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Hey guys,
I have a cousin who is having a bit of a hard time financially. He can no longer afford to keep his satellite subscription with D*
He does know what free to air is since he visits my house quite a bit.
I was trying to think of an option for him to help him out.
Here is what I came up with. I don't think he would be able to get the hang of a motorized dish system if it got out of sync on position. I live over 40 miles away from him so it would be hard for me to keep his fta system going.
I thought about doing the skyvision W5 package for him.
buying the dsr-410 and using a 1.2 M prodelin dish on W5. Do you guys think
I could get a good lock on w5 with a 1.2M dish?
The other option I thought of was pre-paid dish network. Those receivers are on ebay for dirt cheap. I have an old dish 500 dual lnbf dish here he can have that I would install. I could just buy a 30 or 40 dollar card each month for him.
I would much rather go with the skyvision deal, the only dish I have laying around even close enough is a 4 foot prodelin that I can rig a c-band lnbf on.
Do you guys think the 1.2 would cut it on W5?
I have a cousin who is having a bit of a hard time financially. He can no longer afford to keep his satellite subscription with D*
He does know what free to air is since he visits my house quite a bit.
I was trying to think of an option for him to help him out.
Here is what I came up with. I don't think he would be able to get the hang of a motorized dish system if it got out of sync on position. I live over 40 miles away from him so it would be hard for me to keep his fta system going.
I thought about doing the skyvision W5 package for him.
buying the dsr-410 and using a 1.2 M prodelin dish on W5. Do you guys think
I could get a good lock on w5 with a 1.2M dish?
The other option I thought of was pre-paid dish network. Those receivers are on ebay for dirt cheap. I have an old dish 500 dual lnbf dish here he can have that I would install. I could just buy a 30 or 40 dollar card each month for him.
I would much rather go with the skyvision deal, the only dish I have laying around even close enough is a 4 foot prodelin that I can rig a c-band lnbf on.
Do you guys think the 1.2 would cut it on W5?
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1672 views
M
1.2m is a little small on the C-Band side. You would need a 6 footer for the W5 package. You could hook it up and see if it works on a 4DTV (like the 905 that is in your sig) to see what the Ebno #'s are
If I had 3 dish option (all KU) and we're working with someone who wants it set up and that's it, I would do
G10 (duh!)
AMC3 (for PBS)...unless he gets it OTA
3rd one is a toughy just because I would want to scan
Is he into anything specific (sports, religious channels,. Int'l, mainly network stuff)??
yes you can. Its weird as the H side is "stacked" above the V side...LNB LO is 13850 and scan just V side
If I had 3 dish option (all KU) and we're working with someone who wants it set up and that's it, I would do
G10 (duh!)
AMC3 (for PBS)...unless he gets it OTA
3rd one is a toughy just because I would want to scan
Is he into anything specific (sports, religious channels,. Int'l, mainly network stuff)??
I like that digital OTA idea !
I get a lot of what we think of as Ku FTA channels, OTA, here in LA !
But since he may not be as close to a large source of programming, do consider getting him a decent UHF antenna.
There are even some build-your-own-antenna projects I've seen on youtube, %&#@ ATSforum, and maybe even here.
Build it for $5 worth of cheap parts, aim it and get the digital feeds clearly.
Or , install whatever antenna he has now, and do it right.
No point in leaving it half-assed, as this can be a super source of clean-signal viewing!
You said in your first post you didn't want to motorize him and have to maintain him.
Just as I suggested no recurring monthly would be wise, let me hint that you want a no-maintenance install, too.
Don't oversell it.
Make it work without support.
Doesn't have to be a super-satellite install.
No motors, no C-band, no hassles.
Then, if over the next months he decides to join SatGuys and learn some of the support solutions, you can aid him with 'em.
I'm trying to make sure you don't have what I call "a project person" when you are done.
That's a private joke with some of my friends, meaning someone who's always relying on you for help.
Give him a medium, stand-alone, no-support-required install, and see if he rises to the occasion.
I have made the mistake of selling the full-monty idea to some friends, and then they won't lift a finger for a beginner system!
They insist on fancy dishes, motorized, and a PVR right from the start.
So, now I just mention what they can get off a single bird with a simple receiver, and don't tell them the expansion possiblities.
It reduces the grey hair syndrome, and that's a good thing!
