120cm dish with C-Band performance - Now with HD!
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I briefly tested the cone scalar from Alec on Saturday and ASN went from a fluctuating 70-75% quality to a rock solid 78%, I had ASN on all day as I was glued to Live8 and didn't want to ruin the signal 
This is without any tuning, my dish was very roughly aimed and the scalar helped tremendously.
Without wanting to embarrass Alec, the workmanship on this thing is absolutely fantastic and looks practically identical to rayydios store-bought scalar (minus the white finish).
As soon as I get a few other things sorted out I'll give it all a thorough workout and post some proper results.
This is without any tuning, my dish was very roughly aimed and the scalar helped tremendously.
Without wanting to embarrass Alec, the workmanship on this thing is absolutely fantastic and looks practically identical to rayydios store-bought scalar (minus the white finish).
As soon as I get a few other things sorted out I'll give it all a thorough workout and post some proper results.
I have been parking at AMC 1 for the past week now and have enjoyed the programing. There are two hot transponders which are multi-channel muxes.
4007H/18808 is TLN christian related programing but airs old shows like Danny Thomas, Flipper, Bonanza and others of the era. The other is 3842H/26681 features the PAX network programing and a couple of christian channels. TLN is a consistent 72-75% quality with PAX slightly lower at 66-70% with a few breakups. My HH120 motor finally was shipped on Friday so it should be here early next week. Motorizing the Patriot will be next weekends project if Dennis does not get in the way.
4007H/18808 is TLN christian related programing but airs old shows like Danny Thomas, Flipper, Bonanza and others of the era. The other is 3842H/26681 features the PAX network programing and a couple of christian channels. TLN is a consistent 72-75% quality with PAX slightly lower at 66-70% with a few breakups. My HH120 motor finally was shipped on Friday so it should be here early next week. Motorizing the Patriot will be next weekends project if Dennis does not get in the way.
rayydio said:
Does are pretty good numbers. The best I can get out of TLN is 45%. What quaity is everyone with ASC421 getting on TLN?
I have ordered the offset lnbf from EITS, it should be hee by Thursday. It will be interesting to compare it with what I am getting now.
OK, I am going for it, I ordered a 4ft offset dish and the Eye in the Sky offset c band LNB.
Hoping to add some more HD
Hoping to add some more HD
If someone wants to donate a 4DTV receiver I'll be happy to test it
I don't think it's really feasible to rely on this for subscription-based programming, the signal quality on a fair amount of transponders is excellent however there will be some instances where low signal strength will prevent it from working.
I don't think it's really feasible to rely on this for subscription-based programming, the signal quality on a fair amount of transponders is excellent however there will be some instances where low signal strength will prevent it from working.
Is anyone getting the following on C band?
ABC HD on Intelsat Americas 5
WB HD on Gallaxy 4R
CBS HD on Intelsat Americas 6
UPN HD on ?????????
ABC HD on Intelsat Americas 5
WB HD on Gallaxy 4R
CBS HD on Intelsat Americas 6
UPN HD on ?????????
My C-band comes in loud and clear!!!
OK, it's 3 O'clock in the morning.
I've a 120 cm dish pointing at IA5 for years, getting the Ku band ethnic channels fine (actually it's an overkill).
Got the C-band offset LNBF a couple days ago. Took out my two KU LNBF (one pointing to IA5, another one to AMC4), put the C-band LNBF on (the brackets don't fit so I am using electrical tape right now).
Hooked up my analog receiver; turned on the TV, I saw ABC on the screen. I thought my TV was tuned to the San Fran ABC affliate to begin with.
Then to my horror, I realize it's the ABC West on IA5 C-band (3960V). I've never got any signal that fast, even some easy Ku-signals took me a few seconds to lock in the past. This one takes 0 second, and the picture is not bad, as good as the Ku-band analog I used to get.
Then I surf to ABC East (4140H), got it easy.
Then I surf thru' all the factory-programmed transponders on my ORB5000, I got these video in pretty good shape:
- 3720V (ABC feeds)
- 3980H (CBS feeds)
- 4000V (ABC feeds)
- 4160V (feeds)
The other analog channels (e.g. 3940H, ABC feeds) are watchable, but certainly can take some fine tuning...
Next things I'll try are the MPEG2/DVB channels.
But many thanks to this group. Without you folks, I would never have realized I've already had the equipment to receive C-band for 5-6 years ...
My goal is still the analog sports backhaul on IA6, IA5, and AMC3...
OK, it's 3 O'clock in the morning.
I've a 120 cm dish pointing at IA5 for years, getting the Ku band ethnic channels fine (actually it's an overkill).
Got the C-band offset LNBF a couple days ago. Took out my two KU LNBF (one pointing to IA5, another one to AMC4), put the C-band LNBF on (the brackets don't fit so I am using electrical tape right now).
Hooked up my analog receiver; turned on the TV, I saw ABC on the screen. I thought my TV was tuned to the San Fran ABC affliate to begin with.
Then to my horror, I realize it's the ABC West on IA5 C-band (3960V). I've never got any signal that fast, even some easy Ku-signals took me a few seconds to lock in the past. This one takes 0 second, and the picture is not bad, as good as the Ku-band analog I used to get.
Then I surf to ABC East (4140H), got it easy.
Then I surf thru' all the factory-programmed transponders on my ORB5000, I got these video in pretty good shape:
- 3720V (ABC feeds)
- 3980H (CBS feeds)
- 4000V (ABC feeds)
- 4160V (feeds)
The other analog channels (e.g. 3940H, ABC feeds) are watchable, but certainly can take some fine tuning...
