10.4.2009 - Satellite AV Sample of the Week Contest

[SatelliteAV]

Satellite AV Sample of the Week ends 10/4.2009

Every week, SatelliteAV will be giving away a sample product to a SatelliteGuy. The weekly prize will be awarded to a member who has posted to this thread during the previous week. The theme of the current entry requirement will be posted along with the sample information.

The receivers are manufacturing samples that have been provided by a manufacturer for testing or approval. Satellite AV has a ton of equipment to give away!

Important Notice: Satellite AV will attempt to provide as much information about the sample item, but we will not respond to questions regarding the product specifications or provide product support. Please do not PM or request product support from our sales or support team members. Failure to comply with this request will result in the termination of this contest. Please understand that instead of recycling these items, Satellite AV will offer SatelliteGuys hobbyists some pretty interesting stuff that may or may not ever be on the market!

The winner will be responsible for shipping cost and we will ship anywhere on your dime! All packages will be shipped by USPS or FedEx. If the winner wishes not to claim the prize or does not respond to our SatelliteGuys post and PM notification and provide shipping and payment information within 5 business days, the prize will be forfeited and the unit will be offered again in a future post.

This contest is open to any SatelliteGuys member in good standing with the exception of Satellite AV staff and members of their families. A random drawing will be made from the qualifying entries by a member of our staff after the closing of the drawing.

Have Fun!

This week's winner will receive two (2) of the following!

Here are the specs:
Manufacturer: ECODA / Lizhi Electronic Co., Ltd.
Model Name: LZ-404
Product type: 22KHz Multiswitch 4x4x4
Documentation: No
Power Source: Non Powered
Shipping Weight: 2 lbs.
Package size for calculating approx. shipping charges: 7x7x5

The units are new and in white gift box packaging. Tested and Working fine. This multiswitch features signal pass-through for cascading multiple switches for service up to eight receivers.

They are not waterproof and appear not to be water resistant, so plan on installing in an enclosure. Great Quality construction!

Attractive, colorful, shiny and functional.... What a combination!

Frequency Range(satellite):950-2200Mhz
Frequency Range(terrestrial):40-862Mhz
Isolation:?30dB
Insertion loss:?5dB
Maximum DC current to LNB: 1500mA
Input/output connector 75ohm F-type
Control Commands: 13v 18v 13v/22k 18v/22k


To Enter This Week's Drawing: Reply to this post: What was the toughest or time consuming install that you have ever done? Was it your first? Last? Maybe just one that had the simple fix that would have got you off the roof hours or even days earlier? Details.... details.... details..... We will throw in a few more switch type goodies if the winner has woven a great tale!


This drawing ends: 12 midnight PDT, 10/04/2009

 

[Lak7]

First, by far. Had to learn everything without the help of the internet.
Bought a Motorized 80cm Fortec, Viewsat, and QPH031, from a guy at work who couldn't get it to work. I had a pretty good sunburn on my left side.

 

[stogie5150]

Without a doubt, my LAST install, the Birdview. I had so many things go wrong, things I didn't understand, it was maddening.

First I drove 400 miles round trip to get the dish, which was the most enjoyable part because I got to meet some nice folks and see some great countryside.
Then I had to remake the pole, because the BV takes a 6" pole and I had to have a piece of 4" pole welded to it to make it work.
Then after I put the dish up the motor seized up and I had to remove and troubleshoot that.
After that, the dish would not tune Ku as well as C-band, turned out my focal length was wrong, that was after months of measuring centering and using the wrong information....
After I got all that straightened out with some help from my friends here ( thanks fellas!) its one of the best performing dishes for its size I have used.

Thanks for the contest Brian!

 

[RedSavina]

So far, I have yet to achieve a working install! But that should change next week...

In short, I am sneaking up on FTA in the most difficult way possible: by cobbling together a system piece by piece. I don't have a large dish (yet), so am focusing on the strong birds (125, 129, etc) with an adapted D500 that was inspired by many members here (see attached). The dish is plumb, LNB is positioned correctly, and I have 129 dialed in with my meter. Unfortunately, the USB StarBox that I picked up just isn't up to the task! It cannot find anything on this satellite, either with a linear or circular lnb. The same dish with circular lnb pulls in my subscription programming just fine on the ViP 211...

So, I am anxiously awaiting an inexpensive used receiver that is due to arrive next week. Maybe then I will get my first FTA install working!

