a couple of questions I think should be stickied or added to an FAQ

4

4sakntaln

I've looked for the answers to these and googled and no real luck...

1. )If I have multiple receivers do I need an LNB with multiple ports such as those with 4 ports. Then I have 4 wires running from my garage to each receiver in the house. Or can I just use a 1 to 4 port splitter after the single line gets into my house? What kind of splitter? I have only a single receiver now. But may decide to add in the future if this FTA setup works out will. What are my options for adding more receivers for my tv's? From a single dish?


2.) I have multiple receivers can each receiver view a different channel on the one satellite my stationary dish is pointed at? Or do they all tune to the same channel? If I have a motorized dish... and teenager is watching receiver 2 and decides to change to a different satellite will that drag my receiver 1 over to the different satellite and interrupt my viewing ? Can I disable his receiver from taking control of the motor? Or only have 1 of the 4 receivers be the master dish turner and the other 3 cannot turn the dish?

3.) I want my gray hoverman antenna to be mounted near my dish and then use the same line running into the house... I"ve seen 10 dollar diplexors at lowes that say they will connect and split the satellite and ota hdtv signal. So I will have one where the satellite and antenna meet outside then another to seperate the signals at my ota tivo box and satelllite receiver. Will this work? Has anyone here used a diplexor?


I have not setup any of my system yet. I hope to soon. I post these questions so I can decide how deep into this project I want to go. Current hardware is an X2 premium...a winegard ds2076 and an x2 hd lnb. Please don't discourage me by insulting my hardware before I have even started. Most FAQ's just tell you to get a lnb, satellite antenna, and a receiver then tell you how to point the dish. I haven't seen anything that shows you how to expand a FTA system.

All comments welcome.
 
Read, read, read and then read some more. Look around the site, look into all the various topics. All your questions will be answered. The more info you digest the more informed you'll be. Don't just go by topic titles, get curious.

Happy Testing!!!
 
Question #1
For multiples receivers you will need a 3x4 or 4x4 switch. All your LNBs will go to the them. From the 3x4 or 4x4 you will feed a 4x1 dideqc switch for each receiver
Question #2
Once all the receivers are feed with diseqc switch everyone will be independent. Everyone can watch what they want without interfering with the others.
Question #3
Its not recommended to use diplexer to run your OTA antenna or other with FTA. To many problems with. You will need a receiver with both tuners but still an individual cable for each one will be required.

Here is a sample to feed up to 10 LNBs into 4 receivers. There are several ways to do it

10 LNBs 4 Stbs.webp
 
4sakntaln said:
1. )What are my options for adding more receivers for my tv's? From a single dish?
Click to expand...
How much do you want to pay? There are some new LNBs that modulate both polarities into light waves that go over a single fiber optic line that can be split to feed mutiple TVs once inside the house. Do a search for "Global Invacom Optical LNB".

4sakntaln said:
2.)If I have a motorized dish... and teenager is watching receiver 2 and decides to change to a different satellite will that drag my receiver 1 over to the different satellite and interrupt my viewing ?
Click to expand...
That's why a lot of hobbyists have multiple dishes and/or stationary dishes with multiple LNBs for more than one satellite.
 
welp then... it seems to me that my system isn't future proof ha... I now want a second dish with dual output lnbs on both dishes... Atleast then I could feed my zinwell splitter properly for multiple receivers... I didn't know that and bought the single output lnb...

On to other's thoughts and input. I'm torn between getting a motor for my one dish or getting a 2nd stationary dish... If I get the motor I feel that it would be a bad idea to ever add more receivers... Then with only 2 stationary dishes pointed at just two satellites I may never know what is really up there but it would be easier to have multiple receivers...But if stations are changing all the time sticking to just 97* w may not be so bad...

But I'm also curious of the ease or PITA use of multi lnb brackets... I've seen some that say from 4* to 14* degree spread... So 2 antenna's with a total of 3 lnb's.... Which 3 satellites would you guys choose and why?... Don't ask me what I like to watch...I just want to know what you guys would choose please... Or which two? Or would you just stay to a single receiver and a motorized dish??? Ha I'm done now.
 
