Chaparral lnb question

[gabewinches]

I was just able to get a 10 foot c band satellite dish. It has a lnb and I was wondering if its any useful for good fta reception. it seems to have a motor to rotate the inside antenna.

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[LocutusOfBorg]

You'll need some way to rotate the polarity. Old analog receivers have that capability but not the DVB FTA receivers.

 

[phlatwound]

That feed (if functional) will work but requires something to actuate that little blue motor to turn the probe inside the feed to the horizontal and vertical positions.

Your best bet would be to get a modern LNBF, the polarity on those units is toggeld by voltage and any modern FTA receiver should control it, you can find one here:

Titanium Satellite - Sales Design Development Distribution Customer Support

Titanium Satellite sells, develops and resells only the highest quality consumer/commercial products. Real world integration experience with strong manufacturer/broadcaster relationships.

www.titaniumsatellite.com

BTW, I think Pansat had an old DVB receiver or 2 that would control a polarotor back in the day but they are obsolete for the newer signal types.

 

[Brct203]

First, congratulations on finding a 10-footer!

In the old days, that's how the polarity was controlled. The receiver would output a pulse that controlled the position of the little antenna inside the feedhorn. These days, the standard is to use voltage to control polarity. LNBFs have 2 circuits: one for V and one for H. If the receiver sends 13 V the LNBF uses the Vertical part, and if the receiver sends 18V, the LNBF switches to the Horizontal circuit.

These old LNBs would work (the specs are not great but not too bad) but like Johnny said you'd need to find a way to control the servo (the blue thing). You could use an old analog receiver, or an ASC-1 positionner (discontinued), or build a controller.
Frankly, you'd be much better off getting a C-Band LNBF (Titanium PLL), and for Ku, I've had great results with simply attaching a cheap Ku LNBF to the side of the C-Band scaler. Stay away from combo C/Ku LNBF.

 

[gabewinches]

So my next question is, the dish has a motor on it and I need some positioner to power it to move the dish, any suggestions for something that could do this?


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[FTA4PA]

So my next question is, the dish has a motor on it and I need some positioner to power it to move the dish, any suggestions for something that could do this?


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As mentioned above, to move the dish automatically you will need either a Titanium ASC1 (discontinued, you may be able to find one used on eBay, craigslist,etc) or a VBox mover. There were several models of the Vbox made (Vbox II, Vbox7, etc). There was an issue with quality control on some models of this box a while back. The only place in the US I know of that still sells a model is this site but they a currently out of stock until late September.

V-Box II

Just an FYI, I have never purchased from here. I have seen people say not to but I don't know if that is because of their products, more likely because they post feeds in the open (which then sometimes get taken down) plus I heard they are very strict about posts on their site. It is their site though and they can run it any way they choose. I guess it all comes down to 'I need it and they have it so'...

If you search for vbox positioner in your browser several European sites do come up with some. You may be able to contact them and acquire one there.

You could also find and old receiver on ebay that has the ability to move a dish. You would lose the ability to move automatically to a satellite when you select a channel and would have to manually move to your satellites but it would work.

There was also a project here about making a DIY dish mover with an Arduino. If you are handy you could try that.

DIY Arduino C-Band Dish Mover

This thread will be updated over the next few weeks stay tuned....

www.satelliteguys.us

Another way of manually moving a dish to a sat is a power supply and a double-pole double-throw switch like a user did in this thread. Actuator - Controller Not fancy but it will work in a pinch.

Either way, good luck!