Anyone know what type of dish this is?

[aaronwt6]

Got a question for all the BUD guys out there. The main thing I need to know is will this dish pick up Ku frequencies? I'd like to use it to pick up a DBS transponder just outside of the spot beam at a summer home. Anyway, I can have this dish for free but don't want to waste my time if its not adequate for the DBS frequencies. Here is what I have gathered by looking at it.

Appears to be for some type of VSAT application. Transmitter on the front is a Nextar C3575B. Its a 2 piece dish and on the back says 2.7m NS100317. Also, on the bottom half are the numbers 88656 and 88595 which I assume are the part numbers for each half.

Any help is greatly appreciated and thanks in advance!!

Oh, and P.S. This is a commercial style offset dish at an old warehouse if that matters at all. I figured anyone that knows what they are looking at would know this isn't a personal consumer type dish.

 

[stogie5150]

Wouldn't matter to me what brand it is, if i could get it, I'd be loading it up! Worry about what it is later.

Chances are it'll get Ku like nobody's business as long as it isn't damaged.

 

[aaronwt6]

Wouldn't matter to me what brand it is, if i could get it, I'd be loading it up! Worry about what it is later.

Chances are it'll get Ku like nobody's business as long as it isn't damaged.

Well stogie5150, I definately love your enthusiasm. lol As far as getting it, I already have permission. And free is always a great selling point. It will be a fun toy to play around with regarless but my overall goal is to pick up that weak transponder due to the fact that the house is about 50 miles past the fringe area of the spot beam. I can pull in 5-8 signal on it with a 18" dish and get 15-16 with a 30" dish.

Oh, and the dish is in perfect shape. Seems to be much sturdier than old residential fiberglass dishes I've delt with. Certainly less prone to warpping.

 

[stogie5150]

Well stogie5150, I definately love your enthusiasm. lol As far as getting it, I already have permission. And free is always a great selling point. It will be a fun toy to play around with regarless but my overall goal is to pick up that weak transponder due to the fact that the house is about 50 miles past the fringe area of the spot beam. I can pull in 5-8 signal on it with a 18" dish and get 15-16 with a 30" dish.

Oh, and the dish is in perfect shape. Seems to be much sturdier than old residential fiberglass dishes I've delt with. Certainly less prone to warpping.

Man that'd be SUCH a waste for that purpose, but that's my opinion. But yeah I think that it should do what you want, no problem. Only issue would be how you would mount a DISH LNB to it, but once you have the dish you can figure that out. We'd need some pics of the feed assembly to make that determination.

And if it doesn't work...get in touch with me, I'll buy it from you...LOL

 

[aaronwt6]

I'm pretty resourceful so I think the LNB mounting will be a piece of cake. Now, if you could please tell me how to explain to the wife that we need this dish in the back yard in addition to the 3 relatively 'small' ones. I actually thought it was around 6' until I got permission to remove it. Went in for a closer look and realized just how big it was.

 

[cracklincrotch]

There no second thoughts with that dish. Have you ever heard "It's easier to apologize than it is to ask permission"? :dev This is absolutely one of those occasions. That dish is just too cool not to have. Get it. GET IT! You need it for the Super Bowl!

 

[Anole]

An 8¾ foot molded VSAT dish?
Run, do not walk! - :up

The transmitter/receiver head looks similar to what you see on a bunch of 6' Prodelin dishes here on the forum.
We've even seen 'em on 1.2m (4') dishes, occasionally.

Get a few more pictures... those are tantalizing, but missing some proper views that would put the icing on the cake.
However, I have absolutely no use for that dish, but if offered, I'd go get it, just 'cause! -

edit:
While I would start out with a standard DishNet LNBF at first,
if that didn't work well, there are options.
You could graft the existing feed/scalar to a QPF-031 (or dishnet bandstacked) LNB.
In this recent thread, Pendragon did something like that, AND motorized a similar 6' dish:
1.8 Dual-axis Prodelin Conversion to HH Motor

 

[aaronwt6]

I'll get a few more pictures of it on my lunch break. I've stared at the thing for 7 years out of my office window. Just finally decided to go inquire about it. I was actually wondering about putting a standard DP LNB on there myself or if I'd need a different style to make the best use of the dish's size.

 

[aaronwt6]

Ok guys. After further review and some additional pictures, here's what I have. Its actually labled 2.4m at the top of the dish. I thought it said 2.7m but I got a ladder out so I could get up there and see better. The dish is 2.4m wide and 2.7m top to bottom. The transmitter on the front is a 1.5W Nextar and it appears that the bolt pattern on the feed matches the stacked DBS LNBs that dish used for the 110 on the Type 2 superdish. Might be able to bolt one right on. Still unsure of the branding.