One tip I'll give you from experience: Watch out if you decide to put a motor on a dish with multiple LNB/Fs on a bracket or decide to put a multi-LNB/F bracket on a motorized dish. The weight from the extra LNB/Fs may strain the motor when trying to lift the dish from the end of the arc. I once had three LNB/Fs on my motorized dish and during the heat of Summer you could see the receiver display intermittently dimming while trying to move that dish. It was amazing how fast that dish turned when I removed the other two LNB/Fs off to either side of the main one at the focal point!:smiley14:
 
Motorised is definitely the way to go as you can scan in all sats and not be limited to several. When installing a motor, I would suggest going with a stronger or bigger motor then what is required, it will lessen the strain on your motor regardless of your feed.
 
Sublime said:
One tip I'll give you from experience: Watch out if you decide to put a motor on a dish with multiple LNB/Fs on a bracket or decide to put a multi-LNB/F bracket on a motorized dish. The weight from the extra LNB/Fs may strain the motor when trying to lift the dish from the end of the arc. I once had three LNB/Fs on my motorized dish and during the heat of Summer you could see the receiver display intermittently dimming while trying to move that dish. It was amazing how fast that dish turned when I removed the other two LNB/Fs off to either side of the main one at the focal point!:smiley14:
Click to expand...


That thought of having multiple lnb's on a motorized dish never crossed my mind... Do all lnb's then point at the same sat? Or each to a different one at X degrees apart? Does / Did that actually work??? Please elaborate as to what it did... ie multiple receivers and multiple sats received at the same time?...

Also how does it with a dual lnb when wiring the motor? I know the motor uses a pass through to the lnb...

And I've been looking at motors... I see the ones at amazon typically run higher but I figure easier return policy... Then galaxy-marketing.com has some that say they have metal gears... are metal gears that important? What are some better motors for around 70ish?

And I live in iowa... So we get some pretty cold weather and some nice snow storms... will I find my motor frozen in an unusable / no satellite location???
 
Last edited:
Instead of installing another 10' bud for the circular Atlantic sats I have decided to another feed to my present 10' channel master. The seperation will be approximately 8 degrees apart. I'm hoping to pick up 5w as well. Here is a picture of the lnbf I'm planning on slapping on and thanks to my neighbour lexmark who made the bracket:


005.webp
 
4sakntaln - "But I'm also curious of the ease or PITA use of multi lnb brackets... I've seen some that say from 4* to 14* degree spread..."

I set up my BUD originally to receive MeTV on 103º and Escapes on 99º quite a while ago But, when MeTV moved, I now use it for 101º and 105º. It was a real PITA to set up correctly, but worth the hassle. Another advantage was scanning my most eastern sat by being able to utilize the offset feed. The center feed now faces a blooming tree, by switching to the offset feed and bumping the dish a couple of points to the west, it picks up 45º with out any problems. Here's a jpg of the two feeds and dremel surgery.

On the Ku side, I haven't experimented much with multiple lnbs on a motorized setup with smaller dishes. I found it much easier, useful and accurate to use multiple lnbs on smaller stationary dishes. Getting up to four sats on one dish for me has not been a problem for my location. Unfortunately, they take up more space and look ugly.

Hope you enjoy testing and experimenting your new equipment!
 

Attachments

  • 99_103_Cband.webp
    99_103_Cband.webp
    8.9 KB · Views: 210
Copy that...

I'm thinking most of the stuff I would be interested in watching are on 83 w 97 w and 125w.... I don't think a triple lnb bracket will hit that much spread... So I wonder if I could just use 2 stationary dishs... one with a dual lnb pointed to 83 and 97... then a second dish pointed at 125w...
 
I've had pretty good luck with a dual LNB bracket on my 3' Ku dish. It has been parked on 91w and 97w for quite some time. Prior to that I had it on 91w and 101w with good results.
 
