Advice on C-band dish

[walrus1957]

Currently I have a 6 foot solid panel dish "WS International". For the most part it does quit well, there are only a few channels to weak to receive on the S9 openbox. However I wish to upgrade not only the dish but the receiver as well to truely expereince c-band programming.

I want a dish that isn't to big, 10 foot maybe but not a 12 footer. I would really like a mesh 8 footer, that would fit well in my yard. Found out that Sami no longer manufactures dishes. Don't want to spend a bundle of cash but want a quality dish.

Also want a deeper dish with narrow beam width so adjacent satellite signals are less an issue. There is an 8.5 footer down the road that hasn't been used in years, thinking about stopping by and asking the neighbors if I can take it off their hands.

But before I do anything I want to get opinions on what dish size I should be looking at and how to calculate beamwidth of a dish. I assume the fd ratio comes to play with that? Dependent of dish width versus depth?

Who sells 8 to 10 foot quality mesh c-band dishes for a descent price? Most I have ran across on the web range between $1000 and $2000.

 

[coinmaster32]

Your not gonna get a brand new dish for under $1000. You need a 10 foot. That is the ideal size. Mesh is much lighter. You want to go with mesh.

Anyway. Find a used dish, just drive around in the country, there are many left. Lots of them are unused, and you might be able to get one for free or $100 or less. A used dish will be fine as long as the mesh isn't beat all to hell.

All modern mesh dishes are designed well. Don't be picky about depth.

 

[FaT Air]

Dish width plays into beam width more than depth. Grab up the 8.5 dish. (And keep an eye out for a 10) TP's with higher FEC require more gain than the 6ft provides in most cases.

I read that the Geosatpro microHD has one heck of a sensitive tuner.

 

[walrus1957]

Coimaster32-

Thanks for the reply. I too was leaning toward a 10 footer, but would have to put in a bigger post. I can fit an 8.5 footer on the current mast and still have plenty ground clearance. If I go with a ten foot dish there would be problems if it snows using the current post that I have concreted in the back yard.

Can you describe the signal/channel difference/advantage of a ten footer versus an 8 foot dish?

 

[primestar31]

I went from a Sadoun 6 footer, to a Perfect Ten 10 footer. I also had to increase the size of the pipe from 3" to 3.5". What I did was get a pipe that was 3.5" OD, and slipped it OVER the smaller pipe. Perfect, tight fit, and I guess it now makes it a Schedule 80 instead of 40. I then drilled 1" holes all the way through BOTH (1 north-south, the other east-west), and bolted them together tightly.

Worked perfectly, and didn't require me to dig up the pole and plant a larger one. I already had 800 lbs of cement on the 3" pole, as I kinda figured I might want to get a bigger dish. I just never figured it would be quite so FAST, lol. 2 months before I KNEW I had to have a larger dish for sure, and that was even with an ortho-feed (which did help). There was just a couple sats that I HAD to have, that just weren't 100% with the 6 footer.

There was no comparison in signal level. The 10 footer CLEARLY beats the 6 footer hands-down in every way. The biggest issue is the much tighter beam-width of the 10 footer, to tune out cross satellite signal jamming.

 

[northgeorgia]

primestar, where did you find your 10 footer?

 

[toucan-man]

How tall is your pole? I harvested a 10' dish that was on a 4.5 foot pole. You would need to shovel snow from under that set-up.

 

[Anole]

We do have a C-band forum
Toucan Man has a wonderful thread over there:
Craigslist dishes for your perusal
Read the last three or four pages to get an idea what we see out there for CHEAP!

Look at the Birdview thread in C-band by Pendragon.
He talks about top of the line 8.5' solid dish and its performance.
Might give you some ideas.

I rate BUDs into three progressive categories:
- mesh
- perforated
- solid (and not all solids are created equal!)

The Pinnacle 10' is a deep-dish perf.
Some are listed in the Craigslist thread above, as already disassembled!
Some with H-H motor!
You probably need a special feed to match its F/D correctly, but most guys get by.
I'm not recommending the Pinnacle, other than on size and it's a perf.
But we have guys with 'em, and they can tell you more.

 

[primestar31]

I bought it used from an old C-band dealer that lives in a town about 35 miles North and West of me. He does Dish Network now, and removes peoples old c-band dishes. He then breakes them down and sells them. He has quite the brisk business from what it seems.

 

[Blindowl1234]

I started with a six foot Fortec dish. Few years ago got an 8 footer and noticed a difference. I'd get the 8.5 and then look for a 10 footer. Anyone here will tell you bigger is better

 

[guacharaca]

I have a 10 foot mesh and if I can find a free 12 foot, I will swap it in a heartbeat. There will always be a signal that could be stronger and clearer with a bigger dish, especially with S2.

 

[phlatwound]

I have a 10 foot mesh and if I can find a free 12 foot, I will swap it in a heartbeat. There will always be a signal that could be stronger and clearer with a bigger dish, especially with S2.

I agree with this.

I would imagine that as signal types evolve in the future, the more signal you can pull from the sky, the better the chances will be of locking and displaying it on appropriate equipment.

 

[coinmaster32]

10 Foot is the ideal size. 12 is just a waste of time. If your having issues with signals on a ten footer, then something else is wrong. At one time I had a 10 foot channel master on a 4DTV setup, I peaked the EbNo on the highest it could go. I had no issues with weak signals on any of the c-band birds.