I sure hope so, because there are lots of fun things I plan to experiment with (stacked lnbs, for one) and these switches would be a great addition to the project!

I know I am going about this all backwards, but that is part of the fun!

Red

(and yes, that is a UL1 from the holiday sale a couple of years ago!)

 

[Tron]

My most time consuming and troublesome install was a motorized install I did for a friend in Brooklyn. His dish farm is at the top of an 8-story building, so there was a lot of stair climbing involved while carrying heavy equipment. Once on the rooftop (lovely view of Manhattan by the way ), we had to fabricate a mount to fit onto a large girder assembly on his roof. During the install, I overtorqued one of the bolts. Back down the stairs and out for a Home Depot run! Once at Home Depot, we saw many items that gave us new ideas for the install. Brainstorm! Back up the stairs with the new mounting hardware for more fun. Finally, I had to deal with backlash in the motor. All in all, it was the most physically and psychologically demanding install I've ever accomplished. But the view was awesome!

 

[buzz263]

My first, and thus far only motor install. I had to move the dish 5 times, pulled the post out of concrete 3 times. Thought my wife was gonna kill me. I ended up mounting it on a deck post and it's working great!!

Buzz263

 

[redilyn]

My longest install, That would be the one I'm currently working on.

Trying to install my first motorized dish.

No long tale for this one, its still a work in progess

 

[DirectDishNet]

My Longest Install.

Job Site:
Service call:
1.5 million dollar home
Stucco/tiled roof
No basement
No pre-wire
4500 SQ. Feet
Gated Community
Has Home Owner Association

It was Aug. 2007 in Scottsdale, Az. The work order was a AM Service call. Called the customer the evening before, The number was disconnected. No second number. Dispatch did not have any other numbers. That morning as I always do I like to get the small jobs done first so I made the service call my first stop. 8AM arrived at the customers neighborhood security gate. The work order did not have the gate code so I waited for a car to open the gate. 1st car came along 15 minutes later and when he opened the gate he stopped just as he passed the gate so not to let me in. 2d car was neighborhood security, I explained the situation and he went to the customers home for me to get them. 20 minutes later, I noticed the customer walking down the sidewalk up to the gate. She opened the gate with a remote and told me she don't drive so I would have to wait for her to walk back. It's now 9AM
Finally, I was able to access the home with her and asked what can I do for her, She looked puzzled and said she would have to call her husband and see whats going on Another 20 minutes b4 he could call her back. She handed me the phone to let me speak with her husband. He said he has been waiting for someone from dish to do the install for over two weeks. He went on to explain he had several techs out that came up with all sorts of reasons why they could not do the job. Everything from NLOS's to Have to order switches. So, I knew I was not going to get out of the job.

After completing my phone call with the husband, I called dispatch and had them change the work order. Called my FSM and had some extra receivers brought out. Called dispatch again and explained my other AM's would have to be picked up by other installers.

It's now around 10AM. Proceeded to do a site survey. Walked around the house about 4-5 times and could not find the D-Mark. (No basements in AZ) Asked to go in the attic and look around but could not find a attic entrance for at least 20 minutes. Turns out the attic entrance was in a closet in a spare bedroom she neglected to tell me she had. After moving many many large box's and furniture out of the spare bedroom just to access the attic, I finally got in. Walked around the attic and could not find any wires what so ever. The attic was devided into two sections/levals with 1/4 plywood so I had to cut me a nice hole to slip through. Bingo!, Found some cable. But, There were so many splitters it was obvious the house was daisy chained. So left the attic and went outside to cool off for a while.

It's now around 11Am. Not knowing what my game plan was going to be, The wife comes outside with the phone in her hand, "My husband wants to talk to you"....Oh geez, If I didn't have enough to worry about already. He started telling me that he wants his surround sound hooked up because in his last house the installers did it for him and went on to tell me about how he wants two slaves. One in the garage and one in the spare bedroom. I politely explained that right now I have not even started the job yet and am still coming up with a game plan. Told him I would call him in an hour or so do discuss prices on the additional hook ups. That did not go over well with him, He asked me what my supervisors number is so he may call him.

