[mjwilson99]

I am looking for some practical suggestions concerning hook-up. Even if I have only two DirecTivos, that would max out the 5X4 multiswitch on a 18X24 dish. What is the best way to work around this inherent limitation so that I can add as many as 4 other receivers without causing them to conflict and minimizing cabling confusion. Can a splitter be added in line after the multiswitch or can multiswitches be cascaded? I do not want an antenna farm of multiple 18" dishes in order to receive HDTV programming, although I understand that there are issues in terms of aiming an 18X24.

 

[Kevin T]

The first step would be to upgrade to a 5x8 multiswitch. If you need more than 8 outputs, another 5xN switch can be run in parallel to the first by using 2 GHz spliters to split all four of the LNB feeds. One of the switches must be powered for this to work. The power passing side of the spliters must be connected to the powered switch.

 

[gsr]

Given that I think I'm in the same boat as Kevin, the problem is that the satellite dishes are now coming with an integrated multi switch, so there isn't a way to get to the direct LNB feeds. I need to find a solution to this problem, as I currently need 6 receiver connections (3 Ultimate TV boxes) and easily envision the need for at least 2 more feeds (HD receiver, and another receiver in another room).

 

[rlj5242]

A few months ago, someone posted in the HDTV Hardware section that they had taken their satellite arm apart and removed the integrated switch.


-Robert

 

[gsr]

After a morning of searching on the web and ebay, I finally found a place that sells dishes without integrated multiswitches and LNB Y connectors for 101, 110, & 119 satellites that can be used in place of the integrated multi switches:

http://www.18inch.com/


Once there, click on "Dishes and Dish Kits."


I hope I'm not breaking forum rules by posting a link to another online store, but I don't think I'm stepping on AVS's business here and this seems to be a very difficult item to find.

 

[gsr]

Last night when I got home from work, I took another stab at getting the integrated multiswitch to work with my Spaun 5802 and was able to at least get things working well enough until I get around to fixing the LNB mount on my dish, either by removing the integrated multiswitch from the LNB mount or replacing the LNB mount with one that doesn't have an integrated switch (I'll also have to rerun a few cables in the process).


When my dish was first installed, I had tried hooking up a pair of outputs from the integrated multiswitch to the Spaun 5802 and could only get odd channels, so I abandoned it for a few days while I dealt with other things (just moved into a new house too). It turns out that the voltage switch on the Spaun was set to 12V at the factory. Switching it to 18V allowed me to hook up a pair of outputs from the integrated multiswitch and break them into 8 outputs for sat 101. This leaves me with the other pair of outputs from the integrated multiswitch that get 101, 119, and (when I get the third LNB) 110. I think that's the best I can do for now, as I'm pretty sure that the Spaun doesn't pass the tone for the 119 sat - if it did, I could hook the other pair of outputs from the integrated multiswitch and be all set.

 

[gsr]

After still more research, it looks like the Spaun 5xN (5x8, 5x12, 5x16, etc.) multiswitches will work with the integrated multiswitches. See:

Spaun Tech Advice


I'll need to reroute one pair of satellite feed wires to test this, but it looks very promising.