A/B switch for 2 satellites?

[Scott@magicwandwiring]

An oil company in a remote location would like to have a second DIRECTV satellite installed because they sometimes move their rigs in the line of site.
My question is can I put in a simple A/B switch above the power inserter to switch to the satellite that has a clear line of site instead of them unscrewing and changing the cables?

 

[jcrandall]

Welcome to Satelliteguys!

I supposed that would be possible but you would need a A-B switch that does a very good job of isolating the two, including not passing power to the unused side.

In general I've never heard of anyone doing it, but I suppose it would be possible if you find a good enough switch. The $5 radio shack type will not suffice.

As a side note, whatever you do, ensure the dishes have the same type of LNB, both what satellites it picks up and if it is SWM or traditional.
This will eliminate the need to redo satellite setup on the receivers after each change.

 

[raoul5788]

to Satelliteguys Scott!

I suppose it's possible, but wouldn't it be easier to simply not park in front of the dish, or just use the second location for the dish all of the time?

 

[Scott@magicwandwiring]

They said they will be moving the rig back and forth at various locations South of the dish and will probably need to switch dishes often. It's a 5 hour drive to get there and I give a pretty steep estimate. Close to $1k. So they came up with the plan to have an alternate dish instead of calling me again. Not a bad idea really!

 

[Scott@magicwandwiring]

I'll look into it. Thanks!

 

[RandallA]

The A/B switch will need to pass power for the LNB too.

 

[upsss]

If you can find a switch that will pass DC and is rated at 3 GHz then it should work without any problems. All the A/B switches I ever seen were rated at 900 MHz.

 

[upsss]

A quick Google search revealed NO A/B switches rated above 1000 MHz. How about showing them how to unscrew one cable (dish) and screwing another cable (dish)