It's now pushing 12PM and I still have not drilled my first hole yet. I explained to the wife where I would be drilling and where the cable would be ran. She again called her husband. After explaining to her husband what the game plan was, He told me that there was cable wired in the home already. He paid the builders extra to run cable to all the rooms. I had to explain that it is daisy chained and that it will not work with our system and that there is NO cable in the garage or spare bedroom. He again did not like my reasoning and said he does not want to see the cable at all and he does not want to see the dish and asked where I was going to place the dish. Told him I was going to hide the dish the best I can but I need to get started asap. He said, Just wait for him to come home for lunch and don't do anything until he gets home.

It's now 12:45 so I went to Carls JR. for lunch. 1:15 arrived back at the customers home only to find my FSM and the customer walking around the house.

My FSM backed me up and explained there is no time to do any extra work and if he wants an installer to come back at a later date to hook up surround and slaves, He would have to pay them to do so.

Customer went back to work.

Now it's around 2PM. FSM was willing to stay and help with the install. I mounted the dish, ran cable and drilled my holes. FSM was working on the inside. After finally getting the receivers downloading, I went ahead and did my cleanup work (caulking, service loops, grounding) called and closed out the work order.

It's now 4PM. While doing my education, the General Manager called and was asking why it is taking so long. I handed the phone to the FSM and he walked outside to explain the situation. My FSM walked back in and said he would like to speak to me outside. Okay, ..... He explained that the customer called dish and the our GM got involved. The GM promised that we will do the two slaves along with the surround sound. My FSM and I agreed to hurry up and do the two slaves b4 the customer had a chance to come home. After two wall fish's we completed the two slaves and was making a mad dash back to our vans when sure enough the customer pulls into his driveway.

It's now 6PM. We explained that we do not get paid to do surround sound and we will not be responsible for any future issues he may have with the sound. Customer said again that the last installer hooked it up for him in the last place free and the CSR promised we would hook it up in his new place. So my FSM said okay (damn)....after another 30 minutes doing his surround sound, The customer wanted to know why the two slaves we did had the same channels as the two mirrored rooms? Now he wanted the slaves to be from the other receiver and not the one his wife said it was from as like the old house. So another 30 minutes in the attic running cable to the other room.

It's now around 8PM. As we were inching towards the front door the wife screams from a distance "Do I have to look at the dish every time I am in the kitchen? I don't think I like that" So we all go into the kitchen and the wife points out that the dish can be seen while sitting at the breakfast nook. and then the husband said, "Hunny, I told them we don't want to see the dish"......The FSM and I looked at each other like "Oh oh!"....So the customer asked if we could move it back a little. We tried to get out of it by saying if we move it there might not be LOS and the holes in the roof might leak. But the wife got even more bitchy so we had no choice.

It's now 8:30PM. Went back to the van and got down the ladder for the 10th time and moved the dish. did a check switch and then put the ladder back. During this time seems the wife was trying to change channels on the TV and not the dish in the back bedroom, So after fixing that she announced that she could see the cable when lying down in the bed. She did not like the wall plate location and wanted it notated. She was so kind enough to not make us move the wall plate but still wanted it notated.

We finally made it back to the van and started the engines when the husband ran up to the FSM's van. I thought to myself, Oh no! what now?. Then the customer went back into the house and the FSM walked up to show me a $4.00 check the customer wrote as a tip for the both of us to split......lol.......I asked to see the check, The FSM handed it to me and I tore it up and spit on it. (Shame on me)

10PM arrived back to the yard.

So what could of made this job easier? Should of came up with an excuse on why the job could not be done like the other previous techs did.

There is one good thing that came out of this tho, I did not have to do a van inspection that night because the yard was locked up by the time we got back.

 

[bubba108]

This is an easy one.
Trying to get the Island networks on G-16. It was always just something to do when not busy with something else. But things got serious when Equity went away and we had no networks here. Was always trying on my old 3 ft. Pansat dish but the best I ever got was for the channels to load but 95% tiling. Didn't want to have to put up a BUD, trying to keep a low profile here. The largest dish I had was an old Primestar center fed 42"/38". With duct tape and gorilla glue I made it an offset fed dish. Then I mounted an old C band LNB on it. Got the channels to load with about 50% tiling. The next big step was to order a Conical Scalar Ring Kit and install it. With a whole day's adjusting (and some help from Iceberg), I was able to get the Island networks perfect! Getting ready now to watch NFL on Fox Puerto Rico with perfect pics. Watched Iowa and Pitt last night on ABC HD.
Guess you could call it a LUD (Little Ugly Dish).

