Tired of waiting for SuperDish, took care of it myself

[mike123abc]

Well I finally got tired of waiting on Dish to decide to release the SuperDish to the general population (i.e. those that want it for HDTV not LIL). So, I got the ladder out and climbed up on the roof and planted another satellite Dish...

It was a big pain to point to 105. In fact it took me quite a while to get it to work. I was using a 35" dish (90cm) and a Dishnetwork LNB (well expressvu). What I finally ended up doing was peaking the dish on 110. I swapped out the LNB for a DBS one, and peaked it on 110 (can get 125 signal with a 35" dish btw). Once I had it pegged, I swapped out the LNB and slowly rotated the dish until 105 finally twitched. Then I just barely moved it around until it peaked. Then bolted it down tight.

Then I had fun with the SW21/SW64. It turns out that the SW64 has to be on input #1 of the SW21. I first had the 105 on input 1 and the SW64 on #2 and it could not find satellites properly. It found 110 and 1/2 of 105... I went up on the roof to see if I could diagnose it better (i.e. try one switch at a time) when it came to me that maybe the SW64 has to be on #1. Sure enough that fixed it.

I am attaching some pictures. Of the antenna farm. I have 24" dishes on 119 and 110, a 35" Dish on 61.5 and a 35" dish on 105. In the pictures the 105 one is in the back or on the right depending on which picture.

The only issue I have for the satellite experts is why are the even transponders reading 15 points higher than the odd ones on 105?

 

[Guest]

That's pretty cool! I wonder how much you saved doing it yourself. In fact how much to actualy do the whole install yourself? Bet it is cheaper than the superdish.

 

[mike123abc]

Well as far as costs go the DVB322 Dual Ku LNBF was $39+$5 shipping/handling (it came via 3 day fedex).

It was about $5 for the anchors/lag bolts from Loews.

I already had an extra dish in the garage. But I seem to remember it was around $60. I still have one more dish in a box in the garage, I guess I can get the DPP4:4 and DP21 and go for 5 dishes one day.

 

[JohnH]

I am using a 1 meter dish with the same setup on the 721 and 301 so far.

As to the difference in signal levels, a finer dish alignment might balance them or rotating the LNBF slightly for best compromise.


BTW: the internationals on 121 were turned on today. Looks like a current subscription would get the same channel from 121.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Very cool!

Now if they would turn on the HD Channels at 105 I would be very happy.

 

[mike123abc]

That was another thing I was not aware of until I got into this was that the LNBF has to be slightly tilted depending on your relationship to the satellite. My particular location it is a positive 9.5 degree tilt. Now, once I had it in there with what I could approximate was a 9.5 degree tilt.

Maybe I could tilt it a bit different to get a better signal on the odd transponders. Although it was one of the things I was tweeking when working on the dish alignment. I did the alignment on transponder 7 (picked it because lyngsat listed it as the one for the EPG). I got it stable around 73 (just 1 line below 75) or so, no amount of tweeking would get it higher. The even transponders just surprised me when I tuned to one of them, they are 6 lines past the 75 , halfway between 75 and 100 or around 88 or so I would say. There is a 15 point difference.

Now the other interesting thing is that when I went to tune in 105 to start with, I was only able to select a few transponders (7, 18 and maybe one other). Now that I have had it on 105 for a while, I can now pick any transponder to check signal strength on from 1-24.

 

[Stargazer]

Is it not possible to get 100% from 105 is it unless you get a HUGE dish like a C-Band dish to receive that satellite? I figure it will be more possible in 2004 once the new satellite is launched.

 

[Guest]

HD on 105

At our area Wichita Super Dish meeting we were told no HD's on 105 until late spring 2004 at the earliest


~rock

 

[Guest]

Rock,

I live in Russell, KS, can you sell me a Superdish, can't seem find a dealer who has one in stock in my area. How about it?

 

[Guest]

That's pretty cool! I wonder how much you saved doing it yourself. In fact how much to actualy do the whole install yourself? Bet it is cheaper than the superdish.

Isn't the Superdish free with programming commitment? :?

 

[dlsnyder]

That's pretty cool! I wonder how much you saved doing it yourself. In fact how much to actualy do the whole install yourself? Bet it is cheaper than the superdish.

Isn't the Superdish free with programming commitment? :?

Man, I think my login timed out!

 

[mike123abc]

I think there are 2 problems Dish has with letting people outside LIL markets have SuperDish:

1. I think they are in short supply on the hardware. They should ramp this up pretty quick. But, LIL creates huge demand, that is why they are adding LIL as fast as possible to get the added subs and added $$.

2. The current satellite is so weak it cuts off sections of the west coast, the north and Florida. If they turned on HD and added a bunch of HD/ED channels they would be getting a lot of people mad in those areas. They know that DirecTV is pretty much strapped for HD bandwidth at this time so they are not in a real hurry. I bet they would like to delay it as long as they think they can get away with until AMC-15 is close to launch.

 

[BarryO]

The only issue I have for the satellite experts is why are the even transponders reading 15 points higher than the odd ones on 105?

I believe 105 uses linear instead of circular polarization. The circular polarization on 110/119 is inherently symmetric. With linear polarization, you're going to be influenced by the tilt of the dish & LNBF.

 

[shilton]

Mike...any ideas if this LNB is DP34 compliant? Dish says only their Sueprdish LNB will work with the DP34...but i bet there are others...anyone tried one yet???

 

[AppliedAggression]

superdish, superdish superdish. there's nothing available on there except locals. unless you're hacking, i don't see what you're getting out of it. sorry.

 

[Stargazer]

A lot of people are anxious to get the SuperDish.

 

[mike123abc]

superdish, superdish superdish. there's nothing available on there except locals. unless you're hacking, i don't see what you're getting out of it. sorry.

Well you do get the lovely channel 7000 with the muzak music and the Congratulations note that you have a SuperDISH pointed at 105.

If Dish had the real SuperDish available like they originally said on 11/1, I would probably taken their offer. Well now I do not have to have the commitment to get the SuperDish... Worth the $40 since I do not have CC autopay which would have been $25 to avoid that. I had the extra dish just sitting in the garage (and still have another one). I also had the SW21s just sitting around from before I got the SW64.

It just means that as soon as they turn on something exciting I will be ready. I do not have the confidence that I could get a SuperDish installed from a local retailer very quickly. If they said SuperDish on 12/1 and new programming on 12/15, I do not think I would make it waiting on the local installer.

 

[AppliedAggression]

Sorry, I didn't mean to bash you. But there's no need for ppl to get upset that Dish hasn't offered the SuperDish yet. Because in fact they have, the only programming on there that isn't available on any other satellite are locals, and those ppl who want/need them, are being offered FREE SuperDish with a programming commitment.

Although it's cool to be one of the first to get the 105 sat slot, it's definitely not fair to bash Dish for not offering you something that don't need. Nice Sat Farm

 

[shilton]

Although it's cool to be one of the first to get the 105 sat slot, it's definitely not fair to bash Dish for not offering you something that don't need. Nice Sat Farm

Likewise, its not fair to the subs for Dish to say "Once we turn on the locals in your market, it may be a few months before someone can get Superdish installed for you". In some cases, people who are phoning in to order locals NOW are being told no Superdish till February. Clearly Dish is behind the ball on this.

 

[Sean Mota]

mike123abc,

how many receivers are you feeding?