no echostar 118 entry on satellite list?

[Poe408]

hi everybody,

i have a coolsat 6100 connected to 3 sats. 110 and 119 are coming in through a dish 500 legacy where the 119 and 110 lnbs are separate. 118 is coming in through a superdish pointed at 118. i'm not sure why this is the case but that's how the installer did it.

all 3 sats are connected to a diseqc switch. 110 on port 1, 119 on port 2, 118 on port 3. i know for sure 118 is working and has a signal because i have subscribed receivers on the house receiving 118 programming.

when i go to try to set up 118 in the satellite setup... there is not Echostar 118 entry like there is for echostar 110 and 119. there are two entries for 118.8... i think one is directv and the other is some obscure one i've never heard of. 110 and 119 programming are all fine. everything is coming in perfectly.

how do i get 118 programming? can anybody give me a detailed step by step? i know the LNB type and some frequency settings are different than the others... what should i enter for these?

thanks everybody!

[DishCharlie]

With a Superdish installed you don't need the DN500. Before we address the CS6100 issue for 118W, I need to know if the sub receivers are connected to the same system, and if so how? The Superdish has only 1 output for 118W, so there must be another switch, like a DP34 that it feeds.

[hazwis]

is there an anik 3 setting?

[DishCharlie]

My CS6100 installation menu has 118.8W AnikF3 built-in.

[Poe408]

well... the installer did kind of a weird thing... let me try to explain it. i have a legit subscription to dish... in the very beginning there was one dish500 up there (dpp twin) feeding two dual tuners. then we ordered 118 programming... so the installer came and put up a superdish, but kept the dish500 pointed to 110/119. the installer pointed the big LNB of the superdish at 118, and ran one of the outputs of the big LNB into the input of the dpp twin. so the subscribed receivers are getting 110/119/118 through...

1) 110/119 through dpp twin dish 500.
2) 118 through big LNB of superdish running into the input of the dish500

so then i decided to run fta... so i put up another dish, a legacy dish500. that dish i aimed at 110/119 and everything is working fine. it is running through a diseqc switch. and then i took the other input of the superdish, assuming that it was pointed at 118 and ran that into the diseqc switch. and my fta is running...

1) dish500 legacy for 110/119
2) the other output of the big LNB of the superdish for 118

so assuming i have 110/119/118 running into my diseqc switch, i'm trying to set up the receiver to pick up the 118 programming. how can i do this?

[DishCharlie]

The problem here is the "big eye" LNB on the Superdish w/repoint kit actually houses 2 separate LNBs. If you can look at the bottom of the housing, the output terminal 1F is solely for 118.7W. The terminal 2D is solely 119W. If you can't get that close, looking at the dish from the back, the cable on the left is for 118.7. One output only, so no provision for your FTA.

If the installer installed the whole repoint kit, there should be an additional single LNB with dual outputs to the right, looking from the back again. That one is for 110W only. The repoint kit came with an additional bracket to install another single for 129W on the left. Normally this dish requires a DPP44 switch that supports 4 LNBs.

I wouldn't recommend it as it is DN's setup, but you can rewire the whole system so you can get 118.7 on your FTA. Let me know if you want to attempt this, but you will need a DP34 switch.

[Poe408]

dishcharlie, thanks so much for the help. i think i understand a little more of what's going on now. the problem with dp34 is... it doesn't work with my legacy LNBs. i do have a dp34... and i tried that originally without success. i've never heard of a repoint kit... but there's nothing that resembles a dual lnb on the right side of the dish. i guess that means they didn't install the repoint kit.

i know i can repoint the superdish and aim that at 110/119 and then use one of the dish500s for 118... but i'd like to avoid this as much as possible. and also... i need 118 to go to both the subscribed dual tuners AND my diseqc for the FTA receiver.

is there any way i can run that one output of the superdish (pointed at 118) into a dp34 and run one of the outputs of the dp34 into the dpp twin input and one into the diseqc switch? will this work?

[DishCharlie]

The "big eye" 118.7-119 LNB is part of the repoint kit. The installer pocketed the rest.

A Dual is not the same as a Twin. The DN500 usually comes with a Twin w/built-in switch. A dual is an LNB with 2 parallel outputs.

The DN500 cannot be used to receive 118.7W which is a weaker sat operating in a different band. As such a 30" or larger dish is needed with a special dual-band circular LNB. That is what the repointed Superdish has, and precisely the reason why the installer brought a big dish.

As the Supedish is already receiving the critical aim 118.7, it may not need any tweaking to receive 110 and 119 after 1 DishPro LNB is installed. It already can receive 119.

A DiSEqC switch uses the same commands as the DPP DN500 Twin and the DP34, so combining them is going to cause total confusion.

[Poe408]

so dishcharlie, what do you recommend i do? what i ultimately wish to achieve is the following...

1) maintain 110/119/118 access on my 2 subscribed dual tuner receivers. these must be connected to a dpp lnb because they are using separators.

2) receieve 110/119/118 on my FTA.

with my current hardware (or with extras), how can i achieve this? what do you think?

thanks again for all the advice.

[DishCharlie]

I can imagine various cascading switch arrangements, but too undependable. Perhaps the easiest may the use of a DPP44 switch with power inserter.

Feed the 2 outputs of the DPP D500 into Ports 1 and 2 of the DPP44. Feed the 118.7W from the Superdish into Port3. The 4th port of the switch can be used for 129W expansion on the Superdish for HD channels. Of the 4 outputs of the switch, 2 will go to the 2 separators. This should work as it conforms to the DN rule that the LNBF, switch and receiver must be DPP. The other 2 switch outputs are for your FTA use. I was able to buy a NIB DPP44 w/inserter for $50 on eBy.

[Poe408]

thanks dishcharlie... before i put up the third dish used for FTA, i was considering just buying a dpp44 instead of mounting a new dish. but then i figured it was more cost effective to just mount another dish since i had one laying around. but now it looks like i'll be forced to buy a dpp44 anyway.

one more question for you... right now one of the LNBs on the superdish is pointed at 118. what are the other 2 pointed at? being able to pick up sat 129 HD channels would be GREAT... i hadn't even thought about attempting it until now.

are one of the superdish ports already pointing at 129?