 

[funkypc]

I installed my own system, and there was really no issues. Then I added a motor, and swapped the dish out, and still everything was fine. easy.
and Then..
I found a couple channels that were weak. So I went up to re-aim, and I couldn't get much better with the cheap satellite finder, so I took the advice of the forum and went up with a TV and receiver. What a waste of time! never again! I couldn't get a single quality point in my setup. Never again will I lug a TV onto the roof!...

 

[whatchel1]

University Medical Center

What was the toughest or time consuming install that you have ever done? Was it your first? Last? Maybe just one that had the simple fix that would have got you off the roof hours or even days earlier? Details.... details.... details..... We will throw in a few more switch type goodies if the winner has woven a great tale!

First the easy part was setting up the dish. It was for Law Enforcement TV network. It was in an area the was an access area for vehicles but I had a concrete wall to run conduit to the the building. It was using a six ft prime focus Laux KU band dish on a non-pen type mount. Had to run Plenum RG-6 cable 200 ft (still hate that stuff). The conduit run was around 50ft then into the building. Then it was run thru the ceiling area crawl space up to the office floor inside the elevator shaft. It was over to the office space from the elevator shaft and drop within the wall to location of the receiver. Had to use a line amp to make the run that far. It took 3 days to do this job.

 

[migold]

WOW! After reading about other people's troubles, I realize how easy it was for me... My first dish install goes back nearly 20 years, so I am not remembering that... The only problem I have had recently was installing my GepSatPro 90 CM dish and aiming it 123° W. This is difficult, because the ofset angle for this dish is 24.6°, and the elevation for 123°W is 28.4°. The bracket for this dish has to be inverted to allow the dish to go this low, when mounted with no motor. Once I flipped the bracket and reassembled, 123°W was easy to find.
Thanks for the opportunity!

 

[Auric]

My hardest install was my 12' BUD in 1994/1995. It actually took a few years before I understood it. I bought the dish new & it came installed, but when we moved I brought it with us, & tried to do it myself. I wrote down everything, but I never new about the curvature of the earth, true south etc. I had to get help getting it going. My wife never did like the thing, so we recently took it down. It was more the location that she didn't like. outside of our kitchen window. A my other installs have gone pretty easy. I bought a 7.5' BUD which I will carefully find a nice location that won't be too bad of a bother to her. I hope to have it up in a couple weeks. TV is boring without the C Band. I'm glad our local PBS has had some good shows on "The National Parks"

 

[equant]

I've never had much trouble with installing dishes, I've created all of my headaches by designing an overly comlicated system that tries to get everything to every TV.

There are so many un-catchable gremlins in the system, I've just given in. Multiswitches that play nice with one receiver, but not another. A channel that comes in right away on one box takes 2 minutes on another. A 4DTV box that has to be off for one receiver to get V channels on one sat, but no others. One receiver that can drive a motor fine, another that can't. Two tvs and three receivers in one room setup so I can watch any receiver on either TV, plus sending the output to the rest of the house via blonder tongue modulators.

The point is, when something stops working, it takes forever to diagnose, and the system has yet to be without flaws, and it doesn't go over well when I have to explain to my wife what rooms are for watching what channels ;P

Had you asked about the easiest install ever... I brought a DirecTV international dish and a tripod over to a friends house. We each opened a beer... I put the dish on the tripod, eyeballed the elevation, adjusted... eyeballed the direction... turned on the receiver and BANG! 97w scanned in everything.

 

[14karat]

My toughest was trying to get my dad's little BUD tuned for 4DTV... never got the guide to download (trees), but I sure got C-band tweaked.
I'd done a ton of installs for analog, but his was my first shot at digital as well as Ku.
Read about my headaches here... http://www.satelliteguys.us/4dtv-discussion/115805-4dtv-pains-922-a.html

 

[rv1pop]

My longest running install, hookup, is my C-band fiasco.... I know, C band is supposed to be easy. Deep hole about 4 feet, then some rain and a big wind - dish rotated and lifted, but no damage. Now way to busy. Been in and out for weeks and have not yet even gotten a beep or flash from the LNA .... or the LNB. I am going to have to start all over. I may even use a backhoe to lift the post out of the ground and go down another foot or two. Right now, I am getting all the TV I have time to watch - and that is not much. Very little time to view the forum.
My last trip I forgot my sat receiver, and my air card. Gone for 2 weeks. No sat tv or internet. YIKES. Got back home and my small inverter did not want to power the Sat sys.... New inverter on its way.

