Adding panels extra to a 6'

[jibaro29]

I have been thinking about this for awhile. I knew that sooner or later I would have to take this dish down and take care of the Rust issue. After spray painting the dish I decided to go from a 6' to a 7'. I used aluminum panels to extend the dish to 7'. So far I must say that AMC 7,8,18 and Anik F2 are coming in better than I expected.I have posted some pictures of the before and after. I'm happy with what I've got so far.

 

[trinidex]

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I have been thinking about this for awhile. I knew that sooner or later I would have to take this dish down and take care of the Rust issue. After spray painting the dish I decided to go from a 6' to a 7'. I used aluminum panels to extend the dish to 7'. So far I must say that AMC 7,8,18 and Anik F2 are coming in better than I expected.I have posted some pictures of the before and after. I'm happy with what I've got so far.

That's cool - well done!

I wondered about doing that with a 6ft dish (offset) that I have for the same reason, your example has given me inspiration!

 

[Anole]

very nice work

When I grew up in Florida, every thing rusted or grew mold. - :up
Did the dish arrive in that condition, or did it get that way in the warm Florida sun?
What did you use to combat the rust?

 

[dougruss]

Rust !!! That's the nature of that Beast ,the Bargain Dish.
Mine started showing signs of rust not even a month after I got it last year.
Just recently noticed larger patches of rust . After scraping and sanding the areas.I shot a few light coats of a Rust Neutralizer and a day later repainted the dish again.

 

[jibaro29]

Same here. This is the second time I have spray painted the same panel. I did not use Rust Neutralizer. I guess I'll be doing it again. Going back to the extra panels I can't believe how much better my dish is working now.

 

[Beano_face]

so did you recalculate the focal point and adjust it?

or did you just add panels to the dish and left the lnbf/ scalar where it was?

 

[FaT Air]

Congratulations on the successful experimentation. :up
I don't think the focal length would change because the parabolic shape wasn't altered. just extended. The F/D setting of the scalar would change if the added area conforms to the parabola of the dish. If this hasn't been readjusted, I think the added panels may be attenuating noise, more than adding signal to the feed. Or both, signal increase and attenuation of terrestrial noise. BITD i remember seeing in one of the satellite magazines, panels that looked very similar to what you've done here, advertised for combating terrestrial noise. Either way Better C/N ratio, and getting higher Q. This also brings to mind a question I've had for a while. That hole in the bottom center, of the dish, would also allow terrestrial noise into the feed, as the feed is aimed right at it. May see some C/N improvement if it were covered also. Don't know for sure, just a thought.

 

[DK_Sat]

Mine started showing rust on the panels right after the first rain when i got the dish install.
Thanks to WSI for the good deal that we got on the dishes, for a 6" footer it works fine.

 

[jibaro29]

I think you are right FaT Air. By adding the extra panels I have been able to cut back on terrestrial noise. All I know is that this 6' is working great. The only issues I still have is with AMC 3. I have not been able to pickup the RTN feeds. Beano_ face the focal point still the same. I have mine set up at 0.37. Eventually I'm going to permanently attached these panels to the dish.

 

[tvropro]

The only thing I would be concerned about is surface irregularities causing signals not focusing at the focal point. The trick would be to keep parabola as true as possible, or gain is lost.

 

[Mr Tony]

interesting that you are having issues on AMC7. ON my 6 footer I get great signal here in MN (70 on the Pansat which equates to 73-74 on the Openbox)

Maybe its not on the arc 100%

 

[jibaro29]

Ice is not AMC 7. This sat is coming just fine. AMC 3 @ 87W is my problem. I can get must of the channels with the exception of: MeTV(use to get it), This TV(comes in every now and then) and tps 3800/4080. I don't even get a bit on those RTN tps.

 

[Mr Tony]

oh ok

but one of the pics you showed is AMC7 (it logs as CH 1)...that is the one I was wondering about

AMC3 I havent tried recently (too damn hot out)

 

[PopcornNMore]

Back in the 80's I had a 6' Black Widow mesh dish that I ordered expansion panels for to make it a 8' dish. It worked really well. Too bad they don't make dishes like that today.

 

[arcticracer]

Adding panels

I did this exact thing to an 8' spun aluminum dish in 80's, just as the smallest antennas on the market had changed from 12', to 10', finally even 8'. Think I was using a Drake receiver and 120 LNA. It did improve the performance somewhat. A couple earlier posts nailed it, I'm pretty sure terrestrial noise was knocked down a bit.

 

[lupe]

how about a how to make those extra panels would be nice(nice work)

 

[jibaro29]

As you can see the project looks a little Gottoish. I used a pair of scissors to cut those panels and they are held together with duct tape and glue. I have to figure out how to attached these panels without using duct tape or glue. Anyone that have read my profile knows that I live in South Florida (Hurricane alley USA). Leaving the dish up during a storm is not an option.

 

[Anole]

just brainstorming

How about extruded aluminum U-channel, on the face of the dish?
Perhaps held on with pop-rivets? And more to hold the extensions?

I think any building material you can cut with scissors is unlikely to handle hurricane winds...

 

[trinidex]

As you can see the project looks a little Gottoish. I used a pair of scissors to cut those panels and they are held together with duct tape and glue. I have to figure out how to attached these panels without using duct tape or glue. Anyone that have read my profile knows that I live in South Florida (Hurricane alley USA). Leaving the dish up during a storm is not an option.

How thick are the panels? I really want to try this.

 

[jibaro29]

It is about 12 pts. I got them from a print shop were I work. I used the word panel but I should have said aluminum plates.