Scott's C-Band Dish install

[Scott Greczkowski]

This is continued from the previous thread which can be found at http://www.satelliteguys.us/fta-shack/175868-good-deal-sadoun.html that thread was about selecting my equipment.

Now I have my equipment I am now in the installation phase.

The final equipment I ended up with is as follows:

2.4 meter (8 foot) GeosatPro Dish from SatelliteAV

Everything else is from Sadoun Satellite Sales
24" Heavy Duty actuator
GBOX Positioner
BSC 621 C/KU Band LNB

Yesterday we were evacuated from our building here in Hartford due to a hostage situation so I got to go home early (For details on what happened CLICK HERE for the news story)

I was planning on putting the Dish up this weekend, but since I had half a day off I decided to jump in and put it together. I just couldn't wait.

So opened the satellte dish box and assembled the dish. I used a 5 gallon bucket in the center to keep things level. Putting the dish together was not hard, infact it took me about a half hour to screw it all together.

Next up was building the polor mount, The dish came with no instructions only a diagram (click here to see it) putting it together was not too hard, although there were a few times where the diagram was a little unclear to me.

Luckilly I found a great website which has a review of this dish with lots of detailed photos. The site is DVBResource.COM (and the review of the dish can be seen by clicking here.) With the detailed photos I was able to figure out what I was confused by and was able to put the mount together except for two nuts and bolts.

It seemed as though the locking nuts they sent with the dish were not the correct ones, and they were the only two nuts that size. But no problem a quick visit to Lowes and we had that problem fixed.

Once it was done we got the mount and put it on the dish. By the time we got it all screwed in on the mount it was dark outside and the mosquitos were biting us like crazy. I really wanted to put the actuator on but we didn't have time and wanted to get away from the bugs.

So we mounted the dish on the pole. My father (who was a HUGE help in putting things together) my wife and my son and got together to lift the dish on the pole. Before putting ip on the pole I was considering cutting down the size of the pole by a few feet. The pole itself was 6 1/2 feet above the ground. I was worried about reaching the LNB. After getting the dish on the pole I was glad I didn't as there was about 2 feet from the bottom of the dish to the ground when it was on the pole.

We tightened the Dish to the pole just enough so it wouldn't blow around and cleaned up and called it a night. (Then went and treated our bug bites.)

This morning before I left for work I snapped a few photos (seen below) This Dish looks HUGE next to the 4 foot 1.2 meter Dish on the side of it. (BTW I am giving away that Dish and motor after I get this new dish up and running)

Now I got to admit it, I am a little nervous about finishing this dish off, here are some of the issues I have...

1) I got to put the LNB arms and LNB on... Putting the arms is going to be hard in one part because of how high it is off the ground.

2) I don't know how to mount the LNB properly, how far does it sit in the scaler and what is up and down on the LNB. With the height and dish being a polor mount its going to be hard adjusting the LNB for peek signal without running up and down the latter a bunch of times.

3) I am planning on aiming for KU first. Since the other dish next to it works I can aim it at my true south satellite and hopefully easily hit my target by moving the dish around and locking it down.

3) I am nervous about the actuator, I have never installed one of those before. I am not sure how to set it to my true south satellite (72 degrees) yet have it go all the way from 43 degrees to 129 degrees. I am lucky to have a full view of the arc here and can pick up these birds on the 1.2 meter dish. I hope I can set it up to track the arc nicely. I had a problem with my KU Dish that took me years to figure out and fix, the motor was just off a hair. I hope I don't have the same issue here.

4) I can't find my Superbuddy meter! I used it about 2 months ago and since then we did some work in the house and now I can't find it. To do this install I will be using Sadouns satellite aiming kit, its an analog meter that the needle moves and makes a tone when its on a satellite. I am not 100% but I believe that the meter does KU only. I will also be using a Fortec Mercury II receiver and a TV outside as well. I really wish I could find my superbuddy, I LOVE THAT METER!

I have put up plenty of KU Dishes and now that I have learned from my mistakes I am able to do it well. I have put up a few motorized dishes and h ave been easily able to get them tracking the arc, but again this is the first time putting up a movable C Band Dish, so I am a little nervous.

Another kink in the works is the weather, we have been having lots of rain and thunderstorms over the past few weeks. Today the weather is GREAT, but when I get out of work we are supposed to have showers. I don't know when it will be nice enough for me to work on it again.

So while I am a little nervous, I am confident I can do it... after all I am a SatelliteGuy.

Thanks for any tips or suggestions you can lend.

 

[tdti1]

Nice, I like it! the Geosat looks pretty good.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I was very impressed with the build quality of the Geosatpro dish. Its a lot thicker then I imagined and is much thicker metal then the Fortec dish sitting next to it.

If your going to buy a C Band dish I would highly recommend the Geosatpro, as its not some cheap hobbiest dish, it should give me years of worry free use.

