Help on setup - 10ft dish using BSC621

[Lak7]

No guarantee, but may be worth a try.

 

[1captain]

No guarantee, but may be worth a try.

I just check The S-2 mux an have 72 on quality with Pamsat-9000, an I still have same cover that the 621 came with, but will give it a shot with out it an see if Q goes up.

after reading that I remembered a prank I pulled on this installer that I worked with back in the 80's, he was a P****. took a feed cover cap cut a half moon circular of foil duct tape stuck it on the inside of the cup an put it on the feed, after he spent all day their an went tru all the lnbs he had, an did not finish that day. when he was telling me what was wrong an got some pictures but not clear had all i could do to keep from busting out laughing, told him to check the feed out an see if any thing was out of order, an when he found it he wanted to kill me.

 

[14karat]

I never updated my results from the other night.
This is really weird. I never thought that the feedhorn cover would block that much signal...
With the dish pointed at 123 - the first Q is the original, the 2nd is without the cap:
12110V2250 - 66Q - 83Q
11725V27692 - 69Q - 83Q
11800V26657 - <10Q - 63Q (I get a picture but it is badly broken up)
But, hey, at least I have something to tune from on that transponder now!

When I put the cap back, the numbers went right back as before.
I haven't tried my plastic wrap idea... yet.
What about a lightweight mesh in place of the cover?

 

[1captain]

14karat-
1captain wrote:

Was off work today, so I thought I'd try for the LPBS DVB-S2 on 125west using the BSC621.
After 3hrs of "tweaking" with out much improvement, accidentially knocked off the Feedhorn cover, low and behold Q65 on 12072. Put the cover back on - QZero, nothing, nada. I see little difference with Cover On vs. Cover Off on TP 12080.
I now have a new cover, bottom of water bottle, it works.

What GREAT info, 14Karat, big improvement.
Thank You.

Just took the BSC-621 cover off the end of the feed, an all ku signal went up 10 to 13 points more ont the quality on the few sats that I check on. the S-2 mux on 125 went from 71 to 79 on Q, an that was the lowest gain of them all but its S-2. now put a feed cover on from a cal amp lnb-f an no drop in signal an Q at all.

Didn't notice a change in c-band signal all stayed the same.

 

[14karat]

I tried a cover off one of the old chapparals I have and it still dropped in Q, but the cover wouldn't quite fit, so it didn't go all the way on - which may have some effect...
I'll have to tinker around with different materials and see what I can make work better.
Just nuts that the cover does that...

 

[14karat]

Ok - one more wonderful day of peeking, poking, mumbling and grumbling.
I finally have a solid signal on 123W 11.800V now. It's bouncing between 87 & 70, but it's there and it's good.
Lak7, you will be happy to know that I finally settled on the bottom of a water bottle.
Yep.
Only, it wouldn't fit over the feedhorn, but it fit perfectly inside it. And no effect on Q level as far as I could tell.
After reading this, I wonder how many folks are going to be hunting for water bottles??

Anyway, I couldn't adjust the scaler out far enough to keep the F/D correct and get the FL right, so, I started digging around for washers whereever I could find them.
I stacked them between the dish and the feed supports. Raised the feed supports about 5/8" off the dish.
Another thing, I ditched the scalar that came with the 621. The feed fit so loose in that scalar that it was nearly impossible to get it to stay correct. I used the scalar from the 2nd 10ft dish I have - a channel master C only feed. I had to smooth out the ribs inside the scalar to allow the 621 to slide into it. Now there is hardly any 'wiggle room' for the 621 to move when you tighten it down. I had it bolted in and adjusted in under 15 minutes. Laser tells me I'm dead center.
OH - one thing I've noted about the 621 (at least mine) - the end of the feedhorn is not perfectly square. I couldn't level across the face of it, I had to line up along the side of it.

As for the skew, I have the 0 mark on the 621 dead-on 6:00. I tried it at 5:30, but the numbers were still off when I blind scanned. 6:00 reports everything correctly.

