New Ku-band Dish

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cyberham

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Jun 16, 2010
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Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia
Yesterday I bought a new 1.2-metre Ku-band dish from my local Dr. Sat store near Toronto. This is about the only game in town to physically buy new FTA product nowadays. I've always wanted a 1.2-metre dish so now I have one! Initial attempts at finding signals yesterday resulted in no signals but I've learned FTA is not for the impatient.

My situation is that I must wheel the dish out from a garage, play, then roll it back into the garage at the end of the play period. I thought of this since I recall Iceberg used to do this. What happened to him?

So I may be asking for advice as I proceed.
 
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A new dish is always fun to play with! Aggravating that you live where you can't leave it permanent outside.

In short: Ice got mad at Scott and asked to be removed from SatelliteGuys.
 
Yesterday I bought a new 1.2-metre Ku-band dish from my local Dr. Sat store near Toronto.
Without seeing some pictures I do not believe! ;) Just kidding. Congratulations! 1.2m is adequate size of dish to play with. Is that Az/El mount or PM?
 
With a fresh day, I remembered to set skew in the correct direction! Had Galaxy 19 in 15 minutes. The first one in a new location is always the toughest. Now I remember about Ice.

It's an az-el mount, no rotator to follow KISS method.
1.2-metre Ku Dish.jpg
 
I would certainly like to try C-band. I think to try I just need to replace the Ku LNB with a C-band feedhorn / LNB? That's outside my experience. Since I have a good view of the sky, I would think I should be able to receive a satellite or two on C.
 
Did you fab that dish cart?

There's mucho mini-BUD threads here for info on going for some C-band, you can definitely get a few transponders with a 1.2 meter.
 
From my ancient inventory list of C-band stuff, I see the following. I like to be organized. I wonder if anything from here could be used on my Ku dish to get me closer to getting C-band satellites.

Chaparral feedhorn: qty. 3
Tee-Com feedhorn: qty. 1
Chaparral polarizer: qty. 3
Star Trak polarizer: qty. 1
MA Electronics Canada Ga As FET LNB: qty. 1
Star Trak 41 deg 60 dB gain LNB (Japan): qty. 1
Star Trak 42 deg 60 dB gain LNB (Japan): qty. 1
Star Trak 47 deg 60 dB gain LNB (Japan): qty. 1

Chaparral co-rotor with polarizer: qty. 1
Norsat Ku LNB: 0.5dB NF, 58 dB gain, A freq, Made in Taiwan, 710-0307, 94/11/17
Norsat 5400 Series C Band LNB
Input: 3.7 - 4.2 GHz
Output: 950 - 1450 MHz
L.O.: 5.15 GHz
Gain: 65 dB
Temp: 17 K
Made in U.S.A. 01/18/96
 
Thx for the iceberg update. I was wondering too. He was around in the early days of the forum
 
Nice mobile setup cyberham. Boy are you a lucky guy, having a real satellite store near you. Have fun with the new dish.
 
All you need to do is automate it! Syncronize with your garage door opener with maybe a second garage door opener system to reel out your dish-caddy into a pre-set stop position so the mast is vertical, and add a mover, and you can run everything from the living room! :) When you are done hit the "retract" button and the cart pulls back into the garage and the door closes.
:)

Nice dish, I am sure you will be picking up some of the weaker signals with it just fine!
 
I have now experienced the Ku band 2017 and it is a little disappointing. 30W, 87W, 91W, 97W, 103W have transponders of interest. I'm ready for C band.
Yeah, all the good stuff is on C-Band!
 
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