DSS/DirectTV question

It's hardware, but only 50% audio...

Curious if anyone knows about hooking up DSS satellite receivers to a dual LNB antenna, through a multiswitch. I've been attempting to do it, over the course of the past several months, but haven't been able to get it to work correctly.

More details to post if anyone wants to take a stab at it.

TIA!

 

Go ahead and post some more details. Can't guarantee that I can solve it, but if nothing else, I might be able to point you in the right direction to find the answer.

 

For starters, you might try the following:

http://www.channelmaster.com/pdf/sdacat.pdf

Specifically, look at the install diagrams starting on page 18. I found them to be extremely helpful in planning and setting up my system.

 

Hi Rudy,


Don't fret, you'll get it right, but it's not always easy as I found out the hard way.

For 6 hours on a cold February day on the roof of my house I was scratching my head trying to figure out what was wrong. I had my kids give me Readings off the TV set using walky talkys. Not too much fun.

Are you using an Oval Dish for HD? I'm sure you already know That the Oval dishes need to point at two satellites at the same time. The satellites are orbiting at different Azimuths.

I finally gave up and bought a 2nd dish to feed two separate dishes into the Multi Switcher.

We discovered that a line of site problem was preventing the Big Oval
Dish from getting signal from both satellites at once.

I now have two dishes in totally different locations. We couldn't find
a spot that worked for both satellites at once.

With two dishes we're also getting much better signal strength.

 

Wow! Just have Rabbit ears and 2 Channels...Luckily I have Tons of DVD's...Complete program control.

 

Hi MIchael,

You're better off. I stopped my satellite service 6 months ago. The kids
wouldn't pull away from the TV. When there is something we really want
to watch, I can call up Direct TV and they turn on my service withing 15 minutes.

 

OK, here's the rest of the details. Grab a coffee or our beverage of choice, and read along.

I've had a Sony DSS system here since either 1995 or 1996--we're talking first-generation equipment (which still works fine to this day). No problems, other than the time I tried to trim one of the cables with a hedge trimmer, and the snowstorm of 1999 that pulled a cable loose. I've never had it connected to anything more than two receivers. While in Best Buy one day, I picked up two demo-unit receivers, either as spares, or to use when I wanted additional receivers elsewhere in the house.

Well over a year ago, I decided to hook up a third receiver. I bought a Terk "multiswitch". This lets you hook both LNB connections, plus a rooftop antenna, to the input, and send the signal to four different locations. At each location, you use a diplexer to split the antenna signal from the satellite signal. (Although if you don't use the antenna, you don't need the diplexer, according to Terk's tech support.)

When I had three receivers hooked up, I could NEVER get all of them to work reliably. One or two could be showing a channel, and the third would no be locking in on a signal. However, if one of the other units would change channels, the third would suddenly pop in and work. OR, on the blacked-out receiver, you would find that some channels worked and some didn't. This was random, too--the 'blackout' could happen at any receiver, and would always pop in when another receiver would change channels.

Since I rarely used the third receiver, I had it disconnected. But still, the problem persisted with the two remaining receivers to a lesser extent. At any time I checked during a 'blackout', the receiver was getting full signal strength on all of the transponders. Even if there's not a blackout, it takes longer to change channels....you can pick a new one from the guide, and it'll take several seconds to 'lock in' the channel.

Removing the multiswitch, everything works OK.

So yes, I pretty much know the multiswitch is the culprit...or is it? The multiswitch is not powered, so it's most likely just a series of passive filters inside the unit.

Terk says that although the unit is marked for 13v and 18v inputs from the dish, it's irrelevant. As long as the two inputs are connected, it should work. (I'd tried swapping the input cables months ago...Terk was right. The unit worked no better, or no worse, after swapping.) They confirmed that I don't need a diplexer at each location since I'm not using an antenna...but I wonder if it this may not be the case. I hate to throw good money after bad and buy a bunch of diplexers just to experiment. I've also thought about getting another brand of multiswitch, but again, why risk blowing money if something else is the problem.

The unit has been inside, never mounted outside, so temperature and humidity are not an issue. And all the cables (burial-grade satellite, even indoors) are newer and well within the maximum length.

