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darkproximity

Last reply Aug 7, 2023 · posted in DISH Network Support Forum

Hybrid LNBF and 3 Wallys

I am considering upgrading my Pathway X2 to a tripod dish with Hybrid LNBF for various reasons.

My RV has 3 sattelite inputs; one to each room, each connected to a Wally. I'd like to be able to connect a hybrid lnbf on a tripod with a single coax back to the RV and distribute to each of the rooms.

My understanding is that I would at minimum need a Channel Stack Splitter (4 way). I could mount this near the existing RV sat inputs, run coax from the tripod dish to the input of the splitter, then 3 short runs from the splitter to the 3 rv inputs.

Are there any other components required for this installation? A resistor for the open port on the splitter? a power inserter?

I found this thread from 2018 with a similar scenario, although I'm unsure what is meant by K2 here.

Wally's with Channel Stack Splitters

I've installed a couple of multiple Wally setups in a couple of businesses that are having problems. First one I have 3 Wally's at a bar. Setup is DPP LNB 3 lines into a 42. Out of 42 one line inside to a 42 Power Inserter behind the bar. From that into a 4-Way Channel Stack Splitter, then...

www.satelliteguys.us

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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HipKat

May 3, 2022

The top picture is rough but this is off the Tech site we use. That component after the dish is a Power Inserter, I believe

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darkproximity

May 3, 2022

HipKat said:
View attachment 156620

View attachment 156621

The top picture is rough but this is off the Tech site we use. That component after the dish is a Power Inserter, I believe

Do you know when a power inserter is actually required? I figured the wally connected to the dc pass port on the 4 port splitter would provide sufficient voltage to the lnbf. Maybe if the cable between the lnbf and splitter is too long? I was hoping to avoid needing to use a power inserter if possible. I don't have any 120v receptacles near my sat inputs.

In the thread I linked in my original post, user Jsheridan said:

We just used our first channel stack splitter set-up with 3 Wally's on a K2 with a Hybrid LNB and a 4 way splitter. All the Wally's checked switch and activated fine and so far, so good. We made sure the install was close by just in case.

It sounds like they were able to do what I'm picturing, without a power inserter, but im not sure what they meant by "on a k2"

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TheKrell

May 3, 2022

darkproximity said:
It sounds like they were able to do what I'm picturing, without a power inserter, but im not sure what they meant by "on a k2"

I think that means a 1000.2 dish. I also think the power inserter is always required. If Jsheridan got away without adding one, then I don't know for how long the Wally on the power passing port will survive. I guess the Trav'ler can be powered by a Wally, so maybe.

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ethanlerma

May 3, 2022

TheKrell said:
I guess the Travelr can be powered by a Wally, so maybe.

Trav'ler's Have a required control box of sorts that provides power to the servos that do the alignment, although I think the connected receiver does power the LNBF.

darkproximity said:
Any idea what the DPH requires voltage wise?

The back of my Hopper 3 says 26v, and my Wally says 18v (you can ignore the 13v part, that voltage is only used for polarization on a legacy LNB).

As long as the channel stack splitter you have/plan to buy has a power pass port I think you might be fine, power inserters are usually a requirement when using a switch or to cover large distances. Here you are powering the same integrated switch you would normally power, and having a few more receivers downstream just receiving a signal should be fine. I might be completely wrong though, the LNB switch may require extra juice to perform the splitting of channels over different frequencies (which is what allows the stack splitters to work, if you remember the separators/triplexers for ViP dual tuner systems it's the same concept), and also, the Hopper 3 runs on the same principle (and just eats up all 16 channels for itself) so it could be the reason it runs on 26v instead of 18v. If you do decide to give it a shot, I would make sure that the Wally you designate as the main one is on the shortest coax run posible.

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darkproximity

May 3, 2022

ethanlerma said:
Trav'ler's Have a required control box of sorts that provides power to the servos that do the alignment, although I think the connected receiver does power the LNBF.

The back of my Hopper 3 says 26v, and my Wally says 18v (you can ignore the 13v part, that voltage is only used for polarization on a legacy LNB).

As long as the channel stack splitter you have/plan to buy has a power pass port I think you might be fine, power inserters are usually a requirement when using a switch or to cover large distances. Here you are powering the same integrated switch you would normally power, and having a few more receivers downstream just receiving a signal should be fine. I might be completely wrong though, the LNB switch may require extra juice to perform the splitting of channels over different frequencies (which is what allows the stack splitters to work, if you remember the separators/triplexers for ViP dual tuner systems it's the same concept), and also, the Hopper 3 runs on the same principle (and just eats up all 16 channels for itself) so it could be the reason it runs on 26v instead of 18v. If you do decide to give it a shot, I would make sure that the Wally you designate as the main one is on the shortest coax run posible.