But the C-band install I have peaked the dish to the highest point with an inclinometer, and then swung back and forth looking for any signal. Changed elevationand reswung. OH WELL. I guess KU has been too easy.

Well got to get back to work at hand. Way too much to do before the rains start and before the freeze hits.

 

[ACRadio]

October 17th, 1989....the day that would change my life forever.

This story is only indirectly associated with a dish install but it was probably the toughest install due to the circumstances.

At the time I was working for an Outboard Motor company as an assistant supervisor on one of the assembly lines and was moonlighting satellite TV installs evenings and weekends. It was a time in the industry where lots of people who had had systems for several years were upgrading receivers and motors from single conversion/pot sensor actuators to block IRD's with reed sensor actuators. I had a receiver/motor upgrade scheduled for that afternoon after work. I was working the linkage station at work and one of the responsibilities was to install the spark plugs. I had dropped a spark plug in the floor and reached down to pick it up. There was an over under double roller bed where the top rollers was where the pallets (1/2 inch plate steel that weighed about 150installs pounds) with attached engine blocks (4 and 6 cylinder) rolled to each station for part assembly, and the bottom roller bed was for pallet return. I stuck my arm between the bottom rollers to retrieve the plug and happened to see another one that had been dropped by someone else. As I was reaching for the second one, 2 people at the end of the line who couldn't see me shoved a train of 4 pallets back up the lower roller bed, and before I could pull my arm out the pallets crashed into my arm crushing it between the pallets and the roller. When they pulled the pallets off my arm I couldn't straighten my fingers and I knew something was very wrong. To make a long story a little shorter I was transferred from the local hospital to a hospital with a real trauma unit and was immediately rushed into surgery. All 4 tendons were severed along the top of my left arm and the muscle was shoved up toward my elbow. Needless to say I didn't make it to the install that day.

After surgery I was in the hospital until the next day for observation. I left with a big cast and had a drain tube sticking out of the cast. I was not supposed to do anything for the next 7 days, but I knew I had the customers equipment and I really needed the money back on the equipment so I rescheduled the install for 4 days later and brought my (ex) wife with me to help. Everything was going pretty smoothly until I was walking down a grassy area from the dish back to the house and slipped on some wet grass and fell on my back and broke the cast...that was some major pain. I managed to finish the install and went to the Dr the next day to admit guilt for breaking curfew. They didn't change the cast but reinforced it with about twice as much plaster....it weighed a ton.

After 6 months of casts and splints and various attachments and a year of physical therapy they had done everything that could be done...I never regained full use of my arm and hand but at least it works...it could have been worse. I was determined to complete the install under some adverse conditions, and I had to learn how to deal with a disability. Learning how to deal with a second disability would appear a few years later (another story for another time). Neither one was easy and still isn't, but I can gladly say that there were many many more installs and repairs after I had the accident.

 

[Corrado]

My toughest install was my first BUD in 1988. I remember the back breaking work digging through stones and hard clay to set the pipe in concrete and burying all the cable. I still enjoy the fruits of that labor today and still learning. Back then it was the old Shaun Kenny videos and today here.

I've made stupid mistakes too and found out the hard way the wrenches in your pockets affect the way a compass reads.

 

[Babadem]

My toughest, longest hardest and latest install was trying to use 1.2m MiniBud to lock on either 116.8°W or 113°W C-Band. Needless to say I was not successful. I spent a total of 6hrs, but no cigar! Maybe, I wasn't using a strong C-band transponder, but i was able to lock on the KU side alright. I will try again in the next coming days to lock on one of them.

 

[dot_null]

Wow, it was probably my very first install.

I had no concept of what a L/O frequency, polarity, symbol rate or any of that stuff was. I was aiming for 97W (G25 at the time ) and had a few of the settings wrong, but I kept scanning around in vain and finally gave up for a couple of days. I also had one of those dang SF-95 satellite meters and expected that every time it beeped channels would magically scan in - they can be useful in certain situations (such as turning the sensitivity way down and finding a Ku satellite's place in the sky relative to a high powered DBS satellite) but they're almost deceiving to a newbie.

I did a ton of reading here on Satguys and locked the satellite in the first half hour or so of trying after that. And the rest is history!