cables and I can replace the DPP44 with a DP34.

I bought a DP34 on eBay but I'm trying to keep at least one of my 3 TVs going until it gets here.

So I'm thinking I can combine the 110 and 119 cables and run the signal in to one receiver until the DP34 gets here.

My question is do I need a SW21 or is there something cheaper that would work.

Any thoughts or suggestioins would be appreciated.

Thanks.

First of all it would be cheaper to replace the dish than replace a DPP44.. A dish 1000.2 has 3 outputs and an input for your 61.5. Maybe more work but deffinitely cheaper. Your Superdish no longer uses the 105 sat. All you need is the 110 and 119 for standard sateliite service. If you don't need 61.5 you could just get a Dish 500 with a quad feed for your 3 311's. Even cheaper and easier would be just to replace your expensive DPP44 with a cheap DP34. Connect the 119 and 110 and 61.5 to that and you will have everything. Again the 105 is no longer needed anywhere that I know of anymore.

 

[garys]

The HDTV head is only a casing, there may be one or two lnb's within it, but being that it is for a Superdish with 105, the lnb's for 105 and 110 are within the housing and 119 is the smaller lnb on it's own so there probably isn't a twin head there. You can replace the Superdish with a Dish 500 but depending on how you point it, you could get 110/119 or 119/129. If you use two separate lnb's you would need a switch, but with a twin, the switch is built into the lnb. There are some Public Interest channels on 61.5 (check in the 94xx range) or if you upgrade to HD, there are several National HD channels and some HD locals as well on 61.5.

You could try an internet search for: How does dbs work, or satellite tv basics.

 

[vegassatellite]

You can use a DP21 switch. That'll get you 119/110 into one 311.

 

[matt1027]

Thank you guys, for the information. I'm still waiting on my DP34 from eBay and right now I have the 119 going to one tv and the 110 going to another tv.

Would one of those 2-way coaxial cable splitters allow me to split one of the satellite signals and send it to two different tvs?

I picked one up at Wal-Mart. It says 5-900 MHZ on it.

 

[vegassatellite]

Not really. You could get a power pass splitter rated to 2300mhz and split the 119 to both tvs. It'll work since its stacked signal on DP but you can't get multiple satellites this way.

 

[harshness]

If you have a DP Twin (or DPP Twin) on the Dish500 and point it at 110W, you could plug two receivers into it and get full 110W/119W coverage on both. You can probably pick up a DP Twin fer cheap from a DISH Network retailer (or for free from someone who's no longer a DISH Network subscriber).

Splitting is not a reasonable compromise.

 

[vegassatellite]

If you have a DP Twin (or DPP Twin) on the Dish500 and point it at 110W, you could plug two receivers into it and get full 110W/119W coverage on both. You can probably pick up a DP Twin fer cheap from a DISH Network retailer (or for free from someone who's no longer a DISH Network subscriber).

Splitting is not a reasonable compromise.

Did you not read the thread? He has a superdish and a DP34 on order from an Ebayer. He was looking for a temp solution.

 

[harshness]

Did you not read the thread? He has a superdish and a DP34 on order from an Ebayer. He was looking for a temp solution.

I read all the messages in the thread. The OP offered that all that was needed was 110W and 119W. The Dish500 alone will provide that to two receivers. All the other solutions feed only half of the transponders.

What solution do you have to offer that gives completely independent programming to two receivers?

 

[vegassatellite]

I read all the messages in the thread. The OP offered that all that was needed was 110W and 119W. The Dish500 alone will provide that to two receivers. All the other solutions feed only half of the transponders.

What solution do you have to offer that gives completely independent programming to two receivers?

For a permanent solution, I suggest what the OP is already doing, get a DP34 switch.

For a temporary solution, I suggested a DP21 as the OP was considering an SW21, which is a legacy component and won't work.

He could actually just use two separate 3 way high frequency power pass splitters and 3 DP21 switches and not even need a DP34 at that point.

The suggestion of a power pass splitter on 119 would have given him all transponders on 119 for either receiver at any time. That's because DP doesn't use voltage changes for polarity changes, both polarities are present at the same time on DPP.

 

[USMCGrunt0307]

The simplest way to accomplish this would be to switch a regular Dish 500 reflector and use a DP Quad LNB. The Quad LNB has four ports on it that will send both 110/119 signals down a single line to up to 4 single tuner recievers.

 

[harshness]

The simplest way to accomplish this would be to switch a regular Dish 500 reflector and use a DP Quad LNB. The Quad LNB has four ports on it that will send both 110/119 signals down a single line to up to 4 single tuner recievers.

I'm guessing that the OP doesn't have a DP Quad handy.

Without having to acquire lots of extra parts, the DP Twin that is on the Dish500 will give the best service.

 

[USMCGrunt0307]

But he is also willing to go and buy a 34 switch off of Ebay...a quick search of said site shows you can get a Quad for under 30 bucks.

 

[harshness]

But he is also willing to go and buy a 34 switch off of Ebay...a quick search of said site shows you can get a Quad for under 30 bucks.

The question was what to do until an eBay purchase arrives. Buying additional outmoded switchgear is probably not what the OP had in mind.

To get really fancy, it might be interesting to buy a repoint kit for the Superdish, but that doesn't answer the question of how to get service until the failed switch is replaced.

 

[matt1027]

DP34 arrived, Drift message, Signal strength

The DP34 switch finally arrived. I've got it hooked up and it looks like I'm getting 119, 110 and 61.5 just fine, on all three TVs.

I noticed a message that said check details, which said:

LNB Drift Detected
0x0d, 0xa1, 119(e-7)

The signals seem to be coming in fine. I checked all the transponders on each satellite and here are the best signal strengths I could get.

61.5 - 80
110 - 78
119 - 75

Are those okay?

 

[vegassatellite]

Those are fine. However, I would try to find out where this drift problem is coming from. Hook yourself directly to 119 and check for drift again. If you don't get it, then hook the switch back up, but reverse 119 and 110 going in to the switch and see if the drift moves to 110, if it does, you've got a bad switch.

 

[matt1027]

It took me a while to get around to doing that test you described but I finallly did and here are the results.

I hooked a receiver directly to 119 and I got the same LNB Drift Detected message.

I then reconnected everything through the DP34 switch but I changed the connectors for 119 and 110 and I still got the LNB Drift Detected for 119.

I guess that means the DP34 switch is okay. But what does that mean about the LNB?

The actual tv programs are fine. The sound and the picture are great.

Thanks again.

 

[vegassatellite]

Your 119 LNB is bad, time to replace it before the drift gets so bad you can't watch TV.