Dedicated 103W Ku dish

[brex2001]

Because the skew for AMC1 in Ku is so odd I decided to put up a dish just for the S2 feeds there. I had an old DirectPC dish, scalar & Hughes lnb on hand I thought would work well for this.

I took a 11" length of 2" pipe, cut 2 1/2" x 3" slots 180 degrees apart, drilled & tapped two 3/8-16 holes in between the slots for the 3" vent pipe mount. Although the pipe isn't exactly plumb, it's close enough for a fixed dish.

After experimenting with skew angles using an adjustable scalar split ring & Starband scalar I confirmed the skew angle needed was about 45 degrees for best Q. The scalar that came with the dish didn't have holes in the C120 flange at 45 degrees skew, so I drilled four holes for this. The Starband scalar was picking up noise outside the dish face causing the signal Q bar to 'bounce' on some TPs. The lnb skew angle for my long & lat(118W x 34 N) is -46.9 degrees.

I added a 4x1 diseqc switch after the Ku & C-band multiswitches to tie in the Ferguson Ariva 100 to the WSI 36" motorized dish, the 7.5ft Perfect 10 C-band dish & the DirectPC dish. I'm glad I finally changed this. There's a lot more HD fta up there to be had nowadays.

 

[phlatwound]

I wish I had metal vent pipes (instead of PVC), those come in handy.

Do you have clearance, and would it be preferable to "zero out" the LNBF skew, and to skew your dish instead?

Looks like it is working well as is, just wondering.

 

[brex2001]

I wish I had metal vent pipes (instead of PVC), those come in handy.

Do you have clearance, and would it be preferable to "zero out" the LNBF skew, and to skew your dish instead?

Looks like it is working well as is, just wondering.

I tried 'splitting the difference'. Skewed both the dish & the lnb. The dish has + or - 30* adjustment & the original feedhorn has 0* & -20* positions. Lost some S&Q on the ITC TPs. I may add 2 more lnbfs to this dish & need the dish straight up zero skew for that.
I suppose I could unbolt the dish from the back & jump the skew slots one to get the needed range.
These S2 signals are very touchy to peak with this dish.

 

[phlatwound]

Ak, ok, I understand now.

I don't know what the projected life/replacement schedule of that sat is but, assuming they place the new one with the proper orientation, there are a bunch of dishes that are going to have to be reskewed.

 

[turbosat]

Whats a Ferguson Ariva? Never heard of that one. Nice fabrication there on the pipe, might make your dish smell though, lol!

 

[brex2001]

Whats a Ferguson Ariva? Never heard of that one. Nice fabrication there on the pipe, might make your dish smell though, lol!

Ferguson Ariva are clones of Openbox S9, Sathawk, Solomend, etc. They were mentioned some time ago in the thread(s) that began with Sathawk. The Ferguson Ariva 100 doesn't have a PCMCIA slot, just a card slot & a USB port in front. Ferguson is located in Poland.

Yeah with all the flies attracted the birds will soon have this perch "decorated".

 

[Babadem]

Because the skew for AMC1 in Ku is so odd I decided to put up a dish just for the S2 feeds there. I had an old DirectPC dish, scalar & Hughes lnb on hand I thought would work well for this.

I took a 11" length of 2" pipe, cut 2 1/2" x 3" slots 180 degrees apart, drilled & tapped two 3/8-16 holes in between the slots for the 3" vent pipe mount. Although the pipe isn't exactly plumb, it's close enough for a fixed dish.

After experimenting with skew angles using an adjustable scalar split ring & Starband scalar I confirmed the skew angle needed was about 45 degrees for best Q. The scalar that came with the dish didn't have holes in the C120 flange at 45 degrees skew, so I drilled four holes for this. The Starband scalar was picking up noise outside the dish face causing the signal Q bar to 'bounce' on some TPs. The lnb skew angle for my long & lat(118W x 34 N) is -46.9 degrees.

I added a 4x1 diseqc switch after the Ku & C-band multiswitches to tie in the Ferguson Ariva 100 to the WSI 36" motorized dish, the 7.5ft Perfect 10 C-band dish & the DirectPC dish. I'm glad I finally changed this. There's a lot more HD fta up there to be had nowadays.

