Hughes Net Dish

1/2" EMT from Lowes or Home Depot are perfect for feed legs. You can flatten one end, and bend it to the angle needed to bolt it to the face of the dish. Or better yet, bolt to the side edge, if there's a large enough edge lip.

Here's a brainstorm I had the other evening. I have been looking at this dish for some time wondering what I could receive off it. After installing the HughesNet dish with success, I decided to hook my meter to it and see if I could get a signal. With it being considerably wider than it is tall, I figured I might be confined to horizontal channels only.

Using the original LNB and feed, I hooked up the meter and started playing. With the dish mounted on a corner pole of my chain link fence, I was limited to how far I could swing the dish left or right. Right away, I hit Galaxy C3 and found the CCTV and the ABC channels. Moving the dish further east, I landed on Galaxy 17 @ 91W. (Couldn't go any further east as the mount was against the top rail on my fence.)

After tuning it as much as possible, I ended up with a 91/45 signal level, with a slight variation on vertical channels. Then it started raining and the play session was over. I locked it down and left it. To my surprise, the picture never broke up or dropped out with it pouring down the rain. Here is the dish I used.

IMG_20190208_211711[1].jpg


I have another of these dishes lying around and if the weather's fit, I may stick it on another fence post and aim it at Galaxy 19 Ku to see how well it works on it. I figured what the heck, it's there and not that big of a deal to hook up and see how well it works. I thought I'd see if you ever used one of these for Ku Band. :)
 
Nope, but I had over 31 of the various types of Primestar dishes at one time, elliptical and 1m. I did have Hughesnet dish at one time, but kept the KU lnb, waveguide feed, and heavy duty J mount, and gave the dish away when we moved in mid 2016. That's also when I got rid of the last few Primestar and Dish Superdishes that I had left.

At present, I have up and running a $50 special 3ABN dish (it's a SatAv dish they relabeled) pointed at 30W, and a SAMI 7.5ft C-band dish. Behind the shed not installed right now, I have a 6ft offset Prodelin KU dish, a 1.2m offset Prodelin dish, a Sadoun 6ft dish, and a 10ft Perfect 10 dish. Stored IN the shed, I have a Winegard 1m dish, and a no-name 33" dish. I have lots of spare equipment in the basement also.
 
  • Like
Reactions: wvman and FTA4PA
I've never had/used a Direcway dish but I have three Slimline dishes that are that shape and they work pretty good for most of the Ku sats. 125 w is about the only one I couldn't get a lock on with the Slimlines, pick up transponders there but no lock on channels.
 
  • Like
Reactions: wvman and Brct203
Nope, but I had over 31 of the various types of Primestar dishes at one time, elliptical and 1m. I did have Hughesnet dish at one time, but kept the KU lnb, waveguide feed, and heavy duty J mount, and gave the dish away when we moved in mid 2016. That's also when I got rid of the last few Primestar and Dish Superdishes that I had left.

At present, I have up and running a $50 special 3ABN dish (it's a SatAv dish they relabeled) pointed at 30W, and a SAMI 7.5ft C-band dish. Behind the shed not installed right now, I have a 6ft offset Prodelin KU dish, a 1.2m offset Prodelin dish, a Sadoun 6ft dish, and a 10ft Perfect 10 dish. Stored IN the shed, I have a Winegard 1m dish, and a no-name 33" dish. I have lots of spare equipment in the basement also.

I found a Primestar a while back but some knucklehead removed the feed arm and there's been at least 3 different people living in the home since. Would love to have a couple of them.

"I have a 6ft offset Prodelin KU dish, a 1.2m offset Prodelin dish" I'd love to have those as well. Prodelin makes a great dish. I found some good deals on this website the other day. 1.2 1.8 meter dish / mesh ku offset ka rx/tx Andrew Channel Master Prodelin Solid 1 meter They're showing a 1.2 Meter R/O C and Ku-Band, Series 1130 for $239.00. Not sure what the shipping would be. I'm still looking while I drive around for more goodies. :)
 
I've never had/used a Direcway dish but I have three Slimline dishes that are that shape and they work pretty good for most of the Ku sats. 125 w is about the only one I couldn't get a lock on with the Slimlines, pick up transponders there but no lock on channels.

