1.2m Andrew Commercial Ku Dish Help

[Grover8]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum as far as posting, but I've been browsing on this site for some time. I'm new to FTA (less than a year) but I have a 90cm Geosat motorized dish.

I just recently acquired from CL a 1.2m Andrew (red lighting bolt) Ku dish from a guy who said he took it off a movie theater in upstate New York.

I want to get FTA from this and have it motorized.

I'm going to have this on a tripod. I have it weighed down with concrete slabs and heavy stone. The dish with lnb attached weighs about 30+ lbs and the metal mount is about 20 lbs. The whole thing really heavy, heavier than my 90cm dish. I ordered a ku dish motor STAB HH120 but hasn't come yet (this week I hope). I'm not sure if that motor will fit on the the 3" wide mount clamp. Most likely it will not as the shaft is a little over 2" wide.

The lnb that came with the dish is a DRO LNB which I do not want to use as I have a Geosat PLL LNB.

My problem is how do i properly get this 1.2m dish motorized without fear of falling down in a storm and how do I set it up so that I can use my current Geosat PLL LNB.

Pictures can be found here. I'm not done setting up the dish on the tripod. I'm missing a few stuff and a trip to the hardware store will make it secure for stationary mount for AMC 1. Not sure about it being motorized.

imgur.com/a/avHw0

 

[Anole]

Haven't looked closely at all your pictures yet, but you sound like you're off to a good start.
Removing the transmitter and using a PLL LNBF will lighten it a whole LOT!
Next, is to remove the heavy mount and replace it with a light simple bracket.
We had threads on the subject a few years ago, with many bracket ideas.
A simple one I like, consists of a "foot bracket" mounted to an aluminum plate, then bolted onto the back of the dish.

 

[Grover8]

Thanks, I've researched a lot before I jumping on the dish.

I'm not ready to spend up to $350 on a Ku PLL from northsat or new japan radio.

I will take off that BUC uplink thing.

I want to somehow use my Geosat SL1PLL lnb on this lnb mount. The problem is the two metal arms holding the lnb bracket and the bracket neck is too small for the Geosat SL1PLL lnb. Any idea besides duct taping it would be appreciated. Unless my DRO PLL is able to pick up FTA. I'll test it out.

Good idea on the light mount. No reason to use that 20+ lb hunk of metal. Do they sell lighter mounts in my size?

I've seen people use a block of wood attached to the dish and then attach a mount on the block of wood, then the mount would go onto a dish motor. Maybe that could work for me.

Any other ideas I may have missed? Thanks guys.

 

[phlatwound]

Does anyone know the diameter of the metal throat inside the plastic casing on that GeoSat LNBF? I don't think it would be small enough to fit that clamp, but maybe?

I doubt you will find a lighter factory-made mount, you are probably on your own there.

Did you order your STAB120 from that outfit in Canada? That was the only place I could find them when I looked a couple weeks ago.

Nice project, hope it works out for you.

 

[pro96]

Make sure you get the STAB HH120 motor as its recommended by me and others using a 1.2m

 

[Grover8]

Yes, I did order the STAB HH120 from a seller in Canada. They have a website and an ebay listing.

I didn't take a photo but i removed the lnb and tried to put the Geosat PLL on it and it doesn't fit. I'll try to have a photo tomorrow and size of the neck.

I think I'm going to do what this guy did with his 1.2m dish. Now I just need to find a mount that support the 55mm shaft of the STAB HH120. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks guys.

Is this motor any good? SG6100 Monster Motor

 

[phlatwound]

Yes, I did order the STAB HH120 from a seller in Canada. They have a website and an ebay listing.

I didn't take a photo but i removed the lnb and tried to put the Geosat PLL on it and it doesn't fit. I'll try to have a photo tomorrow and size of the neck.

I think I'm going to do what this guy did with his 1.2m dish. Now I just need to find a mount that support the 55mm shaft of the STAB HH120. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks guys.

