Registered: Mar 2004
Location: Allen, (just north of Dallas)
Posts: 10

What is the best Phase 3 dish? I've got an old dish with the 3 separate LNBs now but having problems with Sat C channels. The signal strength on Sat A and B are ~95 but Sat C is ~60. Sometimes the channels come in perfectly, other times it’s trash. Will a phase 3 dish help?

Best Buy has Funai dishes and Circuit City and Fry’s has Turk. Of course I can mail-order if need be but would rather just pick one up locally.

Thanks,
Darrel

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Registered: Nov 2000
Location: International Falls, MN
Posts: 378

I have a Gain Master dish and am very happy with it's performance. It is slightly larger then a typical phase 3 dish and uses 3 seperate LNB's

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Registered: Jun 2004
Location: Temecula, CA
Posts: 55

Call Directv and complain about the low signals on 110 sat. Most likely they will send a tech out free of charge and in my case the tech upgraded my dish to phase 3

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Evanston IL
Posts: 480

There doesn't seem to be any difference in Phase III dish performance now. Any manufacturer is okay. People having problems with Phase II dishes and Sat C kits often report being happy with their decision to upgrade to Phase IIIs.

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Pat
While I may link to and mention products as examples, I don't recommend specific products.

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Registered: Jul 2002
Location: Peachtree City, Ga.
Posts: 113

I have the Channel Master GainMaster and it is awesome. I have signal strength from 95% to 99% and I used to have 84% to 88%. It also has drastically reduced rain fade as I used to lose everything everytime it rained here in South Atlanta but now it is very occasion and only during a very heavy rain storm and only for a few minutes.

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location:
Posts: 2861

quote:

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Originally posted by greywolf
There doesn't seem to be any difference in Phase III dish performance now.

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Reg: All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
Attendee: Brought peace?
Reg: Oh, peace - shut up!
Reg: There is not one of us who would not gladly suffer death to rid this country of the Romans once and for all.
Dissenter: Uh, well, one.
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Registered: Feb 2004
Location: Bloomington, MN
Posts: 14

GainMaster Accept no substitutes!

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Evanston IL
Posts: 480

quote:

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Originally posted by dbett
I assume you are not including the (larger) Gainmaster Phase III dish in this comparison.

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Pat
While I may link to and mention products as examples, I don't recommend specific products.

Last edited by greywolf on 06-22-2004 at 02:45 AM

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location:
Posts: 2861

quote:

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Originally posted by greywolf
The Gainmaster is not a Phase III. It uses the the same LNBs and combiner as some Phase IIs. It doesn't have a built in multiswitch either. It's basically an oversize Phase II.

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__________________
Reg: All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
Attendee: Brought peace?
Reg: Oh, peace - shut up!
Reg: There is not one of us who would not gladly suffer death to rid this country of the Romans once and for all.
Dissenter: Uh, well, one.
Reg: Oh, yeah, yeah, there's one. But otherwise, we're solid.

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Registered: Mar 2004
Location: Allen, (just north of Dallas)
Posts: 10

WOW, thanks guys, lots of good recommendations here. I can always count on people in this and the AVS forum for great feedback.

Calling D* for a free fix, gotta like that, my favorite 4 letter word.

GainMaster, I'll look into that one as well. Bigger is better, I don't care what they say, just look in our living rooms. Seriously, more dish surface area = more signal strength.

Thanks,
Darrel

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Evanston IL
Posts: 480

The quote in the Solid Signal website is a typo. The Phase III dish has a unitized 3 LNB head. The Gainmaster uses the same individual LNBs as the Channel Master LNBs used in the Phase II. The picture from that site clearly shows the 3 LNBs.

Their picture of the Phase III shows the unitized 3LNB head.

Thus, the Gainmaster is subject to the same problems with the Sat C kit that has bothered Phase II dish owners. It's important to protect all those external connections to the combiner and multiswitch from the weather as, unlike the Phase III, the connections are exposed if the combiner and multiswitch are not brought indoors.

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Pat
While I may link to and mention products as examples, I don't recommend specific products.

