posted
Skycasters is trying to get me to upgrade to their I Direct system. They are claiming that they have found a way to up grade the .74 dish by adding a 2 watt radio and changing a board in the base unit and uprgrading from a D2 controller to a D3 controller. Has anyone done this? and if so Does It work? Please give me an opinion. One other question, I currently share my DW 6000 between my fixed site and my mobil site. They are now saying that I can't do that with an I direct modem because it uses the D3 GPS to determine the location of the signal. My question is could I simply bring the D3 into the office and because the fixed site is all ready pointed it would just ID the location? Let me know what you think? Tom
-------------------- Tom W Posts: 92 | From: Austin TX | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'm a little concerned about this conversion, especially given their answer to the question of bringing it to the fixed location. If I were asked that question my suggestion would be that you need to change the BUC/LNB on your fixed dish from Hughes to the industry standard generic type, just like they are going to do with your F1. Then you would use same I-Direct modem and the I-Sight control program to set the Lat/Lon that every other fixed dish operator has to use.
As for the board in the base unit, they may be talking about changing the MotoSat upper control board, that is necessary for some conversions from D2 to D3. There are experts on this forum who know more about when that is required than I. All I can say is that it was not required on mine.
I have been testing 2 different retro-fit arms for the F1 to convert it from Hughes to UnaSat. UnaSat uses the same outdoor transmitter/receiver as I-Direct. I have tried several LNBs and four different transmitters, BUCs, with power levels of 2,3 and two different 4 watt units. Testing is not complete at this time, as it has to be repeated in several locations. If you tell me EXACTLY what they are going to put on your roof, like Patriot 2535S LNB, NJRC 1025739 BUC, via direct email, I might be able to share some test results. I just pulled those numbers off some stuff in my parts box, that is not necessarily part of what I am testing at the moment.
Ask them if it will work in the rain, or on a cloudy humid day.
A few reasons, the main reason is that the D2 or D3 telnets into the modem and has to constantly update the GPS coordinates. When they activate the VLAN, this disables the telnet feature to the modem. I tried this once for a customer of mine and vowed to never do it again. If your needing better service for the VoIP or VPN, you'll have less headaches for service that can accomplish the same goals with the UnaSat as you would the iDirect. With UnaSat being a shared connection, their ratio on the down link is 100:1 vs. iDirects at 40:1
Posts: 308 | Registered: Feb 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Wait a second, after the Lat/Lon is uploaded and set in the IDirect, it is done. Same as setting parameters on UnaSat using 192.169.1.1 and then switching on DHCP client and going on-line for data. The UnaSat SurfBeam doesn't need the Lat/Lon, so the setup is a little easier. The UnaSat uses DOCSIS protocol, which includes spread spectrum and tends to use a little more uplink power, read need bigger BUC. There are a lot of issues to judge, cost of bandwidth, reserve power for rain fade in both directions.
posted
I use a different system for the mobile iDirect that connects through the console cable to set the lat and long.
Posts: 308 | Registered: Feb 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I have an old 4020 and it has never worked well. I am considering upgrade to the 7000 but understand there would be no Direct TV on the same dish? Is there an upgrade to something less than the D7000 that would keep TV and internet on the same dish/system? I would sure like to stop having to connect my laptop to the controller to even deploy the dish.
-------------------- Larry Posts: 3 | From: Alexandria Virginia | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
You certainly can get DirecTV when you switch to a 7000 modem. If you are a VAR customer you will be assigned to IA8 and while you will need a different bird on a wire you will get internet and TV at the same time. If you are a Hughes customer you may be able to do a direct update and remain on your current satellite or you will be moved to the current assignment in your area but this should not be a problem for DirecTV either.
-------------------- Bill Adams Winegard Company Posts: 15677 | From: Traveling the Western US | Registered: May 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I have not used my Direcway F1 for a couple of years but now I want to use it only for DirecTV again. I bought the unit for my motorhome in 2005 and had the internet service (slow as dialup) at $90 a month until sometime in 2006-2007 when my dealer threw me under the bus by not offering an update to my bowtie for more HD channels. This happened when directv went to five lnb's for HD. I called my Motostat dealer to purchase an upgrade kit and they informed me there would not be one for my dish. I promptly canceled the internet service and switched to phone internet. I continued to use the dish for directv until sometime later when I started using a slimline 5 I setup out on the ground. Now, I understand there is a fix available to modify my dish bowtie to five lnb's. That is not the problem though. The problem is my dish no longer finds the Satmex5 but just searches endlessly. I presume I need to upgrade the software in my D2 controller but when following the pdf directions I cannot bring up 192.168.0.250 when I am in upgrade mode with all the lights on in the front.
