Comments from a newbie to FTA

[k4otl]

Now I know why C band is raved about, it's sooo much better than Ku! (Not that Ku is terrible) I only have limited coverage of the arc on C band but 101,103, and 105 have so much on them FTA, it's come in handy too, good backups of channels I get OTA. I'm loving it already! Not that I need another reason/means to watch TV

 

[cyberham]

Now I know why C band is raved about...

I can relate to your comments and excitement after starting my satellite Ku adventure over 14 years ago. I've just joined the C-band Club with a legitimate dish installation of a Perfect 7.5-foot prime focus. I've wanted one of these for at least 23 years and thought about them back in the 1970s. No motor control here but I can easily manually swing the dish equipped with Titanium LNBF between 150W through 89W. Can it receive anything? You bet! I've added 6 dB to my reception of 139W ARCS over my 4-foot offset dish. And 135W and 125W have so many channels scanning in even before I fine tune that I can't wait to point at a satellite with more channels ITC such as the satellites you mentioned.

 

[k4otl]

I can relate to your comments and excitement after starting my satellite Ku adventure over 14 years ago. I've just joined the C-band Club with a legitimate dish installation of a Perfect 7.5-foot prime focus. I've wanted one of these for at least 23 years and thought about them back in the 1970s. No motor control here but I can easily manually swing the dish equipped with Titanium LNBF between 150W through 89W. Can it receive anything? You bet! I've added 6 dB to my reception of 139W ARCS over my 4-foot offset dish. And 135W and 125W have so many channels scanning in even before I fine tune that I can't wait to point at a satellite with more channels ITC such as the satellites you mentioned.

Nice! The way I think about escalating dish size is it's related to the area, not diameter. And the area is based on the diameter squared. So a 10' dish has about 6x the capture area as the 4' dish. That 7.5' has almost 4x the capture area of the 4' dish, thus the 6 db you've noticed. At least that's how I think of it.
Like I mentioned previously, I've become a dish/antenna addict. I was just gonna have only 1 36" dish, never would I get C band. But I always want to improve and expand my TV/radio reception (OTA or FTA), so its only a natural progression. My fear right now is that I told myself, "Once I get the 10 footer, there's no need for a 12 footer" haha.

 

[one_db_compression]

Nice! The way I think about escalating dish size is it's related to the area, not diameter. And the area is based on the diameter squared. So a 10' dish has about 6x the capture area as the 4' dish. That 7.5' has almost 4x the capture area of the 4' dish, thus the 6 db you've noticed. At least that's how I think of it.
Like I mentioned previously, I've become a dish/antenna addict. I was just gonna have only 1 36" dish, never would I get C band. But I always want to improve and expand my TV/radio reception (OTA or FTA), so its only a natural progression. My fear right now is that I told myself, "Once I get the 10 footer, there's no need for a 12 footer" haha.

One of the simplest rules is that the increase in system gain is roughly +3 dB (twice the signal level) for every 0.6 m increase in diameter (0.3 m increase in radius). This is consistent with terrestrial microwave parabolics.

For some geometries and efficiencies, it may be as low as +2.5. For a high performance reflector, it may be as high as +3.5.