DirecTV & Missing Transponders

[razorfish]

so if i go with a 5x8, say, and i'm only going to run 4 receivers, that would be cool, right?

Also, can anyone recommend a good 5-by-at-least-4 that's inexpensive AND accessible, like, today!? haha

raze

 

[Mr Tony]

yes...just cap off the unused ones.

 

[razorfish]

ice, i'm looking at an aspen eagle 5x4 S-4140-GX. Will this work ok? The reason i'm asking is on the sat input side i see the 4 inputs, each side marked sat A and sat B, respectively; however, i see no sat C (not sure if that matters).

I think this will work ok, just want to make sure

thanks
raze

 

[Neutron]

You should be able to go to any Best Buy or Circuit City and pick up the 5X8.

 

[razorfish]

hey jason, thanks. I did find the 5x8 @ best buy, however, the Dynex I found says it's not compatible with triple lnbs. also, it's $149! ouch. If it does work with a TLNB please let me know; otherwise, i'll pick up the eagle on the bay for something a helluvalot more reasonable.

thanks!
raze

 

[Neutron]

If it's a Terk like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=11726&item=5724926520&rd=1

Then it will work with the TLNB dish.

 

[razorfish]

yeah, that's a nice 'un I actually found one I'm watching for about $40 less (that is until all the vultures swoop in four days from now haha)

however, the aspen eagle 5/4 multi is nice (albeit with fewer outputs), does work with P3 and was only $25, so I'll get that in a couple of days. I will keep an eye on the terk though and pick that up if it stays out of the stratosphere.

koo

talk to all of you soon
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[mightypeon]

I am having a similiar issue with direct tv and their oval. I have a 2 story house. The house was prewired with 2 satellite cables running downstairs and 2 upstairs. I have 2 regular recievers upstairs and a dvr downstairs. Everything is working right now, but I am planning on getting a HD receiver and putting it downstairs. This would require another line downstairs. Running another wire downstairs is impossible. The satallite is on the side of the house and all the wires run into the attic. I called directtv and asked if I can buy a 2x4 multiswitch and put it downstairs and attach it where the 2 outlets come out that way I can have 4 output downstairs and they told me yes. But most of the articles I found said if you have a oval dish, you need the 4xX switch. Has anyone actually tried using a 2x4 multiswitch with an oval dish?

 

[Mr Tony]

it might work....key word is might

since you have all the outputs (from the dish) in those 2 lines, all you would need is a 2x4 ro 3x4 (the 3rd being OTA).

They're pretty cheap so its worth a shot

 

[mightypeon]

Would something like this work?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=32840&item=5724951817&rd=1

Or do you know some where else I can get it in town for relatively the same price? Would radio shack have something like this for that price. I know best buy sells them for about 80, i'm trying to get it a little cheaper than that.

 

[razorfish]

i'm curious whether you're running a triple LNB now, and if so do you know if it has a built-in multi? Ice, help me out here if i'm wrong, but wouldn't the absence/presence of an existing multi cause the 2x4 solution he's proposing not to work? It seems like this would trip up the multi for some reason.

school me ;p

raze

 

[mightypeon]

I got my directtv equipment from best buy. So whatever they are selling there is what i got.

 

[Mr Tony]

Would something like this work?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=32840&item=5724951817&rd=1

that should work if it will

Or do you know some where else I can get it in town for relatively the same price? Would radio shack have something like this for that price. I know best buy sells them for about 80, i'm trying to get it a little cheaper than that.

rat shack is 54.95 for the switch..was at one Saturday

 

[Mr Tony]

i'm curious whether you're running a triple LNB now, and if so do you know if it has a built-in multi? Ice, help me out here if i'm wrong, but wouldn't the absence/presence of an existing multi cause the 2x4 solution he's proposing not to work? It seems like this would trip up the multi for some reason.

school me ;p

raze

I honestly dont know. Ive never had DirectTv so I'm kinda shooting from the hip on this one.

I know you can cascade multiswitches off the Phase III, so it might work (key word is might)

 

[razorfish]

mightypeon, if you got it at BB then you're most likely running the P3 (phase). I haven't researched 'cascading' but it sounds like it's a solution to running many multis at once? keep us/me posted as I'm trying to get out of this all i can.

And it does look like that multi would work, though the antenna input isn't necessary (for the money, however, it won't hurt).

