dish size

[ZetaMale]

I needed a little help with interpreting what I see for dish size at Lyngsat. I didn't check all NA satellites but even the Ku beam chart seems to indicate that the largest dish I really need is a 5 foot dish. Seems kinda of small to me but in most cases I'm in the hottest area of the footprint.

 

[pendragon]

Lyngsat's numbers aren't more than a very rough guideline. They don't seem to take into account SR, FEC, DVB-S2 and probably a whole host of other factors. Nevertheless, a 1.2m dish for Ku should be enough for just about anything.

 

[Pismire]

Since this is the C-band forum I say 10'. Sure there are others using smaller dishes but sometimes I wish I had a 12'. It all depends what you are after. For S2 signals 10' minimum is not required but rather desired. The bigger the better I say. Size does matter.

 

[ZetaMale]

solid or mesh?

Since this is the C-band forum I say 10'. Sure there are others using smaller dishes but sometimes I wish I had a 12'. It all depends what you are after. For S2 signals 10' minimum is not required but rather desired. The bigger the better I say. Size does matter.

Does it matter whether it's solid or mesh? I'd like to get a 12 foot solid but I'd probably have to install a heftier pad. Not to mention that a 12' solid prime focus Patriot is around $3000+. I may have to scale back my desires and be realistic.

 

[pendragon]

Does it matter whether it's solid or mesh? I'd like to get a 12 foot solid but I'd probably have to install a heftier pad. Not to mention that a 12' solid prime focus Patriot is around $3000+. I may have to scale back my desires and be realistic.

It's hard to get everything in one dish. A 8-12' for C and something like a 1.2m for Ku is a combo that would be hard to beat. A solid could do both and perf is a decent alternative. See what you can get for free and go from there.

 

[Anole]

You didn't say what dishes you had, nor what your budget was.
For real commercial dishes, we have a forum member in the business, Mike Kohl, who could probably help you with the big stuff.

Then for 2.4m (8') solid GeoSatPro or Fortec Star dishes, check out our Gold Sponsors at the top of the page.
That'd be SatelliteAV and Sadoun, respectively, for those particular dishes.

Moving down the cost scale, there are many 8' and 10' dishes to be found in the countryside.
More than a few 12' dishes, too. The 12' Paraclipse seems popular.
Sometimes they have horizon-to-horizon motors included.

Birdview solid 8½' dishes are popular with some of the members, who've been able to get them to do an excellent job on both bands.
They come with H-H motors, and need a few small mods to achieve their ultimate accuracy.

Here on the forum, we have a number of threads on BUDs we've found, refurbished, or modified.
Some guys combine parts from several damaged dishes to make one good BUD.
Often the cost of such a dish is quite low, so it pays to decide what you want, and go looking for it.
Taking what you find first/free, isn't always the best choice.

And as for Ku, there's nothing wrong with a 36" (0.9m), 1 meter, or for the totally crazed, a 1.2m dish.
Sadoun, SatelliteAV, and WSI all have representative dishes in the 1.2 and smaller sizes.
The best choice in motors for 'em, would probably be limited to PowerTech DG380 or DG280 series.

 

[ZetaMale]

Would a 1.2 m Ku dish be adequate to pull in the DVB-S2/8QPSK signals? Actually, I'd like to be able to pull them in on both C and Ku. My 12' mesh dish (Paraclipse Classic) is damaged but it's covered on my homeowners policy so I wouldn't be out much money if I bought a whole new dish. The biggest problem would be finding a few people to man-handle the new dish to the pole. Or find a way to get a crane to lift it into place without tearing up the lawn. If a 10 foot dish will bring in the 8QPSK signals I would go that route but it'll still be a problem getting a dish that size onto the pole. I'll make up my mind one of these days but I need more info as to what will give me the best performance at the lowest cost. Anyway, I haven't found anyone locally that has a Paraclipse but I did see one sitting on the ground about 50 miles away. It wasn't painted black like mine though. And then there's the issue of getting the dish to my house without having to disassemble it. A lot of things to consider. Anyway, I'm not set on Paraclipse - I didn't think they were that great of an antenna anyway - assembly was a pain and focal point setting was a real pain.

