New to FTA since June 2014, My Dish Farm & FTA Project.

[Christopher Cromwell]

Hello Borisov-54, to answer your questions as best I can:

I applied the dish heater to the dish face, as per following the manufactures directions from Hotshot Company. This dish heater has in no way at all affected the signal strength or quality of picture or sound, the dish heater was designed to not affect the dish signals in any way at all. The dish heater was designed to keep any snow and frost off the dish face in the winter time, so no signal strength or quality would be affected either way. To place the heater on the opposite side of the dish would make it unusable, when snow and ice build up on it on the other side where signals are received. You pointed to the small round item on the dish heater, this is the electronic thermostat used to turn the heater on in cold weather. This has no effect on the dish signal, as the satellite signals are being received quite a ways up further on top.

The second photo, you pointed with an arrow to the small black piece of plastic, which serves as the protective piece on the end of the square metal piece that the dish reflector attaches to. The round pipe mount did cave in as I was bolting down the motor mount as tightly as I could to prevent any movement from the wind, storms, etc. The entire assembly does not move at all, so therefore, requires no additional plastic pipe or plastic covering over the top for any reason, as it is bolted as solidly as it will go; without stripping the bolts or nuts. I have tested the motor extensively during the install over a period of several weeks, I have run into no problems at all with the function of the dish motor, the cable, or receiving satellite signals. If any problems do surface in the future, I will fix it at that time, but I do not anticipate any problems with anything at this time. I did use a small wooden shim to install into the round clamp that attaches to the additional support mount. I had to resort to this, because the round clamp was too large for the existing roof mount pole, and did not want to unassemble the entire thing again to fix it correctly. I already unassembled the entire thing a few times before, and did not wish to press my luck any further with another complete unassemble. As far as I am concerned at this time, there is nothing further to correct or fix, everything is already working correctly as it should as it was designed to do. I am currently enjoying the fruits of my hard labor in the heat and sun, and do not intend to venture back out to the roof anytime soon; which my wife greatly appreciates.

 

[Christopher Cromwell]

I never understood the DSS vendors heaters on the front of the dish, but many were sold over here were meant to be placed on the front. I would never do it that way. If needed I'd figure a way put it on the back.
Agree on 2nd point- best to 'beef up' instead of crush. Any tune up will be tough, if not impossible, as it is.
That would be G16 @ 99W
http://www.sathint.com/america

At the time, I didn't think I would find a plastic pipe with a large enough diameter that I would need to make it fit properly. I was also concerned with the fact that with such a thick plastic pipe, would not tighten well or at all to the metal mount, thereby making the entire apparatus sitting loosely on the metal mount no mater how tight I could get the bolts over the plastic pipe. The entire thing would not only sit very loosely, but could eventually come off the mount altogether in a bad wind storm. I did not want that to happen, so once I could determine the entire mount was not going anywhere on the metal mount, I would be better off. So far, we have had a few thunderstorms where winds picked up to 40-50MPH, and the entire dish assembly did not move at all, and I continue to receive excellent signals on all the satellites I could receive. Kind of curious why you waited for someone else to say something before you did, and you wrote to me earlier a few times already. That other person is not understanding what I did on the project, and some of his questions are a little confusing to follow, so I tried to explain everything as simply as I can.

 

[Christopher Cromwell]

At the time, I didn't think I would find a plastic pipe with a large enough diameter that I would need to make it fit properly. I was also concerned with the fact that with such a thick plastic pipe, would not tighten well or at all to the metal mount, thereby making the entire apparatus sitting loosely on the metal mount no mater how tight I could get the bolts over the plastic pipe. The entire thing would not only sit very loosely, but could eventually come off the mount altogether in a bad wind storm. I did not want that to happen, so once I could determine the entire mount was not going anywhere on the metal mount, I would be better off. So far, we have had a few thunderstorms where winds picked up to 40-50MPH, and the entire dish assembly did not move at all, and I continue to receive excellent signals on all the satellites I could receive. Kind of curious why you waited for someone else to say something before you did, and you wrote to me earlier a few times already. That other person is not understanding what I did on the project, and some of his questions are a little confusing to follow, so I tried to explain everything as simply as I can.

Like I mentioned earlier, if a problem develops later on, I will take care of it, but for now, I just don't see a problem with anything. If the entire dish mount was still loose after I crushed the pipe first, then I would have resorted to a plastic pipe, or to install a small plastic pipe inside the metal pipe for support, like you were probably thinking of.

 

[danristheman]

Welcome to satellite guys Chris I am Dan I have been doing this for 2 to 3 years now its fun to do. Try to the micro bud out its fun what you can get on a small dish on c band. If you need help jusk ask.