As my favorite line from Clarence Horley in True Romance goes: Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it

l8rz
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[Mr Tony]

mightypeon, if you got it at BB then you're most likely running the P3 (phase). I haven't researched 'cascading' but it sounds like it's a solution to running many multis at once? keep us/me posted as I'm trying to get out of this all i can.

And it does look like that multi would work, though the antenna input isn't necessary (for the money, however, it won't hurt).

As my favorite line from Clarence Horley in True Romance goes: Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it

l8rz
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cascading multiswitches has been used in both Direct & Dish
Direct...to hook up a Phase III, with 4 ouptuts, to a multiswitch to allow 8 or more outputs
Dish..to allow 4 satellite inputs (110, 119, 61.5, 105) to run to a receiver

 

[razorfish]

Problems upon Problems: a follow-up

hey guys, what's up. I bet you thought I forgot aboutcha, huh? ha Not as long as I've got frickin' problems. Otherwise, I'd be so outta here haha JK

OK, I need everyone's help.

My suspicions were half correct. I knew there was a combiner in the mix somewhere, and I was correct. err, halfway anyway. Remem there were two, dual lnb dishes? Well, one went to a 3x4 splitter; the other was whored out all over the attic. It was split like 4 different times.

At any rate, here is my new dilemma. Got the eagle aspen 5x4 splitter. Coupled all existing lines and just attached them to the splitter along with the antenna. No big deal. Actually, it works great. I think. All channels are coming in and there are no more 'searching for satellite' messages.

However. When I went to check the transponders (completely checked this on one tv; assumed on another) this is what I got:

Sat 101: 4, 18, 26, 28 are missing
Sat 110: 8, 10, 12 are missing
Sat 119: 22, 24, 28, 32 are missing

WTF?

I initially thought i had some lines crossed or something. Strangely, before swapping them according to the instructions, only 4 and 18 were missing. Hooking them up correctly saw several more transponders dissappear (by hooking them up correctly I mean, Sat A LNB to Sat A input on the multi; Sat B and C to Sat B on the multi input). Prior to the change I had it configured this way:

If you were standing behing the dish, the far right LNB (#1)and the 2nd LNB from the left (#3) were hooked up to A's input on the multi; the two remaining LNB outputs (#2 and #4) were hooked up to B. In this config only 4 and 18 on Sat 101 were missing. However, when I went to ANY HD channel in the 70s (HDNET, Discovery HD, ESPN HD, etc) all said 'searching for sat.' If i went to, say, 80 (NBCE, which is in HD) it came in fine.

Now, I went to eagle aspen's site and it says the S-4140-GX http://www.eagleaspen.com/products/products_2.php?lb_id=&id=13 is compatible with the triple LNB. There are only Sat A (18v/0khz, 14v/0khz) and Sat B (18v/22khz, 14v/22khz) inputs, however, so I'm not sure the order. I did put Sat A on the Sat A inputs (standing behind dish I put the two right LNB outputs to the A input on the multi, and the two left LNB outputs to the Sat B input on the multi. Is this correct?)

Can someone shed some light on the subject for me? And sorry for the long post ;( hurrrumph

thanks!
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[Neutron]

When I was getting my second DTivo installed today we ran into this problem. Both me and the installer thought it was a bad 4X8 multiswitch. What it turned out to be was a bad connection on 2 lines and a bad grounding block. I could get all the odd transponders but none of the even ones. Once he fixed the connectors and installed a new grounding block it fixed that problem.

 

[Mike500]

The 15-18 volt switching component of the signal that activates one half of the transponders is blocked by a bad connection, a non power-passing splitter or even a long cable that causes a large voltage drop.

 

[razorfish]

I forgot to add something

hmmmm very interesting. My money's on a long cable (could also be a bad connection as one of the F connectors popped off while I was pulling on it). All the runs except one is extremely long; well within the limits however. I'm guessing maybe 75 to 100 feet? Not sure but my guess is prolly pretty close.

OK, ground block. Where should it go? Dish side or switch side?

Also, is there info containing which transponders control what channels? I'd like to see what channels i may NOT be getting.

thanks again guys

All rock!
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Another two quick questions. I'm needing to add the Antenna Amplifier that was on the other switch. Is it OK to add this in the loop before it goes to the Antenna Input on the switch?

Other question. Another quirky thing I saw is on one TV in the living room the guide (D*) shows channels 70 and 71 (HBOH & SHOH respectively) but the one in the bedroom, despite being an HDTV reciever, does not? Could it be due to its age? it is the RCA DTC100.

thanks!