Dish size

[stanleyjohn]

Pics of my disk Location

This is where im planning on putting my 36" disk for my new SatHawk receiver which is on order.Let me know what you think about the location and if i may have any problems with the satellites.I dont wish to go up on the roof of the main house so i think the location i picked is best choice i can think of.The pic i took of True south was just under where the disk will go.
Update!! The dish will be motorized.

 

[putney]

If you place it somewhere on the ground it will be easier to get to to make adjustments.

Perhaps if you do a temp mast on the driveway and work out any issues, then move it on the roof.

Are you going to use a motor?

 

[stanleyjohn]

If you place it somewhere on the ground it will be easier to get to to make adjustments.

Perhaps if you do a temp mast on the driveway and work out any issues, then move it on the roof.

Are you going to use a motor?

Yes on the motor and thanks for the advice

 

[stanleyjohn]

Ok dumb question time from a newbee!With a 36" dish will i be restricted to receiving Ku band broadcasts or may i have some chance of some C too??.In time i may get a larger dish but for now 36" will have to do.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Ok dumb question time from a newbee!With a 36" dish will i be restricted to receiving Ku band broadcasts or may i have some chance of some C too??.In time i may get a larger dish but for now 36" will have to do.

Stan,

No question here is "dumb".

MiniBud endeavors are being tested by a number of us here. Walrus1957 is doing quite a bit of testing with this, but with a 1.2M dish. I would have to say that anything less than 1M is probably going to be out of the question for C-Band or at least severely limitied. With a 1.2 M dish you certainly can do it if you have the patience to experiment.

Just tossing together a few things with a 1.2 M dish and not being very critical with it all, I was able to pull in some C-Band signals. Walrus has worked harder at this with the same size dish and has it working pretty darned well.

Knowing and understanding how difficult it is with a 1.2 M dish, I would say that I would not bother with it using a 36 inch antenna. I think that you would just loose too much signal, it isn't strong enough (power-wise) to use.

When you get the opportunity to invest in a 1.2 or larger dish, by all means, give it a try as I can vouch for this to work. May not be exceptional, but it does work and that counts for something.

RADAR

 

[hd fan]

I would not even bother with a 1.2 m for C band specially if it is motorized. Unless you want a fixed solution for just one of the few channels that do work with 1.2m on C band I think you would be wasting your time and money unless you want to experiment. (too many unless on the same sentence lol)

 

[Anole]

it depends:

36" is an excellent general choice for Ku.
Some skate by on 30" , and a few experiment with smaller.
But, 36" should get 'em all and be reliable.

Six foot dish is on the low end for C-band.
For good general use, I think a 7½' or 8' makes more sense.
To get S2 signals, and and other difficult C-band, many resort to 10' and 12' dishes.

Yes, people do get some C-band reception on 4' and smaller dishes.
For those who like to experiment or are hampered by limited space, C-band on a 4'er is better than no C-band at all.
Some members have shown limited C-band on 36" dishes, but that's a lot like getting Ku on a 18..20" dish: only the hot ones, and only on dry days.

AND, not all dishes are created equal.
Nor are all LNBf's.
With the right stuff, I'll bet I could make a good, well equipped 6'er, outperform a crummy 8'er with the wrong stuff. ! -

You would be well advised to sort through The List (top of this page) or other satellite channel lists, and pick a number of stations you want to receive.
Then, find out what it would take to get 'em.

Don't be caught with too small a dish, or the wrong hardware . . .
We want to see you succeed, not fail and be frustrated.

 

[stanleyjohn]

Thanks for the replies! Knowing me this new hobby is going to get me hooked (past swl,ham man) loves to Dx.Ill be trying to see what i can get!but one sat that i want to pull in is AMC9 because of RTV which i got hooked on last summer till our local station dropped it.I can still pick up some of it on a internet tv stream but because of copyright' that is fading.

 

[McGuyver]

Looks good to me, up there high you should have a good LOS

 

[Apprentice]

Thanks for the replies! Knowing me this new hobby is going to get me hooked (past swl,ham man) loves to Dx.Ill be trying to see what i can get!but one sat that i want to pull in is AMC9 because of RTV which i got hooked on last summer till our local station dropped it.I can still pick up some of it on a internet tv stream but because of copyright' that is fading.

I agree my first dish ended up pointing at RTV. I still have it fixed at RTV I like it
Wife is not as excited about it as I am lol. But that is ok she has plenty to watch.

 

[McGuyver]

I agree my first dish ended up pointing at RTV. I still have it fixed at RTV I like it
Wife is not as excited about it as I am lol. But that is ok she has plenty to watch.

My wife doesn't care about RTV or anything else for that matter. I wonder if any wife likes the stuff us guys do, lol

I subscribe to DN since 2000 and I dropped the second box subscription cuz I got tired of watching re-runs and spaghetti westerns, wifey has her DN box and watches all the stuff I don't like. lol If I want, I can just thumb through the hundreds of DVD recordings and watch almost anything I would find on DN today except for the current new releases and those don't impress me like the older movies.

I prefer my FTA channels honestly, it's free, challenging and rewarding to say the least.

 

[delta_charlie]

Hi StanleyJohn and the group, I love the pictures. Looks like it may work for you but I would advise checking a few things. First it looks like you may be located in CT so your elevation is going to be quite low. I would recommend making a simple soda straw inclinometer and check the clearance over the trees. Make a list of the satellites you are most interesting in receiving and get the elevation and azimuth for each and then check from the proposed dish mounting location and make sure nothing is in the way. Perhaps a lower poll/ground mounted dish could get most of the satellites. A second poll/ground mounted dish could be set on the other side of the yard to receive the other end of the arc. Your roof looks like it has too much pitch to be able to safely work from it so the dish would have to be worked on from a ladder. And with the snow you get up there it sure would be worth the effort to try and see if any low ground spots could work. If the roof spot is the only workable spot and you are comfortable on a ladder I would say go for it. Later, DC

 

[stanleyjohn]

Thanks for the info DC! I just made a home made elevation view finder with a protractor,some string a straw and weight and i took some measurements and it looks good i think!.I was alittle worried that maybe i would have a problem getting AMC9 for RTV and it looks good.If you look at my true south picture follow middle of the closest shed straight up beyond the top of the pic about 1" and thats where it should be.worst case was my closest tall tree and a sat would need to be less than 48 deg for a problem.My average take was around 25 degrees of no blockage with my best area being plus and minus 20 deg from true south where in can get around 10 to 15 without bloakage.These readings would be not as good but still ok at ground level but why risk missing a few satellites.The garage roof may look alittle steep but really isnt a problem unless something breaks down in the winter.Im really new at this but am a quick learner!i really dont know whats what yet for satellites up the sky but hoping to have fun finding out.PS i wonder how the canadians do it with so much of canada with lots of trees and much father north than we are.