How many channels FTA on 58W - CBand?

[chapelrun]

Beavs2112, could you possibly send a PIX of your scalar? I went and talked to the guy I got the dish from today and he did not have any of the larger scalar's but he knew what I was talking about. He knows a 96 year old man who still has all his C-Band stuff. He gave me his name and address and I'm going to check with him tomorrow to see if he might have a larger scalar. I searched high and low on Google - - nothing.

 

[beavs2112]

Beavs2112, could you possibly send a PIX of your scalar? I went and talked to the guy I got the dish from today and he did not have any of the larger scalar's but he knew what I was talking about. He knows a 96 year old man who still has all his C-Band stuff. He gave me his name and address and I'm going to check with him tomorrow to see if he might have a larger scalar. I searched high and low on Google - - nothing.

hi chapelrun. the scalar is on my dish already & i ain't takin it off for nobody. but i want to help you as much as i can so i moved my dish all the way to the east and got out the ladder and took some pictures of the front.
note in the second picture the CM scalar is one ring larger than a stock Chaparral which i placed in fron for comparison. in pic 3 note the diameter is 8 inches. now i wasn't gonna spend time takin off the cover so to get an idea what the back looks like ...... look at the channel master dish manual on this site here http://www.satelliteguys.us/downloads.php?do=file&id=274 and go to page 16 or 22 .... it has a drawing of the back. my scalar matches the part # on page 22. Channel master calls it a choke plate in their manual. Hope this helps you search Good luck tomorrow!

Kevin

 

[chapelrun]

WOW, great information. Thanks! I hope the guy I talk to tomorrow either has a scalar similar to yours or knows where I might find one.

i have also been wondering if my dish may be slightly warped thus causing issues on 3960 V 30000.

 

[primestar31]

I have also been wondering if my dish may be slightly warped thus causing issues on 3960 V 30000.

That's easy to check, just string the dish at 3-4 places or so across, and see where the strings meet. or don't meet... IF it's proper, they should all meet by barely touching in the exact middle of the dish. If they don't, depending on which way they are out, you should be able to figure out if you can fix it. Perhaps with some steel cable and turnbuckles, either from the front or the back. It depends on how it is. Maybe even just loosening some petals, and doing an armstrong adjustment.

It's far more likely your feed isn't at the center, or parallel to the dish, or both.

 

[mmewrench]

I disagree. I think the Channel Master scalar was made for THAT dish. The newer Chap scalar wasn't. Also the bolts didn't line up properly with the stock feed legs and the Chap scalar and the focal distance was wrong with the chap scalar. I would have to bend the feed legs to mate the chap scalar. That's a BIG no-no.

After seeing the diagram, I have to agree that the channelmaster scaler was indeed made for that dish. However, it was also made for that feedhorn since there was no provision for adjustment.

If that choke plate is not available, using the smaller chap scaler is the only option. Since that is what was on the dish to begin with when chapelrun acquired it, the feed supports have already been moved or bent.

 

[chapelrun]

When I got this dish from Max it was all put together and he had it in front of is TV shop as a way of folks finding him. I traded an 8 foot Channel Master for the 10 footer. It had not been operational for a very long time when I got it. I took is all apart and cleaned and painted everything.

Here is the scalar that came off of the 10 footer when I got it. It did not appear that any of the 4 support arms had been bent, nor did I bend them to put on the Chaparral Scalar. The extra lip on the original scalar should help make sure the feedhorn is held firm and straight. Also notice the original has 3 screws to hold the LNB tight where the one I have on now just had one little set screw. If I cannot find a larger scalar I will still go back to the original one that came with the dish.

 

[chapelrun]

Well I made a new friend today. I knew I was in the right place when he came out with his Channel Master hat on. We sat and talked for a long time - - he told me about fighting in North Africa and Italy in WWII. Many stories about installing the first TV in our area in 1948. Charlie is 96 years old and was really fun to talk to - - - he had done alot of living. Most of his stories were about installing TV antenna's, WWII and how he loved analog on his Channel Master dish and wished that they had never gone away from it.

At the end - - - he said let's go out to the shop and see if we can find a larger scalar. WOW, his shop was so cool, too many analog receivers to count, actuators, hundreds of tubes, oscilloscopes, Channel Master Service book at least 3 inches thick, TV antenna's - - - it was a wonderful place!!! Anyway he said get that box and see if that might help. This is what I got from him - - ever seen one??

He said the box had never been opened. Obviously I have not tried it yet - - - but it gives me many ideas. It is 9" across and so big my other scalar fits inside of it.

He also had an aluminum Channel Master dish that I told him I could help him get going again - - but he said he would take a rain check.

When we parted ways, I asked if it was OK if I came back to talk more - - he said any time - - said he needs folks to talks to. It was really fun!!

 

[toucan-man]

When we parted ways, I asked if it was OK if I came back to talk more - - he said any time - - said he needs folks to talks to. It was really fun!!

That's wonderful.

 

[chapelrun]

Bigger Scalar helps some - - - not finished yet

Today was so pretty in Virginia, I got back to working on this issue.

Replaced the 6.5" scalar with the 9" scalar with only one outside ring - - amazingly the signal was very good but a few points below the 6.5" scalar.

But then I put the 6.5" scalar inside the 9" scalar and the Quality went higher especially for the lower quality signals. Not finished yet as I ran out of daylight. But this is looking very promising. Right now the Feed Horn is too far from the dish - - - but as close as I can make it without one small mod. FTA only scan now gets 35 TV channels and signals are generally higher across the board but 3960 V 30000 is still my problem. Hopefully I will be able to work on this some more tomorrow.

This one PIX is taken through the center of the dish up to the new setup. As you can see the pine tree is almost in the way.

 

[primestar31]

That pine tree is probably shadowing the entire bottom of your dish. So, you aren't getting signal from there for that sat.

 

[waylew]

Today was so pretty in Virginia, I got back to working on this issue.

Replaced the 6.5" scalar with the 9" scalar with only one outside ring - - amazingly the signal was very good but a few points below the 6.5" scalar.

But then I put the 6.5" scalar inside the 9" scalar and the Quality went higher especially for the lower quality signals. Not finished yet as I ran out of daylight. But this is looking very promising. Right now the Feed Horn is too far from the dish - - - but as close as I can make it without one small mod. FTA only scan now gets 35 TV channels and signals are generally higher across the board but 3960 V 30000 is still my problem. Hopefully I will be able to work on this some more tomorrow.

This one PIX is taken through the center of the dish up to the new setup. As you can see the pine tree is almost in the way.

I believe you are supposed to have the original scalar mounted inside the larger one.The larger plate is an extension not a complete scalar.

 

[chapelrun]

Finally got it correct

I think I finally have it correct!! microHD now scans 38 TV channels, but never finds mariavision at 4174 V 2941 - - I always have to scan that one in manually.

It was many things in the end. I definitely think the larger scalar helps greatly (I wish I could find a Seavey 8.75" scalar), I finally got the skew set correctly, and the dish is pointed correctly (it had been off just a bit).

I think the one thing that may have helped the most is I must have had the one LNB backwards, If you look at the picture I included the LNB NOT on the center line of the dish had been installed 180 out from where it is now. It is not intuitively obvious which way is correct, but when I turned it around I did get more signal. (not a ton more but definitely got more signal) From the PIX can you experts tell if it is now correct?

Here are the Q's I just pulled.

3840 V 27690 75
3840 H 27690 73
3880 H 27690 74
3960 V 30000 54
4040 H 26590 75
4120 V 27500 73
4173 V 2841 70

I very happy with the results and will definitely use this setup during winter!!!