Did you skew the Dish/LNB combo or did you just skew the LNB only. Will skewing the dish/LNB combo opposite of the normal skew be the right way to setup 103.°W using a 75e dish? I'm thinking of moving my a Globe Cast 75e Dish that I have now at 97.0°W to 103.0°W as my motorized 120CM only gets only a couple of those DVB-S2 feeds.

Edit: Just saw some responses addressing my questions above.

 

[brex2001]

Did you skew the Dish/LNB combo or did you just skew the LNB only. Will skewing the dish/LNB combo opposite of the normal skew be the right way to setup 103.°W using a 75e dish? I'm thinking of moving my a Globe Cast 75e Dish that I have now at 97.0°W to 103.0°W as my motorized 120CM only gets only a couple of those DVB-S2 feeds.

Edit: Just saw some responses addressing my questions above.

According to "The List" angle calculator you only need +4* (L)skew for 103W Ku. That's not bad at all.:up

 

[Mikey11]

Because the skew for AMC1 in Ku is so odd

i keep reading about this but i do not know why people keep saying this....i am pulling in 103w on my motorized 39 incher without any problems....with a standard LNB mounted normally (zero skew at the top of the arc)....

 

[brex2001]

Go to the List satellite angle calculator, plug in your zip code & see if it's because of your location. If so you're one of the lucky ones.
For my location here in the southwest the lnb skew is ~ -47*(R).

 

[Jim S.]

i keep reading about this but i do not know why people keep saying this....i am pulling in 103w on my motorized 39 incher without any problems....with a standard LNB mounted normally (zero skew at the top of the arc)....

Are you getting the S2 channels? The standard channels will work fine, if you don't mind getting the occasional duplicate on the opposite polarity.

 

[Babadem]

According to "The List" angle calculator you only need +4* (L)skew for 103W Ku. That's not bad at all.:up

Thanks brex2001 for pointing that out to me! I never knew that tool was there. It all makes sense to me now!

 

[Mr Tony]

thelist is one of the few calculators that put the skew "quirk" in the list so you get the right skew

most sites use what a "normal" skew would be

 

[Babadem]

Because the skew for AMC1 in Ku is so odd I decided to put up a dish just for the S2 feeds there. I had an old DirectPC dish, scalar & Hughes lnb on hand I thought would work well for this.

I took a 11" length of 2" pipe, cut 2 1/2" x 3" slots 180 degrees apart, drilled & tapped two 3/8-16 holes in between the slots for the 3" vent pipe mount. Although the pipe isn't exactly plumb, it's close enough for a fixed dish.

After experimenting with skew angles using an adjustable scalar split ring & Starband scalar I confirmed the skew angle needed was about 45 degrees for best Q. The scalar that came with the dish didn't have holes in the C120 flange at 45 degrees skew, so I drilled four holes for this. The Starband scalar was picking up noise outside the dish face causing the signal Q bar to 'bounce' on some TPs. The lnb skew angle for my long & lat(118W x 34 N) is -46.9 degrees.

I added a 4x1 diseqc switch after the Ku & C-band multiswitches to tie in the Ferguson Ariva 100 to the WSI 36" motorized dish, the 7.5ft Perfect 10 C-band dish & the DirectPC dish. I'm glad I finally changed this. There's a lot more HD fta up there to be had nowadays.

Brex2001, what size is the DirecPC Dish you used?


As my motorized 1.2M was not able to display all the DVB-S2, this past weekend, I tried setting up 103.0°W for the DVB-S2 feeds using my Globecast 75e Dish, but didn't get good results. While the skew (90+4.4=94.4, as you have to skew both Dish and LNB) and elevation (31.6) were setup right, the V transponders were fine, but the NBC feeds (H transponders) were fluctuating between 55% Q on the AZBox

After spending close to 2hrs, I came to the conclusion that the Globecast 75e is too small to lock those DVB-S2 signals. If anyone was successful pulling in those DVB-S2 signals using a 75e Dish, please let me know.