Well, that's one reptile's recommendations.
Good luck.
I get a lot of what we think of as Ku FTA channels, OTA, here in LA !
But since he may not be as close to a large source of programming, do consider getting him a decent UHF antenna.
There are even some build-your-own-antenna projects I've seen on youtube, %&#@ ATSforum, and maybe even here.
Build it for $5 worth of cheap parts, aim it and get the digital feeds clearly.
Or , install whatever antenna he has now, and do it right.
No point in leaving it half-assed, as this can be a super source of clean-signal viewing!
You said in your first post you didn't want to motorize him and have to maintain him.
Just as I suggested no recurring monthly would be wise, let me hint that you want a no-maintenance install, too.
Don't oversell it.
Make it work without support.
Doesn't have to be a super-satellite install.
No motors, no C-band, no hassles.
Then, if over the next months he decides to join SatGuys and learn some of the support solutions, you can aid him with 'em.
I'm trying to make sure you don't have what I call "a project person" when you are done.
That's a private joke with some of my friends, meaning someone who's always relying on you for help.
Give him a medium, stand-alone, no-support-required install, and see if he rises to the occasion.
I have made the mistake of selling the full-monty idea to some friends, and then they won't lift a finger for a beginner system!
They insist on fancy dishes, motorized, and a PVR right from the start.
So, now I just mention what they can get off a single bird with a simple receiver, and don't tell them the expansion possiblities.
It reduces the grey hair syndrome, and that's a good thing!
Well, that's one reptile's recommendations.
Good luck.
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House of the Dragon, the prequel to Game of Thrones, premieres on HBO Max on 8/21. I will be warching
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'Game of Thrones' spinoff 'House of the Dragon' fires up release date at HBO, drops new character pics
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Hello everyone, new guy here. I'm trying to solve problem I'm having with Dish bonus view channels. When I'm watching the bonus view channels then I switch back to regular dish channels, after few minutes the screen flips to black and after 30 seconds flips back to regular channels and continues to flip back and forth until I turn off TV. After I wait 30 minutes and turn back on , I can use regular channels again. So, its after I switch from bonus view channels to regular dish channels the problem starts. Been trying to fix this for a month, but no luck
Here what I've done.
i contacted Dish support and they sent me a new Joey3, but no help. Switched to a different HDMI input on TV, no help. Used different HDMI cable , no help. Used different electrical wall plug, no help.
Finally got a Dish tech to check it. He ran all systems check and was OK. Finally he brought in a small TV and plugged in the HDMI out from the Joey to the small TV. He could not get the problem to occur on his small TV, so the new Joey was working OK. So, then the problem must be myTV. He made some phone calls and came back with the answer that there must be a problem with the analog to digital switch in my TV. Has anyone ever heard of a problem like this, or is it time to be looking for a new TV? My tv LG OLED65C8PUA. TV has been trouble free til now. Thanks
Here what I've done.
i contacted Dish support and they sent me a new Joey3, but no help. Switched to a different HDMI input on TV, no help. Used different HDMI cable , no help. Used different electrical wall plug, no help.
Finally got a Dish tech to check it. He ran all systems check and was OK. Finally he brought in a small TV and plugged in the HDMI out from the Joey to the small TV. He could not get the problem to occur on his small TV, so the new Joey was working OK. So, then the problem must be myTV. He made some phone calls and came back with the answer that there must be a problem with the analog to digital switch in my TV. Has anyone ever heard of a problem like this, or is it time to be looking for a new TV? My tv LG OLED65C8PUA. TV has been trouble free til now. Thanks
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Hi all, I recently inherited a FTA system off Craiglist and have been trying to get it set up. What I got was a Glorystar-branded ~90cm offset dish with a ground mount (/flat roof) frame, and GEOSATpro DSR200c receiver. From that initial equipment, I've replaced the old LNBF with a (cheap!) new one and also splurged on an SG-2100 H-H motorized rotor which does respond from the receiver's USALS menu.
The previous owner had it set up for religious programming on Galaxy 19 and I've been trying to start by finding that same bird at least. After a couple sessions I'm not sure I have, but I've found *something* at least! A handful of motor ticks further than the dish wants to be for 97W after starting from motor 0 pointing as much south as I can guess at. (I don't have great references to aim for and it's really hard to sight where exactly the dish is pointing anyway….)
