Dish good enough for RTN?

[Gilty]

Hey guys, just need a little bit of advice. I'm looking for a good sturdy dish that will receive RTN. It's going to be stationary, so no motor is needed. I'm wanting anywhere from a 90cm to a 120cm dish. Of course I"m trying to get the best bang for the buck and don't want to hurt my pocketbook too bad. I've been looking on Ebay as well as some distributers. Would THIS satellite work? And if so would it be comparable performance to other 100cm dishes such as Fortec, and Geosat?

I'd appreciate any input.

 

[Gilty]

Also, if you know of any good distributers that aren't going to charge an arm and a leg for shipping please advise.

 

[Anole]

A 39" dish should work well, I would think.

That's a generic Universal LNB included. Should be fine.

The $9.95 shipping is wrong. It costs more than that to ship a real 39" dish.
So, either they made a mistake, or they've hidden part of the shipping in the price.

Of the readily available 1.2m dishes, I'm partial to the GeoSatPro.
That's because of the vertical fine adjustment, and pivot bolt.
Plus, the LNB side support arms.

 

[FTABman0]

Yes! 36’ dish is a 90cm satellite dish and is better than what most of use started on. I have a 31’ 80cm dish right now and it is plenty for catching most of what is up there. The 36’ is always better! Yes! See for dish size comparison, and read Icebergs take and review on this size dish here! Looks like a great deal, the Universal LNB will work great for the free to air hobby also! Shipping sounds a bit low, check on that before you bid or by. By the way, to The Satellite Guys!

Sadoun's dish sizes 80cm and 90cm

 

[DJ Rob]

I bought this combo a few months ago.
36" GEOSATpro 90cm Satellite Dish with .4 LNBF - FTA - eBay (item 140303165692 end time Mar-03-09 20:44:58 PST)

 

[TimLones111]

Looks like a good combo. Also looks like the guy is offering free shipping on the ad. Should work well for just RTN..

 

[Gilty]

Thank you guys, I was just going to make sure and see if anyone has ever baught that 39" i was looking at on ebay. I'm just wanting something that will keep RTN steady without any fading or signal pixelation. I just asked the seller what brand name it is, waiting on his reply.

DJ Rob - I saw tthat listing as well and have thought about it.... but isn't the 39" i was looking at going to give me a better signal than the 36" geosat?

 

[DJ Rob]

It probably will but it really depends on the specs of the 39". I would ask what the gain is for the dish at 12.5 Ghz. The Geosat 36" is 39.6 dBi.

My decision to get the Geosat 36" was based on these 4 things... I wanted to stay under $100 shipped. It was going to work with the dish motor I already had. Since I was planning to use an Invacom LNB which is a little heavy, I liked that the Geosat had LNB support arms. And others here liked the Geosat and the seller is a sponsor here.

I have no problem getting RTN here with it in Colorado.

 

[Mr Tony]

DJ Rob - I saw tthat listing as well and have thought about it.... but isn't the 39" i was looking at going to give me a better signal than the 36" geosat?

not necessarily. Bigger doesnt always mean better with some dishes

I had a 36" dish (some knockoff brand) and my 30" Winegard beat it on signal quality every time. I have the GeosatPro 36" dish and it works great
(by the way...I'm getting RTN nice and strong on my 30" Winegard in Minnesota)

 

[jamestheman]

Primestar, I used my Primestar 39/27 dish to get 123. you dont have to have a bigger dish.

 

[gabshere]

if it was me and your just starting out , i would hunt around your area for an old primestar dish & lnbf . they are usually the best price (free) with no shipping and make great stationary dishes.

If you need any help i'm not to far south of you
and to the group

 

[rv1pop]

IF you have strong winds, I would not get a metal dish without strong LNBF support - like the GEOSat has. But I have strong winds. The primestars work GREAT.
POP

 

[Gary Z]

I bought this combo a few months ago.
36" GEOSATpro 90cm Satellite Dish with .4 LNBF - FTA - eBay (item 140303165692 end time Mar-03-09 20:44:58 PST)

I bought the same dish. Love it! Includes a LNBF! They ship fast too!

 

[Gilty]

I'm loving the feedback guys... thanks.

I do know of one place in town that has a primestar dish i'll inquire about... I asked the guy that is selling the 39" to provide me some feedback on the power output on it. I am still a little skeptical that big of dish for a small price, so i'm leaning more towards the 36" geosat.


Iceberg and everyone else... how does your dishes do on RTN during rain, snow, etc..? I hate to be a burden but I want to be sure RTN is solid.. The reason why is because i own 2 LPTV stations and just became an RTN affiliate. So in turn, i'm going to be rebroadcasting the RTN signal to viewers and don't want 20,0000 calls everytime Magnum PI, Night Rider, etc.. glitches in the middle of a action packed scene. I"m used to C-band dishes, lnbs, etc... as all my current programming sources come from that so i consider myself an expert there....but KU is a new world for me. My engineer told me to get a 120 cm dish and RTN sugested for me to get at least a 4 foot dish minimum as well, but i hate to fork over all that green in shipping especially if a 36"(90cm) or 39"(1m) will keep a sturdy signal just as good.

