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3ABN Dish size?

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iafirebuff

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Feb 10, 2006
4,394
8
Waterloo, Iowa
I see on 3ABN's website that the $50 dish is listed as a 36" dish. I read the directions that is posted in their system listing, and it says it is 32"/ Does anyone know for sure that this is a 36" dish? Thanks in advance!
 
THANKS! Sounds like a 36" dish to me! I think I will finally order it today. I am also going to get another motor, prolly a SG-2100 again.
 
33" wide? I thought the width was the important factor.. maybe the circularity of the dish just requires that it's 36" in any particular location in order for that "width" to be useful in signal rejection?

BTW Larry, that was me emailing you the other day. Too bad you're not just a bit closer (or that I had a bit more time on my hands!)
 
looks same to me

well, my 3ABN 36" dish is: 37" high, 33" wide


my Fortec Star 90cm dish: 37" high, 33.5" wide
 
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I noticed the 33" width on the 3ABN dish as well, but the SatelliteAV Geosat 90cm dish is identical in size (33" wide, 37" high; installed one in Brooklyn last week)...
 
The width is the measurement to go by. Since the dish is an offset dish, the height will be larger for it appears to the signal to be a round dish. Ideally the db gain would be the factor to compare with others as you will want to know how much signal you are going to collect.
 

That's what I always thought, which would make nearly ALL of the dishes which are sold as 36" or 90CM dishes only 33" dishes. I thought that was only the case with these 3ABN dishes, then I installed a Geosat Pro 90CM in Brooklyn, which was identical in size to the 3ABN reflector. Now, Anole is saying that the Fortec 90CM dishes are the same size as well (forgetting about the .5 difference ). These all should be advertised as 33" dishes, not 36" dishes. This is beginning to remind me of the old hard drive capacity catch (1MB=1,000,000 bytes)...
 
size is relative

Oh, Yea?

Well, how big is your 80cm, really??



Also, do the math. On my calculator, I get:
90 cm = 35.43 "
80 cm = 31.49 "


When you measure them more fairly, . . .
The actual reflective surface of the 3ABN is about 0.5" less on each side and top & bottom.
I was hooking my tape measure over the convenient raised rim that is stamped into the front.
The Fortec Star 90 cm dish was reflecting right out to the edge, where I measured.

I think in the end, any difference in size is far less important than the other accumulated inaccuracies ...
...or the mistakes we make.
 
Anole said:
I think in the end, any difference in size is far less important than the other accumulated inaccuracies ...
...or the mistakes we make.
Click to expand...
I believe the biggest single thing that effects reception on these stamped metal dishes is warpage or "clam-shelling" damage from shipping.

I lay the dish face down on a flat table and and adjust it is untill perfectly flat. See the attached 2 pages from a GloryStar manual.
Bob
 

Attachments

  • Glorystar how to check a dish.pdf
    446.5 KB · Views: 220
The different manufacturers measure their dish's differently. The Winegard 1m measures:
Effective aperture 100 cm (39.4 in.)
Antenna height 114 cm (44.8 in.)
Antenna width 105 cm (41.3 in.)

Their 75cm dish:
Effective aperture 76 cm (29.9 in)
Antenna height 87 cm (34.3 in)
Antenna width 80 cm (31.5 in)

and the Fortec 100cm dish

Diameter Short Axis
100 cm

Diameter Long Axis
110 cm

and the Fortec 80cm dish

Diameter Short Axis
75 cm

Diameter Long Axis
83 cm

so it does not stay consistent even within the manufacturer. Interesting that the Winegard 76cm dish is actually bigger than the Fortec 80cm dish. The gain of the dish is the important factor, as that is how much the signal is amplified or collected. So a larger dish with less gain would still give you less of a signal than a smaller dish with a greater gain. Other factors would be beamwidth and noise.
 
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Some good points in this thread... Absolutely correct, in the final analysis, it is signal gain which determines the merit of any dish. I do like the Azure Shine dishes sold by 3ABN and SatelliteAV, due to their rugged construction.
 
Tron said:
Some good points in this thread... Absolutely correct, in the final analysis, it is signal gain which determines the merit of any dish. I do like the Azure Shine dishes sold by 3ABN and SatelliteAV, due to their rugged construction.
Click to expand...

I agree that the Azure Shine dishes are pretty tough. My only complaint is that some of the bolts they supply are junk. I broke two bolts without even trying. A quick trip to home depot and about $3 later the problem was solved.
 
I had the same problem with the hardware kit for the Geosat dish, in particular, the mounting pole hardware. Broke three bolts before making the Home Depot run, ended up using 2 3/8" fence post hardware and pole to mount the motor instead
 
Decided to bump this thread because I just received my 3ABN dish and I really like the rugged construction , one thing I noticed were the 2 different elevation settings A and B for the long bolt , was thinking that's different . I also like the additional LNB support arms , my fortec dish LNB arm sways in heavy winds.

I assembled the dish with ease , everything is hand tightened until I'm ready to mount it outside , though I was thinking for the hell of it to point it thru my window to see if I can get any quality reading , an experiment you might say involving signal and glass window pane , what I'd really like to get is Telstar 12 if my neighbors house and tree permits.

This might also be the first time I hook up a diseqc switch to my existing setup .
 
LNB Brackets with 3ABN 36" Dish

3ABN sells a complete package for $199, dish only for $50 and LNB for $15. The description of the LNB has in big bold letters Brackets are not included. Are the brackets included with the dish? If I buy the dish and the LNB do I have to go somewhere else to buy the brackets?
 
The dish comes with a mounting bracket or LNB holder.
There is nothing else to buy if you just want to mount the one LNB.

edit:
... or, if you were looking for packages, you might be better off getting one from our sponsors:
SatelliteAV Mercury II pkg
Sadoun Mercury II pkg
GoSatellite Mercury II pkg
Just take note of the included dishes, and get the optional 36" (90cm) where available.
 
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