It seems like a polarity conflict between the receivers to me, and that's what is perplexing. The problem seems very similar to trying to hook up two receivers to a single LNB dish--if the polarity is off, the station won't lock in. The fact that a receiver is blacked out for some channels and 'live' on others, and a blacked-out receiver will start working when another receiver changes channels, sure sounds like a polarity problem.

If we were going to be in this house any longer, I would mount the spare dish on the other end of the house and use that one for any other receivers. Certainly would have been cheaper than this multiswitch!

In a nutshell, that's it. I'm just fishing for ideas right now. I don't know what else to try--everything has been by the book so far. I don't know what kind of warranty the Terk has, but this has been a problem for well over a year, on and off, when I've bothered to try and use this system.

 

Hi Rudy,

If it's not too inconvenient you could hook up an A/B switch.

 

Gotta have my Spongebob fix! Plus, the Mrs. has wear patterns in her hand from the DSS remote, and I've been threatened with loss of life, limb, and future progeny if I tried to get it disconnected.

I like that I can change programming on the fly via their website, and it takes effect within a minute of my making the change.

For locals, though, I use a rooftop antenna. We're in a spot where we can get all the Detroit channels, most of the Toledo, OH channels, a few from Canada, and one from Flint, MI.

So in other words, we have hundreds of channels of "nothing to watch."

 

Hi Rudy,

Both my kids are spongebob fans. I have to see what the hoopla is about.
I've never seen the show.

 

Spongebob sort of grows on you. Unlike most of the other programs on Nickelodeon, there's always a little something there for adults as well as the kids. Sort of the same way the old Warner Bros. cartoons had their little "in" jokes. Goofy fun!

 

Nickelodeon- Highly addicting. Along with TVland and Disney Channel.
Three favorites in our home.

PS: Were you able to get your receiver problems straightened out?

 

I'm not a TV watcher, but usually I'll have on Nickelodeon or PBS Kids for the kids. I'll usually hang around if Spongebob is on, and occasionally will sit through something else if they bother me enough. I keep forgetting about the Powerpuff Girls--the kids loved the movie. But there isn't much else on the Cartoon Network I care to watch. If I want cartoons, I'll get into my old Warner Bros. laserdiscs. Other than that, if I want to watch something, it's either Star Trek, Star Wars, James Bond (but only the Connery Bonds ), Pink Panther movies w/ Peter Sellers, Clint Eastwood westerns, or just about anything with Hitchcock's name on it, with a strong preference for Vertigo and North By Northwest.

No luck on the DSS receiver situation, other than keeping the multiswitch out of the signal path. Wish I could borrow one, of a different brand, to see if my multiswitch is at fault or not.

 

Hi Rudy,

Radio Shack usually carries multiswitchers, they have a 30 day return policy if you decide that you don't need the part.

There is a wholesaler out in Indiana called Perfect10. They are a national
distributor for all antenna and satellite equipment.

 

Parts Express in Ohio has a lot of neat gadgets at good prices. In fact, I've bought my woofer foam surround kits from them, along with some other assorted cables that the big box stores sell for 2x to 3x more. Most importantly, they have hundreds of different speakers--I'm eyeballing a few to build myself a monster subwoofer.

They also have multiswitches for DSS, at about half the price I paid for the Terk. (Although the Terk came from Circuit Sh**ty--rhymes with city--as my "rebate" for buying a pair of Nextel phones two years ago.)

 

HI Rudy,

I still receive my installer catalogs from perfect ten. Installer costs
for a multiswitcher is under $20.

 

Cha-ching! I can live with $20! How much do they want for diplexers? Chances are I'll be moving back across town, and since antenna and DSS are on the same side of the house over there, I may end up combining them. Or, I may forget the antenna and just get the local channels for an extra $4/month.

 

Hi Rudy,

Give their website a look see.

http://www.perfect-ten.com/

 

Rudy, Is that a Sony dish with the little red 'signal' led on it? If so there's your trouble. Go to your local pawn shop and pick up an RCA or Hughes dish w/LNB and your problem will go away.
Tom

 

Hi Tom,

I had one of the earlier metal Sony dishes and wound up throwing it in the can. Channel Master and Weingard make most of the OEM dishes for RCA and Hughes anyhow.

 

Gary,
The 'signal seeker' led on older Sony dishes causes problems with some multi-switches and even some new Sony IRDs. Must draw too much current.

Tom

 

In several installations we needed to replace the LNB's and the dish.
The older LNB's did create some problems.