6 foot dish and partial LOS issues.....

[Mr Tony]

Thinking of getting a 6 foot dish, but due to issues (HOA and where I can mount dishes) my only option is on my deck. Sadoun has a 6 foot dish with a base mount that I can put right on my deck. Only thing I am worried about is the deck is on the north side so when I aim South, part of the dish might be blocked with the house. Being pretty far north (45N), the true south is at 38 degrees.

I know C-band dishes are aimed true, and not offset like KU band so the dish will be higher, but will I get a decent signal if 1/3 of the dish is blocked by the house? I’m not looking to get VCII or 4DTV stuff, basically “enhance” my viewing pleasure (get a few DVB C-band feeds and such)

 

[ken2400]

Can you take a pic of what the dish might see? I looked at the 6' dish and it looks nice and easy to assemble. If it does not work out you can take it when you move. Well I thought I read you were moving sometime.

Thinking of getting a 6 foot dish, but due to issues (HOA and where I can mount dishes) my only option is on my deck. Sadoun has a 6 foot dish with a base mount that I can put right on my deck. Only thing I am worried about is the deck is on the north side so when I aim South, part of the dish might be blocked with the house. Being pretty far north (45N), the true south is at 38 degrees.

I know C-band dishes are aimed true, and not offset like KU band so the dish will be higher, but will I get a decent signal if 1/3 of the dish is blocked by the house? I’m not looking to get VCII or 4DTV stuff, basically “enhance” my viewing pleasure (get a few DVB C-band feeds and such)

 

[Mr Tony]

Nope. Not moving anytime soon

I’ll take a picture of the setup before the snow flies tonight

From the base of the deck (where it would sit) to the roof is probably 9 feet and is back about 15 feet

 

[iammike]

Ice,

That's kind of tough to answer. When I was setting up my dish I spent a lot of time playing with it trying to find the best location in the yard before planting it. There were times that I was standing in front of the dish, basically blocking a good portion of it with my body and was still able to get a decent signal. At 6 feet, you've already got a smaller reflecting surface though. Was there a particular sat you were planning on aiming at? If it's sufficiently east or west of your true south, you may be okay. When I was experimenting with my P* microbud, I was able to get Anik F1 pretty good, so I think it's just going to depend on what channels your hoping to get on what sat.

Mike

 

[iammike]

Nope. Not moving anytime soon

I’ll take a picture of the setup before the snow flies tonight

From the base of the deck (where it would sit) to the roof is probably 9 feet and is back about 15 feet

Just saw your second post. If my geometry still works (a big if) you should be able to clear 11.7 feet. You might have a much better LOS on your true south than you think.

 

[Mr Tony]

Mike
I was just thinking of tinkering and picking up the DVB feeds..stuff like G4, AMC4, just whatever I can get

IA6 is my true south and AMC3 over to AMC4 is about the same elevation

 

[Mr Tony]

Mike
The way my house is, almost the whole arc I would have to deal with the house. From 60-120 or so. Maybe I can just get the dish higher (I CANNOT put it on the roof)

 

[tdti1]

If at all possiible you can try to grab a 7.5' Sami, they are good dishes.

 

[Mr Tony]

tdti1

The 6 footer is going to piss off the HOA....I really dont want to go larger than that

 

[Shawn95GT]

There were times that I was standing in front of the dish, basically blocking a good portion of it with my body and was still able to get a decent signal. At 6 feet, you've already got a smaller reflecting surface though.

I saw pretty much the same results as Mike did with my little BUD. Getting my self out of in front of the dish did make a difference but not as much as I would have expected.

How big is the 'BUD in the garage' that you have? Maybe you could mock that up and put it away before the fines come rolling in just to get an idea if it's going to fly.

 

[Mr Tony]

Shawn
That was a 10 foot mesh dish but has some issues
-one piece is so bad its not worth salvaging (theres 4 pieces total)
-no mount for it
-one piece has a hole in it
-the bracket to mount two pieces together is broke

It’s in really bad shape.