Next, it was on to peaking the actuator. It was set such that my East limit was 87W, but I could move it far enough West I could work on everything without a ladder... I tuned to 137W (since I don't see anything further than that of any interest to me), marked the angle of the dish, then moved the actuator to the west limit. Loosened the actuator arm clamp and slid the dish up to the 137 angle mark and tightened the clamp back down.
Now my range is 55.5-137W. I don't think that's too bad for a 24" actuator.
If I go further east, I'll loose 137, so I'll just keep what I've got.

Now I just need to clean up the cabling and get everything grounded.

Snapped a few pics. Not much to look at - just a basic, beat-up, 10ft mesh. Also shot one of the mount for the 8ft... I'm debating now as to whether I want to mount the 8ft or the 2nd 10ft next... I'm torn...

 

[Cadsulfide]

Glad you got it!

The Stack O Washers for optimal FL is a good solution. I have the same problem with a sloppy fit to the scalar on my BSC421. Goes to show the '621 does work if you work the bugs out.

 

[Lak7]

Glad to hear!
What kind of Q are you getting on AMC21 @ 125
I have since found an old Blue Chap. Cover for my BCS621.
I you are going to let it go "naked", seal up the connections, water just loves to run down the cables.
Also, I think you've already tried, I have better / faster locks by not using the built-in 22KHz switch.

 

[14karat]

Hey Lak7, how did the cap fit?
I tried the cover off the Corotor and it was too tight - wouldn't go all the way on. Also tried one from the channel master and it was the same problem.
Tried several different things - apparently mylar isn't good either...
The water bottle bottom works like a champ...

Yeah, I plan to use silicone gel inside the connectors (same stuff they put in the telephone box connections) and put weatherproof boots on the outside.
Also am planning to construct a weatherproof cover for the entire feed that will be much smaller than the "giant black pill" that I currently have. I'll document that one when I get started on it...

And I did bypass the switch on the feed - I currently have a switch hooked directly to the back of the receiver. I need to have the switch at the pole, however, because I'm not going to be able to get another pull of RG6 through the conduit... and I don't want to run anymore conduit either... I will need the extra RG6 for BUD #3 when I get there...
I'm still up in the air about what I need to do.

Guys - give me some recommendations here... I've got 2 10ft and 1 8ft, all mesh - all moveable. I've got one 920 4DTv receiver (might splurge and get a 410 package from SkyV later and have 2 4D setups) and also want to catch as many feeds as I can FTA.
How would you arrange such a setup?

Anyway - here are the current TPs I'm getting on 123 & 125. Not saying I'm getting channels on all of these, this is just what the manual scan meter on the Cs6000 reports as hot...it is very interesting to me how much I have to bump the dish between TPs to get the best signal!

123W
3920V 94%
4020H 87%
4160V 93%
4175H 90%
11720V 90%
11730H 69%
11800V 90%
11875V 69%
11905V 93%
11945V 87%
11965V 87%
12005H 69%
12020H 66%
12050H 69%
12060H 70%
12075V 87%
12105V 63%
12110V 66%
12135V 69%

125W
3720H 90%
3740V 87%
3794V 63%
3960H 70%
4120H 66%
4160H 66%
12180V 87%
12140V 66%

 

[14karat]

Ok - I've been looking at this more. After running the numbers on 97W for this:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-ai...est-win-geosatpro-dvr1100c-2.html#post1622583
It's odd that my quality levels fall off between 11966 & 12122. When compared with all the other posts - it just doesn't add up... any thoughts on why this would be?

 

[turbosat]

Hey 14karat did you get my PM? Your mesh went out yesterday...

 

[14karat]

Yep, got it (the PM)

 

[gabshere]

It's odd that my quality levels fall off between 11966 & 12122. When compared with all the other posts - it just doesn't add up... any thoughts on why this would be?

unknown ... maybe with more testing how are the signals on other sats in this freq range ?
how about with another DVB receiver ? did you try bumping the dish east or west while tuned to one of the weaker signals ?

 

[truckracer]

My bsc 621 never performed very well on ku.
I got a. Corotor that just blew it away on ku.
My dish alignment is near perfect across the arc from 40w to 139w.
I never got 123 a ku very well with my 621 either.

