First day with C Band

[dem0nlord]

I've managed to score some good equipment, friend got me receivers from a house that had the dish destroyed by Rita last fall. So I got a Tracker V, TRX-1420, and a DSR905 there. Then a nearly new Channelmaster 1.8M offset from a business that closed. Bought one of those offset C band LNBFs from eyeinthesky, mainly to get the scalar. I think this LNBF is junk though, I can't get anything to lock with the 4DTV or my Dreambox. Only rated at 20 degrees anyway, so no big loss. I've ordered the Geosatpro C/Ku LNBF, hopefully I can do better with it. Planning on adapting a Channelmaster 1.2M polar mount I have here to this dish, but for today's testing, propping it against patio furniture was all I had.

Analog testing went well. I tried all the in the clear and VC2 xponders from 135 to 123, not doing much of a peaking job on them at all, and still had a worst of 80 signal showing on the Tracker V, most were 90-95, no problem getting the sparklies out, and no signs of interference from neighboring birds. WGN was the weakest one I saw today, but this was such crude testing, I know that may change. I guess this is a smaller dish that is well suited to this. Really happy with it, need to get it mounted and tracking and at least I know I can get started with an analog sub now.:up

I did figure out I need an analog box that will switch an LNBF. Any recommendations? I guess the GI 450i and newer will do this, any others?

 

[iammike]

If you think you might sub to 4dtv, you might consider going with a 922. That way you'd have it all in one box. You could also just stick with what you have. The TRX-1420 should be able to switch between V and H polarities. The 905 will take care of the 4dtv just not as nicely as the 922.

 

[dem0nlord]

I don't see any way for the 1420 to switch between polarities unless I go to an LNB/feedhorn setup. It doesn't voltage switch on the coax. It has terminals to operate an external A/B switch, which would be fine if I had 2 LNBs on a feedhorn and didn't want both C and Ku, but that's not what I'm after. The only 2 settings it lets you make are H/V and C/Ku, neither of which seems to be what I need.


I do agree on the 922, although I'm tempted to buy a 450i or something off ebay if I can get it for next to nothing.

 

[Mr Tony]

The 1420 wil only work with a LNB/Feedhorn assembly (with the 3 wires) to switch polarity.
If you hook it to the coax directly from a LNBF, you'll get H polarities only

I have a TRX1420 and slave it to my Coolsat 5000 since I have a LNBF for C-Band

 

[iammike]

I don't see any way for the 1420 to switch between polarities unless I go to an LNB/feedhorn setup. It doesn't voltage switch on the coax. It has terminals to operate an external A/B switch, which would be fine if I had 2 LNBs on a feedhorn and didn't want both C and Ku, but that's not what I'm after. The only 2 settings it lets you make are H/V and C/Ku, neither of which seems to be what I need.


I do agree on the 922, although I'm tempted to buy a 450i or something off ebay if I can get it for next to nothing.

Sorry about that, I didn't read your original post closely enough. The 450i might be the way to go to test things out, and then go to a 922 later if you like 4dtv well enough. The other option would be to pick up a corotor with some low-end lnb's, but the 450i would more than likely be a lot cheaper.

I just thought of one other thing. I'm not 100% certain a 922 will work with your lnbf. I'm fairly sure it will, there's picks on the set up menu for using an lnbf, but I've never tried it.

 

[dem0nlord]

I just thought of one other thing. I'm not 100% certain a 922 will work with your lnbf. I'm fairly sure it will, there's picks on the set up menu for using an lnbf, but I've never tried it.

That's a good point, hopefully someone will chime in that it does work. I do see where I can select LNBF in the 905 menus, but due to my current LNBF situation I can't yet confirm that it works.

 

[Lynskyn]

If you can find an Eagle Aspen Pulse Box, you can use the LNBF with the 1420. It will take either the pulse signal from the polarity or the H/V terminal and switch between 14V and 18V. I have one but I don't know if it works. Let me know if you're interested and I'll test it.

 

[dem0nlord]

If you can find an Eagle Aspen Pulse Box, you can use the LNBF with the 1420. It will take either the pulse signal from the polarity or the H/V terminal and switch between 14V and 18V. I have one but I don't know if it works. Let me know if you're interested and I'll test it.

Thanks, but I just found a 650i for $100. A little more than I wanted to spend on an analog box, but a nicer box than I figured I would find so easily. This thing should do the trick when it gets here.