Two C-Band LNBF's

[PopcornNMore]

Due to snow this project is postponed until this weekend.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Well, I gave ya plenty of reading material.
The side thing should have been covered in at least one of 'em.
I'm positive Pendragon made such a comment in his circular/linear LNBF thread.
I think you'll have an "ah-ha" moment pretty soon, and this'll all be clear. -

As for the switching, there's not really enough info to say what would be best.
I recommend the Switches Simplified FAQ (naturally) and maybe post #6 with eight LNBs as something to try.

Lastly, regarding the swapped polarity of your add-on LNBF, it looks like it's rotated 90° in the pictures, so... V & H should be swapped.

Excellent thread on switches. However, since my diseqc switches are inside the house I wonder if a 22KHz switch could be used BEFORE the signal enters a given diseqc port? In fact, I know they can because they are built into the universal and C/KU LNBFs that I use.

 

[cracklincrotch]

That would depend on the 22khz switch. Ecoda 22khz switches will pass diseqc commands through them but many others will not. The 22khz switch in a universal LNB comes after any diseqc switches so this wouldn't be an issue. You won't hurt anything by putting a 22khz switch in front of a diseqc switch. If you find the diseqc switch doesn't respond, it's due to the 22khz not passing the commands along.

 

[PopcornNMore]

That would depend on the 22khz switch. Ecoda 22khz switches will pass diseqc commands through them but many others will not. The 22khz switch in a universal LNB comes after any diseqc switches so this wouldn't be an issue. You won't hurt anything by putting a 22khz switch in front of a diseqc switch. If you find the diseqc switch doesn't respond, it's due to the 22khz not passing the commands along.

The way I would install the 22KHz switch would be after the diseqc switch as well, so this shouldn't be an issue.

Where can I buy Ecoda 22KHz switches? Do any of our gold sponsors supply them?

 

[PopcornNMore]

Weekend plan (weather permitting):

8' Dish: 72(AMC 6) - 87(AMC 3) - 95(GAL 3C) with perhaps a circular KU LNBF for 77(EchoStar 4/8) to receive occasional ITC channels.
6' Dish: 97(GAL 19) - 105(AMC18) - 113(SatMex 6)

Not the best choices of satellites, but the best I can do for now without cutting scaler rings and doing other modifications.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Just ordered an Ecoda 4 port diseqc switch in waterproof enclosure ($8.99 + free shipping) and an Ecoda 22KHz switch ($1.00 + $3.99 shipping) on EBay. I might do a setup similar to the one Anole had in his post with 8 LNBF's connected to one receiver.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Tonight in between the rain, hail and snow I installed a C-band LNBF onto my motorized KU band Channel Master 120cm dish. Iceberg will be proud that I used a hose clamp and wire tie.

I'm setting up the receiver to have the C-band satellites without motor control and then simply move the dish to a particular KU band satellite and then goto the C band satellite that is 4 degrees away to view the programming. So far I scanned in a few higher power transponders and will do some adjusting once the weather gets better.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Screenshots

These are screen shots taken tonight from my 120cm Channel Master dish with the additional C band LNBF. I received FOX News and 23 other channels on Galaxy 17 and the networks including ABC HD, LeSea channels and others on Galaxy 16.

Since the C band LNBF is mounted 4 degrees away from the centered KU band LNBF I simply move the dish to AMC 3 KU to receive Galaxy 17 C, Galaxy 3C KU to receive Galaxy 16 and so on.

Note: Absolutely NO adjustment has been done to the added C-band LNBF. I simply installed it using a wire tie and hose clamp in between the storm and quickly ran back inside the house. This weekend I will adjust to receive an even better signal.

I also was only able to scan in Galaxy 16 and Galaxy 17, because wife complained and wanted to watch Biggest Loser on Dish Network.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Attached is a handy dandy KU VS C conversion chart showing what C band satellite is available when the dish is positioned on a given KU band satellite. I will use this to setup the C band satellite menus within the OpenBox S9 receiver for the majority of the C band satellites.

I will then probably eventually program all the KU band satellites as USALS and the C band satellites as diseqc, so that I wouldn't no longer need to move the dish to a Ku satellite first before selecting it's matching 4 degree separation C band satellite.

I also received the eCoda 22KHz and diseqc switches I ordered on EBay. The 4 port diseqc switch comes within a weather proof housing which is really nice and larger than most I've seen.

Now if only the weather clears and spring begins.

 

[PopcornNMore]

"The Insider" looked awesome in HD on Galaxy 19 C band tonight using the 4' dish.

 

[PopcornNMore]

My theory of the day...

Several days ago when we had rain, hail and snow I was receiving many C band channels including FOX News, LeaSea, EWTN, FX, PR Networks and ABC HD as seen in the screen shots above with decent signal strength (60 to 70 on most channels) using my 4' Channel Master dish without a scalar ring. Today we have temperatures near 80 degrees with lots of sunshine and no matter how I adjust the offset C band LNBF I receive nothing but the LeaSea channels on Galaxy 16.

My theory is that perhaps when the sky is clear there is more adjacent satellite interference which requires a scalar ring to help eliminate this interference.

Due to how the 120cm Channel Master dish is designed it is very hard to add an offet LNBF due to the side LNBF support arms being in the way.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Today I received LPTV1-4 off Galaxy 3G on the 4' dish with a signal strength of around 71% as shown in the first four images below. The same stations displayed a lower signal strength of around 63% using the secondary C band LNBF on my 8' dish as shown in the last three images below.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Attached the secondary C band LNBF once again tonight to the 4' dish and took some screen shots from Galaxy 17.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Once again I'm trying to add a C-band LNBF onto my 4' motorized KU band Channel Master dish.

Has anyone ever tried positioning the secondary LNBF at a slant towards the middle of the dish rather than having it positioned straight? Could doing so improve the signal strength or wouldn't it work at all?

 

[hwm]

Three LNBFs on a C-band dish

Here is a link to my adventures with multiple C-Band LNBFs: http://www.satelliteguys.us/c-band-satellite-discussion/233198-adding-2nd-lnb-10ft-dish.html


And a picture of my current setup.

As they are pictured in the photo, 87w is on your left, then 91W in the primary spot, and 99w to your right. The dish is a 10-foot Winegard. Overlapping the scalar rings does not seem to affect performance. Tilting the outer LNBFs slightly in towards the dish center did improve signal quality by 1 or 2 points for me.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Nice system hwm.

I currently have a 22KHz switch attached to the KU and C band LNBF's (OFF = KU, ON = C) on the 4' motorized dish. All the KU band satellites are programmed using diseqc for motor control and the C band LNBF is programmed as simply "C-Band" within the menu without motor control and is positioned 4 degrees away from the centered KU band LNBF. So, now when the dish is aimed at Galaxy C3 KU I also receive Galaxy 16 C. When aimed at AMC3 KU I also receive Galaxy 17 C, etc, etc. Earlier in this thread I included a handy dandy conversion chart that I use.