and I want to set it up with a motor to get news feeds. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good motor for it? I understand Stab is the best, but I think I read somewhere that it won't work on a Weinguard Dish and I am told that is the kind of dish I have. I'd appreciate any feedback on this.
I forgot to add, I live where we occasionally experience 100mph winds. If that makes a difference in the answer (it probably does).
Hi Bluebeard123. There are several important points in your enquiry. I'll do my best to answer them all. I own the Stab HH120 motor & a 39inch Wineguard steel dish. Yes the Stab motors have about the best rock solid build quality of all the motors. I have also owned other brands as well. I would go with the Stab HH120 & a large ku dish.
First ... yes there are issues with the Stab/Wineguard combination. But it depends on which models you have. The issue that everyone talks about is the back mounting bracket on the 39 inch diameter Wineguard steel dish has a larger opening than the shaft diameter of just about every available diseq H-H motor. The bracket opening is 2.25 inches & the diameter of the Stab HH120 motor (plus other make & model available) shaft is 2-1/16 inches. So there is a gap between them. See pic 1 below. So you have to add a "sleeve" of some sort to get them to bolt together tight. You can't have the dish bracket loose on the motor shaft. The sleeve fits over the Stab motor shaft & inside the Wineguard bracket. See pic 2&3 below of the sleeve I made. Its easy to make .... just get a section of pipe & cut out a section down the side so it compresses down to fit over the motor shaft. You could substitute PVC plastic pipe split on both sides in the same manner.
Second ... I think the StabHH120 motor shaft is too big for the smaller 30inch dish brackets. Most people with the smaller 30inch dishes buy the StabHH90 motor which is smaller. Most of us agree the biggest dish you can afford & fit is the best approach for ku-band. Some folks get decent reception with a 30 inch dish but the PBS channels on 125W are hard to get on a 30inch. Plus a bigger dish helps a little with rain fade issues. I would try to get a 36inch or larger dish.
I think this dish gets recommended a lot due to size & build quality.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/48-Inch-120...281?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20e3ff0449. I wouldn't use the universal LNB however I'd get a dual PLL version like this
GEOSATpro SL2PLL Standard Ku-Band LNBF
Third .....A lot of the news feeds are DVB-S2 so make sure your receiver can decode these transmissions. I like 72W,91W,99W for news feeds.
fourth .... as far as 100mph winds. To quote the StabHH120 manuals warranty section "The motor has been tested for resistance in wind conditions of 140 Km/h with a dish of 120 cm, so care must be taken in choosing the supporting pole and its anchorage. If possible, installation should be carried out in a place sheltered from wind"
Cheers,
Kevin