SA dishes are excellent dishes. My local cable company used three 5 meter dishes back in the 80's. Those dishes aren't toys like the ones we use. There commercial quality.
Out with the bad - My Fifth BUD
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SA dishes are excellent dishes. My local cable company used three 5 meter dishes back in the 80's. Those dishes aren't toys like the ones we use. There commercial quality.
Glad you've got a fifth BUD working Fred. But somehow I don't buy this you being sorry about not putting up the Unimesh dish? And I'm sure you will eventually get that Unimesh in service.......???
Al
HeHe
Well the P10 is up there, but I haven't had a chance to start tuning it yet. Rained Thursday and Friday and had a house full of company yesterday.
I plan to start tuning this afternoon.
I don't know about Univision. I will have to figure out a good reason for it.
Fred
well you guys are nuts with all these dishes!!!!!!hahahahthen i thought im crazy myself as i just got my 12 ft c band up and running and slowly turning out to be the same way as im starting to instal 2 others for fta,if i get them up and running is one thing but there attached to the house now
Started tuning the P10 with the Traxis yesterday. I made pretty good progress, but was having difficulty using the method I am familiar with. I normally try to find the lowest signal TP on each satellite, and tune to make that one better. In this case, the National Labs Test card on G11.
Today I discovered the reason. I switched from using the Traxis to using the Pansat. I left all controls of the polarity and movement with the GI 450i. The problem lies in that the Traxis wont' scan in or give a signal on a TP until it reaches a threshold of about 20% SQ.
The Pansat will scan them in, and gives the SQ reading at about 10%.
I've about reached the zenith SQ for this dish. The C-Band digital is great. G11 (91W) CW is bouncing between 85 - 90% SQ on the Pansat. The Ku on the other hand isn't that great.
I've got White Springs on the West side at about 45% SQ. The Satops Mux on AMC6 is at about 30% SQ, and the National Labs on G11 is only at about 20%. The Traxis won't even display an unpixelated picture with signal under around 45%.
I've tried everything I most normally try to get it to move up a little. Even changed out the Ku LNB. I know it is brand new, but even new can sometimes be bad. BTW for those interested, the best signal comes in with a Focal Length of 44-1/8" not the prescribed 45" that the book calls for. .38 seems to be the best F/D ratio. That indicates there is something off in the surface accuracy. The string test reveals no warpage whatsoever, so I don't know what it could be.
I'm a little disappointed that the Ku is not better on this dish. If it was at least comparable with the C-Band, I wouldn't hesitate to go ahead and use it.
So I have a choice at this point. Get a different receiver that will display a good picture with lower signals like the Pansat does, or change out this dish for the Unimesh. ( I know you will like that idea Al)
Let me know if anything springs to mind for a suggestion.
Otherwise, I will be looking at alternatives.
Fred
Today I discovered the reason. I switched from using the Traxis to using the Pansat. I left all controls of the polarity and movement with the GI 450i. The problem lies in that the Traxis wont' scan in or give a signal on a TP until it reaches a threshold of about 20% SQ.
The Pansat will scan them in, and gives the SQ reading at about 10%.
I've about reached the zenith SQ for this dish. The C-Band digital is great. G11 (91W) CW is bouncing between 85 - 90% SQ on the Pansat. The Ku on the other hand isn't that great.
I've got White Springs on the West side at about 45% SQ. The Satops Mux on AMC6 is at about 30% SQ, and the National Labs on G11 is only at about 20%. The Traxis won't even display an unpixelated picture with signal under around 45%.
I've tried everything I most normally try to get it to move up a little. Even changed out the Ku LNB. I know it is brand new, but even new can sometimes be bad. BTW for those interested, the best signal comes in with a Focal Length of 44-1/8" not the prescribed 45" that the book calls for. .38 seems to be the best F/D ratio. That indicates there is something off in the surface accuracy. The string test reveals no warpage whatsoever, so I don't know what it could be.
I'm a little disappointed that the Ku is not better on this dish. If it was at least comparable with the C-Band, I wouldn't hesitate to go ahead and use it.
So I have a choice at this point. Get a different receiver that will display a good picture with lower signals like the Pansat does, or change out this dish for the Unimesh. ( I know you will like that idea Al)
Let me know if anything springs to mind for a suggestion.
Otherwise, I will be looking at alternatives.
Fred
Sounds like a "Winner", to me! But, I really think the Perfect 10 is going to be a better dish (of the 2)? Maybe the Traxis will do better on another dish and you could swap with that receiver?
Al
Well the P10 is down, and in a few minutes a buddy of mine are going to put the Unimesh up. So whatever happens, happens.
