Directway dish and hts tracker elite

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Intamin

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Jul 27, 2009
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Ok so i got these items free took me a long time to find a dish. So my question is this HTS tracker elite had a resistor burn up in it. I think this was part of the unit that controls dish movement. It gets great picture on tv but it has 20V coming from sat input. Is this the proper voltage? I dont want to cook LNB on dish but want to play around with FTA and not spend much untill i see if its worth the money to setup. Also if align this dish and bring it into the flex port on my 6x8 can i just use and existing wire going to bedrooms and just switch cable around from directv?
 

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Here are some photos of LNB with this work for what im tring to do? the dirt on there is from the 7 bees nest that where in the gray plastic case that was covering this.
 

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The DirecWay dish can be used for FTA and the LNB is most likely good (LNBs rarely go bad). I believe the HTS receiver you are referring to is an analog receiver, and will be of limited use since most FTA is now digital. It wouldn't be used to move a small dish like the DirecWay, but rather one of the older BUDs (8-10 foot dishes) that used linear actuators. You'll want to pick up a digital DVB receiver to be able to watch most FTA channels. Only DirecTV receivers will work with the flex port, so that will be of no use.

Intamin, you wouldn't happen to be a roller coaster enthusiast, would you? I ask because Intamin is a coaster designer and manufacturer :) ...

EDIT: The DirecWay dish you have pictured has a strange LNB/feedhorn combo... It appears that the LNB may be specialized, perhaps Ka-Band, but I'm not sure. If it is, you will need to replace it with a standard Ku-Band LNB, and do a bit of retro-fitting.
 
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If there is a way to mount an LNB like a Invacom QPF-031 to the feedhorn on the dish I think you would be much happier. I use to have that same dish for internet years ago, so I cant remember how that feed horn hooks up. Judging from the one picture, it can't be done, this hobby is all about aggravation (I mean fun) anyway
 
yea thats why im interested i like to tinker. I was looking on ebay and here is what i found in search.

fta satellite receiver, great deals on Electronics, Business Industrial on eBay!

Please let me know what would be a good start to digital.

I dont want to break the bank till i decide i enjoy this.

If anyone know of a site that i can get one for reasonable let me know.

Here are pics of feed arm it looks to me that the lnb is pressed on with 2 indent on the side.
 

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It's difficult to tell from your pictures, but I don't see anything unusual about your DirecWay feedhorn nor LNB.
You might look to see if there are any markings on it.

There are at least two models. Mine has a rectangular looking feedhorn.
Many have an oval feedhorn like yours.
You don't want to connect to the finned transmitter slung blown the LNB support arm.
There should be an obvious connection just to the LNB itself.
Much of that plumbing is to keep the transmit signal out of the LNB. :)

Do an Advanced Search on just the entire FTA Department, for: "DirecWay", and you'll find a number of threads discussing the dish, etc.

edit:
I don't know what your eBay link above was supposed to get to, but I don't think it worked as you intended.
I just got a list of FTA-related things.
 
I have the same dish and it works great for FTA

Good Day,

I have the exact same DirecWay dish (see avatar) and it works great for FTA.

I will have to check about the DirecTV 6x8 - - - I think only a couple of those are useful for FTA.

Great Find!
:up
 
Couple more pieces of information

First, you don't connect any cables to the amp on the ARM and i found leaving the amp in place was the easiest.

Second, you have to take off the big bulb like thing that covers the LNB in order to connect it - - - this is especially true if they just cut the COAX off. Beware of bee's as mine was full of bee's nests.

Third, here is a diagram of the Zinwell 6x8 that might be helpful.
 

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Thanks for the help everyone. If anyone has a digital box for sale let me know. Just basic would be fine. As for the bees it was full I took that cover off and ran like he'll my entire garage was full of swarming angry bees!!! As soon as I split It I seen them. I just left the door open a d gave them a few hours to get cold and they where helpless carried dish out knocked off nest and sprayed then.
 
Ok so for my last post on this thread im going to tinker around later today mounting this dish and just tring it on the old analog box. What is the best sat to try to get from my location (near pittsburg, pa 15644). Also what are the settings for lnb on this dish? or is it auto config? I called local muffler shop and they are getting my pole in today. How much concrete should i use on this dish? 3 80LB good or more? and what should the LOS span be i have good LOS from about 160 - 270 deg.
 
Depending on your soil, I doubt you'd need that much concrete, prob one 80lb bag would do it.
Remember with an analog receiver, you prob won't find much to watch today, tomorrow you might run across a stray football game but most have gone to digital transmission now.
Pick a ku satellite in your receiver, and try to aim the dish at 105W, 79W for starters-I have found teleconferences and newsfeeds in analog once in a while on those satellites. It's a ku lnb, so you'll need to set your analog box to a ku satellite. Check dishpointer.com for aiming coordinates. Skew should be set also-on that dish, loosen the bolts on the back and twist the entire dish to the proper skew angle.
 
I have this exact dish and lnb. Two of them. Yes, it works great!
I have one for 83w and one for 101w and they are good stuff.

I also have a birdog 2.5 and it does work with with it but I had to make my own definition files for the direcway and the specific satellites I wanted. I made the files so I could "tweak" the dishes for the specific channels I prefer.

I'm in bed and on my iPhone so I'll get back tomorrow.

So yes these dishes and lnbs work fine just as they are.
 
The DirecWay dish can be used for FTA and the LNB is most likely good (LNBs rarely go bad). I believe the HTS receiver you are referring to is an analog receiver, and will be of limited use since most FTA is now digital. It wouldn't be used to move a small dish like the DirecWay, but rather one of the older BUDs (8-10 foot dishes) that used linear actuators. You'll want to pick up a digital DVB receiver to be able to watch most FTA channels. Only DirecTV receivers will work with the flex port, so that will be of no use.

Intamin, you wouldn't happen to be a roller coaster enthusiast, would you? I ask because Intamin is a coaster designer and manufacturer :) ...

EDIT: The DirecWay dish you have pictured has a strange LNB/feedhorn combo... It appears that the LNB may be specialized, perhaps Ka-Band, but I'm not sure. If it is, you will need to replace it with a standard Ku-Band LNB, and do a bit of retro-fitting.


I didn't replace anything on mine, I used it AS IS and it works great.



I put a cookie dough container over the end to keep the water out. And my neighbor helped me remove the heavy transmitter thing from the arm, he said it was totally not needed at all. He put some duck tape over the hole where it came apart to keep bugs out and that was that. I use that dish to get Retro TV on 83 and it works really great. It's a linear lnb according to what I've been told. Just a weird looking one.

I bought a birdog meter cheap but I had to contact them to send me the editor program so I could make my own files, that way I could adjust the dishes to the specific channels of my choice. Some of the files you get from their site are out of date and are impossible to use for finding certain satellites.

I know almost nothing about all this stuff but I was able to fumble my way through the dark and get that thing working. If I can, ANYONE can. :D

Have fun! :)
 
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