Dish 300 + DMX521 linear + SG 2100 motor combo

[phlatwound]

Inspired by recent efforts by turbosat and mikelib I decided to see what I could get with a Dish 300 (18" x 20") oufitted with a WSI DMX521 linear LNBF on a SG2100 motor. Receiver was a Coolsat 6000.

First mounted the motor on the pole and installed the dish (with circ LNBF) on the motor. I moved the dish pivot point to another existing hole in the stock bracketry, but in hindsight I don't think that was necessary.

Set the motor latitude to 37, eyeball-aimed it to 93W (TS, true south) and swagged the 48 degree elevation with my dig angle finder.

Sent the dish to 110W using USALS, did a little az/el tweaking and quickly had circ signal, then did the same at 119W. I didn't find any circ east of my TS (Mpeg-4?) but didn't try too hard.

At that point I thought I was kinda on the arc so I motored back to TS @93W, took some location measurements off the circ LNBF and installed the DMX521.

Started looking for the Azteca mux on 93W and it took me quite a while. I truly learned the difference in aiming accuracy required for DBS vs. DVB on a tiny dish like this....2 different worlds.

Long story short, I finally got the Azteca mux locked and viewed and started going east and west, making very small az/el adjustments as I went.

I didn't write down my SQ readings, but off the top of my head can say I had no trouble viewing the NBC mux on 72W, ONN @ 74W, NYN @ 79W, Echo test @ 85W, lots of stuff on 97W, CGN, BVN, 3ABN (@ 93%-94%!) on 101W and Montana PBS on 125W. All of those were a minimum of 69%-70%, which is a solid pic on a CS6K, several were in the 87%-88% range.

It was a fun project and just goes to show what you can get with a tiny dish like this (heck, anybody can get stuff with one of those massive Dish 500s ), with some tweaking.

I honestly did not play with the LNBF position much after the initial placement, but it is very close to where the factory location was, and aimed at the same spot on the dish, so I'm not sure how much more that would have given me.

 

[turbosat]

Nice job! I would stick mine on a motor just for fun, if I had an extra motor to mess around with.
It really surprised me how much you can get with a small dish like that. I think ONN was giving me the same signal levels as my 1m dish lol.

 

[phlatwound]

Nice job! I would stick mine on a motor just for fun, if I had an extra motor to mess around with.
It really surprised me how much you can get with a small dish like that. I think ONN was giving me the same signal levels as my 1m dish lol.

Thanks, turbo!

Same here, I never would have tried sticking it on a motor but I had a spare that I got in trade for an install I did for some folks this spring, wasn't even sure it worked till this weekend.

I hope to setup on that one again soon and take some SQ readings across the arc, I never would have believed that much stuff could be locked on that tiny disc. That 3ABN signal must have some heavenly inspiration pushing it to get 94% on my rig.

And of course you were getting strong readings on ONN, you had one of those ginormous 20" x 22" Dish 500s!!!!!

 

[turbosat]

Yes, you're right-I went out and measured it, never knew exactly what it was, but 20 1/2W by about 22". I never made it past 101 going west last time I was out there, wanna try it on down to 125 and see what happens.

 

[phlatwound]

Yes, you're right-I went out and measured it, never knew exactly what it was, but 20 1/2W by about 22". I never made it past 101 going west last time I was out there, wanna try it on down to 125 and see what happens.

I'm guessing you should get Montana PBS in the mid-upper 80's. IIRC I also scanned in a couple more channels on that sat, but can't remember what they were.

I'm fairly certain Whitesprings would also have hammered the meter pretty hard.

Speaking of CS6K meters, I wish someone would "hack" a more linear response curve into the fw for a CS 6000 (if it is a parameter that can be modified in the fw).

Both of mine seem to display:

60%-66% = sometimes viewable above 64%, below that is pixelated or gone

67%-70% = solid lock and pic

71%-86% = have NEVER seen any of those numbers

87%-88% = nice strong signal, will handle a little rain fade without issue

89%-98% = takes a middling toad strangler to take out the picture

99%-100% = Only Iceberg has achieved these numbers, mere mortals have never seen 'em

 

[WSInternational]

Great Job!!!! Well Done :up

 

[Mr Tony]

Speaking of CS6K meters, I wish someone would "hack" a more linear response curve into the fw for a CS 6000 (if it is a parameter that can be modified in the fw).

Both of mine seem to display:

60%-66% = sometimes viewable above 64%, below that is pixelated or gone

67%-70% = solid lock and pic

71%-86% = have NEVER seen any of those numbers

87%-88% = nice strong signal, will handle a little rain fade without issue

89%-98% = takes a middling toad strangler to take out the picture

99%-100% = Only Iceberg has achieved these numbers, mere mortals have never seen 'em

interesting....on my Coolsat 5000 the meter is different...best I can see is 85 on the CS5000 meter...most read 72-76

But I agree.,..they need a better meter system. Thats why I use the Pansat 1500 for aiming...thats true (30 threshold, 99 max)

 

[phlatwound]

Great Job!!!! Well Done :up

Thanks, Robby!

