Transition from 4DTV to What Kind of Dish Mover?

[Gordon Corbett]

Dear All,

Our Pansat 9200HD is slaved to our Motorola DSR-920 4DTV receiver. When I heard that on 31.XII.10, Motorola would stop support for our DSR-920, I figured that maybe I could turn lemons into lemonade by buying a new dish mover that would let our Pansat 9200HD "see" the satellites that our 4DTV cannot show me.

I began researching. I found that several dish movers exist, but none lets the user change polarities. That was the bad news. The good news is that LNBFs obviate changing polarities, and, supposedly, we could ditch our 10-foot dish's combo C-Band and KU-band LNBs for a combo LNBF. The surprise occurred when someone said that LNBFs do not work well with 10-footers.

Does you know of LNBFs that do work well with 10-foot dishes, and, if any exist, what they cost? We can afford to pay a decent price for a really good combo LNBF.

Also, provided that 10-foot-dish-compatible LNBFs do exist, please tell me which dish-moving machine you prefer.

Thanks.

Sincerely,

Gordon F. Corbett

 

[crackt]

for lnbfs you basically have th dmx741, geosat ck1 and the bsc621. the dmx and ck1 ive played with with good cband results but to get ku and c simultaneously is a tedious task. i gave up on big dish ku as ive always had better results with a 1m offset dish. there are users who have designed home built polarity controllers here on this site that will work with your polorator. as for positioners... the gbox 3k is the most precise. it doubles the counts of the vbox units ive tested.

crackt out,.

 

[Anole]

Dish mover - Gbox V3000, see my signature.

LNBF dual band single output each:
- GeoSatPro Ck1 from SatelliteAV, or ...
- DMX741 from Galaxy Marketing.
Both are Gold Sponsors here, and have links at the top of every page
We should have reviews on both, plus many favorable discussions.

The Up side:
- low cost
- well documented (at least here on the forum)
- works well when tuned up

Down side:
- single output for each band
- hard to align for Ku only (Cband is fine)

For squeezing out the last drop, read one of the threads on ortho mode feeds.
Down side? very costly if you insist on Ku with your C-band! -

 

[photoman76]

I don't understand what the problem is with continuing to use the 4dtv as the dish mover. I haven't subbed to any 4dtv programming in years, but still use it to move the dish. My DVB and DVB-S2 cards see all the satellites fine.

 

[crackt]

I don't understand what the problem is with continuing to use the 4dtv as the dish mover. I haven't subbed to any 4dtv programming in years, but still use it to move the dish. My DVB and DVB-S2 cards see all the satellites fine.

i think it is the rumour of moto removing the sat maps in a final update. if the 4d unit is not subbed it can just be disconnected from the lnb and the maps will outlast the battery. lotsa confusion surrouning the 4d these days.

crackt out,.

 

[turbosat]

And even if he doesn't do that , and loses the 4DTV as a dish mover, could still round up an old analog c-band receiver that has motor option. Still using a GI 650 to move my big dish and control polarity. It's an extra remote control to use, but it works, and I have skew control!

 

[Gordon Corbett]

Dish mover - Gbox V3000, see my signature.

LNBF dual band single output each:
- GeoSatPro Ck1 from SatelliteAV, or ...
- DMX741 from Galaxy Marketing.
Both are Gold Sponsors here, and have links at the top of every page
We should have reviews on both, plus many favorable discussions.

The Up side:
- low cost
- well documented (at least here on the forum)
- works well when tuned up

Down side:
- single output for each band
- hard to align for Ku only (Cband is fine)

For squeezing out the last drop, read one of the threads on ortho mode feeds.
Down side? very costly if you insist on Ku with your C-band! -

Dear ANOLE,

Many thanks to you and to everyone else for their information and advice.

You mentioned orthomode feedhorns. If I understand correctly, an orthomode feedhorn lets the user see a satellite's transponders without regard to polarity, thereby obviating the "odd-even" game that we 4DTV'ers know so well. For how long have orthomode feedhorns been available to us FTA types?

Also, you said that orthomode feedhorns are difficult to align for KU-Band reception. Do you anticipate that further development might make them easier to use in KU-Band? Or, do you think that I could purchase ease of KU-Band reception by using more expensive LNBs?

Please pardon my ignorance. I have been using our 10-foot dish since 1994, and our DSR-920 since around 1997; but I do not know nearly so much as many of you FTA veterans do. In my case, longevity does not indicate knowledge!

Sincerely,

Gordon F. Corbett