Save Ferris

I have 2 DirecTV sat. receivers and one TV. One dish, and one cable running off the roof to my living room.

I only want to watch one receiver at a time. I tried a simple A-B switch from Radio Shack and its not working for one of the receivers.

What can i do?

TomMiller

It *should* be working if you have it hooked up correctly and all equipment is operating. Therefore, you need to troubleshoot:

1) Check all connections. Closely. Did you connect to an "out" instead of an "in"?

2) Isolate the problem (do both receivers work if you bypass the switch?)

3) replace the source of the problem. Most likely source of the problem is the switch, so check that first.

Save Ferris

One receiver is older maybe thats it?

heres the one im using


"Connect your game console, VCR, DVD, cable box or other A/V device to your TV. Switch between two video sources or send one video signal to two devices. High isolation prevents signal leakage that could cause interference."

Is this the right device to use?

Groucho

No no no...a regular splitter doesn't work for satellite. You need a multiswitch.

Something like this should do the trick:

http://www.thesatelliteshop.net/hype...u=multiswitch9

Edit: I just reread your post. You shouldn't need a multiswitch at all for what you're trying to do if you have a dual lnb dish. How long have you had it?

Save Ferris

I have one DirecTV dish on my roof and one receiver for about a year.

I recently got an older receiver That I want to use on the same TV but not at the same time.

Groucho

Okay, you shouldn't need a multiswitch at all. If you look at your dish your should see another output. Run a cable from that to your second receiver.

Save Ferris

does it matter if both receivers have different cards in them? They are both DirecTV though.

Brian Shannon

One cable?

How many LNB's are coming off the dish. If it is just one you will not be able to split the signal.

Groucho

Both receivers will have to have different (valid) cards in ordrer for this to work.

Save Ferris

just one coax coming off the dish on the roof.

I guess im not trying to split it as much as -switch- it between the two boxes to view them separately at different times.

As it is now, im unscrewing the cable from one box and screwing it into the other back and forth etc... it would be nice to push a button and use the different box appropriately.

Save Ferris

Yea they both work separately. I just didnt know if DirecTV needs to make your card special or if it would harm it if it smelled another device on it.

Brian Shannon

Two boxes, two LNB's. More boxes, you need a multiswitch.

Save Ferris

Ok i looked it up:
"Low Noise Block Downconverter (LNB) -- A combination Low Noise Amplifier and downconverter built into one device attached to the feed. "

how do i buy / use this?

Pistol Pete

Why do you want to do this? The main reason I can think of is to switch between a legal and hacked reciever. If so, you may want to consider the recent actions of DirectTV against their pirates. DirectTV is suing the pirate suppliers for their customer lists and then suing the customers. I don't know if Dish would do this at some future time. Be careful.

I guess you could be using a legal and "moved" receiver for distant locals, but that seems like a lot of effort. Sports perhaps?

Brian Shannon

Here is a start assuming your dish can take two LNB's. The three LNB setup is for the 18x24 oval dish for 3 sat reception.

http://www.dishdirect.com/accessorie...w=15&sText=100

Save Ferris

Thanks guys--I got that radio shack splitter working. I was unscrewing one of the cables and it came off in my hand so it was just a bad cable. I hate coax!