I have a Dish Network dish similar to the one in the picture. It has a FSS LNBF on it. Should be able to get something off it. I'm waiting on the concrete to dry on another pole to put it on right now. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: . Raine
Nope, but I had over 31 of the various types of Primestar dishes at one time, elliptical and 1m. I did have Hughesnet dish at one time, but kept the KU lnb, waveguide feed, and heavy duty J mount, and gave the dish away when we moved in mid 2016. That's also when I got rid of the last few Primestar and Dish Superdishes that I had left.

At present, I have up and running a $50 special 3ABN dish (it's a SatAv dish they relabeled) pointed at 30W, and a SAMI 7.5ft C-band dish. Behind the shed not installed right now, I have a 6ft offset Prodelin KU dish, a 1.2m offset Prodelin dish, a Sadoun 6ft dish, and a 10ft Perfect 10 dish. Stored IN the shed, I have a Winegard 1m dish, and a no-name 33" dish. I have lots of spare equipment in the basement also.

I'm fast running out of ports on my 8 way switch. I'm not sure how to cascade these switches or if the 8 ways can be cascaded. The ones I have are Pansat brand. Does anyone that you know of make a 12 or 16 port switch? My receiver recognizes up to 16 ports.
 
  • Like
Reactions: wave catcher
UPDATE: I got the pole in and the dish on the pole. Used my Channel Master meter to locate Galaxy 3C Ku and had a signal when I hooked it to a receiver. I tried several LNB Lo Frequencies and landed on Universal 9750-10750, with the 22Khz off. Tuned in 50 channels, including the CCTV Chinese channels. Also found Africa Live and Telegenic.

Tuned on it for a bit and landed on a 92/74 signal level on CCTV. A few others were lower, but no matter what I done, couldn't get them as high as the Chinese channels. It was raining hard here and had to delay tuning it for a while until it broke. Now, all I have to do is figure out which satellite has the best programming suited for my taste.

All went well and came off without a hitch. I want to thank all the folks that pitched in offering help and advice. Here's a photo of the install. I'm open for suggestions on which satellite offers up programming close to what we have on C-Band. BTW, I did the water test as suggested. The edge of the water measured the same all the way around the dish. Apparently this dish isn't elyptical. :)View attachment 137033

What was your Final settings for the LNB. From the dish center and the holding arm to front center of the LNB?
 
I'm fast running out of ports on my 8 way switch. I'm not sure how to cascade these switches or if the 8 ways can be cascaded. The ones I have are Pansat brand. Does anyone that you know of make a 12 or 16 port switch? My receiver recognizes up to 16 ports.
Use a 1.0 switch or a 22k switch at each port. Up to 32 ports with (8) 4 port switches.
 
  • Like
Reactions: primestar31
Well, there is at least one Pansat diseqc 1.1 8/1 switch that causes problems when cascading with a diseqc 1.0 4/1 switch: see Stackable switches

Otherwise, you could add a diseqc 1.0 4/1 switch to every port of the 8/1 switch (every 4/1 switch thus offering 3 extra LNB ports).

16/1 switches, I believe EMP Centauri has them, and also Gecen?

greetz,
A33

I read the post with the pansat stacking. what brand is good for stacking and does it depend on your receivers capability?.
 
What was your Final settings for the LNB. From the dish center and the holding arm to front center of the LNB?

I set the LNB at 9750-10600 Universal. Actually, I never measured from the center of the feed to the dish. I used my meter to tweek the signal level moving the LNB in and out and then locked it down. I also tweeked the signal skewing the polarity right and left. I checked the channel listings for that satellite and everything was there with a few extra ocassional feeds. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: wave catcher
I read the post with the pansat stacking. what brand is good for stacking and does it depend on your receivers capability?.

