Does mesh size matter on 8'B U D

[smudge]

Does anyone have any experience converting an 8' mesh B U D to pick up ku band sat signals. Does mesh size matter when picking up ku band signals. Before I spend the money it would be nice to know if it will work satisfactorily.
My understanding is that all the sats wether c or ku band all occupy the same
Geo stationary orbit more or less so wether you can pick up c or ku signals
is determined by the lnbf and the size dish you have and if you have a clear line of sight with the sat you are trying to pick up. Please correct me if Im wrong Im a super newbie and Im still early in the learning curve.
Thanks in advance Smudge

 

[Lak7]

Rule of Thumb: a "No. 2 Pencil" should not be able to fit through the Mesh.

My 10' Mesh Hole measures 1/8 x 3/16

 

[Radioguy41]

I'm using a 7 1/2 foot KTI mesh dish and it receives Ku just fine. As Lak7 said, use the pencil trick to test the mesh.

 

[Inno]

Now is that the lead of the #2 pencil or the whole pencil, shaft and all?

 

[Anole]

Just the other day, I read a thread with some more elaborate discussion of perforated versus pierced or exanded or ... ?
It discussed hex/round holes punched in the sheets of metal, versus some trick where the metal was pierced and then I think pulled sideways to get long skinny holes (the latter were less desirable).

BUT, here is another old thread which addresses the question.
edit: this isn't it either, but still might be helpful.

 

[turbosat]

home satellite installation manual

In my 1986 copy of the manual, it says "one tenth of an inch" or less, due to the wavelength of 12Ghz freq microwaves. It does say that even a sloppiy designed 10' cband dish may out-perform a good 1m ku dish, simply because it is capturing more signal. Your mileage may vary!

 

[Radioguy41]

Now is that the lead of the #2 pencil or the whole pencil, shaft and all?

The whole pencil.

 

[Wescopc]

Now is that the lead of the #2 pencil or the whole pencil, shaft and all?

Certainly 1/10 of an inch wouldn't be the whole pencil - more like the diameter of the lead. I have always wondered about that as well.
Bob

 

[Inno]

Just the other day, I read a thread with some more elaborate discussion of perforated versus pierced or exanded or ... ?
It discussed hex/round holes punched in the sheets of metal, versus some trick where the metal was pierced and then I think pulled sideways to get long skinny holes (the latter were less desirable).

BUT, here is another old thread which addresses the question.
edit: this isn't it either, but still might be helpful.

I think mine is the punched holes, not the expanded metal. And the holes are definitely smaller than a number 2 pencil so as long as everything is straight etc. I'm good to go. I'm sure for C-band it'll be ok but I'm hoping to do Ku as well.

 

[Inno]

Certainly 1/10 of an inch wouldn't be the whole pencil - more like the diameter of the lead. I have always wondered about that as well.
Bob

Well I always wondered why they specified a number 2 pencil when most pencil shafts are the same size, it's just the diameter of the lead that differs. So the lead made more sense to me........I dunno. I guess I'll have to see when I get mine set up. Gotta finish overhauling it and pour some concrete I guess!

 

[nelson61]

nice calculator and explanation of wavelength for antennas

Frequency Wavelength Calculator

 

[arcticracer]

Paraclipse copy- 12' on KU

I am about to find out myself, I have an old Paraclipse knock-off ( a very good one) from back in the day made by a company called U.P. Superior. I dragged it up to Alaska with me in the 80's, and used it for years on C band. I used to install C band systems, and these antennas worked very well indeed. Have never tried one on KU though.

I just ordered an inexpensive KU LNBF for prime focus feed and am going to give it a try. I expect it to be tough fine tuning the feed and mount. The mesh holes are the same as a Paraclipse.

Problem is, the antenna is on a 20 foot pole made of drilling rig well casing sunk in a mass of concrete at the base, no guy wires. My service access is a platform I welded to the mount, which doubles as a Moose stand (!)

It is tough to get to the feed for tuning.... Guess I will use an old GI receiver for a dish mover. Wonder if I should try to use the current butttonhook feed, or fabricate a quad arrangement?

Attached is a photo of the beast.

 

[turbosat]

I think I would try first with the buttonhook assembly, just for grins. Park it on G18 first, there has been color bars on one tp, 19 I think, for months, to help aim. Then if it's going to work, you should be able to get some of the digitals on the ku side without too much tweaking. Check out the focal length for your dish, ku needs to be much more exact to get the best signal. And of course, the tracking of the dish might have to be adjusted. A 12' will see more precisely.

 

[Inno]

I measured my perforations last night and the longest (they're kind of an elongated diamond shape) dimension was 0.108" so I think I'll be ok for Ku. My only concern now is the shape of the dish. The guy that took it down and had it stored in 4 pieces on the ground and the aluminum tubes that are now at the perimeter of the dish got full of water, froze and warped/burst on the back sides. The front side seems ok and it does seem to be straight. I've yet to string it.

 

[turbosat]

I've got one dish like that, always wondered if that one section was dropped or something, never occured to me that water freezing inside it could make it look bulged out lol. Didn't affect the shape so maybe your dish will be ok too, when you string it.

 

[Inno]

I hope so. I've looked across from side to side and so far so good, I haven't noticed anything obvious. So hopefully everything will be ok. It's at least got to be better than the 6 footer I'm currently using for C-Band even if it's not great for Ku.