Got a 1.2M dish. Possible miniBUD. Need advise from the wise

[ftamart]

Thanks for the pics Auric. Mine does not have the square tubing. Mine has the three thin round tube braces. You can see it in the pictures here.

I am going to custom make a bracket then then use the same kind of LNB holders you are using.

That appears to be a C-120 flange mount on the feedhorn, although it could possibly be one of those weird mounts that is similar but has a different hole pattern. If it is a C-120 (probable), you would just unscrew the Norsat LNB from the mount and replace it. That is a Prodelin 1.2 meter dish...

Tron, for now I am going to try mode it for C-band, but if I ever use it for just Ku, I will definitely use the feedhorn and just replace the LNB.

 

[Auric]

Thanks for the pics Auric. Mine does not have the square tubing. Mine has the three thin round tube braces. You can see it in the pictures here.

I am going to custom make a bracket then then use the same kind of LNB holders you are using.

Tron, for now I am going to try mode it for C-band, but if I ever use it for just Ku, I will definitely use the feedhorn and just replace the LNB.

Excellent! Please keep us posted

 

[RnR]

I have the exact same dish and feed.

After examination I decided to forgo any attempt to utilize the original feed as it is not a C-120 flange. Indeed... something oddball instead.

As I was pursuing Ku, I stripped off the plastic housing of a regular Ku LNBf (as described elsewhere on this site) and added a 2-piece PVC pipe spacer around the LNBf feed throat to work with the original Prodelin feed bracket. That seems to work out pretty well mechanically and good thing as I wasn't able to come up with anything that would mate to up to C-120 flange LNB, even considering multiple calls to the current owner of the Prodelin line (Andrew).

 

[ftamart]

Got a 1.2M dish. Possible miniBUD. Need advise from the wise Part 2

Well I suspended the project when winter arrived. No fun being on the roof at -20C or -30C. For now, I am using KU only.
I had bought a Gospell GCF-D12T LNB and tried to get a signal, but didn't spend too much time on it.
Now that it's getting a little nicer and spring will arrive soon, I want to work on it again.
I have bought a analog signal finder.
I am not totally sure what LNB setting to use in my Viewsat Ultra. Do I choose 'Standard' or 'Universal'? For standard I can only enter one frequency (LO) and for universal two (I think it's High and LO).

I am also debating if I should buy an HD receiver, or use a PC to get into HD.

I would like to make an Excel chart that would list some receivers on top, and the feature list on the side and then add 'Yes' or 'No' for each receiver indicating if the receiver has or not a certain feature. I am not familiar with many receivers and their features, but maybe some of you could help. Then we could publish the chart here so users trying to decide on which receiver to buy, could use the chart to make it easier to decide.

Thanks

 

[greg harris]

Standard.
LNB Freq. = 5150.

HD is the future, but I would get it running and then make a decision on another receiver. Greg

 

[ftamart]

Standard.
LNB Freq. = 5150.

HD is the future, but I would get it running and then make a decision on another receiver. Greg

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I want to get it going first, and then decide on a receiver for HD.

 

[Mr Tony]

I merged the new thread with the original since it had some good info in it

 

[ftamart]

I merged the new thread with the original since it had some good info in it

Thanks Iceberg!

I think I've got a dead sat finder. It's very similar to this one: Satellite Finder.

I connected it as instructed, one cable to the LNB and one to the receiver. Shows no signal. I ajusted the db lever up and down. I even connected it to my KU LNB pointed at 93W (perfectly allined) and the sat finder's gage doesn't move at all. I got my multimeter and tested the cable coming from the receiver and it shows 13V. Then I checked the cable going to the LNB (connected to the sat finder) and there is no voltage coming out. I don't know if it's suppose to have voltage out or not. Also checked the cable from sat finder to LNB for continuity, and it's fine.
As far a I know, I did everything right. If I didn't, please let me know.
I can exchange it.

 

[ftamart]

Confirmed: Faulty Sat Finder. I got it exchanged and the new one works, almost too good, I should add.
I hooked it up to my KU system to test it, and it works great, but on C band it's a different story. The gage is allways full-scale even if I turn the db dial all the way down and the dish is not pointing at a satellite.
The only way to stop the signal is to cover the LNB with my hand. As soon as I move my hand a 1/4 inch away from the LNB, the gage goes full-scale again.

This is what the Sat Finder's instructions say:

When LNB gain is more than 60dB, please connect a 5 dB attenuator between LNB and finder or type RG-59U coaxial cable 6 meters (20ft) long.

As previously posted, I am using a Gospell GCF-D12T LNB. Would this LNB fall into that category?
Is there another trick I can do? I don't have the attenuator or cable, but assume I could buy one of them.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[Lak7]

Put the Meter behind the Dish so it's shielded from "everything", see if that helps.

 

[ftamart]

Put the Meter behind the Dish so it's shielded from "everything", see if that helps.

I actually had it behind the dish. I also put tin foil between the back of the dish and the Sat Finder with no change in results.

 

[Anole]

don't give up:

Well, if the meter won't work for ya, go the more traditional way.
Those are really intended for use on the high powered DBS satellites, anyhow.
I've had some success using 'em for FTA, but they aren't the right stuff.

Take an FTA receiver out to the dish, hook directly to the LNB, set it to a strong transponder on your desired satellite, and try aiming the dish that way.
When you find the satellite, adjust for best Quality, not Strength.
Don't forget skew, too.