30W on a 6 footer

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pjcl

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Nov 9, 2008
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Can anyone with a 6 footer report on the reception of channels, namely along the 90's longitude? I'm about to get my hands on a 6-feet dish, but want to make sure I'll get a significant number of channels.
 
good lord you should be fine with a dish that size (and if you have the correct LNB)

I've used a 37x27" dish here in Minneapolis (93.5W) and it worked fine for almost all channels. A couple were weak but the "main" muxes were fine
 
So, no need to go for the 12-feet. I have a guy who wants to give me one of those, too. Are you getting Univisión ok, Ice?
 
I dont have the dish aimed at 30W anymore as that LNB blew up. I was using my old Shaw Direct dish (Channelmaster) that uses a specific LNB and the replacement LNB is like 75 bucks. It was the 2 LNB setup..see the pic below

Univision I can get on 118.7W C-Band
 

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Plus No Univision on 30W, mostly Cuban, Spain and Muslim channels. Univision mostly in Anik F3 at 118.8 C band ,Univision New Mexico at Galaxy 17 91west and Univision Puerto Rico HD in the PR muxes -Intelsat 14 at 45 west -C band as well.
 
I haven't been able to find any signal off 30W yet...:( I've used 12172 H 27500 as a reference, and nothing...
 
Pjcl where are you located?

Check the sat footprint for your location at satstar dot com.

Try 12130 H 27500 that's a pretty strong tp. Luck.
 
Pj, you're in about the hottest spot over the USA for this bird.

I´m at 100w and getting a 70% on a 30".

My dish is pointing downwards to the ground. It looks as if it´s falling off the mast.

Your´s might have to be positioned a little like that. Can it go down that low? I believe not all dishes can do that.
 
I need to keep trying, I've noticed I lose some quality as dish moves east... maybe I need to check the mast, too...
 
I need to keep trying, I've noticed I lose some quality as dish moves east... maybe I need to check the mast, too...

Based on what you said, checking for plumb and true south orientation would be the 1st thing I would do. I get the 30° W bird great on a 39" Primestar.
I did do the inverted mount install after constantly having to dump the water out of the feed throat every time it rained. Being just 11-12 ° above the horizon here the LNB pointed down sufficiently to make a nice lil rain catcher....lol
On my inverted install, I used a horizontal pipe bent down ~45° That was necessary to allow the dish to clear the mounting pipe when being pointed higher in elevation.
Inverted mount obviously means the pipe comes from above instead of below the dish. Without a "kick" in the pipe, the backside of the top lip of the dish will hit a straight vertical pipe before it points high enough in the sky to see the satellite.

You should have no issue with a 30-36" dish, but a 1 meter+ dish will give you some wiggle room for rainfade.

I'm guessing that 6 footer is an offset feed style dish? Did you happen to get the matching LNB/feed/scaler with the it? Proper scaler is everything for proper illumination, aka max captured signal.
You shouldnt need that big guy for Hispasat. You might consider using it to bore site (center) it on a favorite sat near the center of the arc and populating either side of the center point with LNBs set to get some of your other favorite sats from a single fixed position dish.
I cant recall, but I think the guy(s) that were playing with that type of install were getting close to +/- 8 to 9 or so degrees (from the centerpoint) coverage of the arc on a 6 footer with acceptable signal loss at the edges.

If you are interested in such an install, ping Anole, he can give you all the details, including the switchboard from hell diagram. Bandstacked LNBs would go a long way to simplify switching in a full blown setup , but they are pricey by comparison to the garden variety units, plus your receiver(s) must support bandstacked LNBs.
Have fun!
 
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Well, signal is strong from 125W to 72W... it's after that when I have problems... I also may not have sufficient horizon clearance...
 
Well, signal is strong from 125W to 72W... it's after that when I have problems... I also may not have sufficient horizon clearance...
Except for slapping a circular on there for testing purposes and finding the Echo bird @61.5 to verify tracking, I dont know what else you would want to track for Ku. With the 148° Echo bird gone, nothing else west to see w/Ku (that I know of)
You are prolly better off setting up a dedicated dish for 30W rather than trying to use your motorized for it and birds in the "main part" of the NA arc. I suspect there would be a performance compromise on both fronts.
I also have LOS issues for 30W. I have to point between two trees, and above a third that is about 900' across the cow pasture. There is a better place for the dish but it is impractical from a cable routing perspective. When I start getting wavering signals that follow the wind on that one, I know it's time to break out the pole saw again....lol
This side of 3d modeling, this graphic is the best explanation of Clarke Belt tracking I've come across.
http://www.geo-orbit.org/sizeimgs/adjarcsr.gif
Study that and you can begin to invision what the positioning system geometry does by mechanical means.
The rest of the page is here
Footprints by Dish Size - Adjusting the Polar Mount for Prime Focus Antenna - C/Ku-Band Satellite Systems - Tuning, Tracking, Azimuth, Elevation, Declination Angles, F/D Ratio, Focal Distance, Inclinometer, LNB/Feedhorn Assembly, Actuator Assembly, C
and has a wealth of info for setting up a C band array.
 
Cool stuff, thanks melgarga. You're right, being 30W so far from the "main part" of the arc, it is probably a good idea to have a stationary dish dedicated exclusively to this bird.
 
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