Converting a BUD to an offset dish ???

[McGuyver]

I've been toying with the idea of converting my 8 ft solid BUD to an offset fixed dish design in order to mount (3) C-lnb's in close proximity and possibly Ku linear lnbf's as well.

I recently discovered a 6 ft modded offset dish just as I've imagined, I found it on the Skyvision website. Obviously the concept will work and I am anxious to give it a try now that the weather is permitting.

Has anybody here ever done this? It will be interesting to hear from other's who have or have the interest.

 

[Anole]

Unless you were planning on cutting up your prime-focus BUD, you cannot "convert" it to offset.
I think what you are looking for is a longer focal length dish.
F/D more like .6 or .7, not the .3 or .4 of a BUD.
That's what helps you locate your LNBs further apart for a given bird-spacing.

Also, Linuxman did a long thread some time back, where he took a 6' offset and added a bunch of Ku LNBs.
The results were similar to the Skyvision project.

Linuxman and entire arc on 6' Prodelin:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-ai...st-way-receive-whole-ku-arc-fixed-dishes.html

Mike Kohl does Skyvision wide-swath dish:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/181923-whats-new-skyvision.html

 

[McGuyver]

Thanks for the info, I have considered the F/D and wondered about the compatibility, this is why I posted here. You have confirmed the doubt side of my dream. BTW, my 8 ft solid is an old Channel Master but my neighbor across the road has a 10.5 ft Luxor mesh that's been retired for many years, they said I could have it but just never snagged it yet so I guess I'd better get busy. I'm thinking it might be better to set it up in the conventional way and use it for another fixed C-band feed. In the past I thought of hacking it up to make a couple of smaller dishes for Ku band, glad I didn't now that I have to consider a larger dish to get the full potential of my Pansat 9200HD DVB-S2 Plus tuner that Pansat says will require a larger dish for the S2 signals.

 

[Corrado]

...9200HD DVB-S2 Plus tuner that Pansat says will require a larger dish for the S2 signals.

In my experience with C band DVB-S2, a 10' dish is the minimum for reliable reception. I have two 6' offset dishes and one 6' prime focus set up and none will tune any S2 on C band. On the same sats my 10' works perfectly.

 

[McGuyver]

In my experience with C band DVB-S2, a 10' dish is the minimum for reliable reception. I have two 6' offset dishes and one 6' prime focus set up and none will tune any S2 on C band. On the same sats my 10' works perfectly.

Thanks for the info, I have read about that here and there and this is my first experience with S2 signals. My 8 ft solid BUD will blind scan and detect S2 of a couple of sats I've tried so far but they are scrambled pay channels. I don't recall which sats they were but it appeared that they were coming in although with a low quality signal somewhere in the 25-32% range, this may also be because I didn't have the dish aimed accurately for S2, my dish mover is broke so I manually crank the jack screw, it's fairly consistant that one 360° turn equals 1° of dish travel so I just count the turns as I traverse from one sat to another, i.e., 8 turns goes from the 91 to the 99.

I've been searching for info as to which birds have S2 channels in the clear for FTA. It would help me to know if my setup is working adequately the way it is without setting up another BUD. In other words, if there's S2 channels that can only be received with a 10 footer but they don't interest me then why should I invest? And then if I get some S2 with the 8 ft I have nothing to lose.

Can you please share with me what S2 channels do you get with your setup so I can see how my 8 ft compares and performs? Thanks in advance

 

[cracklincrotch]

In my experience with C band DVB-S2, a 10' dish is the minimum for reliable reception. I have two 6' offset dishes and one 6' prime focus set up and none will tune any S2 on C band. On the same sats my 10' works perfectly.

Speak for yourself. I've got a 7.5 and I've gotten everything I've ever tried for well above threshold on my Azbox, including a few 9/10 FECs.

 

[John Popper]

Linuxman and entire arc on 6' Prodelin:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-ai...st-way-receive-whole-ku-arc-fixed-dishes.html

what that dude did is incredible

 

[Anole]

what that dude did is incredible

Yep, he is. - - And yep, it is, too. -

What he started out to get was the entire arc.
I think in the end he settled on maybe half a dozen Ku birds and maybe a C-band or two.
Then, he backed up his Ku reception with several 84e's (each with multiple LNBs) -
And his C-band reception with a whole bunch of BUDs, all motorized, but mostly parked on specific birds.

I once remarked that someone's dish farm would be the envy of any TV station.
I think Linuxman's would be the envy of any small country. -


Linuxman and dual Sky Mexico LNBs on 87 / 97
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/99108-87w-97w-primestar-84e-multi-lnbf.html

Linuxman and dual LNBs on 123 / 129
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/97742-123w-129w-1-meter-primestar.html