Possible to use DirecTV triple LNB with FTA receiver?

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Rawmotion

Active SatelliteGuys Member
Original poster
Dec 18, 2007
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Los Angeles
I came across a DirecTV dish with a triple LNB. I took it apart, and the three feedhorns are labeled "101," "110," and "119." However, I read that there is a built-in switch. If this won't work with a regular FTA receiver, is it possible to rewire it to bypass the internal switch? I have it apart with the PCB completely accessible, so if anyone has any ideas, I'd be willing to try tweaking it.
 
It will work for the few (and getting fewer by the month :( ) clear channels on the Dish Network and Bell ExpressVu pay-service satellites. The best of these birds is 119w (Echo 7), which has NASA-TV clear.

The dish you have is a DirecTV Phase III dish, and only the 101w LNBF will work on a FTA receiver. The dish is too small (and has the wrong type of LNBF) for regular Ku FTA, but you can aim the 101w LNB at 119w for NASA-TV :)
 
The dish you have is a DirecTV Phase III dish, and only the 101w LNBF will work on a FTA receiver. The dish is too small (and has the wrong type of LNBF) for regular Ku FTA, but you can aim the 101w LNB at 119w for NASA-TV :)
Yeah, I assumed they were all circular LNBs. What I would have liked to do is bypass the internal switch and connect each LNB separately to the FTA receiver. That way I could get clear channels from all three sats without repositioning the dish.

You mention that the 101 LNB will work. Is it not going through the switch? I noticed that the device had two cables coming out of it when I got it. Is the 110 independent? Maybe I can look at the PCB and figure out a way to separate the other two by using the first one as a reference.
 
DTV LNBs have separate output for Horz and Vert. There is either a switch mounted to the back of the dish or built in to the LNB holder. Best to use DNet LNB, they have H /V switching built in to the LNB.
 
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The 3 LNB's on that are all different setups.

The 101 LNB will cover all 32 transponders that DBS has
The 110 LNB is an oddball thing. It takes TP's 28,30,32 and converts them to 8,10,12
The 119 LNB only covers TP 22-32 which is what DirecTV owns

also the 110 LNB and 119 are combined together...

The only LNB that will work is the 101 LNB
 
We talked extensively about using the Phase III dish last year.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/94189-retrofitting-phase-iii-ku-maybe.html
Give it a read, and if you have any new questions , feel free to ask.
Excellent! Great info. Thanks!

Regarding the 101 LNB (the one all the way to the right when looking at the feedhorns straight-on), will it "just work" if I plug in any of the 4 outputs to the FTA receiver? Should I treat it as a single 11250 circular LNB? Do I need to select a switch position?

I also have an old original TERK DirecTV dish with the single LNB. It looks like it's thinner (width) but taller than the Phase III dish. I'd like to get rid of one of them, so I want to keep the one that would be more versatile later on. Has anyone had any luck picking up any Ku signals with these wider dishes (using a 10750 LNB, of course)?
 
Excellent! Great info. Thanks!

Regarding the 101 LNB (the one all the way to the right when looking at the feedhorns straight-on), will it "just work" if I plug in any of the 4 outputs to the FTA receiver? Should I treat it as a single 11250 circular LNB? Do I need to select a switch position?

I also have an old original TERK DirecTV dish with the single LNB. It looks like it's thinner (width) but taller than the Phase III dish. I'd like to get rid of one of them, so I want to keep the one that would be more versatile later on. Has anyone had any luck picking up any Ku signals with these wider dishes (using a 10750 LNB, of course)?

Any DirecTv dish is just too small for most FTA. You can point to 119 for NASA and a couple of Dish How-To channels, but, most FTA you really need at least a 30" dish.
 
Excellent! Great info. Thanks!

Regarding the 101 LNB (the one all the way to the right when looking at the feedhorns straight-on), will it "just work" if I plug in any of the 4 outputs to the FTA receiver? Should I treat it as a single 11250 circular LNB? Do I need to select a switch position??

yep for everything but last question

no switch position needed unless you put it into a diseqc switch
 
Personally, if I had to decide on one of the small dishes (Phase III or older single LNBF DirecTV Terk), I'd pick the Terk. I probably have about half a dozen Phase III's sitting out in the boneyard collecting rust :) The older single LNBF dishes are simpler, and have a lot less that can go wrong inside :) The Phase III won't get you anything the Terk won't, unless you're a DirecTV subscriber.

Many members have a dedicated DBS dish like these pointed at 119w for the free stuff there so they can use their FTA dish for other things at the same time.
 
Lets see spectrograms from each LNBF of Phase III.

Taken around SFO, so in your area SBs could shows different way.
Those 110W tpns marked by '?' I can't check - my card can't go to that low IF.
 

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Thanks for the help! I got it working. A friend is interested in FTA so I'm going to give it to him to play around with.

My main dish is one of the 3ABN ones which gets pretty much everything, but I might try the dual setup using the Terk just for fun. ;)
 
So, looking at those spectrums, what sats/tpns you could see ? ;)



Simple manipulation of DC voltage: 14 V or 18 V and a tone 22 kHz OFF/ON.
 
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