I have an HTS BUD, want to bring it back from the dead.

[sharkdawg]

Everyone,

I am a newbie but am fairly technical and understand the basics of computer programming and science. The problem is I am not a Satellite kinda guy, hence this post. I am going to attach some pictures, the Satellite says HTS on it and the cables have been cut. It looks like it has two coax coming from the dish(possibly C and KU band?) I bought the house 3 years ago, and I have just kept it attached and was waiting for time to look into a project with this BUD.

The cabling is what I need to understand. I doubt this gets power over coax so there must be a power brick of some sort and would like to pick up the right guage electrical wire, hook up the coax, and other cabling necessary. Any suggestion for a noobster like myself?





-Will

 

[dfergie]

Welcome to SatelliteGuys! actually the LNB's on the dish do get power thru the coax, the only other cable should be for the poloroter (switches from Horizontal to Vertical for the signals) RG6 for the coax, I've used cat 5 for the poloroter before... unfortunately C & Ku Band programming from the HTS will be limited now, but with the addition of a FTA receiver you can have alot of choices.

 

[coinmaster32]

Nice looking dish! Does not look very old.

The 4-5 wires bundled together are for the motor. the larger red and black wires receive 24-36 volts DC. The other 2-3 wires are so the receiver can track the position of the dish. You can test the "motor" on the dish, by connecting the red and black wires to a car battery, or a battery charger. Polarity is not important, as a reversal of polarity is what moves the dish in the opposite direction. It all depends on what "motor" was installed, but you should be able to hook up a voltmeter to the 2-3 wires, select the diode test, and here a beep about every second.

The other 3 wires are for the "servo" this flips the small "antenna" inside the "nosecone" on the end of the dish, selecting between horizontal and vertical transponders (channels).

The newer LNBfs do not use these 3 wires.

It all depends on what kind of receiver you are wanting to use, but leave the two coax (the large cables that have white around a center copper colored conductor).

For the "motor" 18 gauge 4 conductor wire will work. I used 150+ feet of it with no issue. However the bigger the better, if you have the money I would go with at least 16 gauge 4 conductor, or if you really feel spendy, 12 guage 2 conductor. Use 18 gauge 2 conductor for the other wires in the motor. The "tracker" in the motor does not have any voltage present, so even phone wire would work. Using a smaller wire for the motor will incur a voltage drop at the "motor", so the dish will not move as quickly.

 

[dfergie]

Cool and much better, indepth post by coinmaster ... (I have 2 BUDS, but a little behind the curve on them )

 

[FaT Air]

You have a dish with all the parts needed. But you say nothing of a receiver. There is only one current production FTA receiver, that I know of, that will operate the servo operated feed to select which polarity you tune to. (Horizontal or vertical) That is the Pansat 9500HDX.
If updated to a new LNBF utilizing LNB voltage to select polarity, any FTA receiver will work.
To know what band(s) it's outfitted for, remove the cover off the feed and see what feed and LNB(s) are there. It may be a C band ortho, who knows until you take a look see?

 

[KE4EST]

Welcome to the site....Yeah get you a FTA receiver and maybe a new lnb, and bring that thing back to life. This is a very rewarding hobby.

 

[sharkdawg]

Wow, give me time on this and I will update you with my next step of the project. You all rock, fantastic and just wanted I needed to know. I'll be learning and working this soon. Very very cool.

 

[Asket]

Everyone,

I am a newbie but am fairly technical and understand the basics of computer programming and science. The problem is I am not a Satellite kinda guy, hence this post. I am going to attach some pictures, the Satellite says HTS on it and the cables have been cut. It looks like it has two coax coming from the dish(possibly C and KU band?) I bought the house 3 years ago, and I have just kept it attached and was waiting for time to look into a project with this BUD.

The cabling is what I need to understand. I doubt this gets power over coax so there must be a power brick of some sort and would like to pick up the right guage electrical wire, hook up the coax, and other cabling necessary. Any suggestion for a noobster like myself?

View attachment 70717

View attachment 70718

-Will

You will need to do some evaluation and investigation. You need to remove the weather cone on the dish to see what equipment if any is in there. Also try to find out where in your house that cable set went and the entry point.. This will save you much work. Do internet searches for FTA receivers and a Motorola or GI 922 receiver. The latter is available only as used but provides digicipher capability and analog reception if still working. It will also move the dish and allow for a slave FTA receiver. Get the HD FTA type of receiver for best viewing.

Then on the internet go through this and every other discussion group that caters to this subject and do searches for FTA receivers, G box etc. to find out what you can buy and the cost. The cables
can also be bought online once you figure out what you need and how much. Be sure to estimate the length of every turn and up/down and sideways route the cable must do to get where you will watch TV. If the old cable is still connected at the dish leave it there so you will know how to connect the new cables when you are ready. Try to avoid any splices and make clean new runs. The old cable has water damage that could permeate several feet into it depending on conditions. Good Luck!

 

[Tony Fisher]

All good info.
Coinmaster32 is on the money. You really do need to have a look under the feed cover to see what you've got up there. Yes the dish looks like it is not so old, so maybe it has modern LNBs still up there, and maybe not all of the cabling was actually in use. Given what appears to be a not so old dish, I'm guessing its unlikely it is using externally switched polarisation to the LNB(s)... It is more likely you have LNBF unit(s) that switch polarisation via the DC fed up the centre conductor of the receiving IF cable. These LNBF units typically require a min of 12V Dc to operate. ~13V is sensed as one polarisation, and ~18V sensed as the other (orthogonal) polarisation. Another posibility is that you have a dual pol feed with "commercial" grade waveguide flange LNBs (WR229 for C Band / WR75 for Ku Band), - in which case they are "LNB" units not "LNBF" units. Get the nose cone cover off, send us a good close up pix of the feed horn and LNB/LNBF arrangement, with the model number of the LNB(s)/LNBF(s), and I'm sure we can give you a clearer picture of what you've got and what you might be able to do with it.
Yes you will still need an FTA receiver, and possibly a separate jackscrew controller to get your setup running.
Good luck with it.