A Primestar, a C-Band LNB, and hoping the landlord is blind

[DiscoLoveGrapes]

I finally got around to putting up a Primestar 40x30 in the backyard and after watching near everything peg 80-99% on AMC4, I tilted it over slightly to 99W and strung up a C-Band LNB.

The good news is the WAPA popped up right away at 49% on my Fortec Lifetime. After slight tweaking it went up to 56 and I also got in a few 4:2:2 feeds. A few days later I swung it over to 121W and got Ohio Sports....and nothing else.

Since the LNB was pretty old and a discount sale at that, I decided to take part of WSI's sale and picked up their latest C-only and Conical ring. It's been a little mixed, so far.

To be sure, the setup is hilarious looking but working. There are multi-colored twist ties, a PVC pipe shoved over a smaller pole, hose clamps, and the top of a sunscreen bottle are involved. Pics will follow as soon as I unpack my camera.

Still, I'm trying to see if there's any "trick" to getting the conical ring and new LNB to work better. The improvement from the scalar ring on the old LNB is minor at the moment, and I'm a little afraid that the arm simply doesn't extend out far enough.

Also, any other suggestions on easy targets on C are welcome, although I am blocked east of 93 at the moment

 

[PopcornNMore]

Can't wait to see pictures. I am currently adding a C-band and DSS LNBF along with my current standard KU band LNBF on a 1.2m Channel Master.

 

[Mr Tony]

Disco
the 3 sats that have the strongest signals are
99W-WAPA, the Syndicated feeds (3820) and possibly World Harvest. You might try My Network at 4160
107W-any of the muxes that have the symbol rate in the 28000 category
121W-STO SD...I can get that, Sportsman and once in a while STO HD on the 1.2m dish

as for the conical, you might just have to play with it. I remember my C-Band LNB was almost all the way back in the scaler ring when I worked on the P* dish
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/130619-mini-bud.html

 

[DiscoLoveGrapes]

Here are three pictures, one as a general view of my outdoor setup at the moment, a closer shot of the dish, and the closeup of the LNB sans hose clamp. It's pointed at 99 in the pic.

Thanks for the tip, Ice. I'd love to get anything on 107.3 since I've got a friend who'd love to watch anything Canuckish when it comes to sports, but we'll see what happens.

 

[Mr Tony]

not much sports on 107 C-Band...

A Channel Maritimes is on there (formerly ASN)

 

[Anole]

The conical scalar is really designed to match a round, not elliptical dish.
However, it may well be a better choice than the flat scalar... your results should be interesting.

Here's what Linuxman got on a 1m round dish.
(scroll down a few posts for three more channels).
Things do change month by month, so no guarantee.
Assuming, of course, that you can get roughly equal reception on your 1m wide dish.

 

[DiscoLoveGrapes]

Anole, thanks for the links and info. As much as I'd like that conical ring to work, I think I may throw on a scalar ring later on just to see if I get better quality. At best I got the MyNets at 60%, WAPA at 49% and WHT around 46%. Not bad, all in all. I'd love to get the nets, but no luck yet. Golden Eagle bled over as well, but even tweaking couldn't get it over 39%

I struck out on ASN/ATV, but may give it another go later. Just for the pure fun of it, I remember Ice mentioning that he hauled out a Primestar to try and get hockey on AMC 7. Did that ever work? I may have just enough LOS to get that over there.

Even if all I get is a few oddities on C, it's pretty fun to mess with. I may just end up putting a Ku LNB on again and making it my PBS dish (and try to get Louisiana on S2) with the occasional ghetto move is something cool shows up.

 

[Anole]

I'm guessing the conical will be better, but if the flat scalar doesn't perform well, read the following:

ACradio and flat scalar tune-up on mini-bud:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/c-band-...g-c-band-my-1-2-meter-dish-2.html#post1735458
He used a round dish, too, so your mileage may vary.

 

[Corrado]

In offset installations using a prime focus C band LNBF, another advantage in addition to a better signal using the conical scalar is it helps keep the weather away from the LNBF.