180 cm offset dish up and running

[truckracer]

Well folks, thought I would post that my Prodelin fixed position 1.8 meter offset dish is up and running. With my work schedule it seemed to take forever to get everything done.

I am using an astrotel .20 degree lnbf that uses voltage polarity switching.
This dish was a freebie from a local business that had used it for KU band for their Hughes network. They just wanted it removed from their roof. I have to say it was tough to get from the roof since it had to be lowered down a three story building with a heavy piece of rope. we did get it safely removed.

I planted the dish in the back yard on a 3.5" stainless steel pipe that is 7 feet above ground and 4 feet below ground with 10 bags of cement and some small pieces of rebar. My pole has 3/4 inch bolts 12" long (three of them) drilled through the pipe with jam nuts to hold them in place. This will keep the pole from turning in the cement while under load from the wind.

My pole is perfectly plumb in all directions (hurray )

This pole will one day hold my 10 foot prime focus c/Ku sami dish with a polar mount and actuator.***

For now I can say that the c-band performance from G-10R (the outdoor channels) is excellent. The signal meter is pegged out at 99% quality.
I put a KU lnbf on there to see how the 11718 tp that is usually so weak did and it yielded almost 80 % quality. Sure beats the heck out of the 45% on my 75cm dish. I could actually watch "The Tube" during storms. LOL

I am going to make a bracket to hold two c- band lnbf's and try to receiver G-11 and G3-C (91 W and 95W) Since this dish is only 1.8 M it should have a wide beamwidth and receive two sats that are 4 degrees apart if they don't interfere with each other. Just have to wait and see.

I will let everyone know how it goes

 

[drhydro]

Glad to hear you have it planted, that is the hardest part ;-) I guess i need to replace my 10 year old LNBA with a new, lower noise unit, as i am only getting about 80% quality on the Outdoor channel with my 10 foot BUD.

 

[truckracer]

hello to hydro

Good to hear from you doc hydro, As we speak I am doing a blind search of G-10R C-Band to see what's there. I am very pleased with my dish install, I forgot to mention I painted the dish with an oil based flat enamel (Hunter Green) to help sooth the neighbors. My paint is lead free and not glossy so it should not hurt the reception or lnbf. (At least I hope not). Most of the research I have done claims you can paint a dish as long as its lead-free and not shiny.

I also buried two runs of RG-6 Quad and ribbon cable in schedule 40 plastic conduit out to the dish. I am trying to keep everything nice and neat.

I had to do some serious trial and error on the f/d of this dish, although I know the formula it did not pan out exactly on this one. I spent a couple of hours playing around with the lnbf finding the best signal and voila I found the position for the lnbf and had to make a mounting bracket using some slotted steel and strapping from the hardware store. The lnbf arm was set up for a KU band feedhorn equipped with a KU lnbf and KU transmitter. It was spaced about 4" above the feed bracket so the focal point was not all the way down on the arm like consumer offset dishes. I got all this worked out and I love c-band.

Can't wait to get my bud with a polar mount and actuator. I actually thought abount using two superjack actuators on this one . one for az and one for elevation, the trick would be finding or building a controller that could use an lcd readout to show elevations and azimuth degrees. I am sure someone makes one. I could replace the all-thread rods and jam nuts with actuators.
I may try that.

 

[drhydro]

I am still working on getting my BUD perfectly aimed. I know i have a plumb pole and the mount is plumb on the pole. I know i have the correct elevation set, but have still not figured out how to set declination on this mount. I am almost positive that is my problem in getting the lower sats, while i can recieve them i get very poor signal quality.

I can put the dish at true south and lift/lower the dish by hand (to change elevation slightly) and any movement up or down decreases signal. I go to the bottom of the arc and do the same, with the same result. From what i have read, that means i have the polar alignment right. So polar alignment and elevation are correct (i think), leaving only declination as the culprit.

If only i could find someone with a channel master c band dish and polar mount like mine lol. I guess my next step is to buy an inclinometer and see what I can figure out.

 

[truckracer]

hey doc hydro

I was thinking (hope I don't sound dumb) but are the transponders that you are trying to receive on the far west or east satellites weak? I know that with mine some of those G-10R and Amc-11 tp's are real weak on my system.
Since mine is a fixed position dish i Peaked Azimuth and elevation as well as lnbf skew and focal distance. Even after all this some tp's are very weak. Of course I am using a 1.8 Meter dish which is kind of small for c-band

 

[drhydro]

Some of those transponders are pretty weak,esp. the ones on AMC-11, but i should still be able to see them. Funny thing is that last winter i was able to get those weak transponders in fairly good BEFORE I adjusted my pole/mount to be perfectly plumb. All winter the pole had a very slight tilt to the north. After i got the pole/mount plumb is when the problems began. Hmmmmmmm.

I would think that it was trees leafing out that was my problem ( to hit the lowest sats i am barely clearing a treeline) but these are all pine trees so leafing out is not an issue. i am pretty much convinced at this point my problems are declination related.