Galaxy 19 on a 24 inch dish?

[fred555]

Yes, sort of critical but final placement usually found by trial and error and Q meter on TV.
I think you can make out another hole in my extension plate that was a starting point for mounting my bracket.
I'm sure you could PM Jason S and get some measurements if its the same dish.

 

[Titanium]

Use the existing LNBF or a spare Dish Network/DirecTV LNBF to replicate the LNBF height (measured to the center of the feedhorn), the distance from the reflector and the angle into the reflector.

The universal mounting clamp can be bent to place the feedhorn opening into the exact position as the original.

 

[bpalone]

Sounds like a Dish 500 dish. Here is a link to my go at it:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/threads/dish-500-conversion-with-text-pictures.351975/

Worked reasonably well and I could of probably gotten more out of it, but it worked well enough for my purposes.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[dfecarter]

I spent a good 4 hours on my FTA on dish500 project.
Here's a photo...anyone see anything wrong that stands out?
The "funny" thing is my very first attempt to find 97w was a success but don't know if I can get the transponder I'm looking for you yet (RTV, REV).
The challenge is, other than the size of my dish - is that I am learning a new FTA receiver too.
So my first scan picked chs. that I later on determined were indeed from 97w but I moved the dish thinking I was too far west. Now after hours of searching and swearing the only sat I can locate and lock in is 119W (echostars pd chs.)
Question...my zip is 06801, sat guys website says my elevation should be 36 but on the dishnet dish I can get anything on my meter until I lower dish to like 25 or so according to the nos on the dish. Also the skew needs to be turned to like 40 (the lowest number shown) - does that sound right.
I can't locate 97w again (weather hasn't changed).
Thanks,

 

[fred555]

Pole is at an angle. It should always stick straight up in the air, use a level of some sort to make sure.

Adjustment for elevation (Up/down) are made at the back of the dish.
Azimuth (East/west) are made by rotating the dish.

Elevation: 36.4
LNBF Skew: +24.4 (CCW) (should be some numbers at the top of the LNBF)

This should represent starting point, the main thing is to then peak all adjustments for maximum Quality Level.

 

[Titanium]

The LNBF position appears to be much higher and closer to the reflector than the Dish Network LNBFs were originally monted. The LNBF also appears to be angled much higher towards the reflector. This positioning will make the performance of the dish much lower and the elevation scale will not be correct.

Make sure the post is plumb and level on all sides. Place the dish on the post and secure the azimuth and elevation bolts to prevent movement. Set the Dish skew to center 90 degree position and secure skew nuts. Place the satellite receiver and TV next to the dish. Set the receiver install menu to satellite Galaxy 19 KU. Set the LNB type to Standard or single KU with LNB LO frequency to 10750. Select transponder 12152 Horizontal 20000, LNB power on 13/18v (automatic).

1. Slide a Dish Network LNBF into the plastic housing and note the height from the support arm to the center of the plastic feedhorn cap.
2. Measure the distance from a specific point on the reflector (example a reflector mounting bolt head) to the center of the LNBF plastic cap.
3. Note the angle that the LNBF is aimed into the reflector. If the reflector elevation isn't changed during the linear LNBF mounting, use a digital level on your smart phone to measure the pitch angle on the cap or top of housing.
4. Remove the Dish Network LNBF
5. Mount the universal clamp with the linear LNBF clamped.
6. Adjust the universal clamp position so so the linear LNBF face is the same distance from the reflector surface reference point.
7. Adjust the universal clamp so the pitch angle is the same and aimed at the same point in the reflector as the original Dish Network LNBF.
8. Adjust the universal clamp so the center of the LNBF plastic cap is the same height from the support arm as the original Dish Network LNBF.
9. Rotate the LNBF skew rotation in the universal clamp to the correct angle - Calculated on dishpointer.com +24.4 (standing in front of dish LNBF is rotated counterclockwise).
10 Set the Elevation to approximately 36.5 degrees. This is setting is dependent on the LNBF being installed at the correct height above the support arm.
11. Identify a landmark on the horizon (or as far away as possible) such as a telephone pole or distant chimney / tree that aligns with the calculated compass reading for 97w. Dishpointer.com shows a compass reading of 226.8 for your zip code.
12. SLOWLY sweep the dish EAST west 15-20 degrees on either side of the landmark while closely watching the Signal Quality meter reading on the TV beside the dish. If no signal quality reading is displayed, raise or lower the dish elevation by 1 degree and SLOWLY sweep East and west of the landmark while closely watching the signal quality meter reading. Repeat in one degree increments. Remember that if the LNBF is not mounted at the exact same height as the original, the elevation scale will not be accurate. If you find the satellite and note that the elevation scale setting is more than 5 degrees higher or lower, I would check the LNBF feedhorn again for correct height. Incorrect height will make the dish performance decrease!

Once the satellite is located, change the transponder to 12115 Vertical 22425 and check for signal quality. If low, try to optimize by slightly bumping the dish East/West/Up/Down. Once the signal quality is optimized with reflector positioning, slowly slide the LNBF fore/aft from the reflector and the skew CW/CCW. Transponder 12115 is typically weaker than 12152 for most of North America.

