multiple receivers to drive one dish on HH mount?

[garyzheng]

first of all, spent the weekend and installed 36" dish on STAB 120, big thanks to folks here on the forum for explaining knowledges and sharing experiences!

i am almost ready to buy couple of more receivers for different rooms. the question is how multiple satellite receivers can work with one dish? what happens if two receivers are going to different satellites?

the dish is on balcony, RG6 cables connect it to 3x8 switch downstairs via attic. an inline ampllifier was installed between the first and second legs,

Dish -> amplifier -> 3x8 switch -> family room -> receiver

but quality of some channels are very bad, i was able to watch these channels while testing without amplifier, switch and long cable run, more and stronger amplifier?


thanks again for your inputs!

in general, i am happy with being able to surf a few satellites from the family room. but couple of disappointments: similiar to what ohers have reported, the dish came in with one dent on edge. the lifetime receiver's TV out connector came off. (i am too lazy to ship anything back, maybe i can get some credits toward my next purchase? )

[dtsexpert]

What is the purpose of using the 3x8 switch? Since you stated of using the 3x8 switch, my assumption is that the lnbf is dual. If so, you just simply run another cable to your second receiver. Let the Lifetime moves the dish.
The degraded signal you get might be due to the switch 3x8 you use. I recommand you to take it out. Talking about in-line amplifier, some report it works while the other report it does not. I once try the in-line, it made the signal worse. One thing for sure of using the inline amp is that you might see the improvement of signal strength, but remember it also generate noise.
Just run cables without any switch/in-line amp to see if it makes any differences.
Michael

Originally Posted by garyzheng

first of all, spent the weekend and installed 36" dish on STAB 120, big thanks to folks here on the forum for explaining knowledges and sharing experiences!

i am almost ready to buy couple of more receivers for different rooms. the question is how multiple satellite receivers can work with one dish? what happens if two receivers are going to different satellites?

the dish is on balcony, RG6 cables connect it to 3x8 switch downstairs via attic. an inline ampllifier was installed between the first and second legs,

Dish -> amplifier -> 3x8 switch -> family room -> receiver

but quality of some channels are very bad, i was able to watch these channels while testing without amplifier, switch and long cable run, more and stronger amplifier?


thanks again for your inputs!

in general, i am happy with being able to surf a few satellites from the family room. but couple of disappointments: similiar to what ohers have reported, the dish came in with one dent on edge. the lifetime receiver's TV out connector came off. (i am too lazy to ship anything back, maybe i can get some credits toward my next purchase? )

[garyzheng]

originally i was planning on mixing cabel signal with satellite, thus the 3x8. to my surprise, the house has already got 2nd spare cables throughout the house, so i hooked satellite to the new 3x8 switch and send it to various rooms.
the inline amplifier does help to bring up few more channels, i will try to remove the 3x8 to see if there is any improvement. if that's the case, what's my option to distribute satelliite signals to many rooms?

thanks
gary

[bobkat]

Originally Posted by dtsexpert

I once try the in-line, it made the signal worse.

:lol: Yup -- those little amps don't do squat.... :roll:

kat

[dtsexpert]

Gary,
How many receivers do plan to get? If there are 2, use my suggestion above. If there are more than 2, it will be a bit complicated to set up becuase any switches used with motorized mount have to be installed between the lnbf(s) and the motorized mount.
Let me know your plan.
Michael

Originally Posted by garyzheng

originally i was planning on mixing cabel signal with satellite, thus the 3x8. to my surprise, the house has already got 2nd spare cables throughout the house, so i hooked satellite to the new 3x8 switch and send it to various rooms.
the inline amplifier does help to bring up few more channels, i will try to remove the 3x8 to see if there is any improvement. if that's the case, what's my option to distribute satelliite signals to many rooms?

thanks
gary

[garyzheng]

Michael,

i hope to get the following:

1 universal lnbf -> HH mount ----> ( ? ) ----> receiver1
.................................................. ........|
.................................................. ........----> receiver2
.................................................. ........|
.................................................. ........----> receiver3

these receivers may or may not be used at the same time and can all drive the mount, will this plan work?