Some people ask me why I didn't scronge for a Dish. And the reason was I didn't want to get someone elses problems. I figured the cost of scrounging a dish and getting everything working properly on it would be close to the cost of buying it new.

 

[pro96]

Excellent, nice pics too.

 

[Corrado]

Looks great Scott. The dark color of the GeosatPro blends in nicely. I've never seen one around here.

Keep the photos coming, I'm curious of some views from the back with the actuator.

 

[vfrjim]

Scott, looks great so far, I think that you will like that dish, it is the dish that I would get if I needed to replace mine and needed to keep a respectable budget. I really am interested in signal quality of certain signals after you get it going. I have a satlook meter if you need to borrow one.

Jim

 

[trinity13]

This is continued from the previous thread which can be found at http://www.satelliteguys.us/fta-shack/175868-good-deal-sadoun.html that thread was about selecting my equipment.

Now I have my equipment I am now in the installation phase.

The final equipment I ended up with is as follows:

2.4 meter (8 foot) GeosatPro Dish from SatelliteAV

Everything else is from Sadoun Satellite Sales
24" Heavy Duty actuator
GBOX Positioner
BSC 621 C/KU Band LNB

Yesterday we were evacuated from our building here in Hartford due to a hostage situation so I got to go home early (For details on what happened CLICK HERE for the news story)

I was planning on putting the Dish up this weekend, but since I had half a day off I decided to jump in and put it together. I just couldn't wait.

So opened the satellte dish box and assembled the dish. I used a 5 gallon bucket in the center to keep things level. Putting the dish together was not hard, infact it took me about a half hour to screw it all together.

Next up was building the polor mount, The dish came with no instructions only a diagram (click here to see it) putting it together was not too hard, although there were a few times where the diagram was a little unclear to me.

Luckilly I found a great website which has a review of this dish with lots of detailed photos. The site is DVBResource.COM (and the review of the dish can be seen by clicking here.) With the detailed photos I was able to figure out what I was confused by and was able to put the mount together except for two nuts and bolts.

It seemed as though the locking nuts they sent with the dish were not the correct ones, and they were the only two nuts that size. But no problem a quick visit to Lowes and we had that problem fixed.

Once it was done we got the mount and put it on the dish. By the time we got it all screwed in on the mount it was dark outside and the mosquitos were biting us like crazy. I really wanted to put the actuator on but we didn't have time and wanted to get away from the bugs.

So we mounted the dish on the pole. My father (who was a HUGE help in putting things together) my wife and my son and got together to lift the dish on the pole. Before putting ip on the pole I was considering cutting down the size of the pole by a few feet. The pole itself was 6 1/2 feet above the ground. I was worried about reaching the LNB. After getting the dish on the pole I was glad I didn't as there was about 2 feet from the bottom of the dish to the ground when it was on the pole.

We tightened the Dish to the pole just enough so it wouldn't blow around and cleaned up and called it a night. (Then went and treated our bug bites.)

This morning before I left for work I snapped a few photos (seen below) This Dish looks HUGE next to the 4 foot 1.2 meter Dish on the side of it. (BTW I am giving away that Dish and motor after I get this new dish up and running)

Now I got to admit it, I am a little nervous about finishing this dish off, here are some of the issues I have...

1) I got to put the LNB arms and LNB on... Putting the arms is going to be hard in one part because of how high it is off the ground.

2) I don't know how to mount the LNB properly, how far does it sit in the scaler and what is up and down on the LNB. With the height and dish being a polor mount its going to be hard adjusting the LNB for peek signal without running up and down the latter a bunch of times.

3) I am planning on aiming for KU first. Since the other dish next to it works I can aim it at my true south satellite and hopefully easily hit my target by moving the dish around and locking it down.

3) I am nervous about the actuator, I have never installed one of those before. I am not sure how to set it to my true south satellite (72 degrees) yet have it go all the way from 43 degrees to 129 degrees. I am lucky to have a full view of the arc here and can pick up these birds on the 1.2 meter dish. I hope I can set it up to track the arc nicely. I had a problem with my KU Dish that took me years to figure out and fix, the motor was just off a hair. I hope I don't have the same issue here.

4) I can't find my Superbuddy meter! I used it about 2 months ago and since then we did some work in the house and now I can't find it. To do this install I will be using Sadouns satellite aiming kit, its an analog meter that the needle moves and makes a tone when its on a satellite. I am not 100% but I believe that the meter does KU only. I will also be using a Fortec Mercury II receiver and a TV outside as well. I really wish I could find my superbuddy, I LOVE THAT METER!

I have put up plenty of KU Dishes and now that I have learned from my mistakes I am able to do it well. I have put up a few motorized dishes and h ave been easily able to get them tracking the arc, but again this is the first time putting up a movable C Band Dish, so I am a little nervous.