Good Luck!

 

[. Raine]

Agree with Fred555, the more plumb you can get the pole to be, the easier it will be to aim and better Q obtained. It's hard to tell from the picture if the top of the pole is plumb or not because those poles have the bend in them and the top can't be seen in the picture, but it does look like the part of the pole the dish mounts onto isn't plumb. If the pole isn't plumb, that will throw off the elevation.

It might also be easier for you to set the dish skew to zero [90] and set the skew by rotating the LNB in the mount instead of skewing the whole dish, that way the dish arm will be pointing directly at whatever azimuth you're aiming for.

The elevation #'s on the side of the mounts aren't always accurate, some of mine here are way off. I generally point the dish in roughly the azimuth/elevation I want and then try up/down, usually I'll see better signal strength/and or Q and have a idea of which way to go, but I use a FS1 meter, which is a lot easier than using a receiver's meter.

If you want to try for the CCTV's on 95W to get into the general area of 97W and then move over to 97W, the transponder info is: 11780/H/20760. Dishpointer.com will have skew, elevation and azimuth. If you can lock 95W, then 97W will be just a bit over to the right and up a tad.

You locked 97W once, so you should be able to again, once you lock onto it again, then tune for best Q on whatever transponder you can get by tweaking elevation, azimuth and skew, then see if you have any Q on the RTV transponder and if you do, tweak on that one the same way.

On the small dishes, the slightest adjustment can make a world of difference! The distance of the LNB to the dish and where the LNB is mounted on the arm can make a huge difference, I've found that for some reason on the smaller dishes that mounting the LNB right in the center of the arm isn't always best, sometimes off to the left or right a bit works better. You have to play around moving it and watch Q as you do to find out where the sweet spot is. As Titanium mentioned before, you can bend the mount forward/back and watch for better Q, that can make a big difference, gently though, I've broken those mounts before while bending them.

 

[fred555]

It's hard to tell from the picture if the top of the pole is plumb or not because those poles have the bend in them and the top can't be seen in the picture, but it does look like the part of the pole the dish mounts onto isn't plumb. If the pole isn't plumb, that will throw off the elevation.

Oh I forgot about the bend, like these.


Yes in this case the section where the dish attaches to must be plumb, the part we cant see.

 

[fred555]

The LNBF position appears to be much higher and closer to the reflector than the Dish Network LNBFs were originally monted. The LNBF also appears to be angled much higher towards the reflector. This positioning will make the performance of the dish much lower and the elevation scale will not be correct.

Make sure the post is plumb and level on all sides. Place the dish on the post and secure the azimuth and elevation bolts to prevent movement. Set the Dish skew to center 90 degree position and secure skew nuts. Place the satellite receiver and TV next to the dish. Set the receiver install menu to satellite Galaxy 19 KU. Set the LNB type to Standard or single KU with LNB LO frequency to 10750. Select transponder 12152 Horizontal 20000, LNB power on 13/18v (automatic).

1. Slide a Dish Network LNBF into the plastic housing and note the height from the support arm to the center of the plastic feedhorn cap.
2. Measure the distance from a specific point on the reflector (example a reflector mounting bolt head) to the center of the LNBF plastic cap.
3. Note the angle that the LNBF is aimed into the reflector. If the reflector elevation isn't changed during the linear LNBF mounting, use a digital level on your smart phone to measure the pitch angle on the cap or top of housing.
4. Remove the Dish Network LNBF
5. Mount the universal clamp with the linear LNBF clamped.
6. Adjust the universal clamp position so so the linear LNBF face is the same distance from the reflector surface reference point.
7. Adjust the universal clamp so the pitch angle is the same and aimed at the same point in the reflector as the original Dish Network LNBF.
8. Adjust the universal clamp so the center of the LNBF plastic cap is the same height from the support arm as the original Dish Network LNBF.
9. Rotate the LNBF skew rotation in the universal clamp to the correct angle - Calculated on dishpointer.com +24.4 (standing in front of dish LNBF is rotated counterclockwise).
10 Set the Elevation to approximately 36.5 degrees. This is setting is dependent on the LNBF being installed at the correct height above the support arm.
11. Identify a landmark on the horizon (or as far away as possible) such as a telephone pole or distant chimney / tree that aligns with the calculated compass reading for 97w. Dishpointer.com shows a compass reading of 226.8 for your zip code.
12. SLOWLY sweep the dish EAST west 15-20 degrees on either side of the landmark while closely watching the Signal Quality meter reading on the TV beside the dish. If no signal quality reading is displayed, raise or lower the dish elevation by 1 degree and SLOWLY sweep East and west of the landmark while closely watching the signal quality meter reading. Repeat in one degree increments. Remember that if the LNBF is not mounted at the exact same height as the original, the elevation scale will not be accurate. If you find the satellite and note that the elevation scale setting is more than 5 degrees higher or lower, I would check the LNBF feedhorn again for correct height. Incorrect height will make the dish performance decrease!