 

[14karat]

I'll have to compare similar freqs from the other birds for comparison... but, yes, I bumped the dish around trying to get signal levels up on every one...
T.racer, I've had the same issues you ran into when peaking C vs Ku... I can get one side better but sacrifice the other - right now I've got a 'decent' medium but it favors C over Ku at the moment...
I do have a corotor and it will be going on my 2nd BUD.
Thinking of trying the geosat (whatever the mod# was) in place of this 621 for comparison - seems I've heard they do a bit better....

 

[truckracer]

I think iceberg or someone used the ck1 and had good results. I just thought when I got mine (bsc621), it would be booming in just like seperate c or ku lnbfs work on dedicated dishes.

 

[ancom4]

Guys I know I'm way out of line here, but I have a huge problem.

I have a 12' antenna C-Band with a BSC621 LNBf, 100' Satellite cable run to a box then to a 4way HF splitter and have 3 DSR 410 receivers and a 4DTV to provide power.

The receivers are connected to another 75' of cable and I'm receiving poor quality signal on all but one receiver ( the closest to the splitter).

Q. what sort of amplification should I use or can I use a multi-switch?

Q. Would RG-11 cable from the dish to the box increase the signal strength?

I need some help please and you can email me (fanius@ancom.tv)

Thanks

 

[gabshere]

First let me you to the group

next maybe a mod can break this off to its own thread and i would remove your e-mail

several things i noted

your using a BSC-621 to feed several units ( dsr 410 X 3 + a 4dtv)
the bsc-621 is designed for one unit meaning that all these units can only use on polarity ( usually channel ) at a time. so if several units want to watch different channels they will interfere with each other trying to change the polarity unless you have the splitter that doesn't alow power passing on all the extra receivers. but they wouls still have to watch what the first ( primary ) unit is watching ( same polarity ). if all the units are trying to control the polarity then you might have a problem.

next you didn't explain how the c-band & ku bands are sent to the units. since you only talk about one coax X 100 ft , i take it to mean that you are running both c & ku through the same coax and you are using the built in 22k of the bsc621.

next amplification - this will amplify everything to include noise .... if you are getting good signal at one receiver .... the problem is elsewhere.

next rg11 -- this is usually used for long runs ... since you have good signal at one unit you won't be able to increase signal strength, just decrease signal loss so the problem is either your splitter or other run of coax... check all connections & your splitter.

 

[ancom4]

First let me you to the group

next maybe a mod can break this off to its own thread and i would remove your e-mail

several things i noted

your using a BSC-621 to feed several units ( dsr 410 X 3 + a 4dtv)
the bsc-621 is designed for one unit meaning that all these units can only use on polarity ( usually channel ) at a time. so if several units want to watch different channels they will interfere with each other trying to change the polarity unless you have the splitter that doesn't alow power passing on all the extra receivers. but they wouls still have to watch what the first ( primary ) unit is watching ( same polarity ). if all the units are trying to control the polarity then you might have a problem.

next you didn't explain how the c-band & ku bands are sent to the units. since you only talk about one coax X 100 ft , i take it to mean that you are running both c & ku through the same coax and you are using the built in 22k of the bsc621.

next amplification - this will amplify everything to include noise .... if you are getting good signal at one receiver .... the problem is elsewhere.

next rg11 -- this is usually used for long runs ... since you have good signal at one unit you won't be able to increase signal strength, just decrease signal loss so the problem is either your splitter or other run of coax... check all connections & your splitter.

Thanks for that info. However, The antenna is parked on W5 and the first initial setup is with the 4DTV and 3 dsr 410. The other 3 DSR 410 to be installed at a leter date.

Can I use regular C-Band LNBs with a Multi Switch? Will that config work with the DSr 410?

I'm not using KU Band.

 

[gabshere]

the problem would be with polarity
you would either need a dual c-band lnbf ( sometimes these are listed and can be confusing you would need one that has two seperat outputs & each has H & V) or a dual polorotor type ( one that uses two c-band lnb's .

then this could be feed to a multiswitch & to 4 receivers ( i don't know if the configuration will work with dsr410's) maybe someone who knows will jump in.