How can I get around this?
My advanced screen has this in the top left corner...
Another question is "If my dish has been decommissioned will it still seek out and lock on to the sat. I know I won't get the internet but that is how I always aimed it and continued to pick up the directv sat stuff.
Sorry this is so long but I am frustrated and bone tired......
Ken
[ February 25, 2010, 09:46 PM: Message edited by: Ken Oxenrider ]
-------------------- If guns kill people, then.... -pencels miss pel words, -cars make people drive drunk, -spoons made Rosie O'Donnell fat. Posts: 10 | From: Statesboro, Georgia | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Wow, that's a pretty tough comment to say your dealer threw you under the bus because he wouldn't sell you something that did not exist! Check the Reference Material topic of this forum for instructions on updating a D2/D3/D4 controller, but since you have a D2, there has not been an update in many, many years (3.7.6 is the last version) so I doubt you need to update anything there anyway. Yes, you antenna will lock on but the information in the modem and the D2 must match unless your modem is assigned to 117/1230 in which case you would need to set the D2 to 117/990 instead.
-------------------- Bill Adams Winegard Company Posts: 15677 | From: Traveling the Western US | Registered: May 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Thanks. What my dealer told me was "No, none is available and we have no intention of making one available. He said I would have to upgrade the whole dish. This, just over a year after I spent 5k plus for the dish system and he is telling me in effect the TV part is obsolete. My dealer also was rude to me at every turn beginning with my appointment to have it installed. He bitched because I parked in a direction that required him to motor the dish around 180 degrees. Then, I came back to find out he had installed all of the interior electronics in my storage cabinets on the side instead of up front where all my electronics were designed to go. I actually have to run a drop cord hanging down from the side cabinet to an electrical outlet to raise or lower the dish and I have lost the storage area.
-------------------- If guns kill people, then.... -pencels miss pel words, -cars make people drive drunk, -spoons made Rosie O'Donnell fat. Posts: 10 | From: Statesboro, Georgia | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
It was and is still true that you cannot mount a 5 head TV LNB to a DataStorm dish. However, it is just now possible to use a Slimline 3 head LNB for DirecTV HD reception.
-------------------- Don Marr WWW.OREGONRV.NET 541-683-5361 See where I am Country Coach Concept 40' F1 - D3|7000s|99W|LinkSys wireless with 1000mw WiFi amp & Ext. antenna Posts: 3364 | From: Eugene, OR | Registered: Jun 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Ken, As Don noted, there simply was no such option at the time. There still is not, but you shouldn't need the 5 LNB's now anyway since all of the DTV programming is available with the SL3 LNB. Don Marr has just started marketing this unit so there is little or no field experience with this unit but it appears that others have been able to make such a setup work. It does not work with all of the internet satellite setups but if you are not going to use the F1 for internet you can select whatever satellite you would like as the pointing satellite. Now, if it were me (and it most assuredly is not!!!) and I was no longer going to use the F1 for internet, I would remove the Datastorm and sell it and replace it with one of the MotoSAT or Winegard stand-alone TV antennas. You will get the best performance from one of these without too much additional cost after you have the Datastorm sold. As to the problems with your dealers attitude, I really am very sorry to hear about the way you were treated. That is very unfortunate.
-------------------- Bill Adams Winegard Company Posts: 15677 | From: Traveling the Western US | Registered: May 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Thanks for your reponses. I really appreciate it. I have three lnbs now but I guess not the correct three. I only get HD on one of them so I don't get all the channels.
Does anyone know what I would have to do to get my dish to update the tables. I suppose that is why it is not finding the SatMex5 like it used to.
I also found a online pdf file explaining an HD fix for my dish but have not had time to explore it. That was to be my next project after I get the dish updated so it will lock onto the Sat. If anyone wants the pdf file for HD Directv, just let me know
-------------------- If guns kill people, then.... -pencels miss pel words, -cars make people drive drunk, -spoons made Rosie O'Donnell fat. Posts: 10 | From: Statesboro, Georgia | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