Once the satellite is located, change the transponder to 12115 Vertical 22425 and check for signal quality. If low, try to optimize by slightly bumping the dish East/West/Up/Down. Once the signal quality is optimized with reflector positioning, slowly slide the LNBF fore/aft from the reflector and the skew CW/CCW. Transponder 12115 is typically weaker than 12152 for most of North America.

Good Luck!

You must be good typist, whats your WPM?

 

[Titanium]

Hunt and peck.... hen scratching corn kernel style!

 

[. Raine]

View attachment 110942
Oh I forgot about the bend, like these.
View attachment 110944

Yes in this case the section where the dish attaches to must be plumb, the part we cant see.

Maybe plumb, can't really tell for sure from that angle. But there's also the problem of how it's mounted on the railing sideways, it looks like the dish is hitting against the pole where it's aimed at now and binding up probably. It should be mounted with the bend faced outward toward the direction it's aimed at. I can see why he mounted it that way though, cause the railing is more narrow than the mount is in the proper position. Maybe mounting the board underneath the mount opposite [not lengthwise along the railing] and then mounting the mount in the right orientation might help out.

Just went back and looked at the picture again and I don't think it is plumb, I think the mount should be put into the correct orientation so the dish can have more free movement, it looks like the dish is up against the pole and the pole out of plumb.

 

[fred555]

It should be mounted with the bend faced outward toward the direction it's aimed at.

Yep like my second picture.

Just went back and looked at the picture again and I don't think it is plumb, I think the mount should be put into the correct orientation so the dish can have more free movement, it looks like the dish is up against the pole and the pole out of plumb.

Excellent problem description.

 

[. Raine]

Yep like my second picture.

Yup!

 

[dfecarter]

thanks so much guys! gotta digest all of the great info! am now more encouraged to keep going with this - next weekend hopefully
the LNB skew adjustment was confusing me and the curved pole issue too

 

[dfecarter]

Yup!

Thanks for your input, say if by chance you're able to post a pic of your 18" dish fixed at 97W, I believe you are in CT as well, maybe that woul d help me out? did you say your was a Directv or Dish antenna? thanks

 

[. Raine]

Thanks for your input, say if by chance you're able to post a pic of your 18" dish fixed at 97W, I believe you are in CT as well, maybe that woul d help me out? did you say your was a Directv or Dish antenna? thanks

You're welcome. The one on 97W isn't a 18", one 18" is on 95W and the other is on 119W, but pictures of them would be helpful for you to show how the mount/pole should be. In the past I have had a 18'' on 97W, but right now I have a DirectTV Slimline on 97W, 32''X23". I play around with the small dishes quite a bit, so all of them except the one on 95W change here and there and one of the Slimlines I have mounted to a fold-able ladder at the moment because I was using it to find the optimum spot to move my C band dishes to in my yard. I had one 18" motorized for a while here but I needed the motor for something else, so that one came down.

I should be able to post up some pictures tomorrow. Or I might be able to find a link on here, I've posted some pictures up before of some of them. All the small dishes I have are DirectTV, but they're pretty much the same as your dish.

I'm in Danielson CT, way up in the northeast corner.

 

[Jason S]

Maybe a bit late posting this...

There is a very creative and useful post from Polgyver, A jig for proper positioning of replacement LNBF, for a jig to get you close on LNBF placement.

 

[. Raine]

Thanks for your input, say if by chance you're able to post a pic of your 18" dish fixed at 97W, I believe you are in CT as well, maybe that woul d help me out? did you say your was a Directv or Dish antenna? thanks

Here's some pictures of my 18" on 95W, I just snapped a bunch quick of all the small dishes but a lot didn't come out very well. I was out cutting wood all day and almost forgot!



A couple close up of the mount on the 95W one and the 119.

 

[dfecarter]

Thanks for posting the above photos!!! I truly appreciate it!
I only spent a few mins on dish today but I had a question you and Fred555 mentioned keeping the dish skew (on rear of dish) at 90 deg. - will that change? Clearly at 90 deg. leaves the dish much more vertically lined up, compared to the 25 or so deg I had it set to before.
Also the pole, the non-curved area closest to the dish is now plumb! Can't believe I overlooked that, it had been on my roof and was not plumb in the photo.
Thanks!!
The LNB skew as I understand I'll set to about 24 and do that by matching numbers on LNB and on bracket.
For that I will be turning LNB counter-clockwise, when standing in FRONT of dish?
PS. I was using a small tv and had receiver out on the deck with me, yes definitely helps .

Here's some pictures of my 18" on 95W, I just snapped a bunch quick of all the small dishes but a lot didn't come out very well. I was out cutting wood all day and almost forgot!

View attachment 110952 View attachment 110953 View attachment 110954 View attachment 110955

A couple close up of the mount on the 95W one and the 119.

View attachment 110956 View attachment 110957

 

[fred555]

Turn CCW while standing in front of dish. Set dish skew so dish is vertical, I think 90 deg is correct.

Here is a handy diagram CCW is + CW is -.