How Big of a Dish Need to pick up all FTA on Ku-Band

[Electro960]

Greetings!

I have a 6ft satellite dish with a dual band LNB and I can't figure out why I still can't get all FTA on Ku-Band. I receive most frequencies (some very strong) but some come in very weak. Having a 6ft dish you would think thats big enough for all of Ku reception. Am I wrong? What could be the problem?

 

[greg harris]

What kind of dish and lnb do you have? Be specific.
The dual band lnb may be the problem.

 

[FaT Air]

my 10 ft BUD doesn't work well at ku, so put a 30 inch Ku dish on the lip. I'd easily say I get 95%+ of the ku. that includes feeds. Only H1 and some occasional S2 feeds, on Ku are a problem. The larger the dish, the aim becomes more critical. At C band, +- .5 degrees is probably not discernible, at Ku in may be difference between everything and nothing on a 6 ft dish. Some specifics would let other know what you have there. Most likely someone has used the same set up and could comment with some first hand knowledge.

 

[Anole]

A 36" dish (90cm) is great.
A 1 meter (~39") dish is excellent.
A 1.2 meter (4 foot) dish is generally overkill.

If your 6' dish is large mesh, it may not do well on Ku.
If your 6' dish is solid, the LNBF (?) may not do well on Ku 'till you put an 8' or 10' dish under it.

 

[Electro960]

FaT Air: Saw the picture... Wow, how creative!

Regarding my equipment, I've got one of those 6ft solid Fortec Star dishes and an LNBF with the following specs:


I guess that I need a better LNBF, too.

Thanks for all the feedback!

 

[FaT Air]

Could be you don't have the LNBF in the "sweet spot". Maybe some tweaking in/out, along with making sure it's aimed at the center of the dish. Note: you may give up some C band performance when the feed is optimized for Ku performance.

 

[beavs2112]

What make and model of LNBF ? I had a WSI DMX741 that had the horizontal and vertical probes bent during manufacture. It worked ok on C-band but ku sucked. you get what you pay for. I now have a good Chaparral dual C-band feed and killer Norsat LNB's.

 

[freezy]

I have an 85cm and I can get just about everything from horizon to horizon. If you have a good east view you may want to set up a similar sized Ku offset with a Universal LNBf

 

[Keystone7]

I use a WSI WS9036 90cm Dish with a SG 9120 Satellite Motor. The LNBF is a Geosatpro Dual SL2 Bullet. This system is all I need to get anything on Ku Band.