Can fiberglass dishes receive Ku?

[mshaffer]

Just looking at this dish on ebay, do you think it would get Ku since it's fiberglass? I read in another thread that the older fiberglass dishes had too big a mesh for Ku.

12 Ft Dia Fiberglass Dish Antenna, Oscar, EME, Hilltop - eBay (item 200263254359 end time Oct-20-08 09:59:41 PDT)

 

[SatPhreak]

It depends on the mesh size. I used to have a 10' fiberglass that was new in '85 and it worked on ku. The problem is that you can't tell what size the mesh is unless you can find manufacturers specs or by trying it. Mine only had a c band lnb on it originally but it did work when I tried a ku lnb.

 

[qwert1515]

The dish you have linked to is a solid dish, so as long as the dish is not warped it should work fine for Ku signals.

 

[delta_charlie]

It depends on the mesh size. I used to have a 10' fiberglass that was new in '85 and it worked on ku. The problem is that you can't tell what size the mesh is unless you can find manufacturers specs or by trying it. Mine only had a c band lnb on it originally but it did work when I tried a ku lnb.

Hi SatPhreak and the group, I would be curious to find out what would happen if you went out to the dish at night and put a strong spot light behind it. Depending on how much gel coat is still on it you might be able to see the mesh pattern.

Could be fun to try, Later, DC

 

[mshaffer]

Hi guys, do you think it would be worth getting that dish on ebay? Would it be significantly better reception than my Winegard Pinnacle?

 

[SatPhreak]

Hi SatPhreak and the group, I would be curious to find out what would happen if you went out to the dish at night and put a strong spot light behind it. Depending on how much gel coat is still on it you might be able to see the mesh pattern.

Could be fun to try, Later, DC

It might work but I can't check since I no longer have that dish or any c band dish now. No room for a c band in an apartment.

 

[AudioFox]

I haven't personally seen a fiberglass BUD that is Ku capable, they exist-but I haven't seen one. Fiberglass itself doesn't reflect microwaves (Which is why they make radomes out of it), so as mentioned above they embed metal mesh in the reflector, if the perforations are larger that ~1/4" it won't get Ku. Since the listing mentions LNAs, its probably a commercial dish from the late '70s, which means that it probably wasn't designed with Ku in mind. The suggestion mentioned by delta_charlie has worked pretty well for me, but only at night and with something like a mag-light. There is some great advice on this at geo-orbit dot org, click on "prime focus systems", scroll to the top of the page then click "choosing a dish".


(As a side note, the gain on a 12' dish at K band would be phenomenal, but very difficult to aim-a tiny fraction of a degree off and you've lost the signal.)

 

[mshaffer]

I asked the seller if it would work with Ku and he said:

It was used for C band, but the dish itself would be fairly universal. Figure out the focus point and use it for anything. The LNA's, of course, would only be good for C band if they are still usable. Thanks, T. O.

 

[neil_kc1]

I am using a 7 1/2 half foot solid right now on both c/ku and doing pretty great on sats closest to my true south and good on all others. I got it from a guy getting ready to cut it up with a chain saw to get it out of the yard. So as others stated depends on mesh and you never know for sure until you set it up.

 

[Anole]

bottom line

Would it be significantly better reception than my Winegard Pinnacle?

Just from reading this forum, I was under the impression that a decent Winegard Pinnacle was pretty hot snot.
How big is it, and what condition is it in?
And,... what signals are you having trouble getting?

 

[GreatFTA]

I have a 1986 Odom 8 foot fiberglass dish that work great with Ku. I have a FTA receiver slaved with my 920 4DTV receiver and have great results on C Band FTA channels.

 

[SatelliteAV]

If the dish was not built well or the effects of aging, the fiberglass tends to distort affecting the parabola and the reflection of the gathered signal to the Focal Point.

Have found many dishes through the years which experienced severe signal degradation (especially KU) due to distortion.

Reaching into my old worn installation bag o'tricks:
Lay the prime focus dish perfectly horizontal (checking level on back plate and edge to edge of the reflector). The reflector may not be setting correctly on the backing plate and reslut in tracking errors. Verify that the LNB mount is perfectly centered on the reflector (laser level or hang a string and weight from the center of the mount so it is a fraction of an inch from touching the reflector surface. Once the LNB mount is adjusted so it is perfectly centered, move the weighted string around the surface of the reflector.

Does the distance between the weight and the reflector remain constant? If not, the reflector is not efficiently reflecting all gathered signals to the Focal Point.