I would have never believed that the 10 footer wouldn't have better Ku signal than it did. The 7.5 footer I have does an excellent job with C and Ku. I don't know what they changed, but they didn't make the 10 footer better in my opinion of course.
We'll see by tomorrow afternoon if the Unimesh is worthy of the privilege of setting on my roof along with all the other good dishes.
Fred
Wow look at all the dishes are they all yours? I noticed the small lnb on the edge of the new big dish what do you use that for?
common denominator
A poor workman blames his tools.
Sounds to me like you've lost your touch, Mr BirdView. -
You know the old saying:
A poor workman blames his tools.
Sounds to me like you've lost your touch, Mr BirdView. -
Trust me, I have doubted myself more than a few times with this fifth dish. I have also backtracked, changed out coax, equipment and everything else, so it has to be me or the dish. I can't throw myself out, so all is left is the dish.
Yes, they are all mine, for better or worse! The small LNBf hanging on the side is a circular LNBf to pick up what little there is free on some of the circular satellites.
Fred
Well my friend got called away yesterday so we didn't get the Unimesh put up.
I tried to round up another guy today, but had no success. My wife and son were in the city for the day, so I got ticked off, and just put it up myself.
Carried all the petals, parts, pieces and tools to the roof. Assembled the dish, and lifted it on the mount and started the first bolt with my "spare" hand. Not bad considering the wind was gusting up to 20 mph at times. I thought the wind had it once, but I hung on.
I couldn't take a picture because my 17 yr old daughter took the camera to school for halloween pictures.
It is all set for hook up and tune in tomorrow. I have the F/D set at .40 and the Focal Length at 48-1/4". The specs that tvropro provided in the Adventures in dish hunting thread say that the Focal Length is at 48", so I am at a good starting point.
Hope it works well, and I can put the lid on this project.
Fred
I tried to round up another guy today, but had no success. My wife and son were in the city for the day, so I got ticked off, and just put it up myself.
Carried all the petals, parts, pieces and tools to the roof. Assembled the dish, and lifted it on the mount and started the first bolt with my "spare" hand. Not bad considering the wind was gusting up to 20 mph at times. I thought the wind had it once, but I hung on.
I couldn't take a picture because my 17 yr old daughter took the camera to school for halloween pictures.
It is all set for hook up and tune in tomorrow. I have the F/D set at .40 and the Focal Length at 48-1/4". The specs that tvropro provided in the Adventures in dish hunting thread say that the Focal Length is at 48", so I am at a good starting point.
Hope it works well, and I can put the lid on this project.
Fred
Good Luck with the Unimesh Fred. My 12XL has served me well for 18 years now. It has seen signals of all kind, analog digital, NTSC, Pal Secam etc, in those 18 years and still standing proud and receiving with the same high gain as day one!
I'm hoping you're right guy. Even I get tired after a while, and this project has just about worn me down.
I hope I go up there tomorrow afternoon, and the meter gets blown off the Pansat.
The dish all went together pretty smoothly. I still have the strings that I always test for warp with still on it, and they touch perfectly in the middle. The Focal Length is where it is, because that is where the bolts on the support arms imprint are from the original installer. The laser pointer says that the wave-guide points exactly to the middle, and the measurements from the outside rim to the scalar ring all match exactly.
Course I had all that on the other two dishes too, and they didn't pan out.
We should know tomorrow.
Fred
I'm hoping you're right guy. Even I get tired after a while, and this project has just about worn me down.
I hope I go up there tomorrow afternoon, and the meter gets blown off the Pansat.
The dish all went together pretty smoothly. I still have the strings that I always test for warp with still on it, and they touch perfectly in the middle. The Focal Length is where it is, because that is where the bolts on the support arms imprint are from the original installer. The laser pointer says that the wave-guide points exactly to the middle, and the measurements from the outside rim to the scalar ring all match exactly.
Course I had all that on the other two dishes too, and they didn't pan out.
We should know tomorrow.
Fred
I can only speak for my 12 foot dish. I bought new in 1989. Cost me like $800 for the dish alone with all the outside parts added it was close to $1500.00. If there are no issues with your Unimesh and it tuned right it should perform well. They had a quality product. Both my ku dishes are used and worked great so not all used dishes are dogs. I think you just ran across a couple that seen better days.
Things will pan out... Good things come to those who wait
All of my dishes are used except for a couple of Primestar 84e's which I bought last fall from an ex-Primestar dealer.
