Getting Ready to join C-Band Crew

[WilburSmith]

Good Morning Guys!

I'm looking forward to getting my C-band antenna up. Still need to plant the pole in the ground after a couple more coats of paint. I still missing the positioner. It seems you can only get them from one place and are expensive.

Ebay seems to have a lot of 1980's or 1990's positioners will they work?

What do you guys use?

Thank you!

[el bandido]

What is the dish size, make/model?

Buying a positioner from the 1980's or 1990's will be like buying a car or truck from the same year range. Yes, It may work, but most likely, you will have to work on it. Get a decent positioner for decent results.

Same with the actuator. Get a good one, else you will be fumbling around all the time with positioner counts and the dish will not track.

Wiring between between positioner and actuator needs to be of good quality and capable of the current needed to power the actuator.

A decent positioner and actuator will cost somewhere between $500 and $900.00, depending on your needs. Buying the wiring and solid copper core coax cable could easily put the bill over $1,000.00 which is cheap in today's money. And I still have not listed everything that you need.

It helps greatly to know what type of dish you have. Pictures are even better. But you will get what you put into it. If the parts are old, cheap or junk, then your c band system will perform poorly. Used parts are used parts. Cheap parts are cheap parts. There are very few exceptions.

[ArloG]

EB pointed me to Ali Express. It looks like the v-box is currently the only kid in town.
Don't skimp and be tempted to a Superjack linear actuator. Heretofore known as 'supercrap'.
A dish mover (actuator control) that is pre-diseqc 2.X that has the ability to store positions will be a pure PITA. Sure, they will work. But you'll need a cheat sheet next to it and have to push buttons to move the dish and stop at a particular counter position.
Look out for the ones that may have old satellite memory positions. Yeah. You can use them. But get a labeler to make stickers to mark the few satellite storage slots you have with them. Still. Every time you want to go-to another satellite. Get up and smash a button.
The v-box movers will allow you to store satellite positions. And your receiver will send a command to it that moves the dish accordingly. That's a good thing.
Buy once, cry once. It will be relatively expensive.
I do wonder the wide selection of v-box movers on Ali Express. Apparently clones of the original. Some are really cheap and some more expensive.
So the thing is. Are they all basically the exact same thing? Or are some junk inside? Just like getting a supercrap. You don't want to spend more cash because you skimped in the first place.
At least we ain't out there in the snow at 20 below turning a crank while someone yells "A little more.....noooo.....too much, go back a little".

[WilburSmith]

I got the dish last spring from a lady that wanted it gone. I could have it if I agree to dig it up and haul it away. So I did! Over the winter I had the polar mount sand blasted and powder coated. I also replace all the nuts and bolts. Looks alot better now. I also invested in a venture actuator 24 inch. IT suppose to have a 40 count and reed switch. Company says that security wire from Home Depot can be used for the sensor as well as their electrical wire. Don't know the brand name of the dish but maybe the pics help?

A modern day positioner along with a IR extender is all I need now.

I'm in this just for the fun and learning value while knowledge sharing as I can.[Only registered and activated users can see links. ][Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

[el bandido]

The dish appears to be small (1.8-2.4 meters), but No clue really as the size is not stated. You won't have any weight problems turning it.

Don't know why you need IR extender as the dish movement is automatic with the proper positioner. Ali Express will have the best price probably of anyone for a postioner. But it may be wired for European voltage when you get it, so you personally would probably not save anything if that is the case. Rick sells the correct positoner for our area but at a higher price.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Make sure you know what you are getting! I have never seen something made cheaper than these things, but it is all that is available that works properly right now.

[WilburSmith]

This dish is 7 feet and 8 inches in diameter. According to the charts I should expect to get 90% reception within my area.

IR extender/repeater is used to avoid the need for having to buy a positioner for each room in the house. There is a audrino project that was successfully completed where the positioner has an onboard server and using wifi the position changed via web interface. That is really convenient. But need to find time to build.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

[ArloG]

You do realize that it's not like a DN or DirecTV setup where you can have a hopper or what not in every room.
The options would be to stream from the receiver to a smart tv or streaming box that can use an app.
I'm so sure of the unicable lnbf's but hear that they don't play well in the USA. EB???
But when the master receiver is commanded to change a channel that is on another satellite. The dish mover (v-box) will indeed get the command to move your dish.
And the receiver will need to be in standby mode to use it in another room.

For me. I have a my master receiver hooked to a dish mover. If I decide to watch in another room. I have to put the receiver in standby if I intend on watching different channels on other satellites. With the receiver on, I can watch as many channels that are on the currently tuned transponder in the other room.

I do have another Enigma2 receiver in "client mode". It acts just like the main receiver. Same menu's, same channel selection screens. No cables (wifi) or with an Ethernet cable to my router that is also connected to the main receiver. No coax is needed.

But still. If the main receiver is on 127W 3940 H. In the other room I can watch channels on that transponder. Only when I put the main receiver in standby can I watch any channel I wish on any satellite I have stored in the dish mover.

[WilburSmith]

Isn't it so that the V-box can be used solely as a dish mover and not wired through the receiver? It would seem that in this case only the dish mover needs to be on and can be in any room you decide because the IR extender will tell it to move from whatever room your in.

[el bandido]

Isn't it so that the V-box can be used solely as a dish mover and not wired through the receiver? It would seem that in this case only the dish mover needs to be on and can be in any room you decide because the IR extender will tell it to move from whatever room your in.

Depends on the model of dish mover. The cheap version is not automatically controlled so you have to manually move the dish each time. The better version has diseqc 1.2 control and can be moved automatically by most fta receivers supporting diseqc 1.2. You also have the option to move the dish manually with the better version, but I don't know why anyone would want to do that unless there is some sort of pronlem.

For me, I can move the dish from anywhere in the house and for a distance outside. This is done using Android app and is much easier for me than fooling with an extender.

[lme]

[QUOTE=el band.

For me, I can move the dish from anywhere in the house and for a distance outside. This is done using Android app and is much easier for me than fooling with an extender.[/QUOTE]
Same here, but phone's app can control the box only, witch will request the positioner to move the dish. Positioners do not have the lan/wifi feature yet; the only way to operate them is by his remote or stb box.