Picked up another Dish tonight

[Shawn95GT]

Gotta love ebay. Thanks to a heads up from Tron I got what looks to be a Starband Dish / LNB as well as a couple DSS LNBs.

The dish itself appears to be identical to my Primestar dish. I'm going to replace the dish itself on my P* with this one since it is in perfect shape.

The mount on this dish is different than my P* in that it has an additional bracket which allows the whole dish to skew. Since my setup is motorized and I want to keep the weight down on the SG2100, I'll retain my current mount and set this one aside in case I decide to setup the old dish as a fixed one.

The real bonus here is the DSS LNB bracket. This is just too cool. This looks a bit more professional than my hose clamp does and it will eliminate any blockage of the primary LNB's view of the dish.

I now have an original Channel master feedhorn! Is this a C120 flange? Will this be usefull at all for a baby c-band setup? Would it be worthwhile to get a flanged LNB vs the 'strapped on' universal?

While I'm sure the transmitter LNB is absolutely useless to me, I'm curious how well the 0.8 downlink LNB performs

This dish came complete with the whole Roof / Wall mount which included the feet this time. My original dish came sans feet. I'm pretty stoked with my $1 ebay purchase! Thanks again Tron!

 

[Tron]

Oh yeah!! Great deal Shawn! Glad you were able to scoop that up. Can't beat the price!!!

The LNB's (xmit and receive) look like they're connected with WR-75 interfaces. Looks like the feedhorn *MIGHT* be connected to the LNB assembly with a C-120 flange. Not entirely sure, maybe someone else is more familiar with this. If this is correct, I'd replace the whole LNB assembly on it with the .3 Invacom C-120 and start having real fun!!! That's what I'm going to eventually do with my 1 meter Channel Master dish (once I can locate the proper feedhorn for it)...

And yes, the DBS LNB's are icing on the cake. Only problem is you'll probably only be able to use them with a fixed dish setup...

Great deal!

Tron

 

[snathanb]

Oh yeah!! Great deal Shawn! Glad you were able to scoop t
And yes, the DBS LNB's are icing on the cake. Only problem is you'll probably only be able to use them with a fixed dish setup...

Great deal!

Tron

I've got a DBS LNB strapped to the side of my KU LNB on my converted Dway Dish, which is motorized, and it works just fine. I just use 1.2 positioning instead of USALS to custom store the location of the E* birds, taking the offset into consideration.

 

[Tron]

True, that would work... also, you could use the new circular/linear LNB that's coming to the market later this month or next month from Invacom. It would pick up both types of birds with the same LNB! The ultimate LNB for a motorized dish IMO...

It will also be available in a C-120 version

Tron

 

[Mr Tony]

I've got a DBS LNB strapped to the side of my KU LNB on my converted Dway Dish, which is motorized, and it works just fine. I just use 1.2 positioning instead of USALS to custom store the location of the E* birds, taking the offset into consideration.

thats what I did for a long time.....had the DBS on the left side of the KU band and used 1.2 for the 5 degree or so difference

 

[Shawn95GT]

This dish installed and skewed as a fixed dish to AMC4 should nail 110/119. When I motor to AMC4, I bet it's pretty darn close .

Two DSS LNBs is kind of redundant on a motorized dish so I may cut the bracket down so it's just one.

Right now I've got the Iceberg hose clamp method employed and it works just fine.

So no C-band LNB via this feedhorn, huh? Oh well . I just wonder if the gain is really worth spending the $$ on a C120 flanged LNB. For about the same $$ I could get into a 90cm dish that would probably be better optimized for my Universal LNB.

I'm going to swap out the feed arms for fun and see how that 0.8 NF LNB works out. For all I know it won't even work for video... one way to find out .

 

[CharredPC]

I'm going to swap out the feed arms for fun and see how that 0.8 NF LNB works out. For all I know it won't even work for video... one way to find out .