Gotta give at least some of the credit to that DMX521, still say it's the best single output linear LNBF I have ever used. :up

 

[phlatwound]

interesting....on my Coolsat 5000 the meter is different...best I can see is 85 on the CS5000 meter...most read 72-76

But I agree.,..they need a better meter system. Thats why I use the Pansat 1500 for aiming...thats true (30 threshold, 99 max)

Interesting. I have never had a 5000 but both of my 6Ks display identically.

For linearity of meter display in the receivers I own I can't beat my Visionsat IV200, pixelates at about 20%, and then I have seen readings all the way up into the 90s and everywhere in between.

 

[mikelib]

Congrats

Inspired by recent efforts by turbosat and mikelib I decided to see what I could get with a Dish 300 (18" x 20") outfitted with a WSI DMX521 linear LNBF on a SG2100 motor. Receiver was a Coolsat 6000.

Thank you, for the honorable mention. I motorized the 300 Dish this spring when I went down to visit my daughter in Charlotte, NC. I had to show my son-in-law the set up as he sells cable TV supplies. And I wanted to see if I could line up and get reception in another location.
I also took the 300 Dish down to Barnegat Bay and I locked in the one transponder on Atlantic Bird 2 at 8º W. I also locked in White Springs on 129º W that day using the (18x20 dish). The 300 Dish was also used for Galaxy 18 when all of the Equity stations were there.
I don’t have a permanent FTA set up because of living in an HOA. So I ghetto move the motorized 90 cm in and out of the garage for FTA. When I’m working around the garage I drag out the 500 Dish and drop it on the ground so I can hear the stock market reports on the 72º mux.
It is amazing what you can receive on these little dishes and it is a lot of fun to play around with them.
Congrats and Happy Satellite DX-ing
Mike Lib

 

[SatelliteAV]

Interesting. I have never had a 5000 but both of my 6Ks display identically.

For linearity of meter display in the receivers I own I can't beat my Visionsat IV200, pixelates at about 20%, and then I have seen readings all the way up into the 90s and everywhere in between.

Phlatwound, love the project! Should we coin the term "Micro LUD" Little Ugly Dish?

We spent quite a while working with the engineers on the metering for the IV-200. Initially the receiver was configured for what I refer to as a "FEEL GOOD METER" (the customer loves the receiver because the signal reading is "so much higher than another receiver, so it must be so much better)!

What I miss on most current receivers is the Signal Level meter that reacts like the Fortec Star Lifetime Ultra. I love Signal Level meters that actually display a rise and fall simialr to an analog meter as the dish passes over a satellite.

 

[Anole]

on many receivers:

Since the FEC has a lot to do with where the pixelization threshold is...
.... and since the receiver knows the FEC it's receiving...
... would it make sense to normalize the receive threshold so the various FECs are pretty much the same?
20, 30, or 40% would seem a reasonable target (not 60%).

Or maybe give the user an option between the above calibration mode and the traditional?

 

[phlatwound]

Thank you, for the honorable mention.....

You're welcome, Mike, I've enjoyed your projects.

Phlatwound, love the project! Should we coin the term "Micro LUD" Little Ugly Dish?

We spent quite a while working with the engineers on the metering for the IV-200. Initially the receiver was configured for what I refer to as a "FEEL GOOD METER" (the customer loves the receiver because the signal reading is "so much higher than another receiver, so it must be so much better)!

What I miss on most current receivers is the Signal Level meter that reacts like the Fortec Star Lifetime Ultra. I love Signal Level meters that actually display a rise and fall simialr to an analog meter as the dish passes over a satellite.

Thanks, Brian, and yes, Micro LUD is perfect for that contraption!

Kudos to you and the engineering crew on that VS IV-200 meter, I wish they all had that level of linearity, it really works well.

 

[WSInternational]

Phlatwound, love the project! Should we coin the term "Micro LUD" Little Ugly Dish?

:up

I like the term Brian

 

[Jim S.]

Being extremely bored, and having a spare Dish 300 taking up space, I decided to try it too (minus the motor.) I found that even though the Dish 300 is only a few inches taller than wide, I'm having trouble getting horizontal and vertical transponders to come in at the same position. I finally found a spot that seems to be a compromise, but the strength of either polarity isn't nearly as high as when I align for one of them specifically. I'm puzzled. Galaxy 19 is only one bird, they should all be coming from the same spot in the sky... I tried Galaxy 19 because it has the most constantly active transponders. No sense aiming at something that might not be there. On that note, however, I found something else. The strongest transponders on that satellite are listed as 12152 and 12177. While they are stronger than most of the others, I found that the ones that were really booming were 11836 and 11898. In fact, I had them giving a Q reading of over 60 at times when the other two were struggling to reach 30. Maybe nobody has taken a full set of readings since Galaxy 25 was replaced.

 

[fafhrd2]

Over the last year I have received channels on G19 using a 76 cm dish and 0.3 noise level lnbf, and generally been very satisfied to pick up almost all channels on the bird. One trans. seems very weak - 12122 I believe, and another TP, cannot recall which one, sorry!, shows sig level and quality respectably high, where you would think "good picture, right?", and yet could not lock the channels there. I would go out to the dish and tweak skew and focal distance (I kept the lnbf fairly loose within the holder) and finally pick up that TP, only to lose the channels I had before on 12115! Perhaps my dish is not a high quality one. Howsomever, I congratulate you on succeeding so well in your project.