Anyway, so far there's only one transponder that I've ever been able to catch as I search. It's 12146 V and when the receiver scans it I get this list of video channels:
but it's a long-winded spiel about "you know us as an industry-leading satellite solutions provider with over a quarter million sites" and to call them For All Your Every Needs™ type thing.
While I get little blips from other frequencies, this is the only strong transponder I've been able to come across. My receiver shows it as S 75 and Q up to 85 when I adjust it. It actually seemed to get better as I **un**skewed my LBNF — iiuc G19 was supposed to be -20º for me but however I'm supposed to be reading/referencing the angles the puck is now basically at 0º relative to the dish/arm got the strongest on this transponder.
Anyway sorry this is so long winded already… my question is, do I even have the right satellite? None of the other transponders that are supposed to be active on G-19 seem to come in. And if not the right satellite does anyone happen to recognize which one I might have found instead? I think knowing that would help me then adjust for a truer south aim and then hopeful the USALS will work automatically once I can get it dialed in.
The previous owner had it set up for religious programming on Galaxy 19 and I've been trying to start by finding that same bird at least. After a couple sessions I'm not sure I have, but I've found *something* at least! A handful of motor ticks further than the dish wants to be for 97W after starting from motor 0 pointing as much south as I can guess at. (I don't have great references to aim for and it's really hard to sight where exactly the dish is pointing anyway….)
Anyway, so far there's only one transponder that I've ever been able to catch as I search. It's 12146 V and when the receiver scans it I get this list of video channels:
- 1.1 Srv_1
- 2.84 OU_Chan
- 3.2 Srv_2
- 4.5 Srv_5
- 5.3 Srv_3
- 6.4 Srv_4
- 7.6 Srv_6
- 8.7 Srv_7
but it's a long-winded spiel about "you know us as an industry-leading satellite solutions provider with over a quarter million sites" and to call them For All Your Every Needs™ type thing.While I get little blips from other frequencies, this is the only strong transponder I've been able to come across. My receiver shows it as S 75 and Q up to 85 when I adjust it. It actually seemed to get better as I **un**skewed my LBNF — iiuc G19 was supposed to be -20º for me but however I'm supposed to be reading/referencing the angles the puck is now basically at 0º relative to the dish/arm got the strongest on this transponder.
Anyway sorry this is so long winded already… my question is, do I even have the right satellite? None of the other transponders that are supposed to be active on G-19 seem to come in. And if not the right satellite does anyone happen to recognize which one I might have found instead? I think knowing that would help me then adjust for a truer south aim and then hopeful the USALS will work automatically once I can get it dialed in.
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Done and done and done! I ended up doing a bit more iteration (back and forth between the left-right and up-down adjustments) but I've now got it landing on G19 at its default position for 97W.
Yep, ended up with a page or two full on my receiver's search. Didn't double-check that my receiver has all six of the right transponders but I can mess with that later if it turns out I'm missing something interesting but still DVB-S / MPEG-2 compatible.
Yep, can see definite signal degradation as soon as I skew the LNB either way from "straight" (seam on the LNB lined up with the clamps on the mounting bracket). Will make setup easier if I want to try swapping anything else in!
I don't know if there's any good (unencrypted, DVB-S) satellite farther away to really check the sweep against, but I was at least able to program in my original find at 101.0 W back in (now at the correct "12000 V 20000" setting) and can get both birds automatically.
Shouldn't be *that* exciting since it's just an ad, but still really fun to choose channels on the other one and have it jog over and lock on
B
beside 123W, another one to try (if it's above the horizon at your location) is Hispasat @30W. It has at least 2 DVB-S transponders with SD/Mpeg2 channelsDone and done and done! I ended up doing a bit more iteration (back and forth between the left-right and up-down adjustments) but I've now got it landing on G19 at its default position for 97W.
Yep, ended up with a page or two full on my receiver's search. Didn't double-check that my receiver has all six of the right transponders but I can mess with that later if it turns out I'm missing something interesting but still DVB-S / MPEG-2 compatible.
Yep, can see definite signal degradation as soon as I skew the LNB either way from "straight" (seam on the LNB lined up with the clamps on the mounting bracket). Will make setup easier if I want to try swapping anything else in!
