T55 Wave Frontier Toroidal Dish

[PopcornNMore]

After reading about the T90 Wave Frontier Toroidal Dish in Satellite International Magazine and within Iceberg's equipment thread, I am thinking of purchasing the smaller T55 Wave Frontier dish and using it for the following:

Nimiq1@91.0 - Circular LNB (FTA)
DirecTV D1R@101.0 - Circular LNB (DirecTV Subscription)
AMC 15@105.0 - Circular LNB (FTA)
EchoStar 8&10@110.0 - Circular LNB (FTA)
AMC16&EchoStar7@119.0 - Circular LNB (FTA)
EchoStar5@129.0 - Circular LNB (FTA)

Reasons:
1) Improved gain on DirecTV channels - Current 18" DirecTV dish has a gain of 34.0dB @ 12.45GHZ and the T55 has a gain of 35.7dB @12.5GHZ.
2) I know there aren't many FTA channels on these satellites, but they would be all setup for when occasional programming becomes FTA on these satellites.
3) FTA audio channels on EchoStar 7.

Questions:
1) Does anyone own the T55 Wave Frontier and if so, how do you like it?
2) Can the T55 Wave Frontier mount onto a standard 1 5/8" DirecTV pole mount?

 

[Mr Tony]

AMC15 is linear and wont work on there

 

[PopcornNMore]

I just discovered that myself. I never knew that EchoStar used linear as well as circular polorization. In this case, I will just select another DSS satellite to replace AMC15 or just use 5 LNB's.

 

[Anole]

...the sobering question...

Why Not ?

Well,, besides the huge outlay of money...
All those LNBs need to be the reversed models, which none of us have, and cost .... more money...
The 1db of gain is probably not going to buy you anything.
I don't think BEV has any channels that are FTA any more, not even music.
Then, for your Dish subscription, you'll be using legacy LNBs... and switches... the DishPro stuff is sooo much faster when you have to do a switch-test.
edit: oh, sorry. You said FTA, not subscription... So, some NASA, GOL, and a little music??
Looking at 105, there's nothing FTA at all on it... lyngsat, dbstalk,

But, it sure does sound like a fun project.

 

[voomvoom]

The only problem I see is, the T90 has a range of 40 degrees (as advertised) and may get 45 degrees or so. The T55 is probably half of that, so you can expect to only cover 22-23 degrees, I suspect? You are showing a span of 38 degrees?

Al

 

[Mr Tony]

I think the T55 can do 35-40 degrees of arc.

 

[Wescopc]

I agree with Iceberg, the online calculator does not have an input for for the size of toroid (T55 or T90) so I think they both do 40°. However, I would go with the T90 if at all possible a lot more flexibility for FTA.
Bob

 

[PopcornNMore]

Yes, both models do 40 degrees. The T-55 supports up to 8 LNBs and the T90 supports up to 16 LNBs.

I figured by using the T-55 and feeding it into my SatPros DSR 500 receiver, I would eliminate having to replace the linear LNB on my 1.2m motorized system feeding into my Coolsat 4000 receiver with a circular LNB everytime something appeared un-encrypted that I was interested in. Then after the programming scrambled, I would remove the circular LNB and replace once again with the linear LNB.

This way all DSS circular FTA will be controlled by the SatPros DSR 500 and all linear polorized FTA will be controlled by the Coolsat.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Holly Cow! Now I know what you mean Anole. I thought reversed and circular where the same. I just read on Sadoun's website that reversed LNBs are for toroidal dishes only. I would need to buy all new LNBs at $39 a pop.

Ok, I'll just add a circular LNB onto my existing motorized dish or setup a separate motorized dish strickly for circular polorization satellites.

 

[Anole]

other solutions

Holly Cow! Now I know what you mean Anole.

Well, now that we better understand your goals, maybe a 20-30" spare dish with a circular LNB (whatever you have around) on a cheap motor, might be good enough.

Considering how easy DBS birds are to find and align on, maybe no motor would work for the occasional use?
Or, and this one is sweet, set the end of the pole at an angle to let the dish's left-right swing follow the clarke belt.
One of the members posted that idea here a few times.
You'd still have to move by hand, but only in one dimension.

Alternately, a combo circular/linear LNB for your existing dish, with the circular side sent to the Satrpro...?
I saw the Invacom QPH-031 somewhere for around $55-60, shipped.

Either way, you'd be able to reach the entire range of DBS birds, something the T55 wouldn't do.
And of course, you need to consider how much value it would be to have both working at the same time...

 

[digiblur]

Holly Cow! Now I know what you mean Anole. I thought reversed and circular where the same. I just read on Sadoun's website that reversed LNBs are for toroidal dishes only. I would need to buy all new LNBs at $39 a pop.

Ok, I'll just add a circular LNB onto my existing motorized dish or setup a separate motorized dish strickly for circular polorization satellites.

Just an FYI...you don't need the reversed circular polarization LNB's unless you are feeding a DishNetwork or DirecTV receiver. You'll just have to remember that yours are backwards when scanning and entering in TP's.