Hello, this is my first post on this forum, so it's safe to say I'm a newbie. Recently I've got my hands on a fairly big DirecWay Hughes Net dish. I was wondering how much use can I get out of it in terms of FTA. The only useful piece of information I found on the LNB was "FSS 10.95-12.75 Ghz". I'm guessing that block under the arm is the transponder, which I probably won't need. I'll try to attach some pictures of it. Any comments/suggestions will be welcome. Thanks.
Help a newbie.
- Thread starter Lachesis
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Sure, you can find sev threads here about using a direcway dish, they work pretty good. I have some pictures I have to downsize and put up about my direcway dish, mine must've been an earlier concoction because it has a white lnb support and different looking feedhorn. They'd be tricky to put a motor on, but I'm sure it could be done by shedding all the excess weight. Make a pretty good fta dish, have very stable mounts and can be aimed precisely. You can take off that transmitter thing if you like, but it really won't matter to anything if you want to use the dish for fta, just connect cable to the lnb-end of the arm and aim the dish. Mine's aimed at AMC5 right now, but I have a motorized dish or two also. Not sure about that lnbf, maybe somebody else has one. Most of the lnbs on those were standard ku 11.7 to 12.2 types, yours may be a universal lnbf.
edit : I forgot! Welcome to SatelliteGuys. Once you get started with fta, you can never quit!!
edit : I forgot! Welcome to SatelliteGuys. Once you get started with fta, you can never quit!!
direcway dish pics
Here's some shots of my direcway dish. They are good dishes for fta, though they may not be the biggest dish, I've had good results from mine. The entire dish skews, so you don't have to worry with turning the lnbf when you change satellites, just loosen the 4 bolts on the back of the dish, seen right below the anole-bracket in the pic, and turn dish to match angle recommended for each satellite. You can get that info from dishpointer.com when you enter your location coordinates. If you take off the transmitter, it leaves holes you might want to cover. Or not, I have things who use the holes, as you can see. And the whole thing is rock-solid stable, the mount is thick and sturdy.
Here's some shots of my direcway dish. They are good dishes for fta, though they may not be the biggest dish, I've had good results from mine. The entire dish skews, so you don't have to worry with turning the lnbf when you change satellites, just loosen the 4 bolts on the back of the dish, seen right below the anole-bracket in the pic, and turn dish to match angle recommended for each satellite. You can get that info from dishpointer.com when you enter your location coordinates. If you take off the transmitter, it leaves holes you might want to cover. Or not, I have things who use the holes, as you can see. And the whole thing is rock-solid stable, the mount is thick and sturdy.
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Is that a bird beak sticking out of that hole in the middle pic?? :shocked So you're not the only one getting some use out of that dish. 
By the way, does your dish smudge when you rub it slightly? When I tried rubbing mine to see how much dirt is on it, I had some white powder on my fingers. It might be just dirt but I hope it's not the radiowave-reflective coating. Would it be wise to wash the dish or just leave it as is? And yet another question is about the reciever. I've heard some people say that they use 2 or 3 in their setups because no single one does it all. What do they mean by that? Since I only have one dish for now (assuming I install it right), would just one suffice? And if so, then what would you recommend in the price range of up to $150. Sorry about the cascade of questions but I really want to get into this and that's the best way to do it. Thanks.
By the way, does your dish smudge when you rub it slightly? When I tried rubbing mine to see how much dirt is on it, I had some white powder on my fingers. It might be just dirt but I hope it's not the radiowave-reflective coating. Would it be wise to wash the dish or just leave it as is? And yet another question is about the reciever. I've heard some people say that they use 2 or 3 in their setups because no single one does it all. What do they mean by that? Since I only have one dish for now (assuming I install it right), would just one suffice? And if so, then what would you recommend in the price range of up to $150. Sorry about the cascade of questions but I really want to get into this and that's the best way to do it. Thanks.
No thats an anole, green lizard common to the area. They love the dish, maybe because its white. I won't admit to washing mine, lol, it sure needs it, but yes I have noticed some of the old paint rubbing off. Don't worry-you can't wash off anything that'll hurt the reflectivity, that part is imbedded in the composite material that it's made from. You can wash it and paint it, I use that spray paint made for plastic lawn furniture, works great.
For a beginner I would recommend a standard definition receiver that's tried and true like the Fortec Mercury II, it has been renamed a couple of times and I forget the latest handle they gave it. (insides are the same as the original-named receiver). Check out sponsors sites at the top of the page. Another recommended brand is Coolsat, they have since shut down but receivers can be found on ebay, the Coolsat 5000 is highly commented on here on the forum. Both those rec have easy controls, good blind-scanning which you will want, and sensitive tuners. Some of us have several models because there are more and more signals now that are high-def, these simpler boxes will not display those signals. The HD boxes are more expensive, some of the first ones didn't have blind-scan so you had to manually enter some information to find a signal. Remember that a lot of free to air involved searching for temporary signals, like sports events, newsfeeds, etc, and so far there aren't that many full-time high-definition signals (PBS has some). You can use the search feature to read other threads, check out the Reviews section for info on some of the equip we have tested or used.
*If you find something that interests you--post a question on it, somebody will have an answer for you! Before you spend the money, that is, lol.
For a beginner I would recommend a standard definition receiver that's tried and true like the Fortec Mercury II, it has been renamed a couple of times and I forget the latest handle they gave it. (insides are the same as the original-named receiver). Check out sponsors sites at the top of the page. Another recommended brand is Coolsat, they have since shut down but receivers can be found on ebay, the Coolsat 5000 is highly commented on here on the forum. Both those rec have easy controls, good blind-scanning which you will want, and sensitive tuners. Some of us have several models because there are more and more signals now that are high-def, these simpler boxes will not display those signals. The HD boxes are more expensive, some of the first ones didn't have blind-scan so you had to manually enter some information to find a signal. Remember that a lot of free to air involved searching for temporary signals, like sports events, newsfeeds, etc, and so far there aren't that many full-time high-definition signals (PBS has some). You can use the search feature to read other threads, check out the Reviews section for info on some of the equip we have tested or used.
*If you find something that interests you--post a question on it, somebody will have an answer for you! Before you spend the money, that is, lol.
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