I humbly present to you: "My Meager Setup".

[WesTheTinkerer]

Here are the few dishes I have managed to scrape up and hobble together to date. Top Right (background) is a WSI 99cm x 90cm and the only one I have purchased so far. It works well. At top left ( again in the background ) we have a Slimline which I pulled from my neighbor's trash,
paired with a GeosatPro SL1PLL LNBF. It will now be retired. It has taught me all it can. It doesn't pull in everything but it pulls in at least one or two TPs on each sat which is enough to teach a newbie where the sats are IMHO. It was the dish I caught first signal with and it taught me how to point a Ku dish. It taught me a lot in a short time ( I'm an exceptionally fast learner). Next on the bottom left ( foreground ) we have a strange little oval dish with no manufacturer's markings of any kind. Does anyone recognize it? It is quite rugged and is well built. It was a freebie. I'll put an LNB bracket on it to see how well it does before I paint it. The dish on the right in the foreground is a Samsonic made by Wahoo Tech INC. It was also a freebie. It came with an Invacom quad polar LNBF which I have not tested. I was told it is about 8 years old. I have no experience with the Invacom. Can someone advise me on it's quality? Is the Invacom worth bothering with?

 

[Larry1]

It the Invacom worth bothering with?

It is still an exceptional LNBF, well worth a try.

 

[WesTheTinkerer]

Thank you Larry1. I will get it put on and try it tomorrow or the next day.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Wes,

To me it looks like the Invacom is a QPH-031 LNBF. I have several of these and find them to be very reliable, but also very bulky and heavy! It will have four separate LNBFs internally, two linear and two circular. The linear ones have a L.O. of 10750 and the circular ones have a L.O. of 11250. Might want to use it on a dish that has a really rigid and stout LNBF support arm or at least side struts to help support the weight. I noticed that without side strut brackets, the LNBF arm will "bobble" in heavy winds due to the weight of this LNBF and that may cause some signal dropouts.

RADAR

 

[WesTheTinkerer]

Wes,

To me it looks like the Invacom is a QPH-031 LNBF. I have several of these and find them to be very reliable, but also very bulky and heavy! It will have four separate LNBFs internally, two linear and two circular. The linear ones have a L.O. of 10750 and the circular ones have a L.O. of 11250. Might want to use it on a dish that has a really rigid and stout LNBF support arm or at least side struts to help support the weight. I noticed that without side strut brackets, the LNBF arm will "bobble" in heavy winds due to the weight of this LNBF and that may cause some signal dropouts.

RADAR

It is a QPH-031 and the L.O.s are just as you describe. I will put it on my WSI 99 x 90cm tomorrow or the next day and see if it still works. Thanks for the reply -Wes

 

[kodaz]

The bracket on the back of that slimline is something to hang on to. I love those dials when trying to move, check, put back, move a different way ect.

Some of the best finds are free dishes!!

 

[Anole]

... we have a Slimline which I pulled from my neighbor's trash, paired with a GeosatPro SL1PLL LNBF.
It will now be retired. It has taught me all it can.
It doesn't pull in everything but it pulls in at least one or two TPs on each sat which is enough to teach a newbie where the sats are IMHO.
It was the dish I caught first signal with and it taught me how to point a Ku dish. It taught me a lot in a short time.

Yea, you have the right attitude.
I always worry when some newbie comes to the forum asking if he can recycle some little DBS dish that's currently on his roof.
Don't want to turn him away, but they just don't perform as well as a real dish.

You got a good education from yours, and a good taste of FTA.

The bracket on the back of that slimline is something to hang on to.
I love those dials when trying to move, check, put back, move a different way ect.

Some of the best finds are free dishes!!

Yes, by all means save the mount, if not the entire dish.
Some day you might decide to go with several fixed dishes, and the Slimline might get good enough signal on some bird to make ya happy.
Not every signal is super-weak.

Mounts like that are a fine tool for the experimenter. :up

 

[danristheman]

I agree anole my setup I had reused my slimline it worked well on 12 satellites picking up transponders.

Dan Rose

 

[WesTheTinkerer]

The bracket on the back of that slimline is something to hang on to. I love those dials when trying to move, check, put back, move a different way ect.

Some of the best finds are free dishes!!

Yes, I like the bracket but you have to use tubing for the pole 'cause of the 2" size and I can't afford to buy a ground pole from the local dealers. I found a brass bed headboard built out of 2" OD solid brass tubing. I cut a 6" piece off and stuck it into the end of some 2" electrical conduit with a bushing. A perfect fit. It was a cheap modern bed and it wasn't complete not an antique. You can breathe now. Thanks kodaz.

