Dish 500s at Sears

[splish]

The Sears' stores in my area have two Dish 500s set up.
One has two separate LNBs, the other one big LNB. What
exactly are the differences and advantages of each?
The clerks don't have a clue. I ask because I might
have to mount the LNBs on a bigger dish, given that I
live outside the US, in which case the separate LNBs
might give me more flexibility when mounting them. Any
thoughts or advice?

[Steve Mehs]

One dish has two dual LNBs which allow you to see 119 and 110 and connect two SW21s or one SW42 to connect up to two receivers (or more if you use different switches). This is what was included in the Dish500 upgrade kits. The one big LNB is a Twin LNB that is actually 2 duals with 2 built in SW21s. There is also the quad, which can connect up to 4 boxes w/o a need for a switch. Both, 2 duals+switches and the twin, do the same thing, essentially, it's just with the twin (or the quad) you don't need extra switches if you only want two (or four) receivers. Because both the twin and quad have built in multiswitchs they are NOT compatible with DirecTV and if you want to see 148, 61.5 or 129 you'll still need a switch or two.

[Eyedox]

129 degrees? Is DISH buying frequencies there? I see on LYNGSAT that its listed as Telestar 7 or something?

[scooper]

Dish is leasing space at 129 for some of the Philly locals...
Requires special dish and LNB's, DP301 or 501/508 that have 50 switch tests. I've heard that the 6000 also has this.

[BobaBird]

The original Twin will support 1 or 2 receivers but never more. Having 2 dual LNBs allows you to use the SW44 or SW64 for up to 4 receivers, or 2 SW44 or SW64s connected in parallel for up to 8 tuners (max 6 receivers per residential account).

If you were seeing the new DishPro Twin, it can be hooked up to as many as 3 DP34 switches for up to 12 tuners.

[splish]

I went back and looked at the dishes again, and the two
separate LNBs are actually two singles, there is one cable
from the single connecter coming out of each. Where are
the multiswitches? I can't see them, and I assume
that they cannot be part of these small single LNBs. The
purpose of my questions is that I am trying to decide if I
should buy the one with the separate single LNBs, or the
one with the bigger LNB, because I might have to mount the
LNBs on a bigger dish, in which case would not the former
give me more mounting flexibility?

[Nick]

"...I am trying to decide if I
should buy the one with the separate single LNBs, or the
one with the bigger LNB, because I might have to mount the
LNBs on a bigger dish, in which case would not the former
give me more mounting flexibility?"

I think you are correct. Separate LNB housings will give you aiming options you would not have with the single housing. This is particular important since your larger dish will surely have a different parabola.

[johnsmith22]

If you need to use a 1.2 or 1.8 meter Channel Master Dish or similar you need the standard dual LNB that has two outputs for two receivers and has a neck a little over an inch in diameter.

It does sound as if the LNBs from Sears might be Dishpro LNBs which do not have a round neck and might be difficult to mount on the Channel Master that uses a simple clamp ring around the LNB neck.

It depends where you are and what sort of signal you can get if you can use one big dish to see both satellites because seeing two satellites with one dish is always a compromise and causes signal degredation. Channel Master have a kit to mount two dual LNBs on their dish, but in Puerto Rico and the islands where the signal is not that strong we have found that this arrangement does not work very well and most of us use two separate dishes one for 110 and the other for 119, each with one dual LNB, you then combine one output from each LNB with a SW21 and can combine the second output from each LNB with another SW21 for a second receiver. If you want to use more receivers you have to combine all the outputs with a SW44 which will let you use upto 4 receivers.

[splish]

I live in far eastern Newfoundland, and if I need to use a
bigger dish, it would be a 1m Winegard. I figure I could
rig up something to get the LNBs in the right place.
Surprised to hear that two dishes work better in PR, as
there was a recent thread in this forum where several
people reported that using a round dish to view two
satellites worked surprisingly well.