I don't know if there's any good (unencrypted, DVB-S) satellite farther away to really check the sweep against, but I was at least able to program in my original find at 101.0 W back in (now at the correct "12000 V 20000" setting) and can get both birds automatically.
Shouldn't be *that* exciting since it's just an ad, but still really fun to choose channels on the other one and have it jog over and lock on
No luck finding this one. I motor over and it seems like a pretty dead spot of sky. I did get a slight blip (Q up to 1% or 2%) if I lowered the dish slightly. So I wonder if my polar mount itself maybe needs a bit of fine tuning?
Even when loosening the bolts and manually nudging the dish up/down/left/right nothing seemed to really wake it [new receiver, see below!] up and never saw anything more than 4% or 5% which I don't know is even real or could have been just noise?
I'm in Washington state (northwest CONUS) so this one's not an option for me.
I now have a V8 Finder 2
I've been able to scan in more now on G-19, and as well as watching the ad on SES 1 and getting some PBS stations there and G-16 both. So three satellites kinda in the general vicinity of each other (97W/101W/99.1W) programmed and able to rotate between.
Is G-18 at 123W as strong as the others? According to Satbeams I should be at least somewhat in its footprint although it looks like it's maybe focused more on Alaska.
Now that I'm back at my computer waiting for the Finder to charge back up looks like the Eutelsat(s) 117W have a couple Ku transponders I could look for too.
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I'm having trouble finding a for sure answer on this. When I first started diving back into satellite stuff I noticed the GT Media V8 Finder2 which looks pretty cool and relatively low price point. But I can't find an answer, seems like some people (and Amazon's own AI guesser-bot) say it doesn't support motors.
The manual itself (the PDF that I found is named 20220718043903GTMEDIAV8FINDER2.pdf and it's on page 6 of 8) does show on the installation screen a "Motor Setup" menu item and says "If select DiSEqC1.2 or USALS, we can press ◀︎▶︎ to select IF Channel, and use number key to input Center Frequency."
Which…… the USALS part seems promising, but I don't know what IF and Center frequencies have to do with anything? Can it drive the motor off its battery for one, and does it have options for e.g. using the ◀︎▶︎ arrows to change the aim and save adjustments?
The closest I've found to real-world experience here is in Long shot with TBS6909X card where someone is talking about a different rotor and says:
> when I connect my V8 Finder 2, it immediately moves the dish if it's not in the correct position
which seems really promising! Moving the dish is what I'm after here, with something newer than the old MPEG-2 receiver I have now. Even for other receivers its really unclear if motor support is just pretty much a safe assumption that they don't even mention it anymore?
The V9 Prime actually looks pretty nice too and assuming it runs motors maybe that'd be better than the V8 Finder 2 for actual long term use since it has networking. But I'm having trouble finding listings for it (and actually most other receivers I see mentioned here) on Amazon or eBay or even Aliexpress. I'm wanting a DVB-S2 receiver for at least MPEG-4 with H.264/AVC and maybe should just get H.265/HEVC while I'm shopping. Main criteria:
* run my "Goto X"-era SG-2100 rotator
* be able to view most/all modern FTA satellites
* ideally a scheduled DVR feature and/or network would make it more useful
* I don't mind if it has… "alternative" firmwares or features but just for broader compatibility/interest
My main goal is I guess just exploration, seeing what's up there. Honestly not a big TV guy and definitely not into infomercials but if I can time shift the occasional Bob Ross or Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, or catch some world events as they're being uplinked, that sort of thing might be interesting. (Honestly main goal started out as weather satellites but this is kinda a warmup excercise for what will likely be a separate setup due to the frequencies.)
My dish is kinda far from my house and even farther from my "radio shack" so if I could just run a PoE ethernet line to something in a box below the dish, or a coax only to the crawlspace where I have 110V but either way would need it full remote including changing between satellites. To avoid having to buy and pull tons more coax up and down through the house. I'm into open source and real standards, so I'd much rather something that I can say use with VLC or go2rtc via a raw IP address and protocol rather than some convenient but proprietary iOS cloud app thingy.
The manual itself (the PDF that I found is named 20220718043903GTMEDIAV8FINDER2.pdf and it's on page 6 of 8) does show on the installation screen a "Motor Setup" menu item and says "If select DiSEqC1.2 or USALS, we can press ◀︎▶︎ to select IF Channel, and use number key to input Center Frequency."