I've used a 0.8 DPC lnb previously for Ku; works okay! Nothing compared to a "real" .6 or lower, but for a fixed position dish setup, tuned right, it could work.

 

[PopcornNMore]

I just bought a Channel Master feedhorn to match my Channel Master dish that uses a C120 flange. Invacom makes an excellent LNB with a C120 flange. However, according to the feedhorn instructions you can only mount the LNB to either receive H or V transponders. It does not have a motor or is voltage controlled. The biggest reason why I bought it was to get the feed support bracket that I needed to go with my dish.

Shawn, let us know how the dish performs when you get it. I DSS LNB bracket is really cool.

 

[Shawn95GT]

I just bought a Channel Master feedhorn to match my Channel Master dish that uses a C120 flange. Invacom makes an excellent LNB with a C120 flange. However, according to the feedhorn instructions you can only mount the LNB to either receive H or V transponders. It does not have a motor or is voltage controlled. The biggest reason why I bought it was to get the feed support bracket that I needed to go with my dish.

Shawn, let us know how the dish performs when you get it. I DSS LNB bracket is really cool.

I think in my case I'd be ok with a SNF-031 since this dish was a transmit / recieve dish. To do so I beleive it uses V for transmit and H for recieve.

On a complete side note... I was googling like mad trying to learn about waveguide stuff and came across a pretty good video talking about how to install a VSAT setup. It'd be pretty trivial to make something similar for a motorized FTA setup.

http://www.groundcontrol.com/galileo/Galileo-Training.wmv

 

[Stefan]

" Will this be usefull at all for a baby c-band setup?"

No. C band waveguides are much larger as the wavelengths are larger. You can get feedhorns for BUDs that are both C and Ku, but on those the waveguides that attach to the C band LNBs are much larger in diameter and the feedhorn itself is much larger in diameter. A C120 flange waveguide is much too small for C band wavelengths to pass through.

" I'm curious how well the 0.8 downlink LNB performs"

You may be surprised. I've seen Norsat LNBs rated at .8 that outperformed LNBs rated much lower. Basically there's alot more to LNB performance than just noise figure. LO stability is also one very important characteristic that affects an LNBs performance. Also some manufacturers may be a bit optimistic in the way they rate their LNBs in terms of noise figure because they know that often times this is the first thing many people look at when purchasing an LNB. However, one thing about your LNB is that it may be the type of LNB that only recieves one polarity. These type are commonly used on BUDs and generally attach to the feedhorn assembly through a WR-75 flange. When used on BUDs this way, the feedhorn usually somehow sends the right polarity to the LNB. It usually either does this by using a polar servo to rotate a probe in the feedhorn or it will have 2 WR-75 flanges to which you will attach 2 of these type LNBs and there will be polarizing filters in the feedhorn which will separate and direct the 2 different polarities to the 2 different LNBs. In the later situation you would then use a switch to swtich between the 2 LNBs in order to switch polarity.


"I just bought a Channel Master feedhorn to match my Channel Master dish that uses a C120 flange. Invacom makes an excellent LNB with a C120 flange. However, according to the feedhorn instructions you can only mount the LNB to either receive H or V transponders. It does not have a motor or is voltage controlled. The biggest reason why I bought it was to get the feed support bracket that I needed to go with my dish."

PopcornNMore, your feedhorn probably is 2 separate parts. There is likely the feedhorn itslef which has the round C120 flange and a piece that attaches directly to the feedhorn in between the LNB and the feedhorn itslef. This piece probably has a rectangular opening and is a polarising filter. The polarity it filters is changed by oriented this piece and it's rectangular opeing either horizontally or vertically. Anyway, if you omit his piece and attach a C120 voltage switch polarity LNB directly to the feedhorn itself you will be able to recieve either polarity.

 

[Tron]

Thanks Stefan, I was wondering how I'd go about using a switched polarity LNB with one of those Channel Master feedhorns!

Tron