A dielectric slab is only inserted into the feedhorn when receiving circular polarized signals. Do not insert the dielectric when receiving linear polarity signals, as the slab will attenuate the linear signal by approximately 3dB.
This install guide is a great resource when installing a LNBF:
http://www.titaniumsatellite.com/downloads/Guides/LNBF Install Guide.pdf
Thanks, Haven't had a chance to review it yet.
Just an update as I did get a request.
I planted my pole four feet into the ground and anchored it with some concrete. As was pointed out to me, there is a significant gap between the pole and mounting hardware. To fix that, I filled the gap with some PVC plumbing, but I made the mistake of not prefitting some parts, thus it mounted to the pole too tight. Couldn't rotate the dish hardware or get the the hardware off the pole to correct the problem.
Needless to say, it resulted in a lot of wasted effort trying to get it off. I had to resort to using a sledge hammer and a few other tools to undo some mistakes.
Finally got it off and bored out the too tight PVC. It is now correct, quite snug and secure.
But, I believe the pole is too high, so I now plan to cut the pole down 14". For the past few weekends, we have been experiencing 40+ MPH winds and it becomes a hazard to be around the dish under such conditions. Seeing how the dish responds in such strong winds, I have decided to lower it 14" to reduce the flexing of the pole. It should help. It was really too tall considering its location.
Anyway, on top of all that, I had to stop all projects as my water well and cistern stopped working. I thought my well had dried up as we had run out of water. The cistern was empty and so that became a very high priority for the wife. Can't imagine why.
I mean, what do we need water for anyway when there is a dish that needs installing? Wife has unique ways of communicating with me
Anyway, turns out I had to dig up a lot of wiring from the original installation for the well pump. Found an open in the wires where the insulation and wire was nicked. Over time, it was arcing, burning, and finally opened underground. What a mess. I was able to fix it but it did take a lot of troubleshooting time.
Long story short, the joys of home ownership and bad weather have put the dish project on hold until a little later. It hasn't started snowing here yet, so there is still time. I bought some cable to start hooking things up prior to aligning the dish.
Am I having fun yet?
The good thing is that anything coming now usually goes away within the next day or so.
