I am in the process of using two m18 inch rounf dual LNB dishes to point at the 101 deg west longitude bird and the 119 deg west longitude bird. I live in Michigan and I assume I use the 31 deg elevation figure for both dishes and tweak them in from there using the signal level meter. I have the RCA DTC100 receiver. In the setup menu for the signal strength meter do you use the option then for the oval dish?

I saw a site on yahoo once where someone had a nice site showing diagrams for different configurations using two round dishes. I desire to get one HD feed and two other separate normal feeds for three receivers, one of which is a HD unit.

I have two 22khz switches and yet need to buy a powered multiswitch to combine the signals. Can anyone recommend a good powered multiswitch and recommend a connection diagram or know where that old site might be?

Paul, it sounds to me that the oval-dish option should work, just pretending that each dish is a separate LNB. For the feeds, it sounds like you should use a 5-in/4-out HD multiswitch (I can't suggest any particular brand), so you can combine the signal from the Terk if you wish (in which case you'll need a diplexer at each tuner), and simply run a single coax from the switch to each tuner.

The non-HD tuners will simply ignore the HD signal, but the HD unit will have access to all channels. Don't forget to cap the unused output, using a terminator, which is merely a 75ohm resistor in an F-plug.

Larry

This message was edited by Larry Fine on 12/06/01 01:13.48.

Here is the site to find the pointing coordinates.
[Link: dbsforums.com]

-Robert

This message was edited by rlj5242 on 12/06/01 09:43.59.

Thanks for thge response. The coordiante site was helpful and I will do a little research on the multiswitch.

I'm a high end home theater designer/installer in Manhattan NY. I've been using two dishes to do HD DTV since we started doing HD DTV. You get better signal strength on both birds and you can cover them. You can buy HD multi switches everyway. If you need any help email me at Quest51459@aol.com.

Thanks for your response in the remote forum. How do I hook up the multi-switch? I have a channel Master model 6904IFD which is a 4x4 multiswitch with the two inputs having the option of 13v or 18v labelled SAT A in and Sat B in. Sat B input has the "(22khz)" desgnator by it. There are then 4 outputs.

I measured the DC voltage output of the DSS receiver for DirecTV and it measures 18v. so therefore I assume that I use the 18v. inputs. Now since both dishes are dual LNB's I assume that I will combine them using a 22Khz blocking switch for which I have two of. (NAS P/N 9305)

Therefore, I will hookup the two outputs of each LNB to one of the 22Khz blocking switches with its output to the 18v output of the multi-switch. I then shoulf get four HD outputs on the multi-switch. Is this correct? I really only have one HD receiver and TV yet have two other DSS receivers on my whole house video distribution system. I assume that the regular DSS boxed will ignore the HD signal and only use what they need.

Paul, let me educate you a little:

With a single dish, the 13v or 18v is output by each receiver, which tells the LNB whether it should accept 'right-hand' or 'left-hand' circular polarization, which determines whether it tunes in even or odd channel numbers.

A dual-output LNB allows two receivers to share a dish by letting each receiver send the LNB its own 13 or 18 volts. This limits a dish to two receivers.

The multiswitch permanently sets one output of the dual LNB to each polarization, and allows each of the multiswitch's outputs to independently tune to even or odd channels by choosing which of the dual outputs it is tuning from. Now, you can have as many receivers as you have outputs.

An HD-capable receiver does the same thing, with the addition of the receiver adding a 22KHz signal to the 13 or 18 volts, which tells the HD-capable multiswitch to go over to the 'Sat B' dish (for only the receiver that has the 22KHz output, the HD unit.) Now, an HD receiver can pick from among 4 inputs instead of 2, by sending to the receiver 13v, 18v, 13v w/22KHz, or 18v w/22KHz. (The 22KHz signal does not go to the LNB.)

The non-HD receivers will only be able to tune in channels from the Sat A dual LNB.

Got it?

Larry
www.fineelectricco.com



This message was edited by Larry Fine on 12/12/01 19:03.26.

So how about using two round dishes with single LNBs for HDTV? Just use a multiswitch with SatA and SatB connections? Will this work?

Brian

Brian, do you mean:

A) one dish for standard and one dish for HD?, or

B) two dishes for HD? (which would require a third for std)

With option 'A', you won't be able to get all channels with more than two receivers. With only two receivers, you'd be better off without the multiswitch, and just connect each receiver to one dish/LNB.

With option 'B', you'd have to connect each dish/LNB to one input. You're still limited to one satellite.

If you want a more detailed answer, please try to be more specific with what you're asking about.

Larry
www.fineelectricco.com

Larry, thanks for the info and education. I now have two dual LNB 18" dishes connected to the inputs of the Channel Master 6904IFD01 multiswitch (approved by DirecTV). I have no trouble finding the 101 deg bird with dish A.(37.7 deg elev, 205 deg azimuth) yet cannot yet find the 119 deg bird (29.2 deg elev and 226 deg azimuth) (I live outside of Detroit in the 48382 area code).

To see whether the "B" dish was working i aimed it at teh 101 deg bird and found it quickly. I used that to compensate for my compass yet with fine movements could not get anything.

I have a RCA DTC100 HD receiver and had it in the aiming mode after selecting the oval dish option. I had transponder 23 selected which said that it was an active one.

I beleive I have a tree limb obstruction problem yet with all of the leaves off I expected to at least get some signal in. I do have a clear path on the roof for the 119 deg dish yet before I go through the effort of locating it there and run the cable I wanted to see that I have everything else in order. I will attempt to temporarily mount it on a picnic table in the yeard with a known clear path to check it out.

Questions: Is the 119 deg bird broadcasting 24/7? Could I have tested it when it wasn't broadcasting? Is the signal that sensitive that a few small limbs could prevent enough of a signal to get through to not register anything?

I assume that when I was successful to temporarily get the 101 deg bird on dish "B" with a strong 85 signal that the LNB's, cables, multiswitch and receiver are OK. Is that a good assumption?

Getting close yet still not there.

Paul, I'm not sure about the broadcasting times of HD, as i'm not an HDer. May I suggest you try a temporary bypass of the switch, and (using an F-connector coupler) hook the B dish directly to the HD receiver? Also, make sure the 'oval' option is the right one for two round dishes.

Larry
www.fineelectricco.com

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread. To cap this one off I moved my second dish out far enough to miss the branch obstruction and had no difficulty then in aiming and receiving the the 119 deg bird. Apparantly a few branches can essentially block the signal. Thanks again to all.

Paul,

Glad you got it working! It is amazing how sometimes I see dishes planted in the middle of trees, yet I, like you get one "little" branch in the way and can't get a signal....who knows!!!

To answer your previous question, yes, 119 is 24/7.

randy