Another kink in the works is the weather, we have been having lots of rain and thunderstorms over the past few weeks. Today the weather is GREAT, but when I get out of work we are supposed to have showers. I don't know when it will be nice enough for me to work on it again.

So while I am a little nervous, I am confident I can do it... after all I am a SatelliteGuy.

Thanks for any tips or suggestions you can lend.

1) In hindsight, it probably would have been easier to flip the dish after the mounting hardware had been installed and put the arms on while it was on the ground, but if you have a tall enough step ladder, it won't be hard.

2) I'm not familiar with the BSC 621, so will let someone who is respond to this.

3) If you do the Ku band arc, the C band will be set too (just have to find and store the satellites).

3) I'm sure you will have other suggestions on this, but here is mine:
Run the actuator all the way in (keep the cylinder/tube from spinning while you do this).
Run it back out an inch and set the western limit switch.
Run it out another inch, and set the dish to receive the western most satellite you will be using/are able to receive here. Tighten the clamp and then move it with the Gbox to the eastern most satellite you want and then another inch and set your eastern limit switch.

4) I have a similar analog meter and it works with both C and Ku band.

This will probably be a piece of cake for you (just nervous because it's your 1st).
Take your time, do it right and enjoy the results!

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Nah not a piece of cake, we tried putting the actuator on and the instructions say that the saddle clamp and rod end should be at 90 degree alightment, but we haven't been able to get it there.

I believe that if I turn the screw up to raise the angle of my dish that it will get there, my father on the other hand says it wont matter.

We tried the included spacers in a few combinations with no success.Can someone take a look at the pictures below and tell us what we are doing wrong.

Thank you!

 

[Inno]

If I'm seeing things correctly, you should be ok. I don't think you will ever see a 90° alignment because one end is fixed to the mount and the other end is fixed to the dish and as the dish moves across the arc the angle will change. Also, you want it to slope downward toward the motor so any water accumulating won't sit inside your actuator.

 

[Inno]

No, wait, now I'm not so sure..........I'm not sure which part you are talking about being at 90°.

I don't see anything that I would think would cause a problem though.

 

[Lak7]

Do you have the Dish set for your Elevation?

 

[JAG72]

Very nice Scott.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Do you have the Dish set for your Elevation?

No. Not even sure how to do that. This dish has no markings on it.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

OK figured out the elevation.

C-band Satellite Installation

Mine here is 41.7

 

[DK_Sat]

By looking at the pix the actuator is correct on the dish you should be ok

 

[SatelliteAV]

Great work and photos!

I would suggest taking dish off of the pole to attach and align the support arms, align the feedhorn and perform a string test to verify correct assembly to form the parabola. Lay the dish on its back, facing upwards and attached the legs and scaler. Slightly tighten the hardware as the assembly will need to be centered and aligned into the reflector.

Perform a string test to confirm that the panels are correctly assembled to form a perfect parabola. If necessary, adjust the panels and mounts so that the strings touch in the center as they are positioned across the edges of the reflector.

Once the parabola is correct and the panel hardware is tightened, you will adjust the LNB supports, scaler and feedhorn to center and aim to the center of the reflector.

Tape a white paper behind the center hole in the reflector. This paper will be a surface to show a laser level pointer while aligning the feedhorn assembly. Place a laser level across the face of the feedhorn, centering the laser in the scaler opening. Adjust the legs, scaler hardware attachment points until the laser points to the exact center of the reflector. Insert the feedhorn and rotate so the arrow is at 90 degree angle to the dish vertical. Place a laser level across the face of the feedhorn, centering the laser on the feedhorn throat. Adjust the feedhorn FD setting and level the feedhorn within the scaler until the laser points to the exact center of the reflector.

Now it is time to mount the dish on the pole and set the dish angle, declination angle and set the jack with east / west limits.

 

[Cadsulfide]

Good going Scott, all your attention to detail will pay big dividends!

 

[DVBResource]

Arrow mark on the 621 is the horizontal probe not verticle, all the imported cband and combo c\ku lnbf's are this way unless it has been changed lately due to my advise to all vendors to state this !

Too many people think the arrow is the verticle, it is no big deal but all transponders will scan inverted polarity on a blind scan. On the 4dtv you will have to invert polarity setting for lnbf.

This is a big problem with newbe's since they are trying to setup a dish on a fta verticle or horizontal transponder and they do not get a digital quality lock because the arrow is pointing up on the true south satellite. So they are searching for days on the wrong polarity.

Jimmy

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Jimmy thanks for your site showing off this Dish, it really helped me figure things out when the diagram wasn't quite cutting it.

The other question on the BSC621 is how deep do I push the LNB into the scaller, I notice on the LNB there are numbers. Do I push it to the 8 since I have a 8 foot Dish?

I know I will figure it out, just stuff going through my mind here at work while my Dish sits at home waiting for me to finish it.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

BTW Thank you guys for your advice and help, we here at SatelliteGuys have the best members anywhere for this type of help!