HughesNet Parts ID

[jscud]

The manger of our local "Recovery Park" (AKA 'The Dump') has been keeping an eye out for me in collecting old Satellite Dishes. While most of the things taken from the dump are legacy D* and E* dishes, I have had a few jems. Last spring someone brought in an old 121 SuperDish. I converted that into a 3 lnb FTA dish.

Over the last month he has set aside two separate HughesNet Dish parts that have come in....a 36" x 26" HughesNet Dish and a Hughes Transmitter/lnb. The parts do not fit together so I doubt they were from the same setup.

I am curious about the transmitter/lnb, I do not have any prior experience with Satellite Internet systems. The connecting piece between the transmitter and lnb is a rectangular hollow bar. I am guessing that it is more than a support piece. Is that a waveguide for the transmitter to channel a signal to the lnb?

I have read on this forum (thank you Iceberg) that the transmitter should be removed and that the lnb can be used for FTA. I plan on doing that, but I was just wondering how the two worked together. Is there any special care needed to seal the rectangular hole left by removing the connecting piece?

Do you think that if I rig these two separate hughes pieces togther it would work better for FTA than a Dish SuperDish?



John

 

[Anole]

bigger than SuperDish = better

The HughesNet dish is 36" wide, so it should have a horizontal beamwidth similar to a 36" round.
The feedhorn should be oval (taller than wide) and illuminate the dish optimally.
Using a round feed LNBF on the dish, would throw away performance.

Other users have posted pix of that and similar dishes.
Look 'em up (or factory assembly drawings), assemble the LNB & feedhorn in the proper place, pull off the transmitter & tube, plug the hole, choose 10750 for LO, and be on your way.

Nice work with your SuperDish, too!

Edit: I think your LNB voltage switches between V & H polarity, but you should verify that.
On similar setups, a single-polarity LNB is fitted.

The thing with 100 screws between the LNB and the feedhorn, is a diplexer.
It keeps the transmit signal out of the receiving LNB.
It may work in one or more of the following ways:
- frequency selective, acting as a filter
- polarity selective, H for xmit, V for rcv (or vice versa)
- directional coupler (xmit port goes only to feedhorn / feed horn only goes to the LNB

So, without knowing more, I couldn't guess if the current LNB will get both polarities.
If you have to change the LNB, be sure to keep the feedhorn.

 

[jscud]

The HughesNet dish is 36" wide, so it should have a horizontal beamwidth similar to a 36" round.
The feedhorn should be oval (taller than wide) and illuminate the dish optimally.
Using a round feed LNBF on the dish, would throw away performance.

The feed horn on the hughes lnb is oval but is wider than it is tall. The feed horn on the SuperDish is as you describe, oval but is taller than wide. So the hughes lnb should be mounted on its side, positioned like the SuperDish lnb for optimum performance?

One other thing that I noticed about the hughes lnb....the white plastic (lens) cap on the lnb looks awfully opaque. Shouldn't it be translucent or doesn't it matter?

 

[turbosat]

That milky colored thing won't hurt the reception, unless it cracks and ahuge wasp nest gets built there, haha.
Put the lnbf on it the way it originally was, it'll work ok. Dish is a bit small but it will still pick up most signals on ku.