H180, 6foot dish, C&Ku Analog, DVB & DCII

[pmb1010]

I'll try to keep things going on this thread, of how this install is going.
Equipment:

180cm Fortec Prime Focus Dish
H180 motor
BSC621 C/Ku LNBF
DSC920 Analog/DCII receiver
Lifetime Ultra

I setup a temporary mount, put up 8 feet of 2.5" EMT pipe (3 into the ground, 5 above) with a 1/3 bag of quick concrete. I knew this was temporary, so I did not pin the pipe. Mistake 1 - it rotates in the concrete. Maybe not a bad thing.

The biggest hassle I had was mounting the motor to the dish. Bibbler cut up the square tubing that came with the stand and used that. I did same, but I would NOT do this again. The issue with it is the motor sits to close to the dish, and the brackets hit the dish flanges. I had to bend (a lot) to get the motor to sit right. I didn't like that, I'm not sure if I have warped the surface of the dish by doing this. The right way is to get angle bracket material, maybe 2" by 1" which would allow the motor to move away from the back of the dish. My plan is to re-fabricate this mount.

Now I have the dish on the pole, and am using a GI 650i receiver I have to move it around. I'm used to USALS. This is a big learning experience to set up a polar mount. After a few hours of hunting, looking for signals, I find the ABC signal on 87w on channel 20. But, I'm expecting Doc Scott on this... hmmm. Well I come to find that the GI receiver doesn't seem to play well with the BSC621, as I change the type from Normal to Reversed in the settings, and no Doc Scott. Never came in. Now I'm wondering if the LNBF is bad, as I did have my other BSC-621-2 hooked up to this dish a week ago, with the 920 and I DID see University network channel.

I kept at it, adjusting, fiddling to find and locate analog channels (they are far and few between, making this a challenge) but I did manage to locate EWTN, TBN over on the west side of the arc. Haveing the ability to rotate the pole in the ground (rather then the dish brackets on the pole) is a good thing here. It was easier to adjust.

Next day I brought out the 920 and hooked it in. NOW i'm seeing doc scott. I did manage to DigiCipherLock on a bunch of channels (no subscription) but it's working. The fixed skew on the LNB is going to be a hassle, as one of the sats west needed additonal 20 deg of skew, and that throws off the others. Thus, the advantage of a co-rotor setup.

I tried to find Ku test pattern analog channel on 85w channel 6, but I could not find it.

Now to try the Ku digital side with Fortec box. One thing I notice right away... Turning the Fortec box on and off (connected to the Ku port on 621) makes the picture BETTER on C band! Looks like the 920 box is not putting out enough voltage or whatever for V/H. Another issue to work out.
I did move the dish over G10R, found the C band channel 19 that Spike used to be on, it has VCII and color bars. Put the Fortec on the Ku side, and after very very minor tweak, there's some KKTU and whatver DVB coming thru.

So thats it for now. More to come later.

[wejones]

...

Now to try the Ku digital side with Fortec box. One thing I notice right away... Turning the Fortec box on and off (connected to the Ku port on 621) makes the picture BETTER on C band! Looks like the 920 box is not putting out enough voltage or whatever for V/H. Another issue to work out.
.....

I don't understand what you're comparing here? Ie are you comparing C-920/Ku-Ultra{on/off}
or
C-920/Ku-Ultra-920{on/off}
or
are you slaved via "T"/DC-block?
AND....are you watching same polarity on C and Ku???

Ie I seem to remember someone in this group running analog off the passthru without a DC block. I've always thought this was a questionable situation, and I'm wondering whether there is some interaction between the two receivers.... ie perhaps without a DC block the Ultra is pulling down the DC power on the 920, depending on the polarity being called for????
If only using the Ultra on the Ku, I'm curious about whether the same polarity is on both bands. Again, I'm stuck with the co-rotor mentality where the polarities have to be the same, and even though there was the discussion about electronic switching in these lnbfs, I wonder if there is some interaction of the voltages internal in the 621 lnbf, rather than it being a problem with the voltage put out by the 920? I've never seen it verified in the 621 documents that both C and Ku can be operated on different polarities at the same time. You'd think that you could, but maybe not???
This is when one of those JVI-10 type signal meters (I have a Channel Master single version similar to this) would come in handy, since you'd be able to monitor voltages or currents on both C and Ku side at the same time.
Anyway... interesting.

[pmb1010]

Not slaved, but have 2 individual cables run back.

C-920 was on Doc Scott. Own TV. I think it's V.

