Will my Big Dish recieve FTA MPEG Signal?

[Kwato]

I have just purchased a Pansat 2700a reciever and DiSeqC switch. I have a solid 10ft. C-band dish with a corotor II+ feedhorn that already has .6db Ku/lnb on it That I used when I had my 4dtv that is no longer in use. I also have a 1 meter solid stationary dish that I could buy a dish motor for. Can I use my exitsting c-band dish to hook my fta reciever up to? If not what more do I need to buy to make my system work (i.e. Antenna type and size) I live in south texas and have a clear view of all of the satellite arc and been told by others I should be able to get great reception. Any information will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Cascade]

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=75730

Moved from incorrect section.

 

[Cascade]

Kwato, you can use your big dish on your Pansat, I'm not familiar with the receiver but I'm sure someone who owns one will be able to let you know for certain if you can use it with the LNB/actuator you have.

Is the 1m dish offset or prime focus?
A lot of people have motorised Ku systems with the DMSI SG2100, I'm using the SG2100 on an offset Fortec 1.2meter dish with great success.
There are other motors out there however there such as the HH120 however nobody in here has reported or reviewed them so I can't tell you how they perform with the larger dishes.
The Pansat should control any Diseqc motor without a problem and by using a 1meter dish you'll pull in a great signal.

If there's anything I missed I haven't woken up yet. (Need more coffee)

Welcome to the forums

 

[snathanb]

This adapter:

http://www.satellitesuperstore.com/vbox.htm

looks like a good option... looks like it converts the Diseqc signals from the pansat to move your big dish.

 

[Mr Tony]

The 2700 will control a big dish motor...I think DrHydro is doing that

 

[Stefan]

The 2700 will control a big dish motor...I think DrHydro is doing that

Are you sure about that? I'm not saying your wrong as I don't own a 2700. I do own a 2500 though and it won't directly controll a 36v big dish motor without something like the Vbox or Vbox II. My pansat 2500 does, however, have the ability to directly control a polar rotor and has connections to hookup the wires for that. Could it be that perhaps your thinking of the 2700s ability to control the polarizers motor instead of the actuator? Anyway, the problem of controlling the actuator can be solved by either using the old reciever to move the dish manually or by purchasing somehting like the VBox or VBox II and using it to convert the disecq commands form the pansat to signals that will control the actuator. The pansat can and will control the polarizing motor in the corotor.

A 10' solid aluminum dish is probably about the best dish you can get (except maybe for a 12' solid) because bigger is almost always better. I certainly wish I had such a dish and I'm sure many others here do also. The only thing is that alignment will be very critical on Ku band as the beamwidth of such a large dish will be very narrow at Ku wavelengths. So, you may find that even though the dish was aligned okay for C band, you might have to tweak it just a bit for Ku.

 

[Kwato]

Thanks for all the precise information guys I am sure I will be watching my fta in no time now

 

[drhydro]

Kwato,
You will be able to use the 2700 to control your big dish. You will need a Vbox II to control dish movement, the 2700 already has the connections for controlling the polarotor. Your setup sounds a lot like what i have, i have a feeling you are really going to like what you are able to view, and the ease of use after you set it all up. The Pansat 2700 is perfect for this application because it will do diseqc commands to the vbox II, and also control polarotor, eliminating the need for an analog box to control the dish. Also it has a nifty little universal remote, very useful :-D

You will find that you have to fine tune stuff for the ku side, what seems perfect for C band can be way off for KU band. Of course once you have all the sats dialed in for ku band, the c band is usually perfect :-D

The way to set up the system (once you have the vbox II) goes like this:
Using your existing run of 5 leg c band ribbon cable use the RG6 from both your ku lnb and c band lnbs and connect them to the DiSEqC switch. Just to keep this easy, run your c band to port one, and your ku to port 2. From the diseqc switch run 1 line of rg6 to the vbox II. From the VBox II run 1 line of RG6 to the LNB input on the back of the Pansat 2700. Connect the three wires running to your polarotor of your big dish (pulse, ground, +5) to the back of the Pansat. You are now ready to start playing with your system.

Good luck, if you have more questions please feel free to ask.

 

[Mr Tony]

Thanks DrHydro for the info!

so I was partially right

 

[drhydro]

Always glad to be of assistance, you folks have helped me many, many times. BTW Kwato, i would make sure to get the updated version of the v box. There are two models, the standard v box and the v box II, i would get the v-box II, cost is around $79.