My first FTA equipment purchase, which dish to buy for 110, 119, and 129?

[Gunloc]

Hello everyone. I'm going to TRY and keep this post at a low no0b factor heh, but feel I need to ask for some advise or maybe some reassurance.

Just to give you a quick background, I signed up to the forum a few weeks ago, read the rules, researched a lot (this site is great, so much info here), and now ready to make my first FTA purchase. I live in western Mass, my house has catv only, no dish installed. I'm planning to install everything myself. Looking to purchase a DL HD, and want to get 110, 119, and 129 (for HD), and I will need to purchase a dish. What would you recommend?

I'd like to get the best setup bang for the buck, and not looking to put a larger than needed dish on my house. Also trying not to buy switches or power inserters I wouldn't need. But, from my research, what seems the easiest or cleanest setup for me would be to buy a 1000.2 dish that has the 3 lnb's already installed, buy a cheap/used power inserter (I'd rather not buy an older receiver and have to worry about where to keep or mount it), a grounding block, and a 4 x 1 Disecq switch.

The plan would then be to find a good place on the side or roof of my house, use a satfinder app (already did and have a good idea where to put a dish), run 3 small lengths of RG6 from the lnb's to a grounding block, then to a 4 x 1 Disecq switch outside, then run 1 long length from the switch into the house to the DL HD. From there, the next steps there are plenty of guides to setup the receiver and sats and p$ etc.

So, my question again is, which dish do you recommend for the new setup I'm planning? Thanks everyone for reading this far, and look forward to your advise. Also, if there's something wrong with this setup, let me know. Thanks!

[fn59]

A 1000.2 dish has a DPP lnb, switch is built in so no need for diseqc switch. Grounding block is a good idea. A power inserter is a must in most cases where a fta receiver is used without a Dish receiver.

[mr flint]

get a 33 or 36 that can hold a butt load of lnb's less headache trust me dreamlink never an issue after i tore down the dish 1000
really improved my signal lock by 15%

[FTA]

personally i wold use 2 dish's 1 for 110 and 119 and a seperate dish for 129 aiming all 3 on one dish is a REAL pita in this case 1 diseqc switch will be needed

[Crazy Carl]

personally i wold use 2 dish's 1 for 110 and 119 and a seperate dish for 129 aiming all 3 on one dish is a REAL pita in this case 1 diseqc switch will be needed

Good setup and good idea and if your planning to point yourself a heck of a lot of time reduction going this method save yourself the headache and 12 hour ordeal

[Terryl]

I agree, I use a 2 dish setup around here as 129 does not have a consistent footprint, I use a Dish 500 setup with a DPP twin LNB on it for 110/119 and a 30" to 33" dish with a single DP LNB on it for 129.

Saves your hair when trying to setup that tricky D1000 LNB and dish.

The DPP twin LNB has an external LNB input for just this type of setup, Diseqc switching (internal switch on the DPP LNB) is port #1 = 119, port #2 = 110, port #3 = 129.

And it's a bit easier on the receivers power supply.

[zoogor]

what about a 24inch eliptical with a standard lnb? excuse the hyjack but im in the same boat. i tried a 20 inch round dish and got 34% quality but i have a 24 inch eliptical to try. am i wasting my time and need to buy a dish pro plus?

[Gunloc]

Thanks everyone for the replies so far. I'll be honest, I was hoping to just buy 1 dish with all the lnb's already on it, especially after reading about the many success stories and advise posted here. And the fact I have a clear view of the sats. But, based on your replies I will consider a multiple dish setup. Would it matter if I said that I only really care about getting HD channels? So as to concentrate on getting 129 the best S and Q numbers? Guess it shouldn't matter, I believe I need to lock 110 first, then the others should come into place... ugh guess I'm tired of researching and want to get busy installing and testing.

[torpainter]

Thanks everyone for the replies so far. I'll be honest, I was hoping to just buy 1 dish with all the lnb's already on it, especially after reading about the many success stories and advise posted here. And the fact I have a clear view of the sats. But, based on your replies I will consider a multiple dish setup. Would it matter if I said that I only really care about getting HD channels? So as to concentrate on getting 129 the best S and Q numbers? Guess it shouldn't matter, I believe I need to lock 110 first, then the others should come into place... ugh guess I'm tired of researching and want to get busy installing and testing.

i use a quad elliptical for 110 110 and 129 ,Using the three single lnbs there are no power issues running a diseq

[kcorscadden]

1 dish with 3 LNB's on it would be neat and tidy, but you need to remember that the 1000.2 is designed for actual DN receivers and not FTA receivers. If you choose to go the 1000.2 route, please remember you will need a power inserter as the Dreamlink and pretty much all FTA receivers are under powered and you can burn out the receiver.

2 dishes can be ideal if there is problems and only 1 dish needs to be worked on. If say you have 110/119 on the 1 dish and 129 on the other and say you are in the BEV or SKY footprint but you aren't quite sure, you can play with the 129 dish and see if it works, all the while leaving your 110/119 dish alone. You can't do that with the 1000.2 dish, or at least not very easily.

[Terryl]

As I stated in my first post, 129W does not have a consistent foot print, you should check with satbeams first to see if your within a footprint that will support the size dish your going to buy.

Here is the link to 129 footprint, find your location and click on it, (you may have to register first, it free) this will give you the estimated dish size for your location.

http://www.satbeams.com/footprints?norad=33453

I always go a bit bigger on the recommended dish size, knocks down on possible rain fade problems.

[yunedub]

If you are within the footprint to use a 1000.2 I'd personally go for the 1000.2 setup, I find it cleaner. I would definitely invest in a grounding block in the ever so rare event of a lightning strike, that way you'll still be protected. Also you'll need a power inserter or an unsubbed DPP receiver to run to port 1 on the 1000.2 LNB. Plus if you feel like adding another orbital location down the road you can always put up another sat and use the input port on the 1000.2, saving yourself from running another cable/adding a diseqc. If you do plan to go with the 1000.2 setup and feel like adding another sat such as 91 or 82 make sure you use a DPP LNB as the 1000.2 doesn't play nice with legacy LNBs.

[Desert Dog]

The problem the original poster has is he already had made up his mind and thought he would get confirmation of his decision.
Surprise! Now the question is he smart enough to accept advice from some very experienced testers?

[FTA]

using a 2 dish set up is much better especially for troubleshooting when a switch or lnb fries the surface distance between 2 dishs beside eachother and the 1000.4 is about the same and can be just as tidy heck i had 3 dishs point 82 91 110 119 129 on a piece of 2x6 16 inchs long u bolted to a fire escape and was tidy enough for me!

[Green Thumb]

If you are within the footprint to use a 1000.2 I'd personally go for the 1000.2 setup, I find it cleaner. I would definitely invest in a grounding block in the ever so rare event of a lightning strike, that way you'll still be protected. Also you'll need a power inserter or an unsubbed DPP receiver to run to port 1 on the 1000.2 LNB. Plus if you feel like adding another orbital location down the road you can always put up another sat and use the input port on the 1000.2, saving yourself from running another cable/adding a diseqc. If you do plan to go with the 1000.2 setup and feel like adding another sat such as 91 or 82 make sure you use a DPP LNB as the 1000.2 doesn't play nice with legacy LNBs.

Putting up another sat is kind of expensive. SPACEX is gonna make it less expensive but most sats are in the 100 million dollar range.