For my location I am using a DTV slimline for 125º with no problems, unless we get a bad thunderstorm (we don't have to worry about that too often). Again, 87º shares a DTV dish with 91º with no problems. 97º shares a dish with 103º and 113º. All this of course will vary with your location.
 
4sakntaln said:
That thought of having multiple lnb's on a motorized dish never crossed my mind... Do all lnb's then point at the same sat? Or each to a different one at X degrees apart? Does / Did that actually work??? Please elaborate as to what it did... ie multiple receivers and multiple sats received at the same time?...
Click to expand...
Three receiver downleads: One to the motor and then a single output LNB/f and the other two to 22kHz switches and then to two dual LNB/fs. All were for different satellites and most of the time this was a stationary dish, so there wasn't much point in having a motor on it. I should have just got another motorized dish...
4sakntaln said:
And I've been looking at motors... I see the ones at amazon typically run higher but I figure easier return policy... Then galaxy-marketing.com has some that say they have metal gears... are metal gears that important? What are some better motors for around 70ish?
Click to expand...
The first motor I had was a STAB HH-100 and the current one is a Powertech DG-380. I'd still be using the STAB if I hadn't tightened the coax with a wrench... Both have metal gears.
4sakntaln said:
And I live in iowa... So we get some pretty cold weather and some nice snow storms... will I find my motor frozen in an unusable / no satellite location???
Click to expand...
That's only ever happened with the actuators on my 10 foot C/Ku Band dish. They got old, the screw would squeal when turning and then in the Winter, it would freeze in one location or something would break and the dish would fall to one side.

Understand, of course, that i'm no expert and I'm only giving my experiences for you to ponder/learn from.:welcome:
 
I'd like everyone's thoughts on this layout.... I picked up a directv world dish.... I'm hoping to pick up two satellites with it... The two combinations will either be 83w and 89w... Or 97w and 103w... My understanding is that the lnb's are 6 degrees apart... Will it be possible to pick up one of those 2 combo's?

Now my second dish will be aimed at just one satellite...

I've got 3 x twin lnb's... I have an old zinwell wb68 left over from an old directv install... So I will have 6 leads coming from my dishes... can I plug those six leads into the zinwell wb68? Then feed up to 8 receivers so they can independently choose channels? I noticed that 2 of the 6 input ports on the zinwell are labeled flex and not 18v 13v... will the zinwell work? If not what splitters would I need to make this work without too crazy of a wiring layout that will piss off the wife?

Can I have 2 x wb68s with all of the inputs full that will feed a second wb68 along with another satellite plugged into it?

Have I confused or lost anyone? Because I think I'm confused and lost now too.... Google hasn't been my friend... and I"m seeing that the elevations are different for all 4 satellites... So I think aiming is going to be a real...PITA... input and help there please?

Perhaps I should have 2 x directv world dishes with 4 lnbs pointed at my 2 listed combo's then how would I switch that to multiple receivers? lol :cross:
 
Also what good is a single lnb if I can't connect it to multiple receivers?

can I use 2 x wb68's as 4x8 switches then run lines to 4 x 1 diseqc switches for each receiver? I already have one wb68 and they are cheaper than 4 x 4 multiswitches...
 
Last edited:
"I'd like everyone's thoughts on this layout.... I picked up a directv world dish.... I'm hoping to pick up two satellites with it... The two combinations will either be 83w and 89w... Or 97w and 103w... My understanding is that the lnb's are 6 degrees apart... Will it be possible to pick up one of those 2 combo's?"

You shouldn't have any problems with the combination you describe. It all depends on your location. Check the sat foot prints for your location and compare it to the attached EIRP chart attached.

"can I use 2 x wb68's as 4x8 switches then run lines to 4 x 1 diseqc switches for each receiver? I already have one wb68 and they are cheaper than 4 x 4 multiswitches..." Dunno, never tried them. Experiment and then post to let us know.

Here's my switching diagram that works for me.
 

Attachments

  • EIRP Scale.webp
    EIRP Scale.webp
    45.3 KB · Views: 195
  • Easts current switch layout.webp
    Easts current switch layout.webp
    97.3 KB · Views: 195
Last edited:
Back
Top