 

[WesTheTinkerer]

I agree anole my setup I had reused my slimline it worked well on 12 satellites picking up transponders.

Dan Rose

Since it is designed to be used with a three LNB feedhorn with about 2 degree separation, I always wondered how much of the dish was actually being illuminated by a regular LNB aimed directly at the center of the dish. Some sats I would only get one transponder and only horizontally polarized signals. On 97W it always pulled in vertical signals best so I was puzzled by the poor vertical reception west of 97W.

 

[WesTheTinkerer]

Yea, you have the right attitude.
I always worry when some newbie comes to the forum asking if he can recycle some little DBS dish that's currently on his roof.
Don't want to turn him away, but they just don't perform as well as a real dish.

You got a good education from yours, and a good taste of FTA.

Well, I figured if I stuck with it after struggling with the Slimline I would invest more money into the hobby. I don't know if I would recommend it to someone that wasn't handy or didn't have a basic understanding of antennas or electronics without being right there to show them the ropes. Finding my first sat was hard and frustrating.

Yes, by all means save the mount, if not the entire dish.
Some day you might decide to go with several fixed dishes, and the Slimline might get good enough signal on some bird to make ya happy.
Not every signal is super-weak.

Mounts like that are a fine tool for the experimenter. :up

Yes, these are the only dishes I wouldn't have to hide and there are a few birds I'd like to scan that I can't see unless the dish is up high on the roof. -Thanks Everyone for your interest and input. It is very much appreciated.

 

[WesTheTinkerer]

I agree anole my setup I had reused my slimline it worked well on 12 satellites picking up transponders.

Dan Rose

I didn't keep track of the performance here in Huntsville, AL but I think it was similar to what you experienced. A good stable LNB makes a difference.- Thanks for your interest Dan

 

[WesTheTinkerer]

Oh, BTW, I got the Invacom put on my 99cm WSI and it works good. The signal quality is good on LPBHD on SES2 at 87W. It is my due South Satellite at 180.8 degrees. Now I always go back to that position so I know where I'm at. I didn't have the know how when I first started out so the first sat I tried to hit was G19 at 97W and ended up on SES1 at 101, but I was so excited!

 

[Anole]

On 97W it always pulled in vertical signals best so I was puzzled by the poor vertical reception west of 97W.

I don't know. Would have thought horizontal would be favored , if either.
Maybe Brian of SatelliteAV might have a thought.
- LNBF not at focus?
- LNBF aimed up/down/left/right?
- did you try skewing the entire dish?

Your choice of the pll LNBF was certainly on your side.

 

[WesTheTinkerer]

- did you try skewing the entire dish?

Yes. It made no detectable improvement.

Your choice of the pll LNBF was certainly on your side.

You said that right. An ordinary non PLL LNB with 1KHz - 1MHz L.O. stability just didn't cut it. PLLs are the only way to go if you have to use an undersized dish and I'll just keep right on buying the GeosatPro SL1PLL from SatAV as long as I can get it. I think it is a great value. Good price, great quality, and I know I can trust SatelliteAV not to sell me cloned junk.

 

[FaT Air]

I always wondered how much of the dish was actually being illuminated by a regular LNB aimed directly at the center of the dish

I think the equivalent is that of a normal offset dish with the same height. If the elliptical is 30 inches tall. the equivalent would be a normal offset 30 tall and around 27-28 wide.
My 84e elliptical paled in comparison to my 30 inch offset dishes performance. That was until I put the proper feed horn/LNB on it.

 

[WesTheTinkerer]

I think the equivalent is that of a normal offset dish with the same height. If the elliptical is 30 inches tall. the equivalent would be a normal offset 30 tall and around 27-28 wide.
My 84e elliptical paled in comparison to my 30 inch offset dishes performance. That was until I put the proper feed horn/LNB on it.

That was my guess. I did gut the old LNB out and bolted an LNBF to the back and it worked fine but I didn't get a better signal, just the same as the plain LNBF.

 

[Anole]

The feedhorn matches the elliptical dish.
That's what you have to keep.
There have been many discussions of more modern LNBs to bolt to 'em.
Some have used the Dish Network bandstacked FSS LNB to good result.

I'm currently looking into a way to mate up SatAVs PLL, but that involves machining, testing, and more brainstorming.
Plus, cooperation of my tempermental Swiss machinist.
Film at 11.