Larger dishes on a SG2100?

[T_rd F_rgerson]

Looks good guys! I have some dishes laying around; an old oval ChanMaster (AKA Primestar), and a Superdish 105. I am very interested in getting a SG2100 motor and setting it up with one of these dishes. I anticipate that I will have to modify and/or fabricate a different and lighter mount. My Q is: Which dish would be better to use with the SG2100? I also have some old DTV dishes and one old Dishnetwork 300 dish to borrow parts from if need be. To the veterans of this project: Any regrets, problems, better suggestions about doing the modifications to the dish, brackets, mounts, hardware, etc? From what I've read, the Invacom lnb that can pick up the different bands would be the best to use for this setup, right? Like most, I want to be able to get as many viable birds as possible! My longitude is 81.625, so Nimiq 2,3 would be the sat to set for true south. I can't wait to get this project started and use with my Viewsat Pro!
Thanks for any replies!

 

[GreatFTA]

The first dish I used was a Channel Master 1 meter (it has a tripod LNBF holder). I modified the mount to work with the SG2100 HH drive and I have been really happy with it!
That dish had a busted out edge (probably from riding mower). I lucked up with a Cannel Master 1.2 meter dish and replaced it.
There are great ideas on this particular thread of mounts so study them, and have at it!!
I adapted my mount from Dirty Shame ideas but if I have a chance of getting another system, the one using a square piece of plywood look good, except I would use something else other than plywood because of weather.
The oval shaped dishs you have, are they the one that has the single LNBF arm in front of it? It would work OK, I still got several under my carport. If you lucked up one the dish like mine, GET IT!!!
I am using a universal LNBF from Invacom that fit the LNBF holder perfectly and get great results!!! Since you will be using a motor to move the dish, set the LNBF on 0 degrees. While the dish is moving it will be skewed correctly on all satellites.

 

[T_rd F_rgerson]

The Channel Master dish has a single arm and there was no lnbf on it when I got it, just a piece of broken off plastic! The Superdish, has 3 lnbf's on it. They are for 110,119 and 105 birds. The Channel Master dish is an elliptical dish that measures 39.5 inches by 30 inches. I'm not sure if this is what they call the 1m or 1.2m dish, but it is fairly big. I made a lnb bracket similiar to the "magic" bracket, and put a DP dual lnb for 110 and 119, and this dish gave stunning signal gain for those two feeds! That is partly why I wish to use it with a SG2100. Is the SG2100 made by Motek, the one that I should get? I'm not sure about how much difference the weight is from the Superdish compared to the Channel Master, but the lightest one, would be better on the motor. They both are awesome reflectors for gain! I've already got the hole dug and a 2 inch galvanized pole! I'm wondering about the lnbf's that I have. I have dish pro and legacy, dtv circular and that Superdish lnbf for the 105 is made different from the others and the sticker on it says "FSS Stacker LNB". Could I use this in conjunction with the motor setup, and a Diseqc switch to pick up the birds that the regular circular lnb's can't? Or would it be easier or more practicle just to get the Invacom universal lnbf, since it can get them all and fits correctly in the ChanMaster's lnb arm? Or is that the Channel Master that has multiple arms? Anyway, all interesting stuff!
Thanks again for the reply MrFTAMan!

 

[Tron]

While the Superdish will pick up Ku band FTA and is considerably lighter than the Channel Master, it is somewhat undersized, and may not adequately pick up the weaker transponders that are often used for feeds. It sounds like your Channel Master is an 84E, check the back to see if that is the mold (there will be an engraved specifications plate). That is the better dish for FTA, although it will require modification to lighten the mount for a motor (and, apparently, to fix the LNB holder)...