If a power inserter is needed, does it matter where the inserter is placed in regards to the splitter? Most schematics I've seen show it between the lnbf and the splitter. I could definitely insert power between the splitter and the designated main wally on the power passthru port.

darkproximity

May 3, 2022

darkproximity said:
If a power inserter is needed, does it matter where the inserter is placed in regards to the splitter? Most schematics I've seen show it between the lnbf and the splitter. I could definitely insert power between the splitter and the designated main wally on the power passthru port.

I may have answered my own question. This schematic i found on dishformyrv.com shows the power inserter between the main wally and the splitter.

Now my last question is, do i need a terminator on the open port that i wont be using on the splitter? I've seen 75ohm terminators (i believe thats what they're called) used to "cap" open ports on videos of other sattelite installations with switches.

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darkproximity

Aug 7, 2023

Figured I'd bump my old thread after a year and a half.

So we decided to upgrade our RV and now it's time to do this all again!

This new RV already has a 3rd TV mounted so we got around to buying a 3rd wally. I re-did the previous install with the power inserter and channel stack 4 way splitter.

After much frustration with trying and failing to get Sat 129 to come in, i gave up and went inside to find that
Wally one immediately got signal and didn't require a check switch even though it hasnt been on in over a month. To my surprise I still had HD channels. I then found out online that dish discontinued 129.. what a way to find out.. Anyway, wally 1 is correctly identifying as Hybrid 1000.2 WA.

Wally two was identifying the switch as a Quad, another check switch then it identified it as a Twin. After a full reset and check switch it finally identified as Hybrid 1000.2 WA.

The new wally took a while to activate but it finally went through, however it says:

Switch: None
Reception: Verified

It only sees one sattelite, I dont recall if it's 110 or 119. Either way, it's not working correctly.

If anyone has any ideas I'm open to them. My next step will be to redo the cable terminations on this run and see if it helps. They don't exactly do a good job on them, all of the cables that came with the TVs all had the ends pull off with minimal effort.

darkproximity

Aug 7, 2023

I re-read through this thread after seeing tjbostons reply last night and found where I had posted a schematic found on the dish outdoors website that has the power inserter between the wally and the channel stack splitter and got a reply saying it was the only permitted way of connecting it.

darkproximity said:
This schematic i found on dishformyrv.com shows the power inserter between the main wally and the splitter.

cableview said:
This is the correct configuration and the only one on a portable Dish that is actually permitted by Dish Network. If you wanted any other setup here, you would need a switch.

Currently I have it between the splitter and the dish. I'm not sure electrically how its different besides maybe adding resistance for all of the wallys instead of just one. I'll try reconnecting it this way and see if that works.

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Bobby

Aug 7, 2023

darkproximity said:
Figured I'd bump my old thread after a year and a half.

So we decided to upgrade our RV and now it's time to do this all again!

This new RV already has a 3rd TV mounted so we got around to buying a 3rd wally. I re-did the previous install with the power inserter and channel stack 4 way splitter.

After much frustration with trying and failing to get Sat 129 to come in, i gave up and went inside to find that
Wally one immediately got signal and didn't require a check switch even though it hasnt been on in over a month. To my surprise I still had HD channels. I then found out online that dish discontinued 129.. what a way to find out.. Anyway, wally 1 is correctly identifying as Hybrid 1000.2 WA.

Wally two was identifying the switch as a Quad, another check switch then it identified it as a Twin. After a full reset and check switch it finally identified as Hybrid 1000.2 WA.

The new wally took a while to activate but it finally went through, however it says:

Switch: None
Reception: Verified

It only sees one sattelite, I dont recall if it's 110 or 119. Either way, it's not working correctly.

If anyone has any ideas I'm open to them. My next step will be to redo the cable terminations on this run and see if it helps. They don't exactly do a good job on them, all of the cables that came with the TVs all had the ends pull off with minimal effort.

The 129 satellite has been decommissioned. All of the channels that were on it were moved to 110/119. Don't wrack your brains looking for it, all is well.

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darkproximity

Aug 7, 2023

Bobby said:
The 129 satellite has been decommissioned. All of the channels that were on it were moved to 110/119. Don't wrack your brains looking for it, all is well.

Lol I found that out the hard way. Last time we went camping during the 4th of July I had a small sliver of trees and mountain, was only able to get 119 and 129 and had any HD channel we normally watch. I was reading some posts here last night and it seems they were far into the migration from 129 at that point. I'll have to find an updated channel per sattelite listing, it would be nice if all the channels we watch were on 119.

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darkproximity

Aug 7, 2023

Hooked everything up according to the previously posted diagram from dish. Sattelite Dish to Channel Stack Splitter, power inserter on the DC Pass Out to Main wally.

