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You'll probably need a new LNB.

In my experience it is best to discard old weather-beaten LNBs and buy a new standard linear LNB. This should cost less than $20 including shipping, and will save much frustration. I would also suggest one of the cheap "SF95" type signal meters to help in finding a satellite signal. These can also be had for less than $20 delivered.

Your dish for Ku band FTA Linear satellites should be at least 31 inches in diameter. Bigger is better. Some linear Ku fta sats can be received with smaller dishes, but doing so is primarily just a challenging stunt to see if you can do it.

I would suggest you start with Galaxy 19 @ 97 West. There are plenty of FTA channels here , and the signal is strong on most transponders.

For me, the two most difficult things to learn when starting out in FTA TV were: 1- Finding the satellite signal you are aiming for. 2- Setting all the options in your receiver's setup menu to match your equipment and the satellite signal your are trying to get.

Learn from your mistakes, and don't get discouraged. You'll figure it out.

One more thought: I spent many frustrating hours trying to get 123w back in the day with a Primestar dish and a "Dish1000?" that had 3 LNBs on it, one of them linear. I never did get usable signal quality with my junkyard dishes and LNBs. A year or so later I tried again with a new Winegard 31-inch dish and a new standard linear LNB. In about an hour and a half I was setup on 123w, enjoying old TV shows on RTN network. Sure, I studied about FTA TV plenty in that year, but the bigger dish and new LNB made all the difference in getting good strong signal quality.

Thanks for all the replys. I will work with it this evening and see what lnbs I have. Currently the hughes net dish is permently mounted and ready to go. Turbosat I see your from Oneonta I have a lot of family in odenville and springville. Very pretty neck of the woods.

The hughsnet dish is not very easy to get to. I couldnt get any numbers off of it. On the primestar dish, it is a channelmaster with mold number 75e-4. The lnb has the number 8462 on it and has 2 coax outlets one marked with an H and the other with a V.

hwm said:

In my experience it is best to discard old weather-beaten LNBs and buy a new standard linear LNB. This should cost less than $20 including shipping, and will save much frustration. I would also suggest one of the cheap "SF95" type signal meters to help in finding a satellite signal. These can also be had for less than $20 delivered.

Your dish for Ku band FTA Linear satellites should be at least 31 inches in diameter. Bigger is better. Some linear Ku fta sats can be received with smaller dishes, but doing so is primarily just a challenging stunt to see if you can do it.

I would suggest you start with Galaxy 19 @ 97 West. There are plenty of FTA channels here , and the signal is strong on most transponders.

For me, the two most difficult things to learn when starting out in FTA TV were: 1- Finding the satellite signal you are aiming for. 2- Setting all the options in your receiver's setup menu to match your equipment and the satellite signal your are trying to get.
Learn from your mistakes, and don't get discouraged. You'll figure it out.

One more thought: I spent many frustrating hours trying to get 123w back in the day with a Primestar dish and a "Dish1000?" that had 3 LNBs on it, one of them linear. I never did get usable signal quality with my junkyard dishes and LNBs. A year or so later I tried again with a new Winegard 31-inch dish and a new standard linear LNB. In about an hour and a half I was setup on 123w, enjoying old TV shows on RTN network. Sure, I studied about FTA TV plenty in that year, but the bigger dish and new LNB made all the difference in getting good strong signal quality.

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HWM,

You have some excellent points of advice and suggestions! I highlighted the ones that I thought were worded so perfectly and eloquently.

I don't agree that "bigger is better" however. That is not always the truth or the correct way to judge the dish antenna. There are many factors to be considered, beyond just size. You must consider size (diameter), F/D ratio, construction and material, gain rating at the desired or intended frequency use, effective apperture and apperture efficiency and several other parameters. Basically, be cautious about stating that bigger is always better, because it isn't always an accurate statement.

To add to this:

Ensure that your mast is perfectly plumb and sturdy, don't skimp or cut a corner on this. It is highly important that you adhere to this rule.

It is also important to experiment and try to become familiarized with setting up and aligning a fixed point dish antenna, before you graduate to a motorized system.

And, obviously, become very familiar with the receiver that you are starting out with. Learn its abilities and limitations by asking questions and experiment with navigating all of its menus and modes of operation.

Good luck to you, 49Ford and absolutely....



RADAR

49ford, your Primestar dish will work well for you. The LNB is a bit old, but should do the job with one addition--a DirecTV-style 3 x 4 multiswitch. These can be had very cheaply. You would connect the H output from the LNB to the 18V input on the multiswitch, and the V output to the 13V input on the switch. You can connect up to four receivers to the outputs. The multiswitch allows the receiver to select horizontal or vertical polarities by switching voltages, as it would normally do with any regular LNB. You could also buy a new LNB for the dish, but the multiswitch is probably your cheapest option.

I'd personally replace that LNB with a bandstacked one from a Superdish (also found very easily, and usually for free), but I'm not going to advise someone new to the hobby to jump in with a bandstacked LNB (Anole would probably disown me!)

Tron said:

49ford, your Primestar dish will work well for you. The LNB is a bit old, but should do the job with one addition--a DirecTV-style 3 x 4 multiswitch. These can be had very cheaply. You would connect the H output from the LNB to the 18V input on the multiswitch, and the V output to the 13V input on the switch. You can connect up to four receivers to the outputs. The multiswitch allows the receiver to select horizontal or vertical polarities by switching voltages, as it would normally do with any regular LNB. You could also buy a new LNB for the dish, but the multiswitch is probably your cheapest option.

I'd personally replace that LNB with a bandstacked one from a Superdish (also found very easily, and usually for free), but I'm not going to advise someone new to the hobby to jump in with a bandstacked LNB (Anole would probably disown me!)

Click to expand...

49er, I agree with everything that Tron says here but would add, if you just want to try out that Primestar you don't have to buy a new LNBF or a multiswitch. Just need to hook your coax to the H output if you are scanning for horizontal channels, and the V output if looking for verticals.

Once you have everything working in that state you will most likely want to get a multiswitch, or a voltage-controlled switching LNBF so you don't have to move the cable to select polarities.

Those Primestars are excellent dishes, if you end up using yours and want to consider motorizing it, there is a ton of info on this site on how to do that also.