Is this good?

[Scott Greczkowski]

I got this from a local tv station who we upgraded from a old GI 650 which died to a new Geosat Pro C Band Lnb and MicroHD receiver.

They have been very happy with the upgrade!

So is this (See photos) good?

 

[dfergie]

Missing the Scaler ring but ... try it

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

No I have the scaler ring, just not in the pic.

It was working when I took it out of service. The issue was the old GI 650 fried, but was using it with the MicroHD only issue was it wouldn't change polarities because of the co rotor.

The LNB's are Norsats which should be decent.

 

[dfergie]

Chaparral Co-rotor I think ...

 

[KE4EST]

Yes sir and get you a ASC-1 and you will be set with the micro.

 

[Magic Static]

That's $500 in PLL LNBs there

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

OOOhhh!

Now I just need to run some wire to control the polarity. (And I will need Titanium's new Dish Mover Polarity switcher)

 

[dfergie]

my chaparral

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

What kind of cable should I wire to it? Is standard telephone wire ok? The dish is already wired with C / KU and motor control. Just need something for the polarity switching.

 

[dfergie]

I used to use thermostat wire, but have used phone & Cat5 with no problems (tying 2 out of 4 wires together with phone),

 

[KE4EST]

Is standard telephone wire ok?

Either that or if you have some spare CAT-5 laying around, yes too many conductors but if it just laying around collecting dust...
If you buy something I would find something shielded.

 

[mmewrench]

No I have the scaler ring, just not in the pic.

It was working when I took it out of service. The issue was the old GI 650 fried, but was using it with the MicroHD only issue was it wouldn't change polarities because of the co rotor.

The LNB's are Norsats which should be decent.

No those lnbs are junk. Send them to me and I will dispose of the hazardous waste (no charge).

 

[Titanium]

Agreed. Shielded cables will help protect against unwanted interference and crosstalk that can cause some really strange control issues. While unshielded wires will often work, I have done enough service calls on sites where it was mandatory for reliable control and positioning.

Now what can we do about getting you a controller....

 

[mmewrench]

What kind of cable should I wire to it? Is standard telephone wire ok? The dish is already wired with C / KU and motor control. Just need something for the polarity switching.

Two conductor microphone cable would be ideal It is stranded and shielded.

 

[FaT Air]

Two conductor microphone cable - - but don't think it would stand up to the weather for very long.
I've used trailer wiring to 'fix' a few BITD. 18 or 16 ga. I get/got it at the local surplus store. cheap. (But the colors are wrong) Should last a while, I never had to replace a 2nd time, but by then the big dish subs were on the way out.
Really don't need to be shielded unless your in a strong rf field. How close is the nearest AM Tx? If over a mile should be OK. Unless maybe, it's a 50KW super station. If buried, shielding may not be needed even then.
117 ft of direct burial 16 ga. http://www.ebay.com/itm/16-4-strand...-direct-burial-white-jacket-117-/360807207713

 

[mmewrench]

I think the shielding is more or less to reduce interference generated by the subsystems (pulse from motors and such). If you cant find shielded cable at least wrap a stranded ground wire around the individual bundles.

 

[FaT Air]

The shield of a screened cable protects the internal conductors from external electrical noise.
A shielded cable does little 'filtering' of noise generated by the load on that cable. Want to filter that? You're better served by a capacitor and/or choke. The capacitance of a shielded cable is quite small compared to what you can place across the load producing 'noise'.

Coax for radio signals - the shield prevents RF signals from leaking out (radiating).
Being the servo signals will be from DC to around 1KHz, there's little chance of radiating.
If worried about the possibility of actuator noise radiating and being induced in the servo wires, a cap across the actuator motor terminals would be a 'fix'.
A .1uf and a 1uf in parallel works well. (May also prolong brush life - decreases brush 'arcing', the noise source)