Dish 500 Weirdness

TwilightShadow · 08-29-2004

Hey all-

I've been looking around for information on the various sattelite dish implementations for wifi antennas... but i haven't found anything concerning this. When someone asks about antennas, they're usually directed to another section of the forums (namely, Antennas, then run a search for Dish for the primestar line). I did this, but still... ok, here's the deal.

The Dish Network is constantly trying to squeeze more and more channels into their satelliteTV programming. Thus, they developed the Dish 500. This dish is not simply designed to pick up sat signals. It's designed to pick up signals from two satellite at the same time. Is there a way that this power can be harvested? it seems like there should be a way, but I can think of none.

My friend is skipping the middleman and trying to find the true, singular/optimal focus of the 500. The bar holding the LNBFs contains two sockets: one that's marked for the sat at 110 degrees, and one at 119. I guess it makes sense that there wouldnt be a way to use the dual-sattelite feature of the dish, but i don't want to give up on it just yet. Questions, comments, flames? Pretty much any feedback will help.

BTW: The site I found that breifly (1 or 2 lines) explains the dual-sat feature is:
dish500 customer care

and another one:
DishNet Installation Page (a lot of this is over my head)

I googled "dish network 500" to get a lot of info on that (duh, exposure), but adding "wifi" to the end gave me silence. I just dont yet want to believe that this power can't be harvested. Help! Thanks!

P.S: If this is posted somewhere else, let me know, because I haven't been able to find it.

wrzwaldo · 08-29-2004

As long as you had 2 AP's the proper distance from each other and had the antenna focused properly I don't see why you couldn't get two AP's at once with it. I am however having a hard time coming up with any usefull scenarios for this (related to WiFi).

Thorn · 08-29-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwilightShadow

Hey all-

I've been looking around for information on the various sattelite dish implementations for wifi antennas... but i haven't found anything concerning this. When someone asks about antennas, they're usually directed to another section of the forums (namely, Antennas, then run a search for Dish for the primestar line). I did this, but still... ok, here's the deal.

The Dish Network is constantly trying to squeeze more and more channels into their satelliteTV programming. Thus, they developed the Dish 500. This dish is not simply designed to pick up sat signals. It's designed to pick up signals from two satellite at the same time. Is there a way that this power can be harvested? it seems like there should be a way, but I can think of none.

My friend is skipping the middleman and trying to find the true, singular/optimal focus of the 500. The bar holding the LNBFs contains two sockets: one that's marked for the sat at 110 degrees, and one at 119. I guess it makes sense that there wouldnt be a way to use the dual-sattelite feature of the dish, but i don't want to give up on it just yet. Questions, comments, flames? Pretty much any feedback will help.

BTW: The site I found that breifly (1 or 2 lines) explains the dual-sat feature is:
dish500 customer care

and another one:
DishNet Installation Page (a lot of this is over my head)

I googled "dish network 500" to get a lot of info on that (duh, exposure), but adding "wifi" to the end gave me silence. I just dont yet want to believe that this power can't be harvested. Help! Thanks!

P.S: If this is posted somewhere else, let me know, because I haven't been able to find it.

Don't believe all the advertising hype about the "power." Dish Network hasn't reinvented the physics of radio waves, they've just taken advantage of the two satellite locations.

Most of the "power" is and the fact that the two satellites are relatively close together in the same section of the sky. Since the two satellites that are only 9º apart, the two locations (and therefore the signals) are both within the beamwidth of the the dish.

Dish Network then added two LNBs; one LMB is for the satellite at location 110º and one for the satellite at location 119º. Each LMB receives signals from it's respective satellite, and the switch lets the satellite receiver. You could (and some people do) have seperate dishes and LNBs for each satellite location. It just makes sense to combine them into one dish, since it saves on the cost of the dish itself.

It's really no different than having a directional antenna pick up two stations that are both within the beam.

TwilightShadow · 08-29-2004

Ah... I get it. Yeah, that does make sense, and i was afraid something like that would be the case. Thanks!

hmmm.... back to the gallows of research I shall go then. This extra lnbf socket is mocking me. Anyone know of any good guides on dish physics?

Dutch · 08-29-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwilightShadow

hmmm.... back to the gallows of research I shall go then. This extra lnbf socket is mocking me. Anyone know of any good guides on dish physics?

Nothing like some hands-on research : Piss off the wife, while she's in the kitchen, and you'll see dish physics in action.. As the fifties nuclear bomb awareness commercials said: Duck and cover...

Just my 0.02€'s worth...

Dutch

Thorn · 08-29-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwilightShadow

... Anyone know of any good guides on dish physics?

As much as I laughed at Dutch's suggestion, you might want to take a look here: http://www.satelliteguys.us

Their forums seem to cover a lot. Remember, Google is your friend. You'll get a lot of hits just plugging in terms like "LNB", "LNBF", "physics", etc.

08-29-2004	#1 (permalink)
TwilightShadow Eating Lots of Pringles Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 5	Dish 500 Weirdness Hey all- I've been looking around for information on the various sattelite dish implementations for wifi antennas... but i haven't found anything concerning this. When someone asks about antennas, they're usually directed to another section of the forums (namely, Antennas, then run a search for Dish for the primestar line). I did this, but still... ok, here's the deal. The Dish Network is constantly trying to squeeze more and more channels into their satelliteTV programming. Thus, they developed the Dish 500. This dish is not simply designed to pick up sat signals. It's designed to pick up signals from two satellite at the same time. Is there a way that this power can be harvested? it seems like there should be a way, but I can think of none. My friend is skipping the middleman and trying to find the true, singular/optimal focus of the 500. The bar holding the LNBFs contains two sockets: one that's marked for the sat at 110 degrees, and one at 119. I guess it makes sense that there wouldnt be a way to use the dual-sattelite feature of the dish, but i don't want to give up on it just yet. Questions, comments, flames? Pretty much any feedback will help. BTW: The site I found that breifly (1 or 2 lines) explains the dual-sat feature is: dish500 customer care and another one: DishNet Installation Page (a lot of this is over my head) I googled "dish network 500" to get a lot of info on that (duh, exposure), but adding "wifi" to the end gave me silence. I just dont yet want to believe that this power can't be harvested. Help! Thanks! P.S: If this is posted somewhere else, let me know, because I haven't been able to find it.

08-29-2004	#4 (permalink)
TwilightShadow Eating Lots of Pringles Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 5	"I see," said the Blind Man Ah... I get it. Yeah, that does make sense, and i was afraid something like that would be the case. Thanks! hmmm.... back to the gallows of research I shall go then. This extra lnbf socket is mocking me. Anyone know of any good guides on dish physics?

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08-29-2004	#2 (permalink)
wrzwaldo I amuse you? Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 9,147	As long as you had 2 AP's the proper distance from each other and had the antenna focused properly I don't see why you couldn't get two AP's at once with it. I am however having a hard time coming up with any usefull scenarios for this (related to WiFi).