It’s not so much of the HOA anymore….we have a new HOA head and he saw the dish farm and asked me if I did that for a living because “it looks very professional”
My neighbor (the PITA) is moving soon

They won’t fine me…They’re not that evil. Honestly the new HOA head doesn’t really care what we do. The old head (my neighbor) was this “I’m making these changes and that’s it” person. Compared to some of the other people in our area (letting their dog run loose without a leash, parking cars in areas they shouldn’t) my dish farm is pretty tame

 

[iammike]

tdti1

The 6 footer is going to piss off the HOA....I really dont want to go larger than that

Sounds like all the more reason to go with something bigger. :devil:

 

[Mr Tony]

OK..I did some measuring

from deck railing to rain gutter is 9 1/2 feet
from floor to roof lip is 8 feet
most of my satellites near true south (AMC3-AMC4) are at 38 degrees

have no clue how high the mount is on that 6 footer

so the dish would be about 8 feet back or so from house.

 

[voomvoom]

Don't know if this will be any help Ice, but on my 10' mesh, I have a pine tree that blocks about 2/5ths of the dish when I'm on AMC 3 and the ku gives me all kinds of problems (lucky I have the 30" fortec), but the C-band side works great. If you were to look through the center of the dish through the focal point on the lnb's (C/ku) it just clears the top of the pine tree. So, that might give you an idea of how much tree is blocking the dish. I know this is a tree and not a house, but there's probably not that much difference. As the tree continues to grow, I'm sure I will have problems in the future for the C-band side. When that starts to happen, I'll probably cut the tree down.

Al

 

[Mr Tony]

so with Prime focus dishes (C-band) the signal literally comes right down at say 38 degrees, hits that "sweet spot" and richochet's straight back to the LNB
whereas a KU offset dish comes down at an angle, hits the dish, and goes at a 22 degree angle to the LNB?

This might work

 

[Shawn95GT]

I think it's just like with the Ku dishes. It's all fine and dandy until signal is marginal on something you want to see .

I've had fun with this 5' dish but the wheels are in motion to get the 8' dish up, especially since I now have a 4DTV.

That's it Iceberg - straight shot at the sat.

 

[WyrTwister]

Shawn
That was a 10 foot mesh dish but has some issues
-one piece is so bad its not worth salvaging (theres 4 pieces total)
-no mount for it
-one piece has a hole in it
-the bracket to mount two pieces together is broke

It’s in really bad shape.

It’s not so much of the HOA anymore….we have a new HOA head and he saw the dish farm and asked me if I did that for a living because “it looks very professional”
My neighbor (the PITA) is moving soon

They won’t fine me…They’re not that evil. Honestly the new HOA head doesn’t really care what we do. The old head (my neighbor) was this “I’m making these changes and that’s it” person. Compared to some of the other people in our area (letting their dog run loose without a leash, parking cars in areas they shouldn’t) my dish farm is pretty tame

I am getting pretty much all the analog off of

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=54352

Hope to replace the temperary 2" ID pipe with a permant 3-1/2" OD permant pipe , in the next few days .

Then will try to tweek the dish . Currently only getting a small amount of DVB-S .

Your 10' dish worse than that ? Lay it on the ground & shoot for some analog . Prop it up with a saw hourse & see if you get DVB-S . If so , you have your answer .

I have found a C band dish does not have to be perfect . At least for analog . In a few days , I may be able to tell you more .

I have a 10' perferated metal dish that I scrounged that is in about 95% condition , that I will probably set up after I get through playing with the damaged 8' dish .

Have fun .
Wyr

 

[rjc3895]

so with Prime focus dishes (C-band) the signal literally comes right down at say 38 degrees, hits that "sweet spot" and richochet's straight back to the LNB
whereas a KU offset dish comes down at an angle, hits the dish, and goes at a 22 degree angle to the LNB?

This might work

Ice,
PM me if you go through with this and have success. I was thinking of doing the same thing. My dilema is not being able to move the dish to different satellites without going outside and manually moving this dish.

 

[Mr Tony]

rjc
Thats what I plan on doing

I talked with PSB and got some info...my 38 degrees true is like 60 degrees offset. So I went out and took an old Dish500 and put it at 60 and we should be good to go. Depending on how high up the dish is, I may clear the roof with the whole dish

 

[drhydro]

Iceberg,
At the lowest sats I am aiming just above my house, looking thru the center of the dish past the lnbs about 1/3 of the dish is blocked by the house and i am still able to pull in DVB signals. This is a 10' dish tho, so your milage may vary ;-) Of course you can always use a longer pole. I saw a 10' solid dish on what must have been a 30 foot pole the other day, they must have used a cherry picker or a crane to get that sucker up there.