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Registered: Feb 2003
Location: New England
Posts: 677

quote:

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Originally posted by DSmith
What is the best Phase 3 dish? I've got an old dish with the 3 separate LNBs now but having problems with Sat C channels. The signal strength on Sat A and B are ~95 but Sat C is ~60. Sometimes the channels come in perfectly, other times it’s trash. Will a phase 3 dish help?

Best Buy has Funai dishes and Circuit City and Fry’s has Turk. Of course I can mail-order if need be but would rather just pick one up locally.

Thanks,
Darrel

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location:
Posts: 2861

quote:

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Originally posted by greywolf
Thus, the Gainmaster is subject to the same problems with the Sat C kit that has bothered Phase II dish owners. It's important to protect all those external connections to the combiner and multiswitch from the weather as, unlike the Phase III, the connections are exposed if the combiner and multiswitch are not brought indoors.

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Got it. Although my Phase III dish has that problem regardless since it is a replacement dish and the old lines wouldn't quite reach the Phase III's connections. So, the four lines that fed my old Phase II dish are now connected to short lines that run to the new Phase III dish. Hopefully, they are waterproofed correctly. Some day I'll have to brave the heights and check.

But regardless, it seems for most people the best solution is to have four (continuous) lines from the dish to a central inside distribution spot where you can locate a multiswitch. With that set up whether it is a triple LNB Phase II dish or a true Phase III dish shouldn't matter. And, in fact, the Phase III dish may have more problems since it has a built-in multiswitch that could (theoretically) be effected by the weather - even though it is internal and should be waterproof.

__________________
Reg: All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
Attendee: Brought peace?
Reg: Oh, peace - shut up!
Reg: There is not one of us who would not gladly suffer death to rid this country of the Romans once and for all.
Dissenter: Uh, well, one.
Reg: Oh, yeah, yeah, there's one. But otherwise, we're solid.

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location: indianapolis
Posts: 393

Actually, all installations should have all cables from the dish run through grounding blocks outside the house before coming inside...

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Evanston IL
Posts: 480

quote:

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Originally posted by Gomer Pyle
Actually, all installations should have all cables from the dish run through grounding blocks outside the house before coming inside...

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__________________
Pat
While I may link to and mention products as examples, I don't recommend specific products.

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Registered: Jul 2002
Location: Peachtree City, Ga.
Posts: 113

greywolf richierich here, also known as plasmamaniac on the AVS forum, and I have to disagree with your assertion even though I may be the one that's wrong. The GainMaster is a Phase III dish and the LNBs are all in one sealed unit along with the SAT C conbiner and the multiswitch which is why I bought it. I will ask solidsignal if I am right or wrong but that's what solidsignal led me to believe when I bought the unit from them.

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Registered: Mar 2004
Location: Dallas
Posts: 155

quote:

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Originally posted by richierich
greywolf richierich here, also known as plasmamaniac on the AVS forum, and I have to disagree with your assertion even though I may be the one that's wrong. The GainMaster is a Phase III dish and the LNBs are all in one sealed unit along with the SAT C conbiner and the multiswitch which is why I bought it. I will ask solidsignal if I am right or wrong but that's what solidsignal led me to believe when I bought the unit from them.

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If you check out this link I think you will see that it's 3 seperate LNB's as Greywolf indicated.

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Evanston IL
Posts: 480

All the pictures and links here clearly show the 3 separate LNBs on the Gainmaster.

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Pat
While I may link to and mention products as examples, I don't recommend specific products.

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Registered: May 2004
Location: Eagan, MN
Posts: 6

I installed a Phase III dish using Eagle Aspen LNBs/multiswitch. It worked fine for a month and a half; then all the odd-numbered transducers on the 101 sat dropped from 85-95 strength to 0-5 strength. Couldn't tell if it was the LNB itself or the multiswitch, but it definitely was the dish-side electronics.

Replaced the electronics on the dish (the LNBs and multiswitch) with a model built by Sharp. That fixed things; signal strength even went up 2-3 points from the Eagle Aspen version.

I bought the Sharp from Best Buy; had to buy the whole dish though. Now I have a spare dish with no electronics - I'm trying to figure out how to make a planter out of it.

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