I'm using a 90cm dish but can barely get a lock. The picture drops in and out.
It needs adjustment, my 90cm Primestar is doing fine, high 40's and solid on the Pansat 2700A.
Finally a real use for my 90cm again, ever since HITS moved to C band it has been floating here and there and not being used much.
GaryZ and TVropro,
Here is one item that no one should overlook... Although my dish is marketed as a 76cm dish, it actually has the same effective aperture as some 90 cm dishes and some 90cm dishes may acutally have an effective apperture of less than 90cm. It all boils down to the phyiscial geometry of the dish design. A bigger dish isn't always better for reception. Keep this thought in the back of your mind while you pursue this hobby.
It is a salesmanship tactic to sell you a dish that is simply bigger, regardless of the fact that is "better". You have to read up on certain specifications like gain and effective apperture to really compare each dish, one to the other.
Sometimes the advertising is very misleading. You have to be knowledgable of satellite technology and dish design (geometry) so that you know what you are shopping for.
I attempted to use a 1M Wimegard dish, instead of my 76cm Winegard dish and found that it was much less advantageous. The 76cm dish was better all around for Ku band.
Now, with the proper LNBF and conical scalar ring, the 1M was able to receive C-Band (Walrus was doing that experimentation with my dish) whereas the 76cm dish could barely touch a C-Band signal.
There is a lot more involved than simply the size of the dish alone. Thre main criteria that I can site are:
1] Effective Apperture
2] F/D ratio
3] Overall gain
4] Total weight
5] Wind loading
6] Price
All of these are important and you need to balance them appropriately.
I found the differences moreso by trial and error, and spending money just to play (hobby). But, if you analyze and compare the results, you can determine what is best before you fork out the money.
My research led me to stick with the 76cm Winegard DS-2076 dish for Ku band.
Now, I am also located in the central US, near Omaha, NE. So I may have an advantage with some satellites over persons in Canada for the same satellite. Learning how to read the EIRP charts and maps will definitely give you more clues as to what is necessary.
There are many things to consider, and the considerations change with your location (to some extent).
AcWxRadar