 

[Christopher Cromwell]

Hey Dan! Thank you for the welcome. I would love to try out the C-Band on the 1.2M dish in the future, I will definitely ask for help if needed. But until then, I have to wait until I get a green light from my wife to proceed. As of earlier today, its still very much a red light for the time being. If only I could use the C-Band LNB without the reflector to make it work, I could get away with it.

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[danristheman]

Camouflage it make it an optical allusion out of it make it look smaller than what it is fool your wife.

 

[Titanium]

The c-band LNBF would need to be the center position to have any chance of receiving any signal. It would not receive enough signal offset on this bar. 99w LESEA channels would be the best suggestion for teating with a serverely undersized reflector. Doubt it would lock onto any other transponders.

I have installed many front surface mont HotShot units in the mountains and with a proper meter, you will observe the signal loss caused by the surface mounted heater. Not enough signal loss to be concerned with on stronger transponders, but I estimated the loss to be about 5-10% on a 90cm. The front surface mount units are typically used on composite material dishes. The composite material doesn't conduct heat very well and the support ribs make mounting impossible. I prefer the rear mounted heaters for metal dishes. No signal loss, the metal reflector conducts the heat well and never experienced icing.

If you side mount KU LNBFs, they will be raised higher than the centered LNBF in order to track the satellite arc. It takes patience and certainly more difficult with a motorized system since the actual offset feedhorn aiming must be calculated from the motor landing position. The only reason that I would offset a KU LNBF on a motorized system is to receive the odd skew 103w signals.

 

[Christopher Cromwell]

Thanks for the much appreciated info Titanium! I did wonder about how a 2nd Ku LNBF would mount on a motorized dish properly. Maybe it will be another project for later on, its helpful to know how it needs to be mounted higher; like you mentioned it would be pretty frustrating to get it lined up right, so I might not bother with it. I have been sold on the Dish Heaters since last winter. We had a few snow/ice storms last winter, & I found it far better to always have a satellite signal, instead of none at all for days or weeks at a time. I was a little concerned at first about the decline of signal, but after I put it on the Directv dish, the signals remained between 95-99% on all satellites; the same numbers when the tech installed the dish. It's impossible to clear it off manually in winter. My FTA dish continues to get between 65-75% quality signal depending on the transponder and satellite, which is great for me. :-D But if everyone really wants to have loads of snow and ice on their dish for the entire winter and no TV to watch all winter long, they can definitely do that if that's what makes them happy; instead of trying to merely prevent it in the first place.

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[Christopher Cromwell]

Part of my problem with not getting better signal quality on my FTA dish has to do more with all of the large tall trees out back that do block some of the signal at times, especially when it's windy. There's not much I can do about that, except to attempt to trip off the higher tops of all the trees with a large lift machine, but that's a pretty risky adventure to gain a few more percentage points in the signal quality.

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[Andrew K]

Christopher Cromwell, I used to have a setup just like your roof mounted motorized dish. See the picture in my avatar. I used the same wood blocking in the attic, and I also put braces in each direction to support the pole. I had an LNB that could receive both circular and linear TPs. It lasted a couple years. But after a while, channels kept disappearing. Somehow there must have been a little movement with the dish until I lost nearly all channels. I took the dish off the pole and mounted a TV antenna with rotator on it instead. Now I just have the dish on the ground, no motor, parked on Hispasat 30W.

 

[Christopher Cromwell]

Hey Andrew, sorry to read you lost all your channels after a few years of use. It sounds like you were using the Invacom Ku/C band LNB? I used the same one at first, believing I could get the big C-Band stuff, but was told shortly after it was the C-Band for Directv and Dish. So I swapped it out for the Invacom Universal LNB which is working a little better for me. I have read on the forums here that after a few years of use, the tinted piece of plastic will fade from the sun and will cause you to lose channels, and it described a fix to replace the round piece of plastic for a clear one. Did you change your LNB when you put it in the ground? My receiver can't see Hispasat 30W yet, the trees are in the way right now. Anyway, if I lose alot of channels, I can swap in my other LNB and see what happens then. Or I would probably have to look at the trees in the backyard blocking the view.

