Mad Scientist strikes again! Poor Man's DISH500+/1000+

[Duane]

Finished Linear to circular lnb convertion

Finish my effort to get 118' W. just a few minutes ago. Worked on it for several hours today. Ended up getting a signal strength of 72 from AMC 16.
I first took a bad Dish Network lnb apart to see if I could put the guts of my linear lnb in it. Wouldn't work the linear lnb antenna is in the feed horn and Dish's isn't. Since I had both lnb's apart I decided to take the cover of the linear lnb's feed horn to see what it looked like inside. I was surprised to see grooves already cut inside the feed horn at 45' angle. I took what looks like a piece of circuit board, from a do it your self stereo RCA jacks install and cut to fit in the feed horn grooves (which is not quit 1 and a half inches deep). Aimed my dish with a circular lnb at 119' and swapped lnb's and peaked it.

 

[maddawg]

Duane any pictures?

 

[sigmtr]

I had a guy give me his old Primestar dish, so I took the 105 FSS LNB from my SD and did the mod, using Pepper's photos as a reference. But it never really said in anything I read how *deep* the dielectric piece should be. I had a small blank circuit board with no copper about 1.5 inches long that I cut to fit inside the PS feedhorn, at slightly less than the 45 degree notches to really be lined up with the LNB with its skew. But no signal for me...

So tell me, to satisfy my old radio theory classes, is the feedhorn really a section of waveguide? How does the dielectric make the polarity circular, and does it need to be the entire length of the tube?

I really have no need for the 118 signal; this is just climbing the mountain because it's there.

 

[Pepper]

But it never really said in anything I read how *deep* the dielectric piece should be.

I didn't actually measure it, just described where I found it. The thing has quit working (these SD FSS seem really sensitive to heat this year or what?) so I'll pull it apart and maybe take some more pictures of the parts. [Edit: nope, it wasn't dead, the yard guy must have bumped the dish, I've got it working again]

So tell me, to satisfy my old radio theory classes, is the feedhorn really a section of waveguide? How does the dielectric make the polarity circular, and does it need to be the entire length of the tube?

I too have been wondering how it actually works. I can't visualize what a piece of plastic does to an RF signal.

 

[nsaspook]

LNB mod

Just for kicks I modded a EA 1700KU. It works just fine for 118.7 but it's all internationals on my dish 6000. I'll call dish and see if I can get a freebe trial on something.

 

[Smith P.]

Ducktape again ? Under sun it will tear down in one month.

 

[nsaspook]

Ducktape again ? Under sun it will tear down in one month.

In a month it'll be raining for 6 months again. Ducktape, good stuff. It got apollo 13 back home.

 

[Jim5506]

"Duct" tape does degrade over time. Now aluminum tape is used on ducting. It lasts longer and is stronger.

 

[ladude626]

I was wondering if it's possible to convert a Universtal Linear LNBF to cicular and make it pick up both 119k and 119W. The "High Band" of the LNBF receives at 11.7GHz - 12.75GHz. This is perfect for receiver these two satellites.

 

[Smith P.]

No. Check LOF of your "universal" LNBF.

 

[ladude626]

LOF is 9.750 GHz/10.600 GHz for Universal LNBF <----- LOF won't be a problem with FTA receiver, right?

But how about this LNB with range of 11.7-12.5Ghz with LOF of 10750Mhz.

 

[Duane]

Anything to see from AMC 16 on a DISH receiver

After getting some time to look through the guide and compare to what is listed at lyngSat as being transmitted from AMC 16. I see that I am not getting anything from 118.7 on my DISH receiver. Is anyone able to see channel 9903 (congratulation you have a dish 500+ or 1000+ screen), other than FTA.

BTW: I will try to take some pictures of my dish and LNB setup as soon as I can.

Duane

 

[Mr Tony]

LOF is 9.750 GHz/10.600 GHz for Universal LNBF <----- LOF won't be a problem with FTA receiver, right?

But how about this LNB with range of 11.7-12.5Ghz with LOF of 10750Mhz.

neither one of them will work because they are linear and Dish 118.7 uses circular (frequencies are correct)

Unless you jerry rig something it wont work

 

[ladude626]

neither one of them will work because they are linear and Dish 118.7 uses circular (frequencies are correct)

Unless you jerry rig something it wont work

Modding it from linear to circular should allow it to pick up both AMC16 and Echo7.

 

[Mr Tony]

Modding it from linear to circular should allow it to pick up both AMC16 and Echo7.

no that I'm aware of because of the frequencies. KU band is from 11.7-12.2 which AMC16 is (yet circular)

Dish 119 is 12.2-12.75

 

[ladude626]

no that I'm aware of because of the frequencies. KU band is from 11.7-12.2 which AMC16 is (yet circular)

Dish 119 is 12.2-12.75

According to lyngsat, Echostar 119 only uses 12224-12516 Mhz, the upper part of the spectrum is being used by DirecTV: http://www.lyngsat.com/119west.html

This LNB with a range of 11.7-12.5Ghz should theoritically able to pick up both 119k and 119W.

 

[Mr Tony]

According to lyngsat, Echostar 119 only uses 12224-12516 Mhz, the upper part of the spectrum is being used by DirecTV: http://www.lyngsat.com/119west.html

This LNB with a range of 11.7-12.5Ghz should theoritically able to pick up both 119k and 119W.

but it may not. That's what I'm saying. Unless you jerry rig the LNB somehow to make it a circular, it won't get 118k

And yes I do know what frequencies Dish uses on 119. I was using the general DBS frequencies for all DBS satellites

 

[Duane]

Pictures of my 118.75' Setup

My first attempt at putting pictures on the Web!

 

[Smith P.]

Hmm, can you post a picture of the slab ? What material is it ? I see holes, not even egde, etc - that's wrong. Also will be better to reuse Dish DP KuFSS LNBF, then switch matrix will show you right sat number.

 

[Duane]

This is what I used

I took what looks like a piece of circuit board, from a do it your self stereo RCA jacks install and cut to fit in the feed horn grooves (which is not quit 1 and a half inches deep). Aimed my dish with a circular lnb at 119' and swapped lnb's and peaked it.

I an using Legacy equipment in my setup. I don't really care what switch check shows, as long as I am getting all the programming I am suppose to get from AMC 16.