Star Choice 48" Dish

[cyberham]

I am planning to buy this used Star Choice dish locally tomorrow for a low price. It is a 48-inch dish. I'm not too worried about the LNB since I plan to replace whatever it has with my SL2 bullet and circular LNBs. I've seen these elsewhere and they look like solid quality dishes better and larger than my current 39-inch Digiwave I'm using. Anybody have experience with these for FTA? Will I have any trouble mounting it on my SG-2100 motor?



Added: Just found this link: http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/280126-4ft-dish.html

 

[phlatwound]

If that is a "typical" stamped-steel dish I don't think weight will be a problem, and if your motor shaft diameter matches the dish mount hole size you should be good to go.

 

[cyberham]

If this dish is actually a Winegard DS-3100 as suggested by Conky in the other link, then its dimensions are 44.8" H x 41.3" W. So this really not equivalent to a 1.2-metre dish but more like a 1-metre dish. Its weight would be 22 lbs.

 

[cyberham]

Installed this dish today. The LNB holder is not totally compatible with my SL2 bullet, so I may not yet have it positioned correctly. Generally signal quality seems similar to my 39-inch dish. Though LPB on 87W is coming in very well tonight.

Can anybody identify this LNB that came with it? I can't get any quality signal using it. Maybe it's circular?

 

[Mr Tony]

normally LNB's like that are circular polarity but ya never know. I have one that looks kinda like that but is linear

Shaw (Starchoice) as long as I can remember has always been linear polarity. I guess that person maybe used it for Bell

 

[cyberham]

Not sure if he knew what he was talking about (or could remember accurately), but I think he said he used it for Direct TV. Assuming this LNB is not broken, if it was circular that would explain why I couldn't get any quality out of it.

 

[Mr Tony]

If he was using it for D* then yeah its circular

 

[cyberham]

This is good if it's circular! I need a circular too, so I'll put it back in its correct holder, then install my linear beside it. He also threw in a 20" dish labeled "RCA Direct TV" for free which likely also has a circular LNB. Not sure what to do with this one.

 

[Mr Tony]

I'd put the circular off to the side. Circular polarity signals are much stronger than linear. Best to put the linear LNB in the holder

 

[cyberham]

That's what I've always done (placed the circular to the side), but this holder is odd. The holder is way too big to hold my linear without the reducer installed, and with reducer the holder is 20mm so too small for my linear. I agree with what you say. I'll have to modify the reducer to allow the 40mm throat of my linear to fit and be positioned in the best spot for the dish.

 

[Conky]

It's circular. Mine came with the exact same lnb. I assume it's plastic shell was ripped off for some reason.
I also had the same problem with the either too big/too small LNB holder. PVC pipe collars to the rescue
I've been using a Moteck SG2100 for 2 years to move it with no problems. Red Green up a sleeve(for the smaller tube) with some PVC pipe and a saw. Somebody also had a thread about adding hooks to the front of the bracket to add stability/prevent sagging. This will help with the heavier dish
if you have a drillpress and are feeling adventurous you could try this but you might bugger up your arm

 

[cyberham]

Testing today has confirmed you are right. This is a circular LNB with LO of 11250 MHz. I reinstalled it temporarily to the dish to test. With a quality of 77% on the Bell and Dish satellites, it pulled in 500 scrambled channels on just one satellite. It works well.

I then removed this circular LNB, and used the tape trick wrapping black tape around the circumference of my own linear LNB building up its diameter until it fit snugly into the original LNB holder. So I'm confident now that my LNB is positioned correctly. I must wait for decent weather to return since the dish now needs re-orienting for this new linear LNB placement. Eventually I may get some PVC pipe for a more permanent mounting arrangement.

See the photo below. The mounting bracket uses a standard arrangement. Not like in the link you provided. So perhaps this is not a Winegard, or it has been modified previously.

 

[Mr Tony]

I've done that too with the tape (mine was actually duct tape) to make a LNB fit

 

[Larry1]

The mounting bracket uses a standard arrangement. Not like in the link you provided. So perhaps this is not a Winegard, or it has been modified previously.

View attachment 77755View attachment 77756

Thats similar to my Starchoice 1m dish, but with a newer revision of the mount. The mount is original StarChoice. I found the back plate where you tighten down the clamp to the pole to be weak and bent when snugged to the pole. When I had mine attached to my motor (Stab 90) I added a bolt through the motor shaft for the back bracket to pull against to give more support. It's a 1m (or 39 inch) dish. The specs are here:
http://www.winegard.com/kbase/upload/X3e_21DF3126.pdf
I have also (a very long time ago) posted a drawing to check the lnbf placement with measurements to the top and bottom of the dish. Good to check the specs as I found my lnbf arm to need a little bending to be placed correctly, even with the support arms.

 

[longhalkilo]

I have mod 4 starchoice 32" dish with the 50mm holders. All you need to do is cut a piece of 1 1/2" ABS pipe X 1" long or longer then cut it in half. Now all you do is take black electrical tape and the 2 half pieces and tape them to the throat of the LNB and build it up with tape until it fits.