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[Christopher Cromwell]

When I first started reading this forum a couple months ago, I was rather impressed with how nice and supportive everyone was to each other. I hesitated joining at that time, thinking of the double standard I would get instead. But I finally convinced myself that wouldn't happen to me, and took the big leap to join up. But as sure as the sun shines, for the past 3 days going on 4 now, I have been getting mostly negative demoralizing responses on just about everything I have done; despite the money and time spent outside. Its just like getting put down from dad for the past 35+ years. Im glad I didn't burn any of my money with this site. When I get a chance later, I will close out my profile, I just can't catch a break from the bad double standard. :-(

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[Andrew K]

With the amount of time I spent on my roof to maintain the dish, I just decided to take it down in favor of the ground. I can't get as good of a view of all the satellites because of the trees, but I didn't really care because most stuff I never watched anyways. And it seemed like every time a good feed appeared, it never lasted long enough to enjoy. The three satellites I only really care about are 30W, 97W, and 125W. And the reason I chose 30W is because I'm trying to learn Spanish. 97W is just full of weird stuff. And I already get a lot of local PBS stations that are on 125W.

Right now, I'm using the Invacom SNH-031 LNB. It does the job.

 

[Andrew K]

When I first started reading this forum a couple months ago, I was rather impressed with how nice and supportive everyone was to each other. I hesitated joining at that time, thinking of the double standard I would get instead. But I finally convinced myself that wouldn't happen to me, and took the big leap to join up. But as sure as the sun shines, for the past 3 days going on 4 now, I have been getting mostly negative demoralizing responses on just about everything I have done; despite the money and time spent outside. Its just like getting put down from dad for the past 35+ years. Im glad I didn't burn any of my money with this site. When I get a chance later, I will close out my profile, I just can't catch a break from the bad double standard. :-(

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Don't let it bother you. You're always welcome to ask questions. I know we gotta start learning some time. I'm here to help if you want to ask.

 

[Christopher Cromwell]

Well, its probably best to just close out my profile before I have to get stomped down on for using the wrong color of RG6 cable. I will have to get pics sent to me with arrows and circles all over it asking why I didnt use a bright neon green or neon orange color cable. I don't remember being critical of anyone else's setup, as it would be rude of me. But that's what I must have anyway. I have a headache keep thinking about what I got myself into again. :-(

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[Titanium]

Well, its probably best to just close out my profile before I have to get stomped down on for using the wrong color of RG6 cable. I will have to get pics sent to me with arrows and circles all over it asking why I didnt use a bright neon green or neon orange color cable. I don't remember being critical of anyone else's setup, as it would be rude of me. But that's what I must have anyway. I have a headache keep thinking about what I got myself into again. :-(!

Christopher, I don't see a beat down happening on the thread??? I see a few welcomes, congrats and suggestion on how to get more out of your system or why something may not be working the way you thought it would. (and yes, white coax usually disintegrates faster in the elements from UV than black color) LOL!!!

We all learn from each others experiences. I suppose we could just admire each other's postings and post nothing in reply, but then that would be a SatelliteGuys blog and not SatelliteGuys forum!

Hang around and share what you learned on your install with the next guy!

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Hey it works!

I think a lot of us would be afraid to show our first dish setup that we did ourselves.

You did nothing wrong but like the rest of us you will learn to improve your setup.


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[Christopher Cromwell]

Well, it doesn't help things much to get orders from a total stranger in Russia; with arrows, circles and big question marks on a diagram telling me to fix these items right now!! Hell No!!!! There's not anything that needs improved as far as I can plainly see!! How would some of you out there like being treated like that on your first day and first post. Im sure most wouldn't appreciate if I did that, without knowing the first thing about that persons situation, its rude and not for me to correct on someone's stuff. But like you mentioned, that's what I get for posting anything. Im still waiting for an answer if any one of you would like being ordered around by a stranger on your project.

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[primestar31]

Well, it doesn't help things much to get orders from a total stranger in Russia; with arrows, circles and big question marks on a diagram telling me to fix these items right now!! Hell No!!!! There's not anything that needs improved as far as I can plainly see!! How would some of you out there like being treated like that on your first day and first post. Im sure most wouldn't appreciate if I did that, without knowing the first thing about that persons situation, its rude and not for me to correct on someone's stuff. But like you mentioned, that's what I get for posting anything. Im still waiting for an answer if any one of you would like being ordered around by a stranger on your project.

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I really think you are being over-sensitive, AND you are mistaking Russian language BAD Google translations as "ordering you" for Boris's trying to help you.

Boris does NOT speak English.

We are NOT 12 years old, we don't need approval from our fathers, and we are seeking help and wisdom from each other. If you can't take a little bit of what you THINK is heat, I suggest you get off the internet completely.

Now, I'm out of here because I'm starting to think that you should leave the forum, OR reconsider and give US an apology.

 

[Christopher Cromwell]

That's exactly what intend to do within the next hour. Thank you for supporting my decision.

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