Adventures while dish hunting....

[rd100]

Cool wish i could fine a free big prime focus dish here in wales so i can play about with c-band

 

[gabshere]

well i ran into problems

the pole is a 2 7/8 in and the dish mount is 3 1/2 so i will have to work on an adaptor to fit cause its outa ballance when i try to move it / tune it.

 

[linuxman]

Hey George,

You can get a couple of foot sleeve for 3.5" OD and it will slide right over the 2-7/8. Then just weld it up at the top and bottom. I would drop the sleeve down about 1/2" from the top so the bead doesn't interfere smooth surface of the existing pipe.

 

[gabshere]

yes thats probably what i will have to do ..... i already have a section. just need a portable welder ... i might shim it with a plastic pipe ( like we did the primestars) until i can weld it.

 

[linuxman]

Nah!

Just hang on until you can weld it. Then you will be done.

 

[gabshere]

i might do that and check with the electronics shop to see what they would charge me to change out those batteries.....

 

[linuxman]

I know you are as excited to get the thing going as I was with mine.

Look at the huge mistake I made and almost cost me a repair charge.

Take your time with it. We'll all still be here watching for the news.

Better to be slow and make it right! I should take my own advice. He-he!

I gotta quit doing this. I can't sleep past 3 am now.

 

[glen4cindy]

not really that far lol lol
actuallt i was thinking about questions i might have
i did leave it on all night to charge the batteries. can go ot the menu but i don't have anything connected to it yet lol so it says "cannot find channel continuing to search..." lol

its on g0 so i will have to figure out what sat that is i took my old 10 ft dish down so i can work on it and placed the 7 1/2 on that pole and will align everything tomorroe and run coax for the ku.

got a lot of questions so i will write them down and post a few at a time thanks guys

Just a curious question, isn't a 10 foot dish better than a 7.5 ft?

I wish they made invisible BUD's so I could have one where I live!

 

[Mr Tony]

Just a curious question, isn't a 10 foot dish better than a 7.5 ft?

not necessarily

If its a mesh dish and the holes are too big, KU Band is severly hindered.

I've worked with a 6 foot solid and a 7 foot mesh and the 6 foot solid had better results

 

[gabshere]

depends on a few things.
ok this 7 1/2 ( its almost mint shape) is in better shape than my 10 footer so i opted to swap them so i had a fully functional one now and could work on my 10 footer.

Next my 10 footer has some hail damage and ice freeze damage so i don't even know if it will fully receive ku. I think the mesh is the same size but if you look across my 10 footer and see all those hail dings you would laugh. and my insurance agent denied my claim... i dropped them and complained to the SAG about them.

also my 10 footer is c band (lnbf) only until i retro fit the new BSC621 on it ( so it need some work).

now heres where some question might come in i'm located in the center & southern of the US where c band reception is probably easiest to receive.

 

[gabshere]

ok got about a foot segment of 3 1/2 welded to the pole last week and remounted the 7 1/2 ft dish and actually pointed it to g0 and got a signal on my coolsat.... picked up the gospel channels and bluegrass wow lol no real tuneing needed....
well that was a couple of days ago and i ran new coax for ku out to the feedhorn and connected all the wires polorotor & motors ( not to the 4dtv yet) went inside and couldn't get a signal......i did move the dish a bit while working on it but i didn't think enough to move it off that much... went back to check a few things and bam SQ level is back to 63 hmmmm........ go out push the dish back & forth up & down nothing same or it drops to almost nothing....... weird........... go back inside and think for a few minutes go back with another flashlight ( yes its dark and i'm 13-14 ft in the air..) ok with another flashlight and get up to check my coax connections and bam the feedhorn moves....... not the scaller just te feedhorn.... notice a rusted allen wrench still in one of the securing screws its loose and the feedhorn is out of kilter.......... more work now to get it tuned back in lol lol so goes the ongoing saga.......

 

[chefwan]

hmm

i know how you feel gabshere im still trying to get my 12ft right

 

[gabshere]

I quickly checked my two dishes and came up with
120 inches 42 inches and depth of 18 inches (10 ft dish)
90 inches 35 inches and depth of 14 inches (7 1/2 ft dish)

these to me don't add up correctly so i will hopefully remeasure things tomorrow.

 

[linuxman]

Hey George,

According to the calculator I used with my dish, your 10 foot dish should have an F/D ratio of .42 and a focal distance of 50".

The 7.5 footer should have an F/D ratio of .40 and a focal distance of 36.1". I hope that is the information you are looking for.

Fred

 

[gabshere]

ok went back outside with more daylight lol and finished burying coax .. so i rechecked my measurments and realign my two big dishes.
the 10 footer was slightly off on the strings maybe 1/4 inch so i loosened up several bolts and moved things a bit and the strings now touch together.......

after rechecking the numbers they are 120" (10 footer)
20 1/2 inches to the strings
41 1/4 inches to the feedhorn ( protrudes a little lower than the scaler)
42 inches to the scaler

the 7 1/2 footer was on the money with strings
and measured up to 14 inches
35 inches to the scaler
34 3/4 to the feedhorn (protrudes a little lower than the scaler)

i didn't measure to the inside of the feedhorn so suggest to do that i've seen 1/8 inch upto 1/4 inside the feedhorn is there a set standard....

 

[gabshere]

ok went out and adjusted the feedhorn well what i could. starting where i left off when i finished last time aligned the dish up and got 63% for c band on G10 but ku was of satellite @121 then while tinkering with the feedhorn found out that the screw was loose and it fell out of adjustment Zero for everything.

ok today got out and it was colder today so about 50ish got everything lined back up at 83%SL & 67% SQ cband of G10 and 60% SQ of 121 moved it around a bit nothing , placed it back to where i started and pulled up on feedhorn reading started going up WOW 97% SL & 97% SQ G10 C band nothing ku side so flip to ku and adjust on it some and bam 11800 on G10 @ 96% SL & 67% SQ
thats the best i could get it before running out of daylight lol i got several pic and you will notice my bent feedhorn bracket. the feedhorn is now adjusted almost out to the full length of the metal so its almost flush with the scaler. to adjust it back to its proper location i will need longer brackets as the scaler is at 35 inches from dish and needs to be 36 inches.

well at least its moving in a positive direction

one photo is of bent bracket, one is feedhorn adjusted to 67% SQ and last photo is at 97% SQ

 

[linuxman]

Hey George,

You're getting there.

Make sure that when the bent support arm is straightened that the scaler ring is parallel with the center plate of the dish, and that the scaler ring points straight at the center.

It's nice to see someone else work their butt off for a change.

Fred

 

[gabshere]

i got the 4dtv hooked up but nothing yet the motor works but the unit doesn't actually know its moving so i suspect i got a wire or two wrong lol. i got the dish back to where it started it says its in position 5331 and the limits are set to 5536 and 4843 so by my view its almost at its west limit and thats the way the motor arm looks also.

well bedtime more tomorrow maybe

 

[gabshere]

ok just playing with the motor and got it hooked up to my coolsat right now
i don't know about the skew so i will need to learn that
right now i'm haveing a great time but would rate the condition of the install at 50% i can tell that i will probably swap the 10 footer back in to gain some signal strength or hopefully find one of those elusive Birdviews

 

[linuxman]

right now i'm haveing a great time

Having fun is the best part of this hobby. Some would call it work. It is work, but it is the kind of work we enjoy. So keep having fun George, and keep your eyes open for the prize.

Fred