Have been given a Dish network setup (NTSC)

[nanochickin]

While talking to one of the wifes friends who recently just moved back to the UK from the States i discovered that for some unknown reason both herself and her new husband brought back there Satellite receivers and her dish along with all their other belongings in the shipping container.

The dish i think i can find a use for but what about the receivers. :?

She has given me a Dish network 500 20" dish with twin legacy lnb (with a 9 degree look angle, possibly usefull for 19.2 and 28.2) and a Philips Dish Network receiver which as far as i can tell is no use to anybody in this country, although it does have a nagravision card which i think i may be able to get rid of on fleebay if anything.

The other items i have is a Hughes DirecTV receiver and card which will become a doorstop like my nokia D2MAC decoder as DirecTV use DSS (Digital Signature Standard) instead of DVB making it of no use whatsoever to anybody in this country.

Could the Dish receiver be modified for use in this country as it does use DVB and has scart sockets, and would the lnb be of any use as Dish seems to use l/r circular polorisation. I''m thinking it may be about as much use as my BSB Squarial, although i suppose i can change the lnb if needed.


Any ideas.

[BGonaSTICK]

I really have no idea.

DISH operate on a number of satellites in the US using both L/R and H/V polarisation on Ku band so I guess the best thing is to try it.

If it doesn't do H/V and/or doesn't do C band then I guess that it too is a doorstop

Same goes for the LNB, but that's cheap enough to replace. The card may be of use to an NTHell cable geezer, so eBay will sort that out.

[nanochickin]

Well i've had a play with the setup today, not good

I connected the receiver up using my stepdown transformer that i use for my drill (110v) and the unit powered up and i got a picture on the tv through the scart lead.

The unit started to throw a wobbler after about 30mins of playing and started locking up, constantly requiring a reboot.

It did show it was picking something up with the signal meter but that was about it.

I am guessing that it started throwing a wobbler in the same way as a digibox sometimes does when it cant get a signal from astra 2.

I'm going to keephold of the receiver for a while in the hope that i may be able to get a firmware upgrade which will make it useable again. :?

I discovered that the dish had a crease in it which i managed to knock out fairly well and i then set it up on my daughters swing as it seemed to make a good frame to situate it on.

I managed to get a signal from Astra 2 although my fortec star receiver showed it was quite weak. I'm guessing the damage to the dish has either made it less effective, or the lnb is set up for circular polarization and not H/V.

Changing the lnb is also not really practical either as it has a lnb holder similar to that of a sky minidish, only a bit bigger. :?

Its probably going to be cheaper in the longrun to buy another dish to allow me to test things out on other birds.

I'm looking at a zone 2 Sky dish as it will have to go on the front of the house to allow me to get the birds to the west. Not sure how much luck i will have but i'm hoping to get something of Atlantic bird 3 and Hispasat.

Any advise will be welcomed

[BGonaSTICK]

With the price of UK spec. receivers and dishes so reasonable (especially second hand) I wouldn't waste your energy with the US kit you have. It must have been fun having a play, but pressing any of it into service could take an inordinate amount of time and effort.

Atlantic Bird 3 and Hispasat should both be easy catches with a 60cm dish.

STICK

[satsid]

hi you did not say what size dish this is?if you can get ku band with it.why not try the dad feeds on 15w ntsc.there a low sr so give a chance to kick.& do this @ night when showing.or is this for c band only being from usa?this sounds intesting,i would not mind a play with this myself.if you find the receivers no good for you.i might be intrested in them if you dont want silly money for them.i would just be intested to know how i would get on with them.
sid

[nanochickin]

The dish size is only 20" (approx 50cms) so its not really much bigger than a Sky Minidish with the exception of it being round. The lnbs fitting is similar to that of a sky minidish making it very difficult, although not impossible to fit other lnbs to the dish.

Unfortunately anything regarding the dish now is irrelevant as it went to the tip this morning along with all the other junk collected over the last few years. The original lnb didn't appear to be of any use so thats been binned aswell.

In all i have chucked out my old Nokia D2mac decoder, the Hughes DirecTV receiver, a broken Furgusson Analogue Sky receiver, a broken Scientific Atlanta 8602 analogue cablebox & a General Instruments CFT2100 cable box which i could never get to work properly (wouldn't remap on cable network). No point in keeping them as they are just taking up space.

I do intend to play with the Dish receiver for a bit longer until i am sure if it will work or not. The other thing is that the receiver will not work without the nagra viewing card, which i will probably sell on ebay as it i should imagine it would be usefull to cable buffs.