300M Dish?

[Fizbi]

I have enough property to dig a pit big enough to make a 300M dish, but the basic question is what size dish gives the best bang for the buck?

I am considering installing a 120CM dish. Is it worth it?
Will it break my motor?
Will it tear the mount off the side of my house when the winds pick up?
Will it provide 100% Q for the weaker stations?

I suppose I could dig a 10M hole in the ground for each bird and line it with reflective material to make my own ground dishes. Wouldn't that be something?! :

 

[Mr Tony]

1. the bigger the dish the better it is for the weaker feeds and rain fade.
2. depends on the motor. The smaller motors claim they'll support a 120cm dish but I've seen them die right away
3. if its properly bolted to the house you should be oK...a pole mount might be better
4. no. And honestly even the stronger ones may not show 100%. Perfect example is G10...
11800 transponder I get 90 quality on the 76cm dish...on the 40x30 I get 92 max...so the bigger dish only gave me a couple points. But the 11720 (the supposed weaker one) is 45-48 on the 30" and 60 on the 40x30

 

[Fizbi]

4. no. And honestly even the stronger ones may not show 100%. Perfect example is G10...
11800 transponder I get 90 quality on the 76cm dish...on the 40x30 I get 92 max...so the bigger dish only gave me a couple points. But the 11720 (the supposed weaker one) is 45-48 on the 30" and 60 on the 40x30

Iceberg,

Thanks. I've been wrestling with this for a long time. I always wondered if I was missing out and could do better with a larger FTA ku dish.

I think there are maybe a few FTA channels I can't get, but they may be too weak or my receiver not quite right to pick them up. For instance, I just can't get all the PBS channels that I've seen listed. I get WOUB and that's it.

 

[Mr Tony]

you can't get the PBS stuff on AMC3 including Montana PBS?

I get all of those just fine with a 76cm here in Minnesota

 

[Fizbi]

you can't get the PBS stuff on AMC3 including Montana PBS?

That's corrrect. I've never been able to get those.
I thought it was my CS5000. When you search for a signal using motor control, it teases me with green bars up to 66Q. But, when I actually try to scan, it never picks up the channels. I've tried on really calm, windless days just to make sure my dish wasn't bouncing around.

Maybe my dish is just a hair off. I'm not sure. Maybe I should keep trying.
I have entered what I believe to be the correct PID numbers and all.

Suggestions?

 

[Mr Tony]

sounds like the dish is off by a hair. 87W is only 6 degrees off my true south so that could be part it. You have more factors of the dish being off the farther you get away from true south

I looked at the maps for AMC3 signal wise and both MN & WY are in the same bracket so its not that.

Can you get the crazy arab stuff? Those signals are very strong

 

[Larry1]

The receivers have AGC circuits, or Automatic Gain Control circuits that will amplify the signal if the signal level is too low. With a larger dish, the AGC circuits do not have to amplify the signal as much as with a smaller dish. A 3dB rise in signal meens that the signal has doubled in amplitude. When you look at the different gains that different size dishes provide, the dish sizes increase a lot to double your signal, and to add 20 dB of gain well..... To increase the gain, you can also amplify the signal as well. The LNBF's have high gain low noise amplifiers built in. Noise is the problem in that you can not just use a small dish and amplify the signal to the level you want, for as you amplify the signal, you introduce noise into the signal, too much noise and you will be unable to pick the signal out of the noise. A large dish just meens that the AGC circuits in the satellite box does not have to amplify the signal as much and not introduce more noise into the signal. Now that you think, oh well, a very large dish will have no noise, well, that is not correct either. Noise can enter the system through the dish as well. For those that like the RTN stations on G10R, we all know that the signal, or noise, from the Dish satellite affects the G10R signals as well. Noise can also come from the sun, the ground, just about anything. The dish tries to cut douwn on noise by surface accuracy, special coatings help with the reflection of the signal and the scalar rings, the F in the LNBF. So a larger dish can help in getting you more signal and less need to amplify, but it is the noise that is the real culprit. Cut down the noise, and you will have more signal. (or Quality in the meter readings)

 

[Fizbi]

Can you get the crazy arab stuff? Those signals are very strong

I just came back from a power loss. We are in the middle of a severe thunderstorm. I'm going to shut down the house until Zeus stops throwing around lightening bolts.

I will make a list of what I'm getting. Maybe I'm on the wrong SAT. I can tell you that I get a bunch of scrambled channels, but I don't know what they are.

G10R comes in great. I have no issues there. I think I'm about 2 degrees off from true south.

 

[Mr Tony]

no problem

There are a few scrambled channels on AMC3 but you should have a few unscrambled channels on there

 

[TRG]

Can you get the crazy arab stuff?

Easy... do we have to take up a collection and send you to send you to sensitivity training?

 

[Fizbi]

Storms Over...

Ok, I looked up some of the scrambled channels.
Looks like I'm locked onto 82W. No wonder I'm lost.

All this time I thought I was on 87W.

I will need to locate a strong channel on 87W and see if I can find it.

The learning never stops, does it?

 

[Mr Tony]

check out thelist for the arab stuff. That signal is pretty strong