Gary

[dtsexpert]

1. (?) can't be the switch. I will not work with Diseqc 1.2 mount. The bottom line is you can't use 3x4 or 3x8 switch after the Diseqc 1.2 mount. That's why I said it will be kind of complicated to set it up for multiple receivers with motorized system.
2. Let's say you plan to have 2 receivers, get a dual lnbf. Use the Lifetime receiver to move dish, run another cable for the second receiver.
3. Let's say you plan to have more than 2 receivers, get a dual lnbf which both output connected to a 3x4 or 3x8 switch, one of the switch outputs connected to motorized, the rest of the output can be used for other receivers.
There is no way to run one cable to your house, then split it to mutiple feeds to be used for multiple receivers ( I am talking about all of the receivers operate independently).
There is a simple way to do it by slaving one receiver to each others. But all the receivers can only view channels on the same polarity, meaning if the master one, Lifetime, is on Vertical, the other receiver can only view channels on Vertical polarity.
Hopefully you are not confused after reading my post....:-)
Michael

Originally Posted by garyzheng

Michael,

i hope to get the following:

1 universal lnbf -> HH mount ----> ( ? ) ----> receiver1
|
----> receiver2
|
----> receiver3

these receivers may or may not be used at the same time and can all drive the mount, will this plan work?

Gary

[garyzheng]

let me see if i can have the expectation lowered. the primary purpose of 3 receivers are for the convenience of relocating viewings: family room, bed room, and office. if only one receiver is at work at a time, will my scheme work then? at the moment, i have one receiver after the 3x8 switch, and it can drive the dish with no problem, but suffer some signal loss.

Michael, thanks for your timely responses!

[dtsexpert]

Now things are simplier...:-)
You have 2 options for setting up:
1. This one works for sure, but a bit inconvenient. Remove the switch since we don't it. If you plan to use in-line, it needs to be installed between lnbf and h-h mount. Use the Lifetime as the master one which moves the dish. Run another cable from output of Lifetime to input of the 2nd receiver, then run another cable from output of the 2nd receiver to input of the 3rd receiver. How to operate: Lifetime move the dish to your desired satellites, if you want to use the 2nd or 3 receiver, turn off the Lifetime so DC can passthru from the 2nd or 3rd receiver to control the polarities. Remember, only power 1 receiver at a time. It's a bit incovenient since the Dish movement is controlled by the Lifetime.
2. I am not sure if this approach works. If it does, thing will be perfect. First move the dish back to your truesouth, program the Diseqc 1.2 for 2nd and 3rd receiver. Do the same for the rest of satellites. By doing this, hopefully, diseqc 1.2 locations are the same for all 3 receivers. Maybe, you can move the dish using either of the 3. I am not sure if this works, but one thing I know is the sat location is stored on the Diseqc 1.2 mount. That's why using 3 different receiver to move the dish might confuse the h-h mount. Remember, one one receiver is on at a time.
Michael

Originally Posted by garyzheng

let me see if i can have the expectation lowered. the primary purpose of 3 receivers are for the convenience of relocating viewings: family room, bed room, and office. if only one receiver is at work at a time, will my scheme work then? at the moment, i have one receiver after the 3x8 switch, and it can drive the dish with no problem, but suffer some signal loss.

Michael, thanks for your timely responses!

[garyzheng]

great amount of information here! appreciate it

i just took the switch off, and things are not improving, i will try to move the amp to between lnbf and mount (now it's located in hard to reach area in attic).

i got thoes push in and lock f connectors from sadoun.com, anything else to improve the signal for a long run cable?

i will do some experiments when i get the 2nd receiver

[dtsexpert]

Unless you run a very long cable, you need an in-line amp. I am talking about more than 200ft. Otherwise, you should be OK without the amp. I don't use the in-line amp since it does not work for me. I run a 150ft cable straight from the dish to the receiver without any problem. There are things more important than the in-line amp such as dish condition, dish size, connectors, cable quality...If one of these factors is not good, in-line will not make the signal improved.
Michael

Originally Posted by garyzheng

great amount of information here! appreciate it

i just took the switch off, and things are not improving, i will try to move the amp to between lnbf and mount (now it's located in hard to reach area in attic).

i got thoes push in and lock f connectors from sadoun.com, anything else to improve the signal for a long run cable?

i will do some experiments when i get the 2nd receiver

[garyzheng]

the cable runs from dish to attic, down to dispatch closet, goes to family room. not very very long in distance, but many legs. how to if connectors are in good shape?

[dtsexpert]

Switches or couplers make signal degraded. If possible, I highly recommend to replace the cable, running one without any switches/couplers. RG6 is fine. Check out Home Depot.
Michael

Originally Posted by garyzheng

the cable runs from dish to attic, down to dispatch closet, goes to family room. not very very long in distance, but many legs. how to if connectors are in good shape?

[garyzheng]

it turned out that the 3x8 degraded signal strength for certain satelitte by 2/3! after replaced it with a coupler, i can span from G3 to G10 and capture all satellites in between!

thank you for the great help!