22kHz Switch Assistance

[Debbi]

I have a Fortec Star receiver with a Ku-band motorized dish and a C-band stationary dish. I would like to connect both dishes to my receiver and still be able to move the motorized dish.

Will a 22kHz Eagle Aspen Switch work in this application? If I understand the switch correctly, there are two inputs. The C-band dish would go into the 22kHz input and the Ku-band dish would plug into the 13/18 port. Am I on the right track? Thanks for any assistance.

[rainman]

Originally Posted by Debbi

I have a Fortec Star receiver with a Ku-band motorized dish and a C-band stationary dish. I would like to connect both dishes to my receiver and still be able to move the motorized dish.

Will a 22kHz Eagle Aspen Switch work in this application? If I understand the switch correctly, there are two inputs. The C-band dish would go into the 22kHz input and the Ku-band dish would plug into the 13/18 port. Am I on the right track? Thanks for any assistance.

both ports are 22khz one is on the other is off it really doesn't matter which one you install where just need to know when setting up receiver which is on and which is off.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by Debbi

I have a Fortec Star receiver with a Ku-band motorized dish and a C-band stationary dish. I would like to connect both dishes to my receiver and still be able to move the motorized dish.

Will a 22kHz Eagle Aspen Switch work in this application? If I understand the switch correctly, there are two inputs. The C-band dish would go into the 22kHz input and the Ku-band dish would plug into the 13/18 port. Am I on the right track? Thanks for any assistance.

Whether this switch will work, or partially work, will depend on what ku-band lnbf or lnb you are using. If you are using a standard LNB or LNBF , there shouldn't be a problem, and it doesn't matter what port you put the 2 dishes on. {there is no 13/18 port. There is a 22khz port and a NO-22khz port, the latter of which isn't labeled. The 13/18 just refers to the whole switch, not that port.} Just set your receiver to 22khz on for the dish on the 22khz port, and set the receiver to 22khz off for the dish on the other port that isn't labeled.

However, if your ku lnbf is a universal lnbf, it uses 22khz to switch between the upper and lower band, so if you try using it with a 22khz switch, it will at least not be able to access either upper or lower band on the lnbf (depending on which port you put it on), or it might not even work at all. If you have a universal lnbf, you'd be better off using a DiseqC switch, or switch to a standard lnbf. It depends on whether you need the low band on the universal lnbf.

[Debbi]

If I use a DiseqC switch will I still be able to turn the motorized dish? In the bedroom I have a DiseqC switch hooked up with both dishes, but at that point they are both stationary, I can only move the motorized dish in the living room. I really enjoy the whole FTA experience, but there's so much to learn! Thanks

[wejones]

Originally Posted by Debbi

If I use a DiseqC switch will I still be able to turn the motorized dish? In the bedroom I have a DiseqC switch hooked up with both dishes, but at that point they are both stationary, I can only move the motorized dish in the living room. I really enjoy the whole FTA experience, but there's so much to learn! Thanks

I'm a little confused about what you intend to do, or what you are currently doing. In general, you can usually only have one receiver controlling a dish. If you're using a DiseqC switch in one room and are controlling the dish from another room, the only way I see that working is if you don't have access to the C-band dish from the living room. The diseqC switch won't affect your ability to move the dish, however generally, you should have the switch after the motor. Like I have one receiver that connects to a motor, and then there is a switch that connects to 4 lnbfs, 2 on the motorized dish, and 2 other fixed dishes. But this switch is outside on the motorized dish. I can slave 4 different receivers from this setup, but only one receiver can control what sat/polarity I'm using. I have another C/Ku dish that is controlled by an analog receiver, and a DVB receiver is slaved off that, and has an inside diseqC switch that selects between C and Ku, and I can slave 2 other receivers off the DVB receiver, but only the analog receiver controlls the dish.

Anyway, not sure what you're trying to do.

[elgemcdlf]

Need to make sure the switch is between the motor and lnbf as Bill stated. I run multiple dishes and my DiSEqC is mounted on the center mast with feeds coming in from the other dishes. My coax route is from receiver to motor, motor to DiSEqC, DiSEqC to appropriate lnb or lnbf. I too am a bit confused on what you are doing with living room / bedroom. Perhaps if you layed out your coax routing along with desires we could better analyze your situation.