Next things I'll try are the MPEG2/DVB channels.
But many thanks to this group. Without you folks, I would never have realized I've already had the equipment to receive C-band for 5-6 years ...
My goal is still the analog sports backhaul on IA6, IA5, and AMC3...
rangers00:
Congrats! That's a great success story! I can't wait to hear how you do on C-Band DVB reception. I'm wondering how much having an offset lnb helped in all this, as opposed to standard prime focus lnb's...
Your great success brings up a question I had; does the offset Devo-hat scalar rings make a substantial improvement on analog reception? We've heard that the offset rings have a general stablizing effect (similar to swapping a standard lnb with an Invacom) on DVB. I'm not sure anyone has tested (before this) on analog reception. I would imagine analog reception would show a signifcant improvement, as the least stray ground RF can make things rather snowy.
Thanks for the report, Rangers00! I look forward to updates
Congrats! That's a great success story! I can't wait to hear how you do on C-Band DVB reception. I'm wondering how much having an offset lnb helped in all this, as opposed to standard prime focus lnb's...
Your great success brings up a question I had; does the offset Devo-hat scalar rings make a substantial improvement on analog reception? We've heard that the offset rings have a general stablizing effect (similar to swapping a standard lnb with an Invacom) on DVB. I'm not sure anyone has tested (before this) on analog reception. I would imagine analog reception would show a signifcant improvement, as the least stray ground RF can make things rather snowy.
Thanks for the report, Rangers00! I look forward to updates
CharredPC said:rangers00:
Congrats! That's a great success story!
I look forward to updates
Same here, if you can get TheTube on G3R I'd be very interested to hear what kind of sig/quality you get.
OK, this is experiment today.
Still can't find the right combination to fix the LNBF on the dish arm, so I am doing all these by hand.
Turn the LNBF clockwise 90 degrees, 4 more analog channels show up. Turned out to be
- 4000H
- 4020V
and two others that I don't remember. But there is no 4000H or 4020V on IA5. Then it hits me suddenly, it must be interference from the adjacent birds. Turned out the 4000H is World Harvest TV, and 4020V is "The Shephard's Chapel Network", both on G4R (99W). The other two channels are feeds that are in the 4010s range.
And the quality on the analog channels are pretty good after I fine-tune them. But there are two problems that bug me:
- in order to get good qualities, the same LNBF positioning simply can't get both IA5 and G4R, the LNBF position on 1 bird is a 90 degree turn from the LNBF position on the other bird. This certainly would be a big problem even if I use a motor to move the dish.
- the polarity on IA5 is all screwed up. A transponder that's vertical (according to Lyngsat) must be horizontal on my receiver in order to see the picture. I don't know what cause this, but after I turn the LNBF 90 degrees, the polarities on G4R (according to the lyngsat chart) match what I set up on the receiver.
Now the MPEG2/DVB part. Boy it's really a pain in the S. I tried for a long long time, the only MPEG2 channel I could get was one BYU channel on IA5 (I think it's 3935V). This transponder must be particularly strong, as I get as high as 86% in quality.
All the other MPEG2/DVB transponders, including the other three BYU channels, no luck.
Still can't find the right combination to fix the LNBF on the dish arm, so I am doing all these by hand.
Turn the LNBF clockwise 90 degrees, 4 more analog channels show up. Turned out to be
- 4000H
- 4020V
and two others that I don't remember. But there is no 4000H or 4020V on IA5. Then it hits me suddenly, it must be interference from the adjacent birds. Turned out the 4000H is World Harvest TV, and 4020V is "The Shephard's Chapel Network", both on G4R (99W). The other two channels are feeds that are in the 4010s range.
And the quality on the analog channels are pretty good after I fine-tune them. But there are two problems that bug me:
- in order to get good qualities, the same LNBF positioning simply can't get both IA5 and G4R, the LNBF position on 1 bird is a 90 degree turn from the LNBF position on the other bird. This certainly would be a big problem even if I use a motor to move the dish.
- the polarity on IA5 is all screwed up. A transponder that's vertical (according to Lyngsat) must be horizontal on my receiver in order to see the picture. I don't know what cause this, but after I turn the LNBF 90 degrees, the polarities on G4R (according to the lyngsat chart) match what I set up on the receiver.
Now the MPEG2/DVB part. Boy it's really a pain in the S. I tried for a long long time, the only MPEG2 channel I could get was one BYU channel on IA5 (I think it's 3935V). This transponder must be particularly strong, as I get as high as 86% in quality.
All the other MPEG2/DVB transponders, including the other three BYU channels, no luck.
I just got my offset LNBF from EITS. I don't remeber seeing this before, but it includes an 65mm LNB holder that fits perfectly on my Fortec 120cm dish. That was a very nice surprise
I won't get a chance to try it out until tonight. I'll post my results later and compare how it performes compared to regular scalar ring.
edit: For those curious what model this LNBF is, it is "Astrotel PM-9/C-VH"
I won't get a chance to try it out until tonight. I'll post my results later and compare how it performes compared to regular scalar ring.
edit: For those curious what model this LNBF is, it is "Astrotel PM-9/C-VH"
vj9999 said:
How is it compared to the SG2100? I was looking at the HH120 but spending $140+ for a positioner was out of the question.
Cascade said:
It definately feels a little sturdier, but it is hard to judge anything since even the slightest wind makes a dish of this size shake
. I did manage to break a u-bolt on it by overtightening and bending it. Luckily sg2100 u-bolt fits so I replaced it.
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