Toroidal T-90 or 120cm/47"
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In a word, NO.
The 1.2m dish can have a few LNBs installed and cover a few satellites in the sky.
The T-90 can have a lot of LNBs installed, and cover many satellites.
You should look up and read the several good threads on the T90, if you are considering one.
It's a compromise, and a big job setting one up.
The 1.2m dish can have a few LNBs installed and cover a few satellites in the sky.
The T-90 can have a lot of LNBs installed, and cover many satellites.
You should look up and read the several good threads on the T90, if you are considering one.
It's a compromise, and a big job setting one up.
I've had a T90. I traded it for a 1 meter dish and a motor. I have much better performance from the 1 meter, the obvious reason being that it's larger.
The T90 is great for sections of the arc. I'd have loved to have had one or two more to cover everything. It was just easier to use a motor as I couldn't get everything with the one T90. I could get everything with the motor.
The T90 can be used to get more than 40 degrees of the arc, if you compromise on signal levels, and if you get creative making extenders for the LNB rail. Then you can squeeze more arc space in. I've had 50 degrees on mine before.
If you have more than one receiver you planned on using with Ku, a motor may not be for you. For example, you can't watch something on two different satellites with a motorized system. With a T90, you can so long as you have a dual output LNBF.
I will warn you, it's a beast to set up when you have no experience. The T90 was my first dish. I spent weeks on it. But once I got down, I could have it up and aligned in about 15 minutes on any section of the arc I wanted.
Kinda want it back now.
The T90 is great for sections of the arc. I'd have loved to have had one or two more to cover everything. It was just easier to use a motor as I couldn't get everything with the one T90. I could get everything with the motor.
The T90 can be used to get more than 40 degrees of the arc, if you compromise on signal levels, and if you get creative making extenders for the LNB rail. Then you can squeeze more arc space in. I've had 50 degrees on mine before.
If you have more than one receiver you planned on using with Ku, a motor may not be for you. For example, you can't watch something on two different satellites with a motorized system. With a T90, you can so long as you have a dual output LNBF.
I will warn you, it's a beast to set up when you have no experience. The T90 was my first dish. I spent weeks on it. But once I got down, I could have it up and aligned in about 15 minutes on any section of the arc I wanted.
Kinda want it back now.
I have three T90s covering most of the Ku arc receivable here. I also have a couple of 1.2m dishes and some larger ones for Ku. The T90s work great and I do nearly all of my Ku reception with them. The larger Ku dishes are only necessary for low horizon and out-of-footprint feeds, and during torrential downpours.
I've found the T90s to be rock-solid and easy to set up. Certainly no more difficult than a motor. The farther you get off-center the larger the losses, but they're much, much smaller losses than with a traditional reflector. The center 20 degrees have miniscule losses, and the outer 20 degrees are measurable, but tolerable.
A 1.2m with a motor should always get more signal and cover a wider arc than a T90, but will cost more and is pretty much restricted to only a few (3ish) birds at a time. 1.2m offset reflectors rapidly lose sensitivity when you get just a few degrees off-axis. That may be good enough for DBS birds, but in general you'll lose FTA feeds off-axis.
You can get the price of a new T90 down below 200 USD, shipped, which might be cheaper than what you can do for a new 1.2m. If you're willing to pick-up the dish from a local shipping depot and also tell Wave Frontier that you don't want any of their LNBs included, they'll quote a more reasonable price.
Edit: I see you're in Canada, so I imagine you'll be murdered by the shipping costs. Sorry
I've found the T90s to be rock-solid and easy to set up. Certainly no more difficult than a motor. The farther you get off-center the larger the losses, but they're much, much smaller losses than with a traditional reflector. The center 20 degrees have miniscule losses, and the outer 20 degrees are measurable, but tolerable.
A 1.2m with a motor should always get more signal and cover a wider arc than a T90, but will cost more and is pretty much restricted to only a few (3ish) birds at a time. 1.2m offset reflectors rapidly lose sensitivity when you get just a few degrees off-axis. That may be good enough for DBS birds, but in general you'll lose FTA feeds off-axis.
