MMDS Set-up Complete Beginner

Hi SatGuy99,

I took those pictures the last time I had the antenna down. But I didnt take a picture of the back of it. Most other people seemed to think the set-up was ok. What do you think looks out of place? Thanks

 

from personal experience i can tell you that cork is one of the hardest places to pipoint a transmitter, so many beam benders, if you are too high you will receive from main transitter and beam bender and this will give you the systoms you are having, a shite downconverter will also give you these problems, and last but not least a down converter fitted incorrectly will give the same problems, there should be 2 sets of holes where you can mount the down converter to the mesh grid, only use the first set not the set closest to the tip of the down converter, google down converters from ireland and if the new down conerter does not work then you have a location issue, ie too much signal from surrounding beam benders, if that is the case then you need to shield the mesh aerial somehow from the offending bean benders, hope this helps

 

Thanks SatGuy,

When I was trying to fit the downconverter in the mesh grid, the holes would not line up, so I had to drill a new hole. This may mean I do not have it fitted correctly.

The downconverter I have looks as follows:

I removed the image as it is shown 2 messages down. No point cluttering up the page. Alternatively Click Here To See Image

There are only 2 holes on my downconverter. Should I be aiming to use hole A or hole B to mount the downconverter?

 

Hi guys,
Im new to the mmds scene and would love some help!
Im based in Limerick and in my flat we have an old lookalike chorus aerial mounted on the back wall.
My Mesh aerial i didnt add the pic directly as its 700kBytes and might affect some users.

I dont know anything about the aerial (it was there before any of us were in the house - the coax cable down from it was cut, i just fixed that up.) but with my beginners knowledge it does seem to look like an old chorus analog aerial. Can anyone say for sure what it is? And more importantly should it pick up the chorus signal?

Also some of my friends have ch*rus in, and they have a box called a power inserter that seems to inject power to the coax line. I dont have this. Does anyone know if i need it, and what is its purpose? Where would i get one if i do need it?

Anyway i have a dreambox 500T with GP4.5 loaded onto it, i then installed CCCcam 2.09 using the blue button menu, and s*t*ndream k€y bundl€ over ftp.

Now here's where i get lost. I dont fully know what CCcam does? Can anyone give a brief overview of its use in ch*rús terms?

Also when i do a manual frequency search using settings mgb17 quoted in another thread, i get no lock.
SNR is reported at 99% and both AGC & BER are 0.

So question time:
1 - How can i know if my aerial/mmds mesh is working and receiving signal from ch*rús?
2 - What is a power inserter and how come older ch*rus mesh's didnt need one? Will i need one?
3 - Are my SNR, AGC, BER look ok? Could my SNR signal be 99% if i wasnt receiving decent signal
4 - What do i do with CCCcam?
5 - Any other advice on setting up my dreambox?

Thanks very much
John

 

Thanks SatGuy.

I have been informed that the downconverter should work ok. The only difference is that it down converts the frequencies to a different range. In other words the transponders are found in the 600 to 800 mhz range instead of the 200 to 400 mhz range. I am receiving channels but the quality is awful.

I don't mean to doubt you satguy as you have given me loads of help, but I purchased off Sat&Cable. Their website recommended it as working for MMDS in Ireland. Can anyone else confirm that the downconverter shown above is the correct/wrong model for my mesh grid?

 

So question time:
1 - How can i know if my aerial/mmds mesh is working and receiving signal from ch*rús?
2 - What is a power inserter and how come older ch*rus mesh's didnt need one? Will i need one?
3 - Are my SNR, AGC, BER look ok? Could my SNR signal be 99% if i wasnt receiving decent signal
4 - What do i do with CCCcam?
5 - Any other advice on setting up my dreambox?

The down converter on the mesh aerial needs 12-25v dc at 200mamps to power it, ( to get it to work ) the power supply has an input with dc voltage and an output with no dc to wire to your receiver ( dm500t ) cccam works say no more and the dm500t works but its an enthusiasts receiver so be prepared for lockups, stalling, updating, frustration and the occasional power cycle for no apparent reason, ps you do know you have bought a clone ( probably )

 

Thanks satguy...
Do i need to do something more to power the downconverter? Sorry i didnt fully under stand this piece? Do i need to get my hands on a power inserter?

