My installation Pictures

[sanjap]

I just put up this 1.2m dish. Was intended to be a miniBUD for C band but the C/KU Lnb with Scalar ring brings in maximum quality of 60% and i won't get any 8psk. But with my invacom Quad polar LNB, i get all the 8psk on ku with 90% quality.

Now i have some worries the electric pole which is located about 5 meters from the dish at about 116 degrees is blocking. Do you think it is big enough to block my signals? My fence is about 7 meters from the dish.

Please just look at the pictures and let me know what you think about this installation. My true south is 95 degrees and i can get every satellite from 45W to 160W using usals.

The HH120 motor has no hole in it to hold the dish. There were strong winds yesterday and my dish seemed to have moved a litte east. I have inspected the dish but don't seem to see any movement. It is still as sturdy and strong as i installed it. What then moved? I appreciate your comments.

 

[melbfla]

sanjap

Nice looking set up. Just a wild guess I am sure you already checked. Could the pole have moved from the concrete? I am sure you did but I drill a couple of holes at the concrete end and insert a couple of long bolts in a cross fashion before pouring the concrete. As the concrete dries it will shrink.

 

[mr.crane]

Nice setup, which I had a yard to setup a big dish. Why are you using
a Diseqc swithch. Is it because of the Invacom quad. And how is the
quad working? thnks.

 

[sanjap]

Nice setup, which I had a yard to setup a big dish. Why are you using
a Diseqc swithch. Is it because of the Invacom quad. And how is the
quad working? thnks.

My invacom quad has both circular and linear. so the diseqc switch is to switch between linear and circular. But i just found that there is not much FTA in Circular. So far the Invacom quad is the best lnb i've used so far for Ku.

 

[Gray1]

If you dont mind me asking. What size pole and how high is the dish in the air? Im thinking of doing about the same thing. Looks good to me.

Thanks
allen

 

[Crocodile Locke]

Nicely put together setup. I used a bunch of zip-ties to hold my cables in place too; makes for a very neat appearance. :up

Somebody might correct me on this, but I don't think you're missing much FTA wise at 116, however I'm not sure how much it would affect nearby sats.

 

[Mr Tony]

116 KU has a couple channels. The footprint sucks in northern US and non existent in Canada. I can barely lock any channels in Minnesota

 

[mr.crane]

116 KU has a couple channels. The footprint sucks in northern US and non existent in Canada. I can barely lock any channels in Minnesota

Iceberg, tomorrow will setup my tripod using winegard76cm or my geosat90cm,
but more likely the winegard, will point at satmex 5 116deg. will also be
using my Satlook11 spectrum analyzer. live in zipcode 95388 will take pics and post them

 

[mr.crane]

If you dont mind me asking. What size pole and how high is the dish in the air? Im thinking of doing about the same thing. Looks good to me.

Thanks
allen

Gray, what kind of system are u setting up? you using a motor, if so, maybe a
schedule 40 pipe with 2 inch o/d, post pics when done.

 

[Anole]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that looks to be the thin-wall fence post material.
And it is about six feet from ground to top.

How many feet in the ground?

Anyway, if I'm right, that may be too tall, and too light a post for a four foot dish 'n motor.

Suggestions:
- larger diameter? and actual pipe. and maybe 5' instead of 6?
- or, get a 6' piece of rebar and jiggle it up 'n down as you pour cement into the pipe? (and leave it in place)
Not sure if the latter would work, but I'd give it a try.

And as suggested above, the pole needs to have some anti-rotation fins/bolts on it down in the concrete under ground.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Now i have some worries the electric pole which is located about 5 meters from the dish at about 116 degrees is blocking. Do you think it is big enough to block my signals? My fence is about 7 meters from the dish.

Please just look at the pictures and let me know what you think about this installation. My true south is 95 degrees and i can get every satellite from 45W to 160W using usals.

The HH120 motor has no hole in it to hold the dish. There were strong winds yesterday and my dish seemed to have moved a litte east. I have inspected the dish but don't seem to see any movement. It is still as sturdy and strong as i installed it. What then moved? I appreciate your comments.

Sanjap,

To evaluate if the pole is blocking any signals (and it is - just which ones and how much value they have are the question), you need to have it realigned to the other portions of the arc first so that you can discriminate between whether the pole is blocking your LOS to the satellite and simply the dish not being aligned properly.

Since you say that the pole is approximately where 116W would be. Then try the following:

Set up satellite 105W with TP 11855MHz Vertical polarity (linear) and 3548Ks/S SR.
Scan and see if you can pull in the MACYS TV channel.

Set up satellite 110W with TP 12355MHz Horizontal polarity and 20,000Ks/S. Scan and see if you can pull in the channel D500. This is an "in the clear" test card channel from DN (on the circular side).

111.1W Anik F2, TP 11848MHz Vertical polarity on the linear side, with SR 3270.
Scan for channels "Learn 1", 2 and 3.