I found this switch on EBay. Satellite DiSEqC switch 16x1 S16/1PCP-W3, Made in EU, 4rs. WNTY 8595577602068 | eBay

I need to do a little more checking to see if the power requirements for this switch exceeds the power output capabilities of my receiver. It has the specs listed on the page. Don't want to pop a power supply trying to power it. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: wave catcher
Use a 1.0 switch or a 22k switch at each port. Up to 32 ports with (8) 4 port switches.

It is my understanding that using a 22khz tone requires the use of an external power supply because all ports on the switch would be powered at the same time, causing an overload on the receiver's power supply. I am trying to keep things simple as possible to avoid creating a nightmare diagnosing a problem, especially since I'm using 2 8 port switches now to operate an additional in the wife's TV room.

All my dishes either have, or will have dual output LNBF's on them. After talking with some old dealers in the area that aren't messing in FTA, my wife would be in trouble if I kicked the bucket and she started having problems with my setup. I don't know anyone around here that would have the slightest idea how to set up or work on my system. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: wave catcher
I set the LNB at 9750-10600 Universal. Actually, I never measured from the center of the feed to the dish. I used my meter to tweek the signal level moving the LNB in and out and then locked it down. I also tweeked the signal skewing the polarity right and left. I checked the channel listings for that satellite and everything was there with a few extra ocassional feeds. :)

Could you check the measurement? I and others are interested ..
 
  • Like
Reactions: wvman
It is my understanding that using a 22khz tone requires the use of an external power supply because all ports on the switch would be powered at the same time, causing an overload on the receiver's power supply. I am trying to keep things simple as possible to avoid creating a nightmare diagnosing a problem, especially since I'm using 2 8 port switches now to operate an additional in the wife's TV room.

All my dishes either have, or will have dual output LNBF's on them. After talking with some old dealers in the area that aren't messing in FTA, my wife would be in trouble if I kicked the bucket and she started having problems with my setup. I don't know anyone around here that would have the slightest idea how to set up or work on my system. :)

22k switch would use less power because A is default and would only draw power is when B is used. External power supply is normally used to change polarity on the LNB to make up for long runs or a bad cable.
As for anyone local that could repair my system?/ not here ether. Most dish/viasat installers did not know anything about the sat they were lining up with?? number Deg. or name?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: wvman
Could you check the measurement? I and others are interested ..

I went out and measured the focal distance a little while ago. I came up with 31.25 inches. I also took a Magic Marker and wrote the focal distance and which satellite it's pointed at on the back of the reflector for future reference. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: wave catcher
22k switch would use less power because A is default and would only draw power is when B is used. External power supply is normally used to change polarity on the LNB to make up for long runs or a bad cable.
As for anyone local that could repair my system?/ not here ether. Most dish/viasat installers did not know anything about the sat they were lining up with?? number Deg. or name?

With my memory not being what it used to be, I can't remember for sure who it was that told me that all ports were powered while using a 22khz tone to switch polarity. I could be wrong, but Titanium comes to mind about the 22khz settings. Having 7 LNBF's in play, and possibly more later, I could see where overloading the receiver's power supply could be a problem.

Power supplies are not a problem. Damaging the receiver could possibly happen before the power supply goes tits up and stops working. I have power supplies that are rated three or four times higher than the one that came with the receiver, but increasing the output capabilities of the power source almost guarantees a receiver failure if everything isn't working within specs.

If I am mistaken about the 22khz information coming from Titanium, I apologise. I make those kinds of mistakes from time to time. :)
 
No, you are correct. Many pasive 22KHz swirches send power to both ports at all times.
This is how MY 22k switches work. When A is selected no signal or voltage is sent to B. When B is selected a repeated 22k signal gives full power to B and a intermittent and repeated every (approx 1 sec) full voltage to A. You may want to test yours with a digital multi-meter
 
  • Like
Reactions: wvman
No, you are correct. Many passive 22KHz switches send power to both ports at all times.

I guess my memory is better than I thought. :) Did you get in the dual output WiMax LNBF's yet? I will need at least 3 when you get them in. Thanks!
 
***

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 3)