Check switch completed on the offending wally in question, reported as SW42 and had 110 and 119, did not show a slot for the now defunct 129 like the other wallys do.

Did another check switch.. This time reported switch as SW44, showed sat 110 and 119 with no 3rd slot for 129.

Every subsequent check switch thereafter showed Switch None same as yesterday.

It's worth noting that both the good wallys have external hard drives connected and we paid for the dvr functionality.

Next test was to disconnect the 2nd non-main good wally and reset all wallys. Same result, main wally is fine and reports Hybrid Triple WA.2, offending wally reports None.

I plan to now make the offending wally the main wally and disconnect all wallys.

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darkproximity

Aug 7, 2023

Anticlimactic ending... It's no longer the offending wally but the offending cable between the now good wally and the wall...

I'm a little rusty terminating cables and I must not have pushed the cable in all the way inside the 90° connector. All is well now. 3 Wallys running through channel stack 4 way splitter to Dish Pro Hybrid LNBF. Power inserter between main wally to dc pass output port on splitter.

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teachtom

Last reply 22 minutes ago · posted in DISH Network Support Forum

Problem when I switch from Bonus View channels back to regular Dish channels

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

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HipKat

Today at 5:07 PM

teachtom said:
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

First off, great TV. I'm torn between the 77C5 or the 77G5.
It sounds like the handshake between the Receiver and the TV is having a problem. Are you using the free cable that came with the Joey or a higher speed HDMI cable?? That's the f irst place I'd look

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RJT79

Today at 5:17 PM

teachtom said:
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

First off, The analog to digital switch, also known as the digital television transition, is the process of converting older analog television broadcasting technology to digital broadcasting. It's used through coaxial cable for the an antenna during the mandatory switch from Analog to Digital on June 12, 2009. You either had to get a converter for your analog (Tube TV) or use a converter box that has the analog or digital tuner or an HDTV which your is and has the tuner built in. Your TV is HD and using an HDMI Cable and nothing is connected by coaxial cable so this wouldn't apply.

In my theory it probably means a new TV. I had a TV go out on my switching between the Smart Screen from the HDMI inputs before because they went faulty. Sometimes electrical surges can cause this. If you have an older home or rent an older home or apartment sometimes the electrical outlets are not grounded and these days HDTV's need a ground which can cause them to malfunction and go bad quicker. Never plug it directly in an outlet. It will damage the TV.

Hope I could be of some assistance.

RJ T.
From Illinois

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teachtom

Today at 7:33 PM

RJT79 said:
First off, The analog to digital switch, also known as the digital television transition, is the process of converting older analog television broadcasting technology to digital broadcasting. It's used through coaxial cable for the an antenna during the mandatory switch from Analog to Digital on June 12, 2009. You either had to get a converter for your analog (Tube TV) or use a converter box that has the analog or digital tuner or an HDTV which your is and has the tuner built in. Your TV is HD and using an HDMI Cable and nothing is connected by coaxial cable so this wouldn't apply.

In my theory it probably means a new TV. I had a TV go out on my switching between the Smart Screen from the HDMI inputs before because they went faulty. Sometimes electrical surges can cause this. If you have an older home or rent an older home or apartment sometimes the electrical outlets are not grounded and these days HDTV's need a ground which can cause them to malfunction and go bad quicker. Never plug it directly in an outlet. It will damage the TV.

Hope I could be of some assistance.

RJ T.
From Illinois

Thank you for the information. I do keep the TV plugged into a surge protector, but we have had pretty strong thunderstorms/lightning in the last month so that have contributed to my problem.The house was built in 2009 so everything seems to be grounded correctly. We have had a power surge also. Seems like no one fixes anything any more, so just get a new one or live with the problem. Thanks

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teachtom

Today at 7:39 PM

HipKat said:
First off, great TV. I'm torn between the 77C5 or the 77G5.
It sounds like the handshake between the Receiver and the TV is having a problem. Are you using the free cable that came with the Joey or a higher speed HDMI cable?? That's the f irst place I'd look

I think the HDMI cable is good, i used one of my own from my 4K atmos system, i'll switch it with another just to check. Also I have a bid in at Greentoe for 77" G5. Thanks

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HipKat

Today at 8:17 PM

teachtom said:
I think the HDMI cable is good, i used one of my own from my 4K atmos system, i'll switch it with another just to check. Also I have a bid in at Greentoe for 77" G5. Thanks

I hope that works. I'm waiting til Black Friday sales

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Darrell S

22 minutes ago

I've had this problem with my older Sony TV. It happens when I just punch in a regular channel number. The only way it works right for me is to push guide and select a regular channel from the guide screen.

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Scott Greczkowski

Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge

Last reply 30 minutes ago · posted in The Chit Chat Club

Song Name Game Part 3!

Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!

So let the game continue!

The last song was added by Bobby who posted...