You can get the price of a new T90 down below 200 USD, shipped, which might be cheaper than what you can do for a new 1.2m. If you're willing to pick-up the dish from a local shipping depot and also tell Wave Frontier that you don't want any of their LNBs included, they'll quote a more reasonable price.
Edit: I see you're in Canada, so I imagine you'll be murdered by the shipping costs. Sorry
I've read here on the forum, that for the better part of the arc, the T-90 performs somewhat like a 30-33 inch dish, not a 36 (as best I remember).
So, for those hard-to-get signals, it might not be the best choice.
Again, read the many old threads on 'em.
Iceberg set one up (more than once) , was creative with it, and got good results (for the time).
Don't get one without doing your homework.
And asking in this thread is not sufficient.
So, for those hard-to-get signals, it might not be the best choice.
Again, read the many old threads on 'em.
Iceberg set one up (more than once) , was creative with it, and got good results (for the time).
Don't get one without doing your homework.
And asking in this thread is not sufficient.
I agree that it's worth reading the other threads, but I have to respectfully disagree about the performance of the T90. If you're getting the equivalent performance of a 30-33" dish, you're not setting it up correctly. I've set up three different T90s to cover different parts of the arc and the sensitivity is better than this. On center it measures slightly better than a typical 90cm dish, and by +/- 10 degrees it's still a rough match. By the time you get to +/- 20 degrees, its sensitivity is certainly less.
Edit: I see you're in Canada, so I imagine you'll be murdered by the shipping costs. Sorry
I got my satguys account just before getting my T90. It was just over $520 IIRC. And that was freight shipping and I picked it up at a local depot. I wanted it pretty bad.
I know it's gonna be extremely expensive with the shipping, brokerage fees, duties and taxes.
Thanks guys for the replies. Currently all my plans are put aside as I learned that the Montreal Municipality has banned satellite dishes on balconies, walls and roof edges. The fine is between $325 to $700. It's not a coincidence that this bylaw came out just as Bell Canada introduced its new IPTV over Fiber, knows as Fibe TV.
Read the Cyberbulletin (scroll down to Satellite antennas):
https://bulletin.saintlaurent.ville.montreal.qc.ca/bulletins/bulletinEnJuil11.htmlhttps://bulletin.saintlaurent.ville.montreal.qc.ca/bulletins/bulletinEnJuil11.html
They just killed my new hobby... Very Sad!
C&P below. All I can say is that somebody has a hate-on for dishes. Except that, I see nothing pertaining to dishes over 1 metre. Maybe I'm misinterpreting this as all I can see is "...antennas measuring less than 1 metre in diameter". Could be that this is aimed at pizza because who in their right mind would have a 10 footer eh?
Satellite antennas
Council adopted a new clause in its bylaws pertaining to the installation of satellite antennas measuring less than 1 metre in diameter. Also targeting existing antennas, this clause outlined specific installation standards that relate to all housing categories.
Buildings comprising 4 or fewer housing units:
A single satellite antenna is permitted per unit. Antennas must be positioned according to the following parameters:
Satellite antennas
Council adopted a new clause in its bylaws pertaining to the installation of satellite antennas measuring less than 1 metre in diameter. Also targeting existing antennas, this clause outlined specific installation standards that relate to all housing categories.
Buildings comprising 4 or fewer housing units:
A single satellite antenna is permitted per unit. Antennas must be positioned according to the following parameters:
- On a wall not overlooking a street.
- On a side wall, and along the back half of this wall.
- On a gabled roof, on condition that it is placed on the rear gable and that no part of the antenna exceeds the highest point of the roof by more than 1 metre.
- On a flat roof, on condition that it is located at least 2 m from the walls, up to the rear half of the sidewalls, in a case where the building is on a corner lot. This rule applies to all building façades. Furthermore, the height of the antenna and its mounting assembly may not exceed 1 metre.
- For existing buildings:
Only one satellite antenna is permitted per housing unit. Antennas must be positioned on the roof, so as to not be visible from the street, or positions on the perimeter of the balcony without exceeding the height of the balcony railing.
- For new buildings:
Only one satellite antenna is permitted per ¸main building. It must be positioned on the roof so as to not be visible from the street.
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