Question about parts for installation

[Lil Chris]

After a little over a year, I'm finally going to have the pole for my dish installed in a week or two. I'm going to be shopping for some needed items but before I do, I would like some final thoughts from more experienced folks.

Let me list what I currently have:
a 10 foot mesh dish (not sure of the brand) with actuator, a GI 920, a motorola 922, and a HDD200. all in working condition as far as I know.

I will be buying some new ribbon cable next week, and probably some connectors and a compression tool. I think skyvision has some sort of install kit that I was looking at (that has connectors & compression tool).

What else do you think I need to get?

Since the ribbon cable will be buried, do I need to consider running any other cables along with it? (extra coax, etc...? for future receivers or enhancements).

Anything else I may have forgot?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Anole]

What do you intend to receive?

Do you have/intend on installing any actual FTA receivers?

I don't think there's more than a few channels on the air in Analog these days.
Well, with serious programming anyone would watch...

Have you been keeping up with the state of 4DTV over in the 4D Forum?
It seems to be on the last mile. -


As to your shopping list, is this for C-band only, or C & Ku?
Do you have a feedhorn that is servo-controlled, or an LNBF?
If C-band only, I might suggest you try something like the C2 or DMX242 dual-output LNBF.
They're voltage controlled, not servo controlled, and work with both old and modern receivers.

If you're going to go C & Ku, maybe consider an ortho-mode feed, and four LNBs (2 C, and 2 Ku)
That you might want to follow up with a 4x4 or 4x8 multiswitch (with a bonus you could feed multiple receivers).

I install grounding blocks outdoors on my coax.
Makes a convenient place to check the cables and plug into them when outside.

You're already onto adding spare coax. Thumb's up to that! -

I'm sure there are other things we've both overlooked.
I'm anxious to see what other members post. -

 

[Lil Chris]

What do you intend to receive?

I'm not sure at this point. I would like to do some scanning to see what's up there. I thought about getting a 410? for skyvisions W5 services and possibly dropping my current cable services (not entirely sure about this). I'm starting this as a hobby to scan the skies, so I'm open to suggestions...

Do you have/intend on installing any actual FTA receivers?

I was thinking of adding an azbox at some point (or something else, What ever is the best and most modern) Your thoughts on this would be great.

I don't think there's more than a few channels on the air in Analog these days.
Well, with serious programming anyone would watch...

Have you been keeping up with the state of 4DTV over in the 4D Forum?
It seems to be on the last mile. -

I've been reading that forum too, so that's why I posted this thread. If 4dtv goes away, I wanted to make sure putting up a dish wasn't in vain. I'm open to try other things. The equipment I have now came with the dish. It seems so outdated though. I'd be willing to invest in some newer equipment as well.

As to your shopping list, is this for C-band only, or C & Ku?
Do you have a feedhorn that is servo-controlled, or an LNBF?
If C-band only, I might suggest you try something like the C2 or DMX242 dual-output LNBF.
They're voltage controlled, not servo controlled, and work with both old and modern receivers.

The dish does have C and Ku capabilities (I took some pics of the lnb's today) see attached.

If you're going to go C & Ku, maybe consider an ortho-mode feed, and four LNBs (2 C, and 2 Ku)
That you might want to follow up with a 4x4 or 4x8 multiswitch (with a bonus you could feed multiple receivers).

I will check this out. I'm not totally sure what's on my dish at the moment, but I'm willing to add new parts. The thing is I can only have one dish (not a farm of them). So I was looking to do as much as I can with one. I'm not even sure what my full options are, there is so much information here.

I install grounding blocks outdoors on my coax.
Makes a convenient place to check the cables and plug into them when outside.

You're already onto adding spare coax. Thumb's up to that! -

I'm sure there are other things we've both overlooked.
I'm anxious to see what other members post. -

I was thinking about installing a utility box of some sort on the pole to have the option to add those splitter connections available. I'm not really sure what I'm talking about here though. I'm trying to have the foresight before burring just a ribbon cable and later find out I need something else and have to re-dig to add another cable... The problem is I don't know enough yet.

 

[ftaisawesome]

Any update to this? Did you get an Azbox?

 

[Cadsulfide]

put your cables in plastic pipe along with a pull string for adding later

 

[Lil Chris]

Any update to this? Did you get an Azbox?

Not yet, but it's on my list.

 

[comfrey]

By going with a newer LNB that does not require a polar rotor, as Anole has suggested, you'll also save yourself having to run an additional cable from the receiver to the rotor.

 

[Lil Chris]

By going with a newer LNB that does not require a polar rotor, as Anole has suggested, you'll also save yourself having to run an additional cable from the receiver to the rotor.

What would you recommend?

 

[Long Hair]

What would you recommend?

DMX 741 C/Ku LNB(f). Works very well for C-band and Ku