PrimeStar Dish Conversion

This page is a archive I know some images are broken I will work on restoring them. ImageShack has basicaly ended its free hosting service and is removing my old photos.

A PrimeStar dish can be converted for use as.

1. A Telstar 5 FTA system.

2. A multi Sat FTA system

3. A X4 KU add on to your CBAND 4DTV system.

4. A SuperDish addon to your DishNetwork Dish

5. A replacement for your DirecTV dish to stop Rain Fade. (have to make a bracket.)

  PrimeStar dishes come in 2 types one is a Elliptical with a lnb arm at the bottom by Channel Master. Many sizes of this one exist. Known models are listed here. The other has a tripod that holds the lnb and uses a special long neck feed horn.
 

		3040865 Mold# 84E-4 (39½Wide x 29½ High) 84cm Elliptical Factory specs
		3040975 Mold# 75E-3 (35½Wide x 26 High) 75cm Elliptical Factory specs
	Looks like a 84E	3040865 Mold# 1X0.7-1
		Part# 3040642-02 Mold# 1.0M-1 1 Meter Factory spec sheet.

If you have a different model# please post your model# and dish size. The larger dishes work better for KU band so check around.

Cable companies also used left over PrimeStar dishes for the HITS system now gone under and the feeds moved to Cband. They may be single LNB or Dual LNB.
The dual LNB dishes are nice and have a new flat arm that a DSS lnb will fit into. Into this arm they insert a 2 LNB bracket. The dish mount has a Skew adjustment.
I have done some testing with this dual LNB setup and was able to set 1 LNB on T5 and the other turned out to be on G11. Really needs to be adjustable.

HITS used a multiswitch to convert the H V signal into the modern LNBF format. A DirecTv multiswitch will work just as good and allow any modern FTA receiver to work with the H V feed. On the dual dishes HITS used a special 4 in 22Khz multiswitch to select LNBs. Sometimes you can find abandoned HITS systems. As of 2009 the HITS service has been turned off. In most cases they only pick it up the receiver.

 

3 Types of H/V LNBs have been seen model NJR2119F, NJR2212F & some with no model#s. They can be converted to a LNBF  by connecting the H V cables to the input of a DirecTv Multiswitch. Some Primestar setups with more than 1 receiver should have a multiswitch already installed at the house.  Horz goes to 17v and Vert goes to 14V dish inputs.  Once setup to use the LNBF format they will work with FTA, 4DTV and Dish (as a superdish addon)  
Use 10750 as the LO freq in your receiver setup.  Also in use was a LNBF with 1 output. Primestar LNBS will be mounted like in the photo with the H port up or like in the bottom photos with the V up. Beware of improper installs where they are mounted crossway.
The LNB skew will most likely be set to +10

 Multi Sat setups for FTA receivers.
You can receive more than one Sat if you add several LNBS and use switches to select between them. Take care some receivers can run no more than 2 LNBS at a time so a switch that cuts off power to the unused LNBS may be needed.

 My test setup using a 84E and 2 Primestar LNBs on a pipe built with spare parts. Click on photo for close up. Skew is -10 with H port on the top.  This setup should be easy for anyone to build. I should note that the Primestar LNBS are heaver and harder to mount than newer LNBS. The center LNB is on T5 and the left one is on AMC3 PBS. The signal on the left LNB is weak.

Right now I am working on setting up the 1m offset dish to see if it has a stronger signal to pick up G10. G10 is very hard to find because of the strong echostar satellite right next to it. It won't show up on my digital meter.

Here is a link to another multi lnb setup using newer LNBs multi sat mount. This one requires you to buy bolts and special electrical mounting brackets.

Here is another link where they are using PrimeStar dishes as a 802.11 antenna.

Andrew now owns Channel Master and all CM dishes are now sold as Andrew.
(here are some links about primestar dishes)
How to paint a Channel Master Dish