113.0W SatMex 6, TP 12079MHz Horizontal polarity on the linear side, SR 25635.
Scan for MACTV.

116.8W SatMex 5, TP 12060MHz Vertical polarity on the linear side, SR 3078.
Scan for Televida Abundante.

119W with TP 12370MHz Vertical polarity and 20,000Ks/S.
Scan and see if you can pull in the NASA channel (on the circular side).

121W with TP 12013MHz Vertical polarity and 20,000 Ks/S.
Scan and see if you can pull in the channel D121. This is another "in the clear" test card channel from DN (on the linear side).

123W G18, TP 11731MHz Horizontal polarity on the linear side, with 13240Ks/S.
Scan for Channel Three VBA (Pentagon).

If you know that your dish and motor are aligned for all other sats on the arc, beyond these that I have listed, then you should be able to evaluate which satellites are being occluded by the power pole. You should at least catch a glimpse of these satellites, if the pole is not blocking them.

I am guessing that 2 - 4 degrees of the arc is going to be completely blocked for sure and up to 6 degrees of the arc will be weakened. Beyond this, you may not notice much of a problem due to the power pole, but it probably is reducing your signal in some extent and the only way you would realize the difference would be to chop down the pole (yeah right ) or relocate your dish mount ( ).

RADAR

 

[sanjap]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that looks to be the thin-wall fence post material.
And it is about six feet from ground to top.

How many feet in the ground?

Anyway, if I'm right, that may be too tall, and too light a post for a four foot dish 'n motor.

Suggestions:
- larger diameter? and actual pipe. and maybe 5' instead of 6?
- or, get a 6' piece of rebar and jiggle it up 'n down as you pour cement into the pipe? (and leave it in place)
Not sure if the latter would work, but I'd give it a try.

And as suggested above, the pole needs to have some anti-rotation fins/bolts on it down in the concrete under ground.

Anole,
Your assumptions are almost correct. That is a 2 inch ( diameter) fence post and it is about 6.5ft from the ground. About 2ft is in the ground with a bold at the bottom to prevent it from moving. If i got a bigger pole, the motor won't have fitted at all. The ariza 4ft dish is very light. Apart from a little dangling in the wind, i have not seen any thing to make me think the pole is light. I am 215lbs and i lean on the pole with very little movement.

I'll try to re-inforce the pole with your suggestions.

Thanks

 

[sanjap]

Sanjap,

To evaluate if the pole is blocking any signals (and it is - just which ones and how much value they have are the question), you need to have it realigned to the other portions of the arc first so that you can discriminate between whether the pole is blocking your LOS to the satellite and simply the dish not being aligned properly.

Since you say that the pole is approximately where 116W would be. Then try the following:

Set up satellite 105W with TP 11855MHz Vertical polarity (linear) and 3548Ks/S SR.
Scan and see if you can pull in the MACYS TV channel.

Set up satellite 110W with TP 12355MHz Horizontal polarity and 20,000Ks/S. Scan and see if you can pull in the channel D500. This is an "in the clear" test card channel from DN (on the circular side).

111.1W Anik F2, TP 11848MHz Vertical polarity on the linear side, with SR 3270.
Scan for channels "Learn 1", 2 and 3.

113.0W SatMex 6, TP 12079MHz Horizontal polarity on the linear side, SR 25635.
Scan for MACTV.

116.8W SatMex 5, TP 12060MHz Vertical polarity on the linear side, SR 3078.
Scan for Televida Abundante.

119W with TP 12370MHz Vertical polarity and 20,000Ks/S.
Scan and see if you can pull in the NASA channel (on the circular side).

121W with TP 12013MHz Vertical polarity and 20,000 Ks/S.
Scan and see if you can pull in the channel D121. This is another "in the clear" test card channel from DN (on the linear side).

123W G18, TP 11731MHz Horizontal polarity on the linear side, with 13240Ks/S.
Scan for Channel Three VBA (Pentagon).

If you know that your dish and motor are aligned for all other sats on the arc, beyond these that I have listed, then you should be able to evaluate which satellites are being occluded by the power pole. You should at least catch a glimpse of these satellites, if the pole is not blocking them.

I am guessing that 2 - 4 degrees of the arc is going to be completely blocked for sure and up to 6 degrees of the arc will be weakened. Beyond this, you may not notice much of a problem due to the power pole, but it probably is reducing your signal in some extent and the only way you would realize the difference would be to chop down the pole (yeah right ) or relocate your dish mount ( ).

RADAR

Radar,
I did all you said above and "Bang" !! got every channel you mentioned above with the lowest coming in at about 69% quality.

Now i don't know if this has been discussed before, but do we have more English FTA on Ku than on C? I am thinking of getting a 6ft dish. I don't just want my neighbors to look at my backyard i think my home is the new space station mission control.

Any tip will help. I want to maximize FTA to the fullest, either C or Ku.