Can a Digiwave DWD60T pull in FTA?

[byron]

Howdy all. It's been a few years since I was a regular poster around these parts.

Gave away most of the FTA gear back in 2015 and have been out the hobby ever since.

I've acquired a small 24 inch Digiwave DWD60T dish, threw my old Amiko Universal LNB on it with a newer replacement LNB holder. Trying to get back into it.

Bought a GTMedia V8 Finder 2 (wow -- could have used this back then) and I've been trying to get a lock on something. (101w would be great)

The only sat I can lock & scan watchable channels in on would be 105w of all things, with the VAKN stations.

I'm scanning other TPs on blind attempts, but only finding data TPs I guess. Can't tell what I'm hitting.

Aiming this dish has not been nice to me. Florida backyard heat hasn't helped...

Back when I was at this, I used 90cm and 1.2m dishes and things were great... Am I wasting my time trying this 24 incher?

Thanks

 

[primestar31]

Howdy all. It's been a few years since I was a regular poster around these parts.

Gave away most of the FTA gear back in 2015 and have been out the hobby ever since.

I've acquired a small 24 inch Digiwave DWD60T dish, threw my old Amiko Universal LNB on it with a newer replacement LNB holder. Trying to get back into it.

Bought a GTMedia V8 Finder 2 (wow -- could have used this back then) and I've been trying to get a lock on something. (101w would be great)

The only sat I can lock & scan watchable channels in on would be 105w of all things, with the VAKN stations.

I'm scanning other TPs on blind attempts, but only finding data TPs I guess. Can't tell what I'm hitting.

Aiming this dish has not been nice to me. Florida backyard heat hasn't helped...

Back when I was at this, I used 90cm and 1.2m dishes and things were great... Am I wasting my time trying this 24 incher?

Thanks

A 24" dish just won't work for FTA. It's too small by 1/2.

 

[Hyper Casey]

Agree with primastar31, this 24" dish is just too small. 30 " is too small really although you may get some stronger signals. You really need 36" for reliable Ku signals especially these days with many signals being DVB-S2.

 

[byron]

A 24" dish just won't work for FTA. It's too small by 1/2.

I had a feeling it was that. When I went to Lyngsat and saw I locked DVB-S2 8PSK VAKN it gave me hope.... but I guess that's just a really a strong TP and I got lucky.

Alright - time to find a larger dish.

BTW - I really miss the old "TheList" section SG used to have. It was good for figuring out what you might be hitting. Lyngsat has terrible data transponder records nowadays -- I could not look up nearly any of the 25000 22500 and 30000 SR data TPs I kept finding with this dish.

Thanks

 

[cyberham]

Lyngsat is quite accurate for viewable or listenable FTA signals on Ku. It's also accurate for encrypted Ku signals. It isn't accurate for data transponders but there really isn't an accurate source for those.

 

[Brct203]

A 24" dish just won't work for FTA. It's too small by 1/2.

I respectfully disagree. I can get FTA on an 18" Dish 500. Is it good? No it's not. But it does work to some degree.

A 24" dish will work, it just won't work well, and won't get everything and will not do well with thick clouds and rain. But it should have no problem pulling it the NHK mux on 103W, most of 97W or Cubavision on 30W, as long t as it's with a reasonably clear sky

Would I recommend using a 24" dish for FTA? Absolutely not. But since Byron has the dish and is trying to lock on something, it should work. That's how I came back to the hobby, with an abandonned DN dish and a cheap linear LNBF. It should be seen as just a stepping stone to something better.

Byron, if you have the dish locked on VAKN, move it slightly towards the east, just enough to lose VAKN, and do a blind scan. You should be able to lock 12144 V 20000. You probably won't be able to get 12080 (DW TV) or 12120 (NBC) though

101 and 99 - maybe, but the NHK on 101 is - I think - a bit weaker than on 103. 99 would be difficult, at best

97 should come in, but againt it wont be reliable

This said, the advice of getting a larger dish is definitely good. I would not get anything smaller than 36"/90cm.

123W (KBS), 30W (Cuba and others), 34.5W (a few French channels) might be also receivable on a 24" dish in FL

 

[ReggieA]

If I might suggest, the Florida heat wouldn't be so bad if you were outside at night. There's a full moon now, so there's some light, and of course the satellites are always there.