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CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!

Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game

Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.

Example:

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An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....

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natevw

Last reply Today at 8:02 PM · posted in FTA Receiver / Equipment Support

GEOSATpro Does anyone recognize these channels (/audio loop)?

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:

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

There's iirc three audio channels it finds too but I didn't get a good snapshot of those. All the channels except for one seem to be dead (black screen and silent audio), except for the OU_Chan one which on both days I found it was just rolling one same ad over and over on a loop. I won't repeat the full roll since I don't want to spam the forums as my first post

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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cyberham

Jun 2, 2026

Correct LO setting to 10600 MHz. Set receiver to 12053 V 22000. Use USALS to motor over to 97W Galaxy 19. Then, loosen bolts and rotate entire assembly (motor & dish) very slightly east or west until you peak on that transponder.

You should be able to blind scan in 6 transponders (DVB-S) and dozens of channels.

When using a motor, just set skew of LNB for 0 degrees and don't change it. The motor automatically rotates the dish to the correct skew.

natevw

Jun 4, 2026

cyberham said:
Correct LO setting to 10600 MHz. Set receiver to 12053 V 22000. Use USALS to motor over to 97W Galaxy 19. Then, loosen bolts and rotate entire assembly (motor & dish) very slightly east or west until you peak on that transponder.

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.

cyberham said:
You should be able to blind scan in 6 transponders (DVB-S) and dozens of channels.

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.

cyberham said:
When using a motor, just set skew of LNB for 0 degrees and don't change it. The motor automatically rotates the dish to the correct skew.

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

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cyberham

Jun 4, 2026

Motor over to 123W Galaxy 18 and try for 12078 V 3680 (Korean Broadcasting System). It is DVB-S. And 12008 H 12660 (Daystar mux) on the same satellite.

Beyond these, you'll need your new receiver that supports DVB-S2.

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Brct203

Jun 4, 2026

natevw said:
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

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 channels

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natevw

Today at 7:36 PM

cyberham said:
Motor over to 123W Galaxy 18 and try for 12078 V 3680 (Korean Broadcasting System). It is DVB-S. And 12008 H 12660 (Daystar mux) on the same satellite.

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?

Brct203 said:
beside 123W, another one to try (if it's above the horizon at your location) is Hispasat @30W.

I'm in Washington state (northwest CONUS) so this one's not an option for me.

cyberham said:
Beyond these, you'll need your new receiver that supports DVB-S2.

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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cyberham

Today at 8:02 PM

On 117W, try for BVN. It has a C/N lock of just 1.0 dB so it's easy to receive. See transponder data on Lyngsat. 123W is receivable. Your motor is not perfectly on the arc yet.

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TWiT Tech Podcast Network

Today at 7:52 PM · posted in TWiT Tech Podcast Network

Google’s New Translate Tool

Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW3qReY-JYA

Direct YouTube Link - Google's New Translate Tool
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed

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TWiT Tech Podcast Network

Today at 7:52 PM · posted in TWiT Tech Podcast Network

Another Cisco SD-WAN 0-day?

Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zh1RgcJue0

Direct YouTube Link - Another Cisco SD-WAN 0-day?
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed

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natevw

Last reply Today at 7:19 PM · posted in FTA Receiver / Equipment Support

OTHER Does the GT Media V8 Finder2 run rotor motors? (/DVB-S2 recommendations)

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.

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cyberham

Jun 2, 2026

I have the GT Media V9 prime receiver. It's a good modern receiver for its price. I think it's no longer available new since GT Media stopped making receivers.

The V9 supports USALS and Diseqc motor positioning. I have 125 feet of RG6 to my dish. I'd recommend 100 feet of cable maximum due to voltage drop issues as the cable gets longer. In my case, my motor works but at times when I move the motor I stay tuned to horizontal (H) transponders which sends a higher motor voltage than if tuned to a vertical (V) transponder.

natevw

Jun 2, 2026

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.

natevw

Today at 7:19 PM

natevw said:
I'm having trouble finding a for sure answer on this.

Had a mixup with the TBS5930, got sent a cheaper Lite model than I paid for and am returning that. Ended up with the V8 Finder 2 after all.

And can confirm that it *does* have motor support! There's options for each satellite:

* None
* DiSEqC 1.2
* USALS

If you choose USALS (after setting device lat/lon) then it simply goes to where it thinks the satellite should be. If you arrow over to the DiSEqC option then you can press "OK" on it and pull up a menu with the ability to save position presets and also a motor nudge feature.

So between the two I can first choose USALS to get my initial setting, and then switch to DiSEqC to see if fine tuning helps.

That's all in the "Installation menu". When just watching channels it automatically switches between satellites too. Can even do a multi-satellite scan although it seemed it maybe didn't wait for the motor to finish before starting the scan.