Duel satilite dish - Page 2  

Now the link above

15. Non-powered, Powered/Mechanical, Powered Solid state, Amplified......which one do I need?

Will the 17.99 or 39.99 at
http://www.thesatelliteshop.net/

work ok? does not look like they have a power cord and is run off the dish? My famliy room will be right next to the dish (Ultimate receiver) but my reg receiver will be 100 or so feet away from the dish...maybe closer depending on where they mound the dish (does the dish need to be at the hightest point on the house?) I live in a residential neighborhood and have a 2 story house the side of the house that is facing south is not 2 stories all the way across, its one story at the southern most side of the house, the garage is not 2 story and that is the southern most end of the house. Will he mount it there or will he pick the highest point? Thoughts?

Probably doesn't matter too much, but the powered switches are usually better, especially if you have (or anticipate) any long runs to any of your receivers.

The dish needs line of sight to the satellite, that's all. You only need to mount it high if you have items in the way (trees, other houses, etc.). If possible, lower is better if you live in a climate with snow so you can brush off the dish when needed.

Greg,
thx,
I live in the seattle area and hardly any snow...and the house just to the south is one story so it will be of equal height as the where they might mount the dish.

did you visit the site I posted and check to see if something likethat would work?
http://www.thesatelliteshop.net/

I ordered one of the 3x8 switches last week in anticipation of getting the oval dish and dual UTV setup (and probably a basic receiver as a spare/3rd option). It does come with a power supply, but it's not entirely clear to me whether the switch can also power itself from the receiver as some switches allege.

Now, I also realize after reading this thread and the very helpful FAQ on multiswitches referenced above, that I got the wrong switch. I need a 5x8. BUT... could I just get another 3x8 and use each on a different LNB, so that each switch would feed a separate tuner input on each UTV?
Seems like the main problem might be just having to find space to plug in 2 AC adapters. Or do I need to just bit the bullet and get the 5x8? (Which is a good bit more expensive than 2 3x8 switches!) (EDIT: Didn't take long to figure out this almost certainly won't work -- UTV would need to have both LNB inputs available for each tuner, so I would need the 5x8.)

I'm planning to run some wiring from the dish -- located near the middle of my house, on the back of the roof -- to a central distribution closet containing the multiswitch, then 2 cables each out to 2 or 3 rooms from there.

paul,
I called the guy...there is no power supply with the 17.99 one. The 39.99 I am suspecting is the same way....he told me if I was running it farther than 100 feet the power supply model is the way to go, and he did not have those for the above mentioned prices. Guess thats not the site I need, back to Radio Shack and the 80 dollar model.

pheroy:

You can use two 3x8's. You'll need to get two 2ghz satellite spliters (RatShack has 'em), and feed the dual lnb feeds each into a splitter, and then the splitter outputs to your dual 3x8s. One feed from each splitter to each 3x8. For more info, check this thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=130443

It WILL work if you dont care about programming from 119 (NASA). I have an oval dish. 2 outputs go directly to one of my UTVs. The other 2 go to a 3x4 multiswitch. 2 of the multiswitch outputs go to a 2nd UTV and one goes to a standard reciever leaving one output open currently. Works fine (both tuners, pip etc.) except I do not get NASA and other 119 programming on my 2nd UTV or on the standalone receiver.

-NJJ

This defeats the purpose of buying the oval dish in the first place. The whole point of getting the oval dish is to get access to the 101 AND 119 and 110 satellites. In using a 3x8 multiswitch, there are only inputs for the 101 satellite, which means that you won't have access to any of the channels on the 119 and 110 satellites. Though the 5x multiswitches cost a lot more, you can buy it once and then you're ready to go HD or access channels that get moved to the 119 and 110 satellites as time goes on. If you buy one or more 3x multiswitches now, you'll need to throw them away and buy a 5x multswitch some time in the future unless you're convinced you'll never want anything that isn't on the 101 satellite, but then why bother buying the oval dish?

From what you're saying, it sounds like you have an oval dish with an integrated multiswitch. This is an important distinction as those with an oval dish without an integrated multiswitch (these are difficult to find now) can't do what you're describing, as 2 of the outputs would be from the 101 LNB and the other 2 outputs would be from the 119/110 LNB(s).

Who's Greg? :)

I did take a look at the site. I'm sure what they're selling will work, but if you decide to go with an oval dish, it would be wise to get a 5x switch or you'll end up throwing away the 3x switch down the road if you decide you need channels from the 119 and/or 110 satellites.

There are other issues to consider too... If you get an oval satellite, chances are pretty good at this point that you will only find them with integrated multiswitches with 4 outputs. If all you need is 4 receivers, you're all set (no need to buy a separate multiswitch in this case).

However, if you need more than 4 outputs, it isn't as simple as buying any 5x8 (or 5x6, 5x12, 5x16, etc.) multiswitch and plugging each output from the dish into an input on the 5x multiswitch (this is called cascading). The reason is that the 119/110 satellite is selected by the receiver sending a carrier tone through the line. If your 5x multiswitch doesn't pass the carrier tone through to the integrated multiswitch, you won't get the correct signals back. AFAIK, only the more expensive 5x multiswitches (such as Spaun) will pass the carrier tone through, so just be aware of this.

Yes, a 4x4 came mounted to the back of the dish. Got the oval 'cause I though 4 outputs would be plenty (enter UTV and boy was I wrong) and "just in case" I wanted HD content in the future. Figured I would save myself the trouble of swapping dishes at a later date. Not to mention I got a great deal on it too.

I'm probably going to outgrow my 3x4 multiswitch (for a total of 6 outputs currently) shortly and will be "throwing it away" as you say, gsr. (I'm actually goign to try and sell it to that neighbor, hehe)

If I were to do it all over again I would probably take gsr's advice and buck up for the 5x from the start.

-NJJ

Yeah, those UTV things really eat up feeds fast. The funny thing is that I bought 3 UTV's and ordered an oval dish from Circuit City (these were purchased all at the same time) around a month ago. The oval dish that arrived had the integrated multiswitch with 4 outputs, which at the time I thought couldn't be expanded beyond the 4 outputs. This resulted in a quick crash course on how multiswitches work, how to cascade them, etc. I went from knowing next to nothing about multiswitches to knowing a bit more than I care to know in a pretty short time, as I had to hook up and activate all the UTV boxes within 30 days to avoid extra charges...

Just don't let the neighbor have access to this forum and you'll be OK :D. I ended up going with a Spaun 5x12 multiswitch, which should serve my needs for the forseeable future (and hopefully longer, given what they cost). I currently have 4 UTV's hooked up (2 in the main home theater system, and 1 in each of 2 bedrooms) and plan to add a HD receiver at some point, which means I need at least 9 outputs, so I was pretty much forced to go with the Spaun 5x12, as buying 2 5x8's didn't seem like a reasonable alternative.

where did you get a 5x12 multiswitch from????

http://www.futurehomesystems.com/v503.shtml