 

[aaronwt6]

Well, I did a little more homework and I think I've answered my own question. lol It appears that its a Prodelin (Thanks to Anole for bringing up that name and steering me in the right direction ) series 1251 C/Ku band receive/transmit dish with the ku band adapter already installed. Given that fact, I'm almost positive the mini stacked DBS LNB I have will indeed bolt right up. One other thing I'm curious about is the fact that there is no circular / linear spec listed for the Ku side. I assume thats irrelavant though as long as its capable of receiving those frequencies.

http://www.gdsatcom.com/Antennas/Data_Sheets/5002-355.pdf

http://www.gdsatcom.com/Prodelin/Technical_Docs/assembly_manuals/4096-476.pdf

 

[Anole]

Well, the transmitter is on one polarity (maybe H) and the receiver is on the opposite polarity.
And the adjustment in the mechanism is to rotate the head to line up with the satellite (skew).
If it were circular, no rotation would be offered (nor needed)
So, there's nothing circular about it.
The existing LNB for Ku is probably a decent NEC (branded on the head) and single polarity ('cause that's all ya need)

From reading the Pendragon thread on a similar project, I wouldn't bet the Dish bandstacked LNB would fit the feedhorn.
If it does, that's great. If not, somebody gets drilled and maybe tapped.

One other potential problem getting out-of-spotbeam signals, though...
I have a buddy with Los Angeles DishNet service.
He moved north about 180 miles, and kept his "local" LA stations (which he wanted).
With the advent of a new bird, the LA spotbeam got smaller.
He put in a 1.2m dish, but that didn't work.
Perhaps it made the nationwide signals too strong?
Or maybe they put in a new spot beam for his city?

He's an ex-LA TV station engineer, so I'm sure he gave it his all.
Obviously, your mileage may vary.
I'd continue with that 8' dish, regardless.
If it doesn't work out, you can always use it for something else.
If not, I'm sure a dozen members would be happy to drop by and take it off your hands. :up

 

[aaronwt6]

Noted on the polarity setting. I actually checked that all out yesterday and I believe the actual lens assembley is round and is meant to be used for both linear and circular LNBs. The polarity adjustment is actual in the middle of the RF unit itself and is set by loosing a couple bolts and twisting it in the center. As far as the spot beam situation goes, here is why I feel good about the 8' dish helping. I can recieve the spot with up to 10 on the signal reading with an 18" dish. Using a 30" superdish, I brought that up to 15 and even close to 20 on a clear day. However with minimal cloud cover the signal vanished again. I figure with the added gain of the 2.4m dish I should be able to at least double that reading again. 30-40 would be enough to keep it locked most of the time. I will certainly post pictures of it once its in the yard. Probably do a test run with it propped up on something just to see what it does before it gets planted permanantly.

 

[toucan-man]

This will be interesting, let us know if you can keep a steady lock, clouds or not.

 

[aaronwt6]

Ok. Assuming the rain holds off I should have the dish in my truck on my lunch break. Already took it about 1/2 way apart this morning. I'll have it on location this weekend. I'm hoping to rest it on the ground inverted and test that way before putting it on a pole. I've got a digisat II meter so aiming it should be easy even if I just rest it on some bricks for now. I'll let everyone know on the signal reading. Got my fingers crossed!

 

[aaronwt6]

Well guys, she goes home with me today. Took the whole thing down on my lunch break and loaded it up. More to come later.

 

[Anole]

I'd look at the six holes through the middle of the dish where it mounts.
Also, the holes at the rim, where the LNB support arms attach.
Those are stress points. Just check for any cracking.
I'd get bigger fender washers and install them at all those locations, to spread the load as widely as possible.
That and a power wash on the way home, and you'll have a new dish! -

 

[aaronwt6]

Noted on the bolts, Anole. The dish is in absolute perfect condition as far as I can tell. Don't see any cracks at all. I'll give the thing a trial run this weekend and post an update on the signal strength for the transponder I'm looking for. If it works, I'll need to get another pole to mount it permanently. Unfotunately it was on a 6" pole where I took it down. Seems like serious overkill and I may change the collar on the mount to something smaller. I used to have a 10' Cband on a 4" pole and that was plenty adequate.

 

[aaronwt6]

Ok. Here's what I have on initial testing. This is with the dish laying on the ground, propped up with some pieces of 6"x6" posts so its not perfect by any means. I did it this way before mounting to make sure it was gonna work. Weather outside is overcast with light drizzle. I meant to take a picture but have already moved it to the back yard where it will become permanent.

Conus readings

18" dish - 60-75 (on a clear day)
30" dish - 80-85 (on a clear day)
8' dish - 102-114 (cloudy with drizzle)

Spotbeam 6, transponder 15

18" dish - 5-7 (on a clear day)
30" dish - 15-18 (on a clear day)
8' dish - 35-36 (cloudy with drizzle)

I thought it was cool when I hit the bird. My digisat usually reads between 60-75 when dead on a strong sat. It peaked out at 99 on this one and gave an overload message. lol Oh and all this was with a regular DishPro Dual duct taped in approximate center by eyeballing. Once I mount everything I'll do something more accurate.

 

[phlatwound]

Sounds like it's going to work for you. With some aim & LNBF location tweaking you should get even more Q. :up

 

[toucan-man]

I love it. Will be interested in knowing your final results.