Directv dish dedicated for radio?

[Powrline]

Hi everybody, maybe someone can help me figure this out. The radio DX'er in me has been peaked and I might as well get a fresh roll of the handyman's secret weapon out, (duct tape), 'cause I think that I am going to need it.

I am trying to configure my directv dish to receive Muzak Radio from Echostar 7 @ 119.0 deg. W.

My receiver is the Mercury II From Fortec Star.

When I was scanning the Echostar 7 (which I thought was Echostar 7) the receiver wouldn't list the transponders as "L" or "R". It was scanning for "V" + "H".

I haven't found any frequencies on the Directv satellite @ 101.0 deg, or the Echostar 7 @ 119.0 deg. yet.

Would it be better for me to strap the circular LNB to the to the universal LNB on the dish and install a DiSEqC switch to the system?

I was just hooking it up temporarily to see if I can receive the Muzak stations, but if I can receive them, I will want to tune to them regularly.

I plan to buy the Invacom QPH-031 when I have a few dollars laying around, but in the mean time I will probably just buy the DiSEqC switch to get the set up to work.

I was moving the Dtv dish by hand to point it to the Echostar 7 with a temporary hookup to my receiver.

Thank you,
Bill

[Iceberg]

Originally Posted by Powrline

I am trying to configure my directv dish to receive Muzak Radio from Echostar 7 @ 119.0 deg. W.

My receiver is the Mercury II From Fortec Star.

When I was scanning the Echostar 7 (which I thought was Echostar 7) the receiver wouldn't list the transponders as "L" or "R". It was scanning for "V" + "H".

Circular polarity is different but there is an easy conversion
Left is Horizontal
Right is Vertical

I remember "RV"

I haven't found any frequencies on the Directv satellite @ 101.0 deg, or the Echostar 7 @ 119.0 deg. yet.

DirecTV uses its own encryption setup (DSS) so the DVB boxes wont pick it up. The LNB LO has to be 11250 standard (not Universal)

Would it be better for me to strap the circular LNB to the to the universal LNB on the dish and install a DiSEqC switch to the system?

you could do that. Thats what I do. I have a simple DBS LNB strapped ot the Sadoun .4 dual I have

I was just hooking it up temporarily to see if I can receive the Muzak stations, but if I can receive them, I will want to tune to them regularly.

yes you can receive them. I have a simple box set up for a couple of the stations

I plan to buy the Invacom QPH-031 when I have a few dollars laying around, but in the mean time I will probably just buy the DiSEqC switch to get the set up to work.

If your current system is not broke, why upgrade? I had a QPH and due to my northern location (Minnesota) the weight of the LNB actually made the signal worse.

I was moving the Dtv dish by hand to point it to the Echostar 7 with a temporary hookup to my receiver.

Thank you,
Bill

check out the dish aiming info
Satellite Look Angles Satellite Heading Calculator Azimuth Elevation Skew Tilt LNBF Latitude and Longitude values

that will give you the right angle to aim the dish and where to aim it. No need to worry about skew as circular polarity needs no skew. Its the same however the LNB is aimed.

good luck

[Powrline]

Thank you for all of your input, Iceberg. I will be checking out the links and info that you posted and trying to receive the signal.

I was hoping that Lyngsat wasn't wrong about the Muzak Stations. I was enjoying the Music Choice stations until they were scrambled. Hopefully I will catch the beam on Muzak before they are gone..

Thanks again

Bill

[Iceberg]

They've been free for dang 4 years now. Sirius is scrambled but Muzak is still there

[Powrline]

Originally Posted by Iceberg

check out the dish aiming info
Satellite Look Angles Satellite Heading Calculator Azimuth Elevation Skew Tilt LNBF Latitude and Longitude values

that will give you the right angle to aim the dish and where to aim it. No need to worry about skew as circular polarity needs no skew. Its the same however the LNB is aimed.

good luck

That really helped. I haven't succeeded in getting signal on the dish yet, because I have it elevated at 39 deg. (the same as the Directv 101.0 deg sat).

I will probably go out this weekend and set the proper elevation and see if I can get a signal that way.

I ordered a 22 MHz switch off of Ebay, hopefully it will be here by the weekend and I can get the dish permanently mounded.

Well, as permanent as I can until I replace the wooden 4x4 post with the steel pipe as I have often wanted to do.


Thanks
Bill

[Powrline]

I received the 22KHz switch in the mail and connected it to the two dishes. It seems that I would get signal off of the small dish when hooked to the "on" side of the switch, but couldn't get it to switch over to the other dish. I connected the bigger dish to the "on" side, then the smaller dish wouldn't show a signal. I must have spent four hours between two evenings and a Saturday going back to the receiver and then out to the dishes.

The problem? No ground...

When I thought it through, I realized that it is an electrical connection, and without a ground, I would be trudging through snow and the switch still wouldn't work. Since I have the dishes grounded, it was a simple connection before the 22KHz was switching back and forth like it was intended.

Thanks to all of you for your help in this matter.


Bill