All of the used dishes that I have tried have been great dishes except for the last two. I think you might be right. They just may have been at the end of their usefulness, or were flawed in some way off the assembly line. When they were put up originally, analog was king and both probably worked fine for that.
Fred
So far so good.
My preliminary tuning has revealed that this may be a keeper. The digital C-Band is outstanding!!
If I can just get the Ku to match, it will be in the same league as my other dishes.
I think I have the F/D ratio and Focal Length pretty close.
On the west side at G27 129W Ku, if I push down on the dish just a tiny bit, and on the east side on AMC6 72W if I push down just a tiny bit, I can see a significant raise in the signal. Pushing down at G11 91W (my TSS) doesn't seem to make much change. It did earlier, and I adjusted the elevation up, so now the change is occurring on the ends. I pretty much have the arc down. Get signal from IS9 58W to G15 133W. The California channel has a decent signal, so I think I have the arc covered.
I am thinking maybe too much declination. I haven't touched that yet. I wanted to get some opinions first.
What does the dish need?
More declination? Less declination? What?
Please give me your valued opinions.
Fred
My preliminary tuning has revealed that this may be a keeper. The digital C-Band is outstanding!!
If I can just get the Ku to match, it will be in the same league as my other dishes.
I think I have the F/D ratio and Focal Length pretty close.
On the west side at G27 129W Ku, if I push down on the dish just a tiny bit, and on the east side on AMC6 72W if I push down just a tiny bit, I can see a significant raise in the signal. Pushing down at G11 91W (my TSS) doesn't seem to make much change. It did earlier, and I adjusted the elevation up, so now the change is occurring on the ends. I pretty much have the arc down. Get signal from IS9 58W to G15 133W. The California channel has a decent signal, so I think I have the arc covered.
I am thinking maybe too much declination. I haven't touched that yet. I wanted to get some opinions first.
What does the dish need?
More declination? Less declination? What?
Please give me your valued opinions.
Fred
I would just consult the chart at the bottom of this web page:
Footprints by Dish Size - Adjusting the Polar Mount for Prime Focus Antenna - C/Ku-Band Satellite Systems - Tuning, Tracking, Azimuth, Elevation, Declination Angles, F/D Ratio, Focal Distance, Inclinometer, LNB/Feedhorn Assembly, Actuator Assembly, C
it might be an ugly set of old pages, but has all the info needed to get there.
(so,,,, that means you have too little and need to add more?)
Wish that chart were a bit more clear , with proper legends.
Footprints by Dish Size - Adjusting the Polar Mount for Prime Focus Antenna - C/Ku-Band Satellite Systems - Tuning, Tracking, Azimuth, Elevation, Declination Angles, F/D Ratio, Focal Distance, Inclinometer, LNB/Feedhorn Assembly, Actuator Assembly, C
it might be an ugly set of old pages, but has all the info needed to get there.
(so,,,, that means you have too little and need to add more?)
Wish that chart were a bit more clear , with proper legends.
depends on how much is gained on the g27 & amc6
since the center of the arc is basicly good anything you adjust on the outside arc will affect the center ( will it lose some signal ) if it doesn't affect the center of the arc then adjust the declination (less)
and another great job
hopefully i will get mine tuned 1/2 as well
since the center of the arc is basicly good anything you adjust on the outside arc will affect the center ( will it lose some signal ) if it doesn't affect the center of the arc then adjust the declination (less)
and another great job
hopefully i will get mine tuned 1/2 as well
I think you are both correct!
To quote someone here on this forum "I read that page until my eyes bled and still didn't understand it".
Anyway, that is the plan for tomorrow. Add just a little declination and adjust the elevation the same amount.
Thanks guys!
Fred
To quote someone here on this forum "I read that page until my eyes bled and still didn't understand it".
Anyway, that is the plan for tomorrow. Add just a little declination and adjust the elevation the same amount.
Thanks guys!
Fred
Well, I don't know for sure whether you add or subtract the declination.
1). But I do know that as the first step, you need to do one or the other.
2). And then as the second step you need to point to the due south bird, and adjust elevation to re-peak it
3). Third step is to check the ends of the arc.
If they're worse in the direction they were out before, then you screwed up in the add/subtract of step one above.
....which seems to be about what Linuxman said...
That's what I learned from reading that site 'till -my- eyes fell out.
1). But I do know that as the first step, you need to do one or the other.
2). And then as the second step you need to point to the due south bird, and adjust elevation to re-peak it
3). Third step is to check the ends of the arc.
If they're worse in the direction they were out before, then you screwed up in the add/subtract of step one above.
....which seems to be about what Linuxman said...
That's what I learned from reading that site 'till -my- eyes fell out.
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