Ku-DVB was on nothing (just hooked up) and just pointing at 87w cuz it's all on the same LNBF.

Turning on the DVB receiver I noticed change on C band signal.
I dont know how it was set.

Can't use DC block. This isn't serial, but parallel connections. The Ku LNBF on this BSC-621 must get power to work.

Update for today:
Seems to be working. I have C band running, I'm watching the ex-Spike TV channel on G0-19, and DVB is on G10R's RTN channels.
When I turn on the DVB box, I get more "sparkles" on the G0-19 channel, but I really dont care as once I get this finished up, it'll be all on one TV and both boxes will not be used at the same time.

As a test, it would be very interesting to put the splitters in, with one leg DC blocked to see if this BSC621 continues to operate (I suspect it will not).

[wejones]

Not slaved, but have 2 individual cables run back.

C-920 was on Doc Scott. Own TV. I think it's V.

Ku-DVB was on nothing (just hooked up) and just pointing at 87w cuz it's all on the same LNBF.

Turning on the DVB receiver I noticed change on C band signal.
I dont know how it was set.

Can't use DC block. This isn't serial, but parallel connections. The Ku LNBF on this BSC-621 must get power to work.

Update for today:
Seems to be working. I have C band running, I'm watching the ex-Spike TV channel on G0-19, and DVB is on G10R's RTN channels.
When I turn on the DVB box, I get more "sparkles" on the G0-19 channel, but I really dont care as once I get this finished up, it'll be all on one TV and both boxes will not be used at the same time.

As a test, it would be very interesting to put the splitters in, with one leg DC blocked to see if this BSC621 continues to operate (I suspect it will not).

When I was referring to a DC block, I was talking about having both the Ultra and the Ku side of the 920 hooked up on Ku, either via passthru or via splitter, in which case a DC block is necessary on one receiver, and the power comes from the other one.

But I see what you're doing anyway, ie just have the Ultra alone on Ku. The interesting thing is that this lnbf is intended to be used with it's internal switch, and most external switches don't pass DC to the port that isn't selected. Although perhaps the switch that's inside this LNBF does pass DC to both lnbs. I know that you aren't using the internal switch, I was just thinking about how it was intended to work if you DID use the internal switch, which would be to have the same voltage on both LNBs. However since you're NOT using the internal switch, you could be putting different voltages on the two lnbs, as well as to the 2 sets of polarity probes. I just have to wonder if due to it's design, it might be confused when it has different voltages applied to it??? Just a thought, but it might be interesting to change polarity on the DVB unit while watching the C-band side.

[pmb1010]

change polarity on the DVB unit while watching the C-band side.

as I change channels on G10R on DVB, there's no difference on the C band reception.

[Larry Acklin]

I vote for LO leakage. 5150X2 = close to 10750

Larry

[pmb1010]

Some pictures,

the H180 motor attachment.
Various shots of dish, and BSC621.

The last pic is of what the dish is looking at (currently G5) looking thru the hole in the dish.

This is temorary install on some EMT tubing. I have some black 2" pipe ready to go in.
Tree guy is coming tomorrow to consult on the big maple tree right in my way.

[Ski5010]

What does slaving do for me when all is done,Cause i did it but i didn't notice a change or what am i looking for exactly.Oh and what channel and sat is the IFC on Thank you

[pmb1010]

slaving a receiver is essentially piggy-backing one receiver to another.
Typically you'd use a 4dtv/analog receiver, and a DVB receiver. The one that controls dish movement is usually the "master" and other, the"slave".
WHen you point the dish, the 2nd receiver tags along and is sharing the LNB's primary sat signal.

So if your 4dtv receiver moves the dish, install splitters to send the signal to your DVB box.
BUD Slave Kit Splitters, Switches, DVB MPEG2 Sidecar 4DTV Receiver ....Great Prices

When you tune your 4dtv to say G0 (Galaxy 10R), the DVB receiver could be used to pick up C band and Ku band digital channels (assuming you have both C and Ku on the dish)

If you slave the other way, DVB does the dish motor drving, you run the IF LOOP output of the DVB receiver to your 4dtv receiver. In this case, the DVB receiver controls the LNB.

My system is setup like the link above at this point, except the Ku on the 4dtv is not hooked up just yet. Soon, but not yet.

Independent Film Channel is on 4dtv satellite X4 (99DegW) Channel 252

[Ski5010]

Ok Great! i got the idea now . Tell me is IFC KU Band