 

[brentb636]

The 1.2M dish will work for Ku band DVB-S2, but NOT C-band DVB-S2 . For the Cband DVB-S2 8psk, you should have a 10 footer. The 9/10 FEC of some of the channels is a killer to lock.
Forget a 4 foot dish for C-band, unless you just want to get the strongest tp's out there.

 

[ZetaMale]

The 1.2M dish will work for Ku band DVB-S2, but NOT C-band DVB-S2 . For the Cband DVB-S2 8psk, you should have a 10 footer. The 9/10 FEC of some of the channels is a killer to lock.
Forget a 4 foot dish for C-band, unless you just want to get the strongest tp's out there.

I guess a 10' with C/Ku combo feed would take care of this. The smaller dish footprint that'll get everything on C and Ku is what I'm looking for. I'm not sure if I'd benefit from separate dishes. It's been 10 years since I've studied this stuff so I need to get back up to speed.

 

[truckracer]

In my honest opinion with the future being dvb s2, you need a 10' dish to do most everything well. A 6' dish works on strong signals with a lot of forward error correction.
Tighter fec's will leave a 6' dish in the dust.

The dual c ku lnbf's dont perform the best on ku. A corotor ii controlled by an analog receiver or an aston satseeker ds200 with high quality lnbs with be your best bet.

Again i dont know what you want or can spend.

If you stick primarily to lnbf's use seperate dishes for c and ku.
A 90cm solid dish with an invacom lnbf with a diseqc H to H motor to move your ku.

There is a lot of options but the combo c ku lnbfs will disappoint you. Especially for a newbie they are quite frustrating for an old satellite veteran.

An HD capable fta receiver is also needed nowdays. HD over dvb s2 is the near future standard

 

[cracklincrotch]

I'm getting a couple of 9/10s on my Winegard 7.5 foot mesh fine. I believe there's another forum user that hasn't had much problem. It can depend on your location and dish alignment.

That's not to say I would turn down something bigger. Just that it is possible.

 

[ZetaMale]

I probably won't do a separate Ku system unless someone can convince me that the added expense of a separate Ku antenna is really worth it. I looked through "The List" and I don't see enough unscrambled stuff to justify adding a separate Ku system. Sadoun had a 1.2 m antenna bundle for $208 but the shipping charges were about the same cost as the system. If I can find someone in my area that has an unused 1.0 or 1.2 m dish laying around I might consider going Ku. Odds are I'd have to get a dish mover and maybe LNBF and RG-6 if I go that route.

 

[melgarga]

The insurance adjuster should factor in disposal and installation costs as well. Of course once they get the bill they may drop your satellite dish coverage clause......
Dual band buds work fine for nearly everything I do, but there are exceptions. Neither the 7.5' or the 10 ' are located where I can get clear LOS on Hispasat @ 30W so....... fixed dish 1,( actually neither will go below 40W or so and still let me hit 139W).
I was having issues on RTN @ 83W so I put up another dish for it.......fixed dish 2.
My 3rd fixed dish was dedicated to the Equity mux on 123W but I havent decided where to go with it, maybe WSTV @ 129W. Point is you really need the versitility of a multi-dish array to fully enjoy the hobby. There really is not a one dish fits all for this game. The C/Ku BUDs do the lion's share of the work, but to have some of the more used channels just a DiSEqC port away is very handy. I intend to do something similar (fixed 5' C bander) for my 4D sub on 133W since swinging a quarter of the way around the planet just so I can get the guide is a bit of a pain, not to mention wear and tear on the equipment.
Get out and do you some dish hunting, it's good for the soul, and the pocketbook........

