Will Directv Receiver work with Dish Network dish?

[alandersen61]

I had to move to a friends house for 2 months and he has a Dish Network Dish. I have been using Direct for years now and would like to keep the service active for this 2 month period before my townhouse becomes available. We looked at the Dish Network dish and moved the 2 LNB's to 101 and 119 degree positions. The cables from the LNB's go to what I believe to be a multi switch 2x1. From there, 1 cable to the receiver to Sat 1 in. When I go thru the satellite setup on my R16-300 receiver it makes it thru with signals in the 90 to 98 range on most transponders a few in the 50's and some at 0 on both satellites 101 and 119. The receiver also says the tuner 2 is ok even though there is no cable hooked to it. When I look at live channels, some come in and some do not. Most of them are ok though. I also discovered that if I channel down and then back up to the channel that did not come it, it will be ok. When you go to the channels that are not working it will say searching for satellite signal or the 771 error. I think maybe that I need to replace the multi switch with a directv one but I am not sure. I know that Directv has a single wire solution now that will work with my receiver and allow both tuners to work as well but it looks to be a little costly and I want to make sure it will work before I spend the money. I would like to keep both tunners working if at all possible. Any help on this set up would be greatly appreciated.

 

[boba]

First of all exactly which DISH network dish does your friend have? A dish 500 is the most common it would look at the 110 and 119 satellites If you reaimed it for 101 it would see the 101 and the 110 satellites not 101 and 119 as you are claiming. Directv dosen't have a 2x1 switch but DISH did make a SW21 switch that is not compatible with DIRECTV.

 

[alandersen61]

I am not sure on the dish as my friend was on the roof. I will have to find out for sure. The dish has locations for 3 LNB's to be installed. There are 2 currently installed. He had to move one to the 101 postion. I will check on the other postions marked on the dish to see if the degrees he stated was correct. The receive gave me signal strenghts for the 101 and the 119 satellites.

So if the switch is not compatible, what is the best way to get a single wire solution and still have both tuners working???

 

[jdspencer]

If the 101 and 119 LNBs have dual outputs, then you'll need a 4x4 mutliswitch to combine the signals for use with a DirecTV receiver. This multiswitch has inputs labeled for each sat position: 101 has 13v/18v 0khz and the 119 is 13v/18v 22khz.

Then for a single wire solution you'd connect the SWM8 to the four outputs of the switch.

At least I think this will work.

 

[boba]

The only way to get a single wire solution is to buy a Slimline HD dish and either a SWM-8 or a SWM LNB roughly about $200 investment plus install.

A DISH Network with 3 LNBs would be a 1000/1000.2/1000.4 or a 1000+ . The 1000 is the older of the 4 and would work with 2 Legay dual LNBs in the outside mounting holes. You would need a DIRECTV 4X4 switch and 2 cables run to the R16.

 

[boba]

JDSpencer may have an idea with a SWM-8 but you must have DUAL LEGACY LNBs from DISH (DISH PRO LNBs will not work) and the SWM-8 is still around $150

 

[alandersen61]

I guess I should just break down and buy a Slimline dish to be sure everything is going to work. I see that weakness has them in 3 and 5 LNB's and both of them have SWM opptions as well. It looks like I have to get the 5 LNB's for the sat at 119 is that correct? Is the satellite at 119 were my locals come in on? Also I understand that if you get a Slimline dish with the SWM LNB's that you cannot expand on it is that true? Since I will be moving in a month or so I want to be able to hook up more then 1 receiver and in the near future I plan on purchasing an HDTV and want to receive HD programing and SD programing. I would like to just get things working at this location and keeping in mind of what I will need to accomplish my system at the new location in 1 1/2 months.

Thanks!!!

 

[jdspencer]

SWMLine dishes are limited to 8 tuners. So unless you think you might go beyond 8, I'd get the non-SWM version.

There's a list here somewhere that shows what locals come from 119.

 

[harshness]

The DISH Network dish won't give you both 101W and 119W at the same time. You really do need a DIRECTV dish to do this right.

Fortunately, the DIRECTV Phase III dish will fit on a DISH mast and I'm pretty sure it will be a lot cheaper and easier than a SWMLine dish and having to set up a new 2" mount (drilling new holes is always a bad idea on somebody else's house).

 

[alandersen61]

Thanks for the replies boba, jdspencer, and harshness. I checked out the satellite map sticky and found that the locals for Chicago are on 101 for SD. If I take the cable form the 101 LNB and bypass the 2x1 multi switch by barreling it I should be good right? I think I will try this tonight!

 

[harshness]

The Dish500 doesn't have a "position" for 101W and they typically came with a siamese twin LNB assembly. Are you sure this is a Echostar dish?

 

[alandersen61]

I am not sure. I know he had Dish Network before. The dish does have locations to mount 3 LNB's on it. We mounted to the 2 outside positions leaving the center one open. My friend told me that he mounted the LNB's to the locations marked 101 and 119. I am receiving signal form 101 and 119 according to the signal strenght meter for tuner 1. I will get on the roof this evening with him and see if I can get more info on the dish, LNB's, and Multi Switch.

 

[harshness]

I'm not sure the receiver knows the difference between satellites with DIRECTV.

Perhaps this is some sort of generic dish that was set up for DIRECTV but used in your friends DISH installation.

 

[jdspencer]

Tune to chs 490-493. These are test channels for the 101 and 119 sats.