Which…… the USALS part seems promising, but I don't know what IF and Center frequencies have to do with anything? Can it drive the motor off its battery for one, and does it have options for e.g. using the ◀︎▶︎ arrows to change the aim and save adjustments?
The closest I've found to real-world experience here is in Long shot with TBS6909X card where someone is talking about a different rotor and says:
> when I connect my V8 Finder 2, it immediately moves the dish if it's not in the correct position
which seems really promising! Moving the dish is what I'm after here, with something newer than the old MPEG-2 receiver I have now. Even for other receivers its really unclear if motor support is just pretty much a safe assumption that they don't even mention it anymore?
The V9 Prime actually looks pretty nice too and assuming it runs motors maybe that'd be better than the V8 Finder 2 for actual long term use since it has networking. But I'm having trouble finding listings for it (and actually most other receivers I see mentioned here) on Amazon or eBay or even Aliexpress. I'm wanting a DVB-S2 receiver for at least MPEG-4 with H.264/AVC and maybe should just get H.265/HEVC while I'm shopping. Main criteria:
* run my "Goto X"-era SG-2100 rotator
* be able to view most/all modern FTA satellites
* ideally a scheduled DVR feature and/or network would make it more useful
* I don't mind if it has… "alternative" firmwares or features but just for broader compatibility/interest
My main goal is I guess just exploration, seeing what's up there. Honestly not a big TV guy and definitely not into infomercials but if I can time shift the occasional Bob Ross or Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, or catch some world events as they're being uplinked, that sort of thing might be interesting. (Honestly main goal started out as weather satellites but this is kinda a warmup excercise for what will likely be a separate setup due to the frequencies.)
My dish is kinda far from my house and even farther from my "radio shack" so if I could just run a PoE ethernet line to something in a box below the dish, or a coax only to the crawlspace where I have 110V but either way would need it full remote including changing between satellites. To avoid having to buy and pull tons more coax up and down through the house. I'm into open source and real standards, so I'd much rather something that I can say use with VLC or go2rtc via a raw IP address and protocol rather than some convenient but proprietary iOS cloud app thingy.
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119 views
Thanks, great tips and yeah when I'd read how the H/V bias worked I wondered if the higher voltage was ever useful for better power transfer
It was perhaps slightly impulsive (though I guess not too late to cancel) but instead of the Finder unit I ended up going for kinda the opposite: a completely faceless USB tuner box (TBS5930) which should have RF support all the way up through DVB-S2X. If I'm understanding correctly the actual video/audio will then be whatever I can get software/GPU support for so my hope is that any unencrypted MPEG-2/AVC/HEVC feed can be viewed with VLC or whatnot. As well as access to what I assume is pure data like the Blockstream stuff just for example. (They had a lot of good resources for reception of their own signal in lots of various interesting ways and is kinda how I found the TBS options.)
And I think I will be able to control DiSEqC stuff through Linux including motor commands. So the idea is kinda what I mentioned, hoping this can just get chained in to an old thin client PC or if there's any Raspberry Pi that doesn't cost triple digits these days, somewhere physically convenient and then run it all over LAN from my laptop.
All this is somewhat theoretical of course based on what I'm piecing together but at a certain point I usually have to close all the browser tabs and just commit to try *something* that looks promising and go from there.
It was perhaps slightly impulsive (though I guess not too late to cancel) but instead of the Finder unit I ended up going for kinda the opposite: a completely faceless USB tuner box (TBS5930) which should have RF support all the way up through DVB-S2X. If I'm understanding correctly the actual video/audio will then be whatever I can get software/GPU support for so my hope is that any unencrypted MPEG-2/AVC/HEVC feed can be viewed with VLC or whatnot. As well as access to what I assume is pure data like the Blockstream stuff just for example. (They had a lot of good resources for reception of their own signal in lots of various interesting ways and is kinda how I found the TBS options.)
And I think I will be able to control DiSEqC stuff through Linux including motor commands. So the idea is kinda what I mentioned, hoping this can just get chained in to an old thin client PC or if there's any Raspberry Pi that doesn't cost triple digits these days, somewhere physically convenient and then run it all over LAN from my laptop.
All this is somewhat theoretical of course based on what I'm piecing together but at a certain point I usually have to close all the browser tabs and just commit to try *something* that looks promising and go from there.
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