 

[ZetaMale]

The insurance adjuster should factor in disposal and installation costs as well. Of course once they get the bill they may drop your satellite dish coverage clause......
Dual band buds work fine for nearly everything I do, but there are exceptions. Neither the 7.5' or the 10 ' are located where I can get clear LOS on Hispasat @ 30W so....... fixed dish 1,( actually neither will go below 40W or so and still let me hit 139W).
I was having issues on RTN @ 83W so I put up another dish for it.......fixed dish 2.
My 3rd fixed dish was dedicated to the Equity mux on 123W but I havent decided where to go with it, maybe WSTV @ 129W. Point is you really need the versitility of a multi-dish array to fully enjoy the hobby. There really is not a one dish fits all for this game. The C/Ku BUDs do the lion's share of the work, but to have some of the more used channels just a DiSEqC port away is very handy. I intend to do something similar (fixed 5' C bander) for my 4D sub on 133W since swinging a quarter of the way around the planet just so I can get the guide is a bit of a pain, not to mention wear and tear on the equipment.
Get out and do you some dish hunting, it's good for the soul, and the pocketbook........

I'd like a setup that looks like EchoStars facility in Cheyenne but I doubt the city would allow such an antenna farm in my back yard.

 

[ZetaMale]

Well, it's official, my insurance covers my dish so I just ordered a new 12 footer from Skyvision. The tough part comes when I need to find a way to get the old dish off and the new one on. I guess I should "pump more iron" so that I can do it by myself?

 

[melgarga]

Did you mention to the adjuster the need for installation, at least the mechanical portion. Tell him you can do the electrical portion and save THEM some money. If he balks, ask him if the home improvement store is just going to drop of the shingles for the roof and it's up to you to put them on too!

There is at least one, maybe more threads on a home brew jin pole /dish cranes on the board. Seems there were several ideas on the subject. If you have or have access to a tractor you might be able to rig something with some pipe and cable.

 

[ZetaMale]

Did you mention to the adjuster the need for installation, at least the mechanical portion. Tell him you can do the electrical portion and save THEM some money. If he balks, ask him if the home improvement store is just going to drop of the shingles for the roof and it's up to you to put them on too!

There is at least one, maybe more threads on a home brew jin pole /dish cranes on the board. Seems there were several ideas on the subject. If you have or have access to a tractor you might be able to rig something with some pipe and cable.

I have been unable to find someone to do the dish install so I'll have to do it with the help of friends and/or grunts or with a crane or jin pole.

 

[ZetaMale]

Got my new dish from Skyvision today. It's a KTI CKD-12 with polar mount. It even came with a VHS tape showing how to assemble it - could have been better instructions but it looks straightforward anyway. Time to see which of my friends will be available to help assemble it. BTW, I'm considering moving the pole to a new location and maybe get one that's 10 foot tall - I need a refresher on how much concrete I'll need to pour.

 

[Anole]

. . . all you can carry:

. . . and on one of the pages of this site, you should see info on pole installation.

PS: as far as paying for install, hold a big BBQ after the dish-raising, for your helpers.
Send your adjuster the bill for the food, and tell him he got off cheap! (he should be able to swallow $100)

 

[ZetaMale]

. . . and on one of the pages of this site, you should see info on pole installation.

PS: as far as paying for install, hold a big BBQ after the dish-raising, for your helpers.
Send your adjuster the bill for the food, and tell him he got off cheap! (he should be able to swallow $100)

Thanks for the additional reference. I did find my old TVRO installation and maintenance manual that has a lot of info. I'm looking into a pad type install especially since my pole was designed to be used with J bolts installed (this would allow the pole to be releveled if needed). I probably should have went with a pad solution in the original install since I wouldn't need to do as much digging (or so it seems) and I think the antenna would have been more stable in high winds. There was one other type of support mentioned that does away with using concrete by installing rods deep into the ground. The article didn't say what the dish size limit would be - there wasn't much info parted but it did say that a building permit wouldn't be required. Anyone have any experience with this kind of installation? Anyway, I might hire a structural engineer to see what would be required to mount it to the house (a structural engineer OK would help to alleviate any liability if the antenna fell on someone).

I like your suggestion for the BBQ. I don't think I'll serve any liquor, though (if you know what I mean).