dual skew/polarity control

[dunnsept]

In the little that I've played with FTA, I'm already hooked. BUT switching the wires between the c-band receiver and the FTA receiver is a PITA. That just won't do.

can anybody see a reason why I could not hook up BOTH receivers at the same time?
there are only 3 wires, ground and pulse could be tied together between the 2 boxes, I don't see a problem with that. The only problem I can forsee is having +5v on both receivers and if one is off, the other would back feed 5volts into the other. Or if both were on and one at 5.2 volts and one at 4.8 with common ground, you could get some unwanted current flow..
All of this would be easily taken care of with diodes at each receiver. That way when SWMBO wants to watch stuff off the 'regular' c-band setup, she can, then when done, I can just power it off, turn on the pansat, and off I go!
or am I missing something BIG here?

thanks!
Paul...

 

[Lak7]

You could use a Slave Kit to connect the FTA to the system.
BUD Slave Kit Splitters, Switches, DVB MPEG2 Sidecar 4DTV Receiver ....Great Prices
You would use the Analog / 4DTV to drive the Dish and control polarity.

 

[dunnsept]

that's what I mean tho, for surfing around on FTA, what a PITA to have to use the 4dtv to control polarity, can you see any reason to NOT hook both receivers up at the same time, basically wired in parallel?
I would make sure (manually) that only one receiver was used at a time, but I can't see any reason not to hook them both up,
OR if you used a switch in between to control which was connected at any given time, that way when I'm playing around with FTA, it has control. Still have to use the other to move the dish, but then once it's moved, FTA has control. Then, when I'm done, flip the switch back and in the morning, SWMBO and the kids have "normal" sat TV again.

 

[Lak7]

Or switch to a voltage controlled LNBF.

 

[bubby-joe50]

I tried to hookup both my dsr-921 same as dsr-920 but Canadian with polarity slaved to my pansat 2500a, if the 921 was on and you tried to switch channels with the pansat that was on a different polarity, both machines tried to manipulate the polarity. then the fight for control was on and you don't get the polarity tuned in. The only way the pansat got to set the polarity was if the 921 was powered off but then you can't move the dish it's one satellite only. I think the 905 sidecar allowed 2 boxes to control polarity but am not 100 percent sure. I wound up going to a v-box to control the dish and a using a splitter, one line to each receiver and a 123 manual switch for video output to the the monitor but it's messy to wire. Someone suggested I install a switch in the polarity lines to go between the polorotor and both boxes the one that your using gets the polarity control but I never got around to trying this.

 

[linuxman]

This is how I made my switch a couple of years ago.

Mine is manual, but it works. I was very careful that none of the wires, ground or power were on at the same time. The switch allows for having either the analog/4dtv or Pansat to have control of polarity.

You can see it here.

 

[dunnsept]

yep.. that's exactly what I'm talking about ;-)
right now, in the testing phase, everything is in the basement and I have to move the wires between the receivers (dont HAVE to, but that's what I'm doing)

of course, eventually it will be a moot point as I just got an email from a friend "come pick up that big ol sat dish that's in the shed" dont know anything about it.. except that she said it's sitting in pieces (panels) and that her hubby was a real geek with his stuff and would not have had anything cheap

 

[linuxman]

yep.. that's exactly what I'm talking about ;-)
right now, in the testing phase, everything is in the basement and I have to move the wires between the receivers (dont HAVE to, but that's what I'm doing)

of course, eventually it will be a moot point as I just got an email from a friend "come pick up that big ol sat dish that's in the shed" dont know anything about it.. except that she said it's sitting in pieces (panels) and that her hubby was a real geek with his stuff and would not have had anything cheap

WooHoo!!

Now you will have a separate dish for the 4DTV and one for the Pansat.

 

[dunnsept]

you got it..

not sure I want to install that dish right now tho.. at lunch when running errands it was a whopping 22°F outside.. grounds kinda frozen and I dont think I wanna be trying to set a pole right now
but I'll sure check if it's got a c/ku feedhorn on it. But like I said, she knows nothing about the dish and I won't until I go and pick it up

 

[linuxman]

Ah Yes!!

Easier to ask forgiveness than for permission!