Thread: WSI 9036 and Powermax SG-9120 review

Having been the winner of the recent WSI contest for a prize package including their WSI9036 dish and Powermax SG-9120 motor, I am proud to write a review of these new products from our sponsor WS International.



Getting these products was a pleasant surprise, as I don't recall ever having won a contest in my life. I was waist-deep in the assembly and installation of my new C-Band dish, and by the time it was off the patio and on its stand, I was receiving this wonderful package. When I called to confirm my address, I chatted with Robby about possibly attempting some C-Band on the WS9036. I know this is a long shot, but I figured I'd try anyway. Since the WS9036 is the largest 90CM dish out there, measuring 90CM wide by 99CM high, it might just get some C-Band. When I opened the boxes, I was in for another pleasant surprise, which I will go into later in the review.

Since the roof farm, as it will be called from now on, is very low on real estate, I decided to hunt down another wooden pallet and mount the new dish and motor on a poor man's NPRM. I ran two dual coax cables (total of four individual cables for future expansion) out to the C-Band dish early this week, so there was already coax in place in that location. For the purposes of this review, I will skip the pallet and mount construction procedure, since it has been covered before in other reviews.

The prize package arrived on Thursday, November 5th, in two boxes. The larger one was, of course, the WS9036 dish (pic #1). In order to get the larger parts out of the way, I assembled the dish first. Upon opening the box, one is greeted by the large reflector (pic #2). The reflector is packaged in a well-formed styrofoam mold, which prevents warping and damage to the reflector during shipment (pic #3). The LNBF supports, J-pole mount, and other hardware are found in the reverse side of the styrofoam mold (pic #4). The reflector has a light grey finish, and is stamped on the back with the dish model number (pic #5).

I took all hardware out of the packaging, and arranged it atop the protective cardboard box the dish came in. This would be my work area (pic #6). The nuts and bolts are made of quality metal, and the plastic LNBF holder is particularly rigid and well constructed (pic #7). I began with the J-pole and LNBF struts, bolting each part together and lightly tightening the nuts (pics #8, #9, and #10).

The AZ-EL mount is rather large, and bolts together from two pieces. This allows the elevation to be adjusted (pic #1). The interface with the pole or motor tube is a U-bolt-type design, but using clamps similar to a motor bracket instead (pic #2). After verifying proper fit, I removed the AZ-EL mount and put it aside to be installed on the motor tube. I continued dish assembly by bolting the LNBF support struts to the dish (pics #3 and #4). I kept the bolts loose on the LNBF holder so that I could install an LNBF and verify Ku-Band operation once the dish and motor assembly were finished (pic #5). Pic #6 shows the completed dish assembly.

With the dish done, it was time to open the smaller box. They say good things come in smaller boxes (pic #1)... What do you see? Yeah! Robby included a WS-KU2C C-Band offset scalar kit and a DMX241 C-Band LNBF! I guess we'll see if there's any C-Band to be had on a 90CM! With these bonus parts, I'm going to call this new dish MicroBUD ... But first, lets start with the new Powermax SG-9120 motor.

The Powermax SG-9120 features metal gears instead of plastic, and a 55mm outer diameter dish mounting tube. It comes in a box about the same size as other motors on the market (pic #2). Inside the box, the motor is well protected and wrapped in plastic (pic #3). Pic #4 shows the contents of the box, including the motor, bracket, mounting hardware, and instruction booklet. The motor has LED status indicators and a reset button similar to the older (and better) version of the SG-2100 (pic #5). The square U-Bolts which attach the bracket to the mounting pole are made of quality metal (pic #6). I doubt that stripping will be a problem like it was on the original SG-2100 U-Bolts. The U-Bolts fit into the bracket nicely after an initial squeeze (pic #7). The bracket has two latitude setting ranges--0 through 40 and 35 through 75 (pic #8). Pic #9 shows the completed motor assembly.

Finally, it was time to put together the C-Band clamp, DMX241 LNBF, and WS-KU2C conical offset scalar (pic #1 and #2). The DMX241 is a single output, voltage-switched C-Band LNBF with a L.O. of 5150 and a noise factor of 13k (pic #3). The WS-KU2C conical offset scalar kit includes the scalar ("Devo hat" design for offset dishes) and the required 65mm LNBF clamp that will fit the WS9036 feed support (pics #4 and #5). Skew indicators are present on both the DMX241 LNBF and the 65mm clamp. Since this assembly will go on a motorized dish, I set skew to '0' (pic #6). The conical scalar fits onto the front of the LNBF, and attaches with three bolts (pic #7). The relative position of the LNBF, scalar ring, and clamp will have to be adjusted once testing starts. I removed the Ku-Band LNBF clamp and installed the completed C-Band clamp, LNBF, and conical scalar ring (pic #8). Pic #9 shows the WS9036 dish with the WS-KU2C conical scalar kit and DMX241 C-Band LNBF installed. Testing will begin later this week, once all of the parts have been assembled on the pallet.

Great review and good pixs. Look forward to the testing. I will have a spare 1m dish soon so your C band results are of great interest.

Quality packaging on the dish WSI.

Great review, and much more helpful than the pseudo-English instructions that came with the dish!

I just bought the same setup, and noticed that the bolts that are supposed to clamp the dish to the motor pole aren't long enough. Sigh. You'd think that a motor and dish from the same company might actually bolt up together without incident.

Oh, well.

Here's a question for everyone: there's probably an inch of axial travel where the LNB is clamped into the holder bracket. Is the LNB (QPH-031 in my case) supposed to be positioned all the way towards the dish, all the way away from the dish, or somewhere in between?

I see that the focal length of the dish is supposed to be 24", but where would I measure that from?

TIA!!

Great review, What satellites you have being receiving with that dish.

Thanks DK... I haven't put the dish back up, but I intend to later in the Spring. I will update this thread when it goes back into service.