[Debbi]

I started with a motorized Ku-band setup. I have a dual lnf with one coax run directly into the bedroom receiver, the other coax runs to the motor and then into the living room so the dish can only be turned from one room. Everything was working great - then my neighbor gave my husband a large C-band dish.

I ran the large all-in-one cable from the big dish in to the analog receiver the dish came with, but I connected the coax portion of the cable to a DiSEqC, I also connected the bedroom Ku coax to the DiSEqC and ran a jumper coax to the bedroom receiver. Life was good - I had Ku and C on the bedroom receiver.

Now my husband wants me to add the C-band to the living room receiver. I considered buying a dual tuner receiver, but I thought possibly I could use the same setup I had in the bedroom - just use a DiSEqC. I'm just not sure if I can move the motorized dish through the DiSEqC. I hope that makes it more clear.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by Debbi

I started with a motorized Ku-band setup. I have a dual lnf with one coax run directly into the bedroom receiver, the other coax runs to the motor and then into the living room so the dish can only be turned from one room. Everything was working great - then my neighbor gave my husband a large C-band dish.

I ran the large all-in-one cable from the big dish in to the analog receiver the dish came with, but I connected the coax portion of the cable to a DiSEqC, I also connected the bedroom Ku coax to the DiSEqC and ran a jumper coax to the bedroom receiver. Life was good - I had Ku and C on the bedroom receiver.

Now my husband wants me to add the C-band to the living room receiver. I considered buying a dual tuner receiver, but I thought possibly I could use the same setup I had in the bedroom - just use a DiSEqC. I'm just not sure if I can move the motorized dish through the DiSEqC. I hope that makes it more clear.

I think I understand, although I'm not quite sure whether the C-band receiver is actually doing anything. There are still some analog channels you might be able to see with it. You also said the C band was fixed, so I guess you didn't hook up the motor wires. Perhaps you're just using the C band receiver to change polarity.

But anyway, since you have a dual output lnbf, I guess what you describe can work. The only issue is power for the C-band lnb. Ie the way you have it, I think your bedroom DVB receiver is powering the lnb, only when that receiver is viewing C band. I assume that you're thinking of using a "T" to divide the C band coax, running one line to each DiseqC switch? If both bedroom and livingroom receivers are set to C-band, both receivers would be sending power to the C band, and there is a possibility of interaction, and particularly if you accidently have one supplying 13 and the other 18V, that interaction could potentially cause problems. Most people usually insert DC blocks or use a one leg power pass "T", having one receiver being the one that provides power to the lnb, however if you're going through the diseqC switch, if that receiver is switched to ku, the lnb wouldn't be getting power so the other receiver couldn't use it.
You could have the analog receiver power the lnb, "T"ing off that to the "T" between your two diseqC switches, but that would significantly reduce the signal to your two DVB receivers. I have a couple gadgets that I used for a while, that would solve this, but I don't know where you can buy them. What I had, was a "T" that passed about 85% of the signal out the line that is DC-blocked. I used to have the power pass 15% leg going to my analog receiver, which still gave me enough signal to see the occasional C band signal I'd watch, but would provide a lot of signal to my digital receivers, which had DC blocks to isolate the power.
The power interaction may not be an issue, as some people just ignore this situation, but I wouldn't do it without DC blocks myself.
One other way out, is to find a power inserter of some kind, again, I'm not sure where you could buy one, but a module that will provide 18V to the lnb, without affecting the signal. This way, you could have DC blocked to both diseqC switches, and you'd get good signal to both receivers. I know these power inserters are out there.... I just don't know of a source, as I've never used one myself.

[elgemcdlf]

Originally Posted by Debbi

I started with a motorized Ku-band setup. I have a dual lnf with one coax run directly into the bedroom receiver, the other coax runs to the motor and then into the living room so the dish can only be turned from one room. Everything was working great - then my neighbor gave my husband a large C-band dish.

I ran the large all-in-one cable from the big dish in to the analog receiver the dish came with, but I connected the coax portion of the cable to a DiSEqC, I also connected the bedroom Ku coax to the DiSEqC and ran a jumper coax to the bedroom receiver. Life was good - I had Ku and C on the bedroom receiver.

