Mad Scientist Hooks up 5 Satellite Locations!!!!

[mike123abc]

Dish is lining up satellite capacity right and left:

61.5
105
110
119
121
148
157

Plus 2 more Ku-FSS, and working on an unknown number of Ku-DBS slots. Will dish come out with the MegaDish able to see 12 satellites and the DP+12:4 switch?

Well the need to see 12 satellites at once is a project for the future. What is needed for today? At this moment it is possible to have programming on 5 different satellites! Pity the poor soul that:

1. Has locals on 105
2. Subscribes to Sky Angel on 61.5
3. Has AT180/HD/Movies/etc on 119/110
4. Has international channels only available on 121

The DP34 switch gave out long ago... What is that? The fabulous DP+44 switch is missing a fifth satellite input!

Never fear the mad scientist has been busy! For this experiment I will need some satellite dishes and some switching power. I selected 61.5, 105, 110, 119 and 121 for the experiment. See below the pictures of a mad scientist's rooftop filled with satellite dishes. Also see the secret arsenal of a DP+44 and DP21 switches:

[mike123abc]

Even for the mad scientist experimenting on the 921 first is just too risky...

But, going out on a limb testing the 811 first seemed to balance risk vs reward.

The 811 was hooked up to port #2 of the DP+44 switch. I disconnected it from the second port and connected the receiver line to the DP21 switch. I then proceeded to connect the DP+44 switch to satellite input 1 of the DP21 and the 5th satellite (105) to satellite input 2.

This experiment turned out way to easy! Running switch test and it shows that it will do 5 tests. And up pops the switch matrix showing 5 satellites. It is interesting that looking at the spacing of the switches on the screen that the 811 has room for 8 switches! Perhaps the MegaDish is in the early planning stages.

[mike123abc]

Emboldened by the unbelievably easy install of 5 satellites on the 811, it was time to tackle the most finicky of Dish receivers.... the dreaded 921.

The first experiment was a simple failure

Well I really did not think it would work, but I decided to test it out and see if Dish miracles could happen. It is the most difficult possible configuration:

1. DP+separator attached to the two inputs with about 1 foot of cable
2. Power inserter about 1 foot past the DP+separator
3. Line to the outside to connect to the DP21
4. Connections of the DP21 to the DP+44 on side 1 and 105 on side 2

Note that before the addition of of the SW21 the 921 was seeing 4 satellites on the DP+44 using the separator to feed both inputs with one cable from the switch.

This experiment resulted in only 1 satellite visible, 105 on the SW21. It is understandable since I suspect the DP+44 was not receiving power from the power inserter since it was behind the DP21 switch. One has to wonder when the DP+21 comes out next year if it will pass power through it.

The next experiment was to move the power inserter to the roof and put it between the DP21 and the DP+44 switches. This produced a most interesting result. I was surprised that it worked like it did, but the mysteries of the DP+separator are not solved! Note the screen shot here of the switch matrix test. You will see tuner 1 found 4 satellites and tuner 2 found 5! Of course this experiment was not really expected to work since the DP21 is not a DP+21 and the receiver has no real way to ask it for the separate bands from different satellites.

As a last ditch effort to see if there was any way to get the separator to work I put the DP21 switch on the other side of the DP+44 switch. I hooked up one of the LNB feeds of the DP+44 to the receiver output of the DP21 and hooked up 2 satellites to the DP21. This resulted in no switches being found at all... Curious the DP+44 did not even show up.

For your amusement I attached 2 screen shots of the DP21/DP+44/DP+Separator combination. Note that it sees a satellite on one tuner but not the other.

[mike123abc]

Well after exhausting the methods to try to get the separator to work, I turned to the 2 lines from the DP+44 switch to the 921. Note that in the first experiments I used 105 as the 5th satellite. I could not do this in the 2 line test because SuperDISH Ku-FSS LNB's only have 1 drop each. So, I put 105 on the DP+44 and put 61.5 on the DP21 switches.

One would expect that this would work right away. But, there is some flaky interaction between the 921 and the DP+44 switch. Since I took out the DP+separator, and hooked up two feeds I think either the DP+44 or the 921 was confused. I actually think it is a 921 confusion. Note in the picture attached (921-confused) it shows as 2 satellites on input 1 and 4 on input 2 instead of seeing 5/5. Powering off the 921, doing a switch test with nothing connected to the 921, checking all the connections, powering off the DP+44, etc would not seem to fix the problem.

What was the solution? Moving the SW21 off of port 1 of the DP+44 and then the 921 immediately saw both switches on both feeds and properly did the switch test with all 5 satellites. Hmmm well after that I unhooked the feed from port 2 of the DP+44 and plugged it back on to port 1. Running switch test worked right away and the 921 again saw 5 satellites.

I suspect that the 921/DP+44 somehow remembered that they were doing a DP+Separator and they would not snap out of it and realize that the separator was no longer in place. Only after doing it on port 2 it was brought out of its weird state and then would work on port 1 also. I think it could be both the 921 and the DP+44 reminding eachother of the separator or something. Attached is the working switch test. Note from the switch test picture, the 921 leaves no room for going beyond 5 satellites without redoing the screen.

[mike123abc]

Well just to be complete 5 satellites was tested with the 301, the only thing of minor interest is that the switch matrix screen manages to squeeze the information about 5 satellites along the top where the 811 only fits 4. It too looks like it has room for about 8 satellite locations...

[mike123abc]

First it must be noted that only the DishPro receivers will see 5 satellites. The limit for older receivers is 4, and for the oldest 3.

Issues:

1. The power pass through of the DP21 switch. Will the DP+21 pass the power through? If not it will make port 1 unable to be used for 5 satellites unless you run 2 lines into the house and put the DP21/DP+21 in the house. The power supply to the DP+44 has to be inside.

2. DP21 does not work with the separator. The issue here is that the DP+21 will not be ready for some time (spring next year?). So, you are forced to use 2 drops to all the 2 tuner receivers.

3. The weird interaction of the DP+44/921/DP+Separator. Taking out the DP+Separator is hard to get working again properly. A workaround would be to hook up the drop to a different port on the DP+44 to clear the odd state.

4. The Ku-FSS LNB only has a single port. How many times can it be split? I would assume the dual port LNBs could be split at least once for 4 drops.

5. It is a lot of switches and wiring to support this (plus the DP21s are $28/each). Perhaps a DP+64 could be developed one day.

6. Not many people have the roof space for 3 dishes. Especially if 2 of them are SuperDISH.

Well the experiment was fun, and if Dish ever announces something exciting like a new HD satellite location, I will know what I need to get ready for it.

[bytre]

Cool. I like the way you think and how you tackled the challenge. As an early experimenter with 4 satellites a couple years ago, I know the feeling.

[jlhugh]

We got away from the BUD, now it looks like we are heading back in that direction again.

[Iceberg]

**sniff sniff**

Its beautiful...I think I'm going to cry

[dfergie]

We got away from the BUD, now it looks like we are heading back in that direction again.

Now we have BUD lite