[trurod]

Greetings,

I had an technician come out a couple of days ago and install a 5LNB (AT9) dish and HR20. My house was previously wired with twin, cascaded, 5x8 Eagle Aspen (powered S4180GX+) multiswitches. The previous dish was a 3LNB. With the upgrade, I am now running one HD and 3 standard receivers. The technician hooked the AT9 dish to my Eagle Aspens, claiming the input voltage appeared the same, installed the HR20, checked for signal from all five satellites and was gone. Everything I can find refers to use of the Zinwell 6x8 or in my case, 6x16 switch, when combined with the AT9 dish and HR20. I receive picture and can tell the difference between the HD channels and SD channels. What am I missing by not having the Zinwell switch? I am trying to figure out whether to call the installer back out or not. Any explanations or input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[PoitNarf]

If you are receiving signal from all 5 of the satellites and getting all the channels you are subscribed to then you're fine. Most of the documentation refers to the Zinwell switch because that was the only compatible brand multiswitch available for several months. Now there's 2 or 3 different brands that make a 5LNB compatible multiswitch.

 

[litzdog911]

I don't think those Eagle Aspens will properly switch the new Ka-band satellites (99 & 103-deg). Are you receiving signals on the 99 and 103-deg satellites?

 

[hdfan01]

I had a thread on 11-11-06 AM on this same question. May be of some help.

 

[jcwest]

Greetings,

I had an technician come out a couple of days ago and install a 5LNB (AT9) dish and HR20. My house was previously wired with twin, cascaded, 5x8 Eagle Aspen (powered S4180GX+) multiswitches. The previous dish was a 3LNB. With the upgrade, I am now running one HD and 3 standard receivers. The technician hooked the AT9 dish to my Eagle Aspens, claiming the input voltage appeared the same, installed the HR20, checked for signal from all five satellites and was gone. Everything I can find refers to use of the Zinwell 6x8 or in my case, 6x16 switch, when combined with the AT9 dish and HR20. I receive picture and can tell the difference between the HD channels and SD channels. What am I missing by not having the Zinwell switch? I am trying to figure out whether to call the installer back out or not. Any explanations or input would be greatly appreciated.

My installer did the same thing, used my existing steel core RG-6 and multi-switch and said that they weren't installing the copper core wire and NEW multi-switch unless it was needed.

MPEG-4 has not been turned on in my area yet.
I called D* and asked them to make a note on my account documenting what was installed in case they wanted to bill me for another service charge later.

The existing setup works well with the HR-20, HR-10, HR-15 & TS-360.

Will have to see what happens when MPEG-4 lights up.

J C

 

[trurod]

Thank you to everyone for replying. I will call D* and have the installer come back out with the correct multiswitch. Fortunately I had not yet diplexed OTA through the Eagle Aspens since it will not work with the Zinwell switch. Looks like it is back under the house for clean RG6 runs back to the media panel for the OTA signal. At the least out of this, I will have the E.A.s to push the OTA signal independent of the Zinwell. Regards to all.

 

[trurod]

The installer returned with the Zinwell 6x8. Before switching it out, he checked the signal strength on all five satellites. For reasons unknown, the Eagle Aspens (although rated as a 3LNB switch) are also picking up both the 99 and 103 satellites. I had not changed to the correct transponder when checking the signal meter. There is 100% strength on both. Satellites 101,110 and 119 are all beaming in between 95-100% as well.

He recommended not doing anything at this point, noting the voltage, KHz and MHz for the Eagle Aspens were comparable to the Zinwell. Since signal was being received from all satellites and transponders, it did not appear the multiswitch exchange was necessary. The installer did leave the Zinwell behind though, just on the off chance that anything should change in the future. While it may be a case of "your mileage may vary", the Eagle Aspens do appear to be able to correctly pick up all five satellites currently being used. They are also powered instead of passive, eliminating the need for the receivers to power back to the switch.

 

[cybrsurfer]

The installer returned with the Zinwell 6x8. Before switching it out, he checked the signal strength on all five satellites. For reasons unknown, the Eagle Aspens (although rated as a 3LNB switch) are also picking up both the 99 and 103 satellites. I had not changed to the correct transponder when checking the signal meter. There is 100% strength on both. Satellites 101,110 and 119 are all beaming in between 95-100% as well.

He recommended not doing anything at this point, noting the voltage, KHz and MHz for the Eagle Aspens were comparable to the Zinwell. Since signal was being received from all satellites and transponders, it did not appear the multiswitch exchange was necessary. The installer did leave the Zinwell behind though, just on the off chance that anything should change in the future. While it may be a case of "your mileage may vary", the Eagle Aspens do appear to be able to correctly pick up all five satellites currently being used. They are also powered instead of passive, eliminating the need for the receivers to power back to the switch.

If it works that's great.

 

[greywolf]

The 250-750MHz section of the Ka band is not yet in use. No 5x multiswitch will pass it. They have built in diplexers that totally cut off that band. 4x and 6x multiswitches not designed or tested for the Ka bands may work but I wouldn't bet on it.