Now my husband wants me to add the C-band to the living room receiver. I considered buying a dual tuner receiver, but I thought possibly I could use the same setup I had in the bedroom - just use a DiSEqC. I'm just not sure if I can move the motorized dish through the DiSEqC. I hope that makes it more clear.

You will burn out the DiSEqC switch if you place it between the receiver and motor but if you placed the DiSEqC switch between the motor and lnbf it should be fine. You may be better off looking into the loop through feature on your receivers. As Bill has stated "T'ing" the line will result in signal drop to the point neither receiver will have C Band. This is why you are running a dual output lnbf for Ku.

Are you going to watching both tv's at the same time? Perhaps a multiswitch would do the trick. I do not know enough about them to make any recommendation as to which one but basic concept is (as I understand it) x lnb / lnbf feeds in and y outputs for receivers.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by elgemcdlf

You will burn out the DiSEqC switch if you place it between the receiver and motor but if you placed the DiSEqC switch between the motor and lnbf it should be fine. You may be better off looking into the loop through feature on your receivers. As Bill has stated "T'ing" the line will result in signal drop to the point neither receiver will have C Band. This is why you are running a dual output lnbf for Ku.
.......

I forgot about the moving {Ku} dish issue. I don't know if it will really burn out the diseqc switch or not, but many people have reported such issues, so it probably would be best to put the switch where Steve recommends, however that's going to complicate the C-band reception issue, as the "T" will have to be out at the dish too. If you use a power inserter of some kind, I guess you could still have that back in the bedroom, and have the "T" and the DC-blocked DiseqC for the living room out at the dish on the lnbf side of the motor as Steve said. You should still be able to move the Ku dish from the living room. If I understand, you aren't concerned about moving the Ku from the bedroom. Do I understand correctly that you have 3 coaxes coming into the house? Ie one from the motor to the living room, one from the 2 port lnbf to the bedroom, and one from the C-band to the bedroom? Or is your bedroom diseqC switch out at the dish, and you only have 2 coaxes coming in? If the latter is the case, then you're probably going to have an issue re powering the C-band lnb, unless you run a power inserter line out to the dish or something.... possibly through an un-used wire on your ribbon cable (which it sounds like you aren't using.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by elgemcdlf

.... You may be better off looking into the loop through feature on your receivers. ....

Good point, but again this will require the 2nd receiver in the chain needs to be watching the dish that the 1st receiver is tuned to. But if this is OK, ie if you don't need to watch both rooms at the same time on different sats, then this might be a good option.

However there is yet another option, which can relate to the above. What I do, is use these Radio Shack pyramid shaped IR remote extenders. I have a couple sets of them, so that I have IR transmitters in several rooms, and IR receivers in a couple rooms., and they also have rf versions of this sort of thing.
Basically, I have most of my sat receivers down in the basement, and can control them from either the living room or bedroom. Doing it this way, you'll be able to move the dish from either room, provided that your two receivers aren't the same (I run into this a bit, because I have 3 Fortec receivers, and the remote for one of them controls 2 of them, but the other 2 remotes don't affect the others, so it sometimes results in remote conflicts). But the way I do it is to not have sat receivers in each room, but instead have centrally located receivers that feed video to each room. How well this works will depend upon how far it is from the centrally located point to each room, and what kind of inputs your TVs have. If your TVs use A/V RCA connectors, I've been able to get away with 50' cable runs, but ran into issues when I extended this to 75'. If you're using ch3/4 rf to either TV, you can go a bit further. I'm not sure how far component inputs will go, none of mine go more than 10' or so. But in my case, the TV in my bedroom is very old, so I just run RF lines to it, and have the composite and component lines shorter going to my living room main TV. But I can watch and control multiple receivers from either room, when the receivers are in a 3rd room.

[Debbi]

I see what you mean about losing signal strength if I split the C-band signal. I have the same problems with Ham radio.

Maybe the easiest fix would be a dual lnb for the C-band dish and run into a dual tuner receiver. Viewsat has a nice HDTV FTA dual tuner receiver, Viewsat 9000 Version 2 HD.