Archived from groups: alt.video.satellite.mpeg-dvb (More info?)
While I realize this question is highly subjective, and
I've read some of the "hype" in Tele-Satellite magazine,
what's your opinion on who's (and what model) FTA receiver
is king of the hill these days? I'm not looking at this
from a "pirate" perspective, I'm just not into that.
I mean from an INSTALLERS perspective.
I recently got a batch of receivers from the House of
Natural Sound in California (Ben Nopakun is a pretty
decent guy to deal with as well) and they have this
really neat feature that allows you direct access to
the internal signal meter by pressing and holding a
button on the front panel for a few seconds. I thought
that was pretty slick. But- it doesn't have GO-TO-X
function in the firmware.
I've been reading a bit on the GO-TO-X deal, and it
sounds pretty neat. Has anyone messed with it much?
Does it work well for you?
For those unfamiliar with it- the way it works (as I
understand it) is that you program an extreme west bird,
then an extreme east bird, and somehow, it calculates
where everything else is automatically. All you have to
do is give it the degrees longitude where the satellite
you're looking for is, and it goes to it and finds it!
I believe it's a disecq command- and should work with
the little H-to-H dish rotors.
While I have your attention- I have a small market for
some TAN-TV (The Asia Network) receivers. Is there a
source for these other than going direct to TAN (i.e.
cheaper)? As far as I can tell they're ViaAccess units.
From what one of my customers tells me- TAN seems to
swap receivers every 2 to 3 years. They made her buy a
complete dish/LNBF for their latest move! I have no idea
why! I had an identical job in the morning and the first
lady did not have to have anything swapped out but her
receiver!
But- when I attempted to set up the second lady's old dish
and LNBF with her new receiver, I wasted about an hour trying
to acquire AMC-4 (where TAN is now). I had just left the first
job not an hour earlier where the dish/LNBF did not have
to be changed- it worked just fine. Obviously one dish
is no different from the other, so I swapped out the LNBF,
and immediately acquired the signal! The old LNBF was not
bad- I was acquiring birds all the way across the arc with
it, but it just would not pick up the AMC-4 digital signal!
After I found AMC-4 with the new LNBF, to satisfy my
curiosity, I swapped LNBF's back to the old one, and sure
enough, absolutely 0 on the signal quality! But on the
signal strength, it was very strong! Any idea what gives?
AMC-4 isn't circularly polarized, is it? The LNBF at the
first job was linear and worked fine- so I don't think this
is the issue.
I thought perhaps a different IF, but neither the old LNBF
nor the new one was marked with the IF. The old one was
rated 11.7 to 12.5GHz, the new one was rated 11.7 to 12.2GHz.
Noise figures were similar- .8 on the old one, .6 on the new
one. It had to be a different IF- but I didn't waste any
more time seeing what the old receiver vs. the new receiver
were set to- I just let it go, but it's going to bug me for
awhile.
Oh well- everybody stay safe in the summer heat!
-Web Williams, Myrtle Beach, SC
While I realize this question is highly subjective, and
I've read some of the "hype" in Tele-Satellite magazine,
what's your opinion on who's (and what model) FTA receiver
is king of the hill these days? I'm not looking at this
from a "pirate" perspective, I'm just not into that.
I mean from an INSTALLERS perspective.
I recently got a batch of receivers from the House of
Natural Sound in California (Ben Nopakun is a pretty
decent guy to deal with as well) and they have this
really neat feature that allows you direct access to
the internal signal meter by pressing and holding a
button on the front panel for a few seconds. I thought
that was pretty slick. But- it doesn't have GO-TO-X
function in the firmware.
I've been reading a bit on the GO-TO-X deal, and it
sounds pretty neat. Has anyone messed with it much?
Does it work well for you?
For those unfamiliar with it- the way it works (as I
understand it) is that you program an extreme west bird,
then an extreme east bird, and somehow, it calculates
where everything else is automatically. All you have to
do is give it the degrees longitude where the satellite
you're looking for is, and it goes to it and finds it!
I believe it's a disecq command- and should work with
the little H-to-H dish rotors.
While I have your attention- I have a small market for
some TAN-TV (The Asia Network) receivers. Is there a
source for these other than going direct to TAN (i.e.
cheaper)? As far as I can tell they're ViaAccess units.
From what one of my customers tells me- TAN seems to
swap receivers every 2 to 3 years. They made her buy a
complete dish/LNBF for their latest move! I have no idea
why! I had an identical job in the morning and the first
lady did not have to have anything swapped out but her
receiver!
But- when I attempted to set up the second lady's old dish
and LNBF with her new receiver, I wasted about an hour trying
to acquire AMC-4 (where TAN is now). I had just left the first
job not an hour earlier where the dish/LNBF did not have
to be changed- it worked just fine. Obviously one dish
is no different from the other, so I swapped out the LNBF,
and immediately acquired the signal! The old LNBF was not
bad- I was acquiring birds all the way across the arc with
it, but it just would not pick up the AMC-4 digital signal!
After I found AMC-4 with the new LNBF, to satisfy my
curiosity, I swapped LNBF's back to the old one, and sure
enough, absolutely 0 on the signal quality! But on the
signal strength, it was very strong! Any idea what gives?
AMC-4 isn't circularly polarized, is it? The LNBF at the
first job was linear and worked fine- so I don't think this
is the issue.
I thought perhaps a different IF, but neither the old LNBF
nor the new one was marked with the IF. The old one was
rated 11.7 to 12.5GHz, the new one was rated 11.7 to 12.2GHz.
Noise figures were similar- .8 on the old one, .6 on the new
one. It had to be a different IF- but I didn't waste any
more time seeing what the old receiver vs. the new receiver
were set to- I just let it go, but it's going to bug me for
awhile.
Oh well- everybody stay safe in the summer heat!
-Web Williams, Myrtle Beach, SC
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