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Wannabe · 10-24-2011, 12:02 PM

I've had to do some changes to my entertainment system (swapped switching centers, etc) and am left with a cable marked "from DSS". All features work on the front TV (Sat, Air Ant, DVD, assume cable). Any suggestions? Thanks!

wa8yxm · 10-24-2011, 01:50 PM

DSS =- Digital Satellite System

We still, occasionally, get the odd question "Now that all the satellite services have switched to digital......"

Fact is. they have been digital since day one.

Some (mine) just says "SAT IN" much easier to understand, but DSS is way more precise.

Wannabe · 10-24-2011, 02:37 PM

Thanks for explaining what it stands for-now if I could just figure what to do with it. The Sat works fine with the "from DSS" just hanging loose in the cabinet.

Robi.1014 · 10-24-2011, 07:16 PM

FWIW,
Most "standard definition" satellite dishes have two coax outputs at the base of the roof dish. On my rig, Monaco decided to provide only one coax down-lead. Perhaps you have two, thus you have one dangling loose & unused. One way to confirm this is to climb onto the roof and identify the coax (or two coaxes) that are connected to your sat dish now.

Dutch Star Don · 10-24-2011, 08:34 PM

Wannabe.....If you had your sat professionally installed, they often run their own coax and don't use the one provided by Monaco. The one you have hanging probably runs to the roof where its stubbed off for a dish.

CoCoDave · 10-25-2011, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wannabe

Thanks for explaining what it stands for-now if I could just figure what to do with it. The Sat works fine with the "from DSS" just hanging loose in the cabinet.

It could be that your current satellite is an aftermarket installation. My Windsor had the Monaco designated "DSS" option as shown on the MSRP window sticker. What that included, among other things, was an extra cable between the satellite decoder box (IRD) and the antenna (satellite dish) controller.

It was part of a feedback loop that made dish pointing completely automatic. i.e. it enabled a signal to be sent from the IRD to tell the dish controller that the correct satellite had been locked on to. All you had to do was power up the system, push the "view" button on the antenna controller and in a few moments, bingo!, satellite service was on your TV screen. Too cool.

Unfortunately, that particular IRD did not have the DVR or TiVo capability and we had to replace it. So now when the "view" button is pushed the system stops looking as soon as any satellite is found and if it's not the satellite you want then you have to goose it to move on to the next satellite by momentarily rocking the switch from "view" to "stow" and back again.

I would not be surprised to learn that the current dish pointing systems have their own circuitry to figure out what satellite to lock on to based on parameters entered when it was installed. That would make the feedback loop cable unnecessary.

FWIW