Which power supply? The dreambox power supply?
Output with no dc? Sorry im lost here?

Are you saying that the dm500T sends the 12V up the coax to the downconverter itself?
And if not then how do i power the downconverter? There's only one coax wire coming down from it? How do i add 12v to this?


As for my box being a clone, well thats ok as long as i works. I dont know if it is though as i was readidng a bit about gemini images newer than 4.2 that had built in clone detction which would nobble a clone dreambox. I have Gemini 4.5 and my dreambox is fine.

What about that i cant get any channels to lock?
Am i searching the right frequencies?

Im trying to get my hands on a terrestrial.xml for Ireland but cant seem to find one. I looked at the one thats already on the dreambox and considered editing it using just a text editor over telnet, but i dont know what frequencies to enter?

Any help?
What about my SNR AGC BER settings? Do these indicate that my mesh aerial and downconverter are working fine, and im just searching the wrong frequencies?

Is there any way of getting a dreambox to search all frequencies?

Thanks
J

Sorry for all the q's...

 

you need a power supply like this one between the aerial and the dm500t
http://images.google.ie/imgres?imgu...ower+supply&start=18&gbv=2&ndsp=18&hl=en&sa=N

 

Cool satguy,
Im just trying to think back to our old chorus box - you know the 12 channel Jerrold box that chorus used back in the day.

I cant remember any separate power supply coming with that but there was a suspicious metal box on the back of it that may be the power inserter.

I'll see if i can dig it out.
If not i might have to buythis Btw - does anyone know where i ... 99% or so, when i have the coax connected...

 

the nr yu are seeing is background noise thats all, try this as an inserter

http://www.sat*llit*tv.ie/shop/index.php?controller=product&path=58&product_id=179

it passes dc on only one leg

 

From the look of it I would say hole B

 

You're the man!

I looked at our old chorus box and it didnt have the metal box on it i was after, but we definitely remember seeing *some* kind of box at the back of the chorus box and it had its own separate 22v 300mA supply that i still have. That mystery box must have been the power inserter. I'll ransack the house tomorrow for it.

Maplin seem to have the same splitter as you posted but it doesnt pass through dc http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=29530

Edit - After a bit of searching it looks like they have one
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=9273 - It supposed to be for satellite but in the Q&A at bottom of page, they say its suitable for NTL

Farnell also sell one http://ie.farnell.com/jsp/search/br...01&Ntt=f+type+splitter&Ntx=&_requestid=647076

I was thinking of just trying to make something, but it looks like there is some circuitry in there after all...


Thanks for the SNR explanation too, I was thinking it was just noise...

Cool, we're getting there bit by bit

 

thanks fano think i have solved problem at least its working today perfectly.took cover of the gismo that connects between aerial cable. one wire from transformer is soldered on to side of gismo(box) and other wire connected to small coiled wire.trouble was that coiled wire was touching the side of box also so i put piece of insulating tape behind it and away it worked.perfect since.Hope this helps someone else .Make sure power is disconnected first.

 

Hi 318i, Congrats on getting it working

Was hoping to check if I had the same problem, but I don't understand what you mean by:

--------
took cover of the gismo that connects between aerial cable.
--------

Are you referring to the ariel/grid/yagi downconverter or the power inserter? And what make was the "gizmo"? Both my downconverter and power inserter are made by Panorama.

Thanks

 

its the power inserter i'm talking about.there is a flat plate on the back of mine and i took it of and fixed both wires touching the same place creating a short.follow the lead from the panorama power supply to your arieal cable.hope this makes sense.worked for me so far...

 

Satguy,
I am still learning a lot about this, and please feel free to correct me, but i understood that the Main transmitters all transmitted in Horizontal and the Beambenders in Vertical to avoid any interference as you have described above ?

 

No thats not correct.Some main transmitters transmit in Vertical and some beambenders are horizontal.
Overlapping areas using opposite polarities allright though.

 

guys ..still not getting a good signal. looking at downconverter/feedhorn the panorama one i took off cover held on by 8 screws. question ? should the feedhorn output be grounded to the downconverter body ? as 2 of the panorama downconverters i have are, i checked using continuity on multimeter.. would this not mean the whole downconverter is acting as a feedhorn and since the downconverter is connected to mesh grid there is no focal point for signal ?? so a bad signal ?