Please let us know how the STAB motor transaction goes.

Did you remove the plastic casing on the GeoSat PLL? That casing is just cosmetic on most LNBFs, the guts inside are made of metal and the throat will be a smaller diameter than the plastic casing...but might still be too big. Maybe someone who has had one apart will post the size of the innards.

I think the mounts on WildBlue and DTV Slimlines are 2" (around 50mm)? they both have some nice fine adjustments on them, not sure if you could make them fit that 55mm shaft though.

 

[phlatwound]

...Is this motor any good? SG6100 Monster Motor

I think there is a review of that SG6100 here on the forum somewhere.

My thought is it would be fine for a lighter dish but seriously doubt it will handle a commercial 1.2m, especially trying to pull it back from the extreme ends of the arc.

 

[Anole]

LNBF mounting idea

Read page three of this thread for a discussion of how to mount that LNBF onto a very similar dish:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/291546-question/page3
Worked for the guy in Hawaii. :up

 

[turbosat]

Brackets can be fashioned, I did it out of simple angle, try to find a picture of my creation for you. I'm not using a 1.2 though, only 1m Channel master. Muffler clamp, conduit hanger, etc. Looks hellish but has worked for 3yrs+.
edit: I see those side-angle reinforcements for the dish, attached to the mount, that will complicate your process a little. Don't think I'd want to leave those off of whatever you design to replace the original mount.

 

[Anole]

Keep feedhorn

Here is something I posted recently for another member with a similar problem:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/312926-New-to-FTA-Found-dish?p=3194067#post3194067
This idea let's you keep your existing feedhorn and holder, replacing an LNB for all that plumbing you have.
Something to consider.

On a different matter, I'm concerned about removing the mount behind the dish.
Those back-side rods stabilize the edges of the dish...where the LNB side supports are anchored.
Looks like the design needs all the pieces in place to work.
Hard to offer good advice, without the dish in my hands.

 

[Grover8]

Finally finished my 1.2m dish. I have it set a AMC 1 for now. I can motorize it but I prefer not to as it is too heavy and any heavy wind gust will wreak havoc on it. I'll most likely keep it at AMC 1. I'm getting better reception than my 90cm but that may be due to the LNB placement. I need to tweak it but for now it's fine for my NBC feeds. I'll have some final pictures up soon.

 

[avenger]

Finally finished my 1.2m dish. I have it set a AMC 1 for now. I can motorize it but I prefer not to as it is too heavy and any heavy wind gust will wreak havoc on it. I'll most likely keep it at AMC 1. I'm getting better reception than my 90cm but that may be due to the LNB placement. I need to tweak it but for now it's fine for my NBC feeds. I'll have some final pictures up soon.

I had mine first set at AMC 21 for the PBS stations but, now is resting at 97W Galaxy 19, getting signal quality of 75% and not getting some of the channels.

Using the original Ku PPL LNBF plus another and similar Ku LNBF.

Still trying to figure out how and what motor to use to motorized this dish...Please post new pictures of your setup....My dish is still mounted on the NPRM which is placed on a set of two stacked cinder blocks.

I am using the two Ku LNBF stacked ( one was giving to me by stogie5150) yesterday I was using the original Ku PLL LNBF all by itself and noticed something strange or unique, if used by itself, no TPs are located or found. If the extra LNBF is installed, then the satellite TPs are scanned with no problem. The only thing is that all of the satellites TPs are doubled. Go figure.

 

[SatelliteAV]

The extra LNB might be bandstacked. Were the horizontal TP frequencies wrong?

 

[avenger]

The extra LNB might be bandstacked. Were the horizontal TP frequencies wrong?

Brian,

The PPL LNBF and the one that stogie5150 gave me are picking up or scanning all of the Horizontal and none of the Verticals, did not noticed that until you mentioned about the Horizontal TP....The two Ku LNB have a rectangular slot, I left the original clocked as it was and installed the other one on top of it via a 90° supplied elbow.

