Got a C-Band dish...now some questions

[bryansr]

In this case, your dish does not see the sat fully, therefore you don't get good signal strength/quality.
As stated before, dish is just a reflector that gathers the signal. Polarity is taken care by the skew motor. It's not like "upper half gets H and lower half gets V"....
FTARock

I agree fully with this statement! I have saw where a tree limb had drooped partially over a BUD dish's LOS and block only the horizontal TP's and the vertical TP's are fine. a quick Sawing off the tree's limb took care of the problem, BUT I don't think you want to CUT DOWN YOUR HOUSE????? LOL

BryanSR

 

[Mr Tony]

No I cant cut down part of my house

So it sounds like my options are
-get the dish higher
-move it to another spot temporarily to see if that is what is causing the issue (I might just try it in the front of the house…yard won’t work as fron the bottom of the deck to the ground is 6 feet so there is no way I could get it over the house from the ground. The driveway might work.
-move somewhere else where there is no LOS issues

 

[ken2400]

I thinking wire spool. It would raise you up about 18" to 24".

No I cant cut down part of my house

So it sounds like my options are
-get the dish higher
-move it to another spot temporarily to see if that is what is causing the issue (I might just try it in the front of the house…yard won’t work as fron the bottom of the deck to the ground is 6 feet so there is no way I could get it over the house from the ground. The driveway might work.
-move somewhere else where there is no LOS issues

 

[Tron]

That's an excellent idea Ken! Those large cable spools can often be had for free at the local cable company headend. They're quite heavy and should support the dish...

 

[MikeI]

Tony -

What size bolts did you use to hook up your lnbf to the 6 footer? I'm about ready to put mine together. It just came. Do I need a run to Home Depot?

 

[Mr Tony]

MIke I thought they were in it. I don't remember what bolts they are. I just used what came with everything.
(I know they are 10mm heads on them)

 

[Mr Tony]

SUCCESS!!!! (sort of..almost there)

Well I decided to work on this a little more....Put the DMSI LNBF back on and got the 3 analog TP's on G4 nice and clear. Can get Vertical TP's with a 45-50 right now.

So everyone said "go up"....well I did (for about 15 minutes). I didnt have the spool yet so I tried something close.....my kitchen chairs

They are 17 1/2 off the ground so I put them right next to each other, tossed the sandbag aside (well not toss...the thing weighs 70 pounds) and lifted the dish on top of the chairs. Tuned the dish to analog (still had to hold the dish with one hand and tune with the other) but got Horizontal really good..

now the kicker...get a better signal on H than 10

19...well we're getting there
tuned a little more and BAM

30-32 (threshold of signal)

WOO HOO!!!

Transponder scan

BAM!! 4 channels

yep. The coveted Networks

I almost dropped the dish I was so happy....they were stable even at 30 quality

so we are getting there...just need to get something a little bigger....and I'm sitting at it...my computer table which was a kitchen table

More in the next couple days (I really like this DST...can get stuff done)

 

[PSB]

Cool!

 

[Mr Tony]

That dish is heavy but its pretty easy to grab by the 2 "O" rings and HEAVE

I was going to throw the sandbag back up and take pictures but the sandbag was too far away

 

[Mr Tony]

Well tried some more tonight and major accomplishments

Took my computer tabel (which is an old kitchen table) out there...This stands 30" high....moved the dish and put the tabel in that spot and hoisted the dish up there. Put the sandbag on for weight and away we go

So first I tried analog
G4 has the 3 stations I always got (15, 16, 17)
IA5 had ABC on 22
G3 didnt have anything at the time
IA6 had PBS
Could not get PBS on AMC4

so I moved back to G3 and scanned and got in the Equity mux and a whole bunch of feeds. Now here is something weird. The Equity stations were at a 45-46 on the Pansat, yet they kept breaking up. Threshold for KU is 30. Got a lot of feeds (black screen though) with signals up to 90

Moved to IA5 and got the Pax station pretty good. (50) BYU came in at 20 but it was there