 

[brex2001]

Brex2001, what size is the DirecPC Dish you used?


As my motorized 1.2M was not able to display all the DVB-S2, this past weekend, I tried setting up 103.0°W for the DVB-S2 feeds using my Globecast 75e Dish, but didn't get good results. While the skew (90+4.4=94.4, as you have to skew both Dish and LNB) and elevation (31.6) were setup right, the V transponders were fine, but the NBC feeds (H transponders) were fluctuating between 55% Q on the AZBox

After spending close to 2hrs, I came to the conclusion that the Globecast 75e is too small to lock those DVB-S2 signals. If anyone was successful pulling in those DVB-S2 signals using a 75e Dish, please let me know.

The DirecPC dish is 36"wide x 21"high. It's not even as big as the Globecast 75e.

I skewed my dish only -2* & skewed the lnb -45*(to R looking at the dish from front). The skew here at 118W x 34N is -46.8*.

Your skew would be +4.4* if I remember right. Mount your lnb straight up at 12 noon & skew the dish 4.4* clockwise looking from the back of the dish. Peaking the Q on those TPs was touchy, so leave everything slightly loose so you can "fine tune" the dish until you're satisfied.

 

[Babadem]

The DirecPC dish is 36"wide x 21"high. It's not even as big as the Globecast 75e.

I skewed my dish only -2* & skewed the lnb -45*(to R looking at the dish from front). The skew here at 118W x 34N is -46.8*.

Your skew would be +4.4* if I remember right. Mount your lnb straight up at 12 noon & skew the dish 4.4* clockwise looking from the back of the dish. Peaking the Q on those TPs was touchy, so leave everything slightly loose so you can "fine tune" the dish until you're satisfied.

That's what I did. I started with 90.0° reading on the back of the of Dish (it was straight up at 90.0°). I then added 4.4°, now putting the skew (anti-clock wise facing the dish or clockwise from the back of the dish) at 94.4°. I even tried the opposite (90.0-4.4=85.6) for the heck of it, but I wasn't successful. I may have to try this again with my 3ABN 90CM to see what I can come up with. BTW, were you able to get all the DVB-S2 signals on the Horizontal or just a few. Which receiver are you using?

 

[brex2001]

I'm getting the 11760, 11840 & 11880 H, 29997 S2's, plus a lot of live news H digital sng's right now. Plus the usual V ms10, & 20 beach cams, Pentagon Channels, etc.(+12049H4230..."this circle should be round").
I using the Ferguson Ariva 100 HD clone of the Sathawk/Solomend stbs with factory firmware straight from Ferguson's Poland server, a 4x1 diseqc switch, Hughes C120 lnb with the original DirecPC scalar/feedhorn that came with the DirecPC dish.
Keep tweaking the az & el on the dish slowly until they come in.

 

[Babadem]

I'm getting the 11760, 11840 & 11880 H, 29997 S2's, plus a lot of live news H digital sng's right now. Plus the usual V ms10, & 20 beach cams, Pentagon Channels, etc.(+12049H4230..."this circle should be round").
I using the Ferguson Ariva 100 HD clone of the Sathawk/Solomend stbs with factory firmware straight from Ferguson's Poland server, a 4x1 diseqc switch, Hughes C120 lnb with the original DirecPC scalar/feedhorn that came with the DirecPC dish.
Keep tweaking the az & el on the dish slowly until they come in.

I get the first three transponders you listed above. Sometimes, the signal Q is below 58 and won't diplay picture on the AZBox that's why I'm opting for a fixed dish.
Forgive my ignorance @ the red highlighted. What are you refering to?

 

[brex2001]

That 12049H4230 is another HD feed which when the test bars are up has the words "this circle should be round" & a big circle for the techs to adjust for geometric distortion. As the countdown to transmission approaches a "dot" travels clockwise around the circle & the time countdown is shown simultaneously. The broadcast follows this.
On the Ferguson/Sathawk/Solomend the signal Q is 70-75% with my setup for those first 3 TPs. The blind scan found quite a few more TPs, some encrypted.