 

[DJ Rob]

This is a different situation then...
If you are rebroadcasting the signal, then go for at least a 1.2m dish.

The bigger the dish, the more likely it won't go out during bad weather.

 

[gabshere]

my primestar 84e with original lnbf gets a reading of 87% Quality on my coolsat

but sometimes the signal is low from RTN and weather affects KU signals more than c-band

your best bet is to get a larger than needed dish. especially with lots of viewers

these are just some of the primestar dishes
37x27 oblong (ok)
40x30 oblong (good)
1m round (43X40) (better)
1.2 meter (48X52) (best)

 

[Mr Tony]

The reason why is because i own 2 LPTV stations and just became an RTN affiliate.

sweet...can I ask what stations?

but that statement above kinda changes everything somewhat

Then I would go with as big as feasibly possible due to possible rain fade. 36" for sure but if you can get a bigger dish locally by all means do that.

Thursday here in Minneapolis we had 8 inches of snow total with 6 inches between 1-3 PM and I dont remember RTN going out during that time. I didnt have issues with the Eastern part of the arc for me that day (true south being 93W) and did lots of blind scanning while it was snowing but a dark cloud cover during the summer can kill signal quicker than rain. I've had no rain but signal kaput due to heavy dark cloud cover to the south. Once the clouds roll through the signal comes back even when it is raining.

But the wild card in this whole thing is RTN is on KU too so if there is bad storms in Tennessee then you can have issues receiving it where you are. The fact they moved recently from G18 to AMC9 and uplink locations we haven't had enough data to see what happens when it rains in Tennessee. When we would lose G18 (the Equity channels) folks would wonder if it was an issue on their end. Folks that have been here long enough usually reply with "Check Little Rock's weather" because if there were rain in Little Rock, we would see bad signal qualities.

kinda off topic, we use to have a OTA low powered station that was a MTV2 affiliate and when it would pour we'd see the "acquiring signal" from a really old Dish receiver screen (the old green background)....now that station is Equity owned WUMN 13 Univision

 

[Larry1]

The reason why is because i own 2 LPTV stations and just became an RTN affiliate. So in turn, i'm going to be rebroadcasting the RTN signal to viewers and don't want 20,0000 calls everytime Magnum PI, Night Rider, etc.. glitches in the middle of a action packed scene. ...... My engineer told me to get a 120 cm dish and RTN sugested for me to get at least a 4 foot dish minimum as well.

If you are becoming an RTN affiliate, then make sure you get a large, good quality dish. They recommend a 4' dish for you will not be having issues. For the hobbiest, a glitch here and there is not important. Running an affiliate, you want good quality, dependable equipement. Yes it will be costly, but it will be relied on for 24hr/day service in all types of weather. Also get a good quality, low noise, high stability LNBF. Patriot dish's are very durable and well respected, also Norsat LNB's are of high quality. And don't forget a spare for if it fails. Also, for an affiliates use, I would not depend on a consumer grade receiver (at least with not having a spare) as many of them do not have the reliability to run constantly day in and day out. You will end up with overheating and power supply failures.

 

[Tron]

For an RTN affiliate running in a commercial environment, I'd definitely recommend a commercial dish such as the Channel Master 1 meter or larger. These dishes are built for reliability, and are far better over time than the stamped metal dishes. If you look around, you'll probably be able to find a 1 or 1.2 meter Channel Master (often have the Primestar logo, as that service used them). Possibly even try to find a 1.8 meter (~6 foot) Channel Master, if you really can't afford rain fade. I scored a 1 meter CM just the other day, absolutely free, just by happening by a building that was being re-roofed. They were going to trash it, but now its going to enjoy a new life on AMC-21 for PBS

 

[Anole]

what the...?

For commercial use, I'd suggest the following:

- 180 cm round Prodelin (6 foot) used, off rooftops of some local auto dealers (free)
- 120 cm round ChannelMaster / Primestar new or used (free)
- 120 cm GeoSatPro (4 foot) .... and NOT a FortecStar 120cm!
- 180 cm round FortecStar, but it's a prime focus, so needs a proper feedhorn (ADF-120).

The suggestions above for receiver should be heeded.
If you run a consumer grade FTA box, have a duplicate spare on hand.
Many brands are quite inexpensive. $50..$80..$100
You might even get some use out of a PVR model (Visionsat IV-200, for instance) -
With two boxes recording the feed, you could even have your own re-runs!

But put them on top of a fan, under a fan, or stick a fan inside them!
I'm quite partial to the slow-turning, very quiet, 120mm fans used in computers.
If they have LEDs, just ignore them. Under $10, and I've bought some around $3.
edit: if they have LEDs, ignore the lights. The fan is fine... silly LEDs are very common these days.

All the above suggestions are quite inexpensive - you just have to know they exist.