Did not noticed the clocking of the one that stogie5150 gave me...Will see if both are clocked the same way and reconfigure them. Will report my findings.

Thanks

 

[avenger]

Just removed the LNBFs and looked at the clocking of the rectangular slots of the LNB and the connecting horn blocks.

All the slots of the LNB and mating blocks are facing the right way or matching, the slot for the PLL is Horizontal facing while the other is Vertical facing, there is a pin inside of both LNB, the pin in the PLL is longer and skinnier than the one stogie5150 gave me.

The PLL is straight on and inline with the horn, the other one is as mentioned earlier, is mounted above. Does it makes a difference as how the LNBs are placed, PLL on top or bottom?.

On the horn mount attachment where there are four bolts that loosen to set the LNB skew, there is a piece that is stamped with a "V" and a"H", these two markings are facing a two piece plate with +60, +30, 0, -30, -60 degrees marking on both half of the plates.

What do I need to do to this LNB horn setup to be able to get the Verticals and Horizontal.

I forgot to mention that I am only connecting to the PLL LNB which is online with the feedhorn, I am using the other as to plug the open end block.

Can both LNB be used at the same time by way of a switch.


Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[avenger]

6I already edited the above post #16 twice to add more observations.

Re-assembled the setup that is getting duplicate channels, so far that is the only one that works. Here is the way that things are put together, the PLL is in line with the feedhorn and coaxed, the other LNB is located above the PLL coaxed but not electrically connected (just floating, working as a cover plate for the 90° elbow), I turned the upper LNB 180° and did not get any channels previously scanned nor did I was able to re-scanned channels at all.

The only thing that I have not done is to change the skew to "0", the skew right now is set close to 12.16° as per requirement.

To summerize;

1. Using two LNBs a PLL and a similar LNB.
2. The setup works with both LNB connected, only the PLL is inline with the receiver.
3. Removing one LNB does not get any Tp scanned.
4. The present setup gets double channels for the Horizontal Tps, and no Vertical Tp at all.
5. The skew plate, two half semicircle piece with degrees marking imprinted with +60° to -60°, don't know how they should be set with relation to the skew shaft marked V and H.
6. Cannot forsee how to get the vertical TPs the way things are set now.

Thank You.

 

[avenger]

posts #13 through 17 are observations made while using the microHD. Swapped to the X2 Premium using same setup as before and obtained different results, this time it triple scanned the Horizontal Tp, the first scan was Horizontal, the second was snowing the Vertical sign but were actually Horizontal Tp, the third was back to Horizontal.

I would add that I am using both of the new firmware for both receivers.

If this/these LNBs are considered "Bandstacked" and if one is removed from the setup, doing so causes no Tps to be scanned, how can this problem be solved....I have used every possible LNB configuration that I know, have used the 10750, 9750/10750, 9750/10600, setting and they all seem to work but still getting double scanning of channels.

Will buying the PLL LNB that SatlliteAV sells cure the problem, it might be hard to relocate this LNB at the right spot as the original.

I know that there is a solution to this, just need some input as what to do for I am lost as usual LOL!!

Thank You.

 

[SatelliteAV]

Is the receiver only connected to one LNB? If so, this is why only one polarity is logged. One LNB provides horizontal polarity and the other vertical.

To receive both polarities 18v must be provided to both LNBs and a switch will be used to select between the two LNBs.

 

[avenger]

Is the receiver only connected to one LNB? If so, this is why only one polarity is logged. One LNB provides horizontal polarity and the other vertical.

To receive both polarities 18v must be provided to both LNBs and a switch will be used to select between the two LNBs.

Thanks Brian, what type/kind of switch is required to do this...I have three to work with"

1. ChannelMaster multi switch 4x4 model 69041FD, thanks to stogie5150
2. Ecoda which I bought from you.
3. DiSeqc 4x1

Is either one of these switches good enough to do the job with those two LNBs, or do I need something different.

Thanks again