Now the main one...G4
Locked it in and climbed on the ladder to fix skew. The Networks came in at a solid 30. Whats weird is the signal drops to 15 but its still stable. Did a H scan and BAM BAM BAM feeds galore...while I was waiting, on analog the MN state lottery daily numbers were being picked so I got to see that

Vertical was the same amount I had before.....so everyone is right...go up higher and it will work. Well yes it does. I did take it back down because I want something sturdier

Here are some pictures. First two are of the setup and the rest are the signals on feeds (info blacked out)..most were Horizontal but the last 3 were vertical. As soon as I put the dish back down, all the H went kaput and the V dropped to 45

so we're getting there

 

[PSB]

Looking good! I would get as far away from the wall and a bit higher, the height of the railing looks good!

Glad to hear its working out now for ya!

 

[Mr Tony]

Pete the back of the "O' ring is at the back of the railing...cant go back any farther

 

[PSB]

Pete the back of the "O' ring is at the back of the railing...cant go back any farther

Unless you go higher

 

[Mr Tony]

need a more stable way to make it go higher...now that its up that high, wind might be my enemy

 

[PSB]

What about a round table

 

[WyrTwister]

What about a round table

Wind is always your enemy . :-(


I think idea of the wooden cable spoole is the best thinh I have heard , if you get one tall enough .

You could use lag screws to attach the bottom ring of the sat mount to the spool .

I would then suggest a LOT of sand bags on the part of the spool resting on the deck ( but do not collapse the deck with excessive weight ) to stabalize the whole thing .

I am picking up PBS on AMC 4 analog , now .

Wyr

 

[Tron]

Glad its working Iceberg! Gotta wonder about those Equity transponders though... that's a big part of my desire for C-Band, to get back the 'ol Tube! Its strange that they're coming in with good quality but are breaking up. Equally strange is the fact that lower quality than 30 signals are not.

Still, sounds like you're finding plenty up there. Now you need to make your dish into a "patio umbrella", put chairs under it, and bolt it down That way, you can tell the HOA it's just a patio umbrella! WDSU-TV has a park bench under one of their 5 meter dishes, someday I'll get pics

 

[Mr Tony]

I think idea of the wooden cable spoole is the best thinh I have heard , if you get one tall enough .

I didnt blind scan when I had the dish on the chairs but I have a feeling as long as its up 18 inches or so it should be fine. The table was 30 inches

I would then suggest a LOT of sand bags on the part of the spool resting on the deck ( but do not collapse the deck with excessive weight ) to stabalize the whole thing .

I live in Minnesota where sandbags are a necessity..I have 4 70# bags handy

I am picking up PBS on AMC 4 analog , now .

Wyr

how big of a dish?

 

[Mr Tony]

Glad its working Iceberg! Gotta wonder about those Equity transponders though... that's a big part of my desire for C-Band, to get back the 'ol Tube! Its strange that they're coming in with good quality but are breaking up. Equally strange is the fact that lower quality than 30 signals are not.

it is weird....Equity was maxed at 50 and that was stable. signal drops to 45 and breakup city. Same with a couple other transponders (Pax on T5, BYU on T5). But on G4 everything was fine. I was amazed that the networks at a 30-32 were stable as can be. The vertical feeds quality was mazing (75-88)

Still, sounds like you're finding plenty up there.

even though I only went from T6 to G4 there is a lot on there

 

[mark_calgary]

it is weird....Equity was maxed at 50 and that was stable. signal drops to 45 and breakup city. Same with a couple other transponders (Pax on T5, BYU on T5). But on G4 everything was fine. I was amazed that the networks at a 30-32 were stable as can be. The vertical feeds quality was mazing (75-88)


even though I only went from T6 to G4 there is a lot on there

You may want to check what level of FEC (Forward Error Correction) is being used. It is possible that Equity is not using as much as the ones that lock with a weaker quality. I haven't looked as I'm watching my 18 month old this morning before going to work later ("work" is a lot less work.... hmmm.... silence..... what is she doing now?)