Junk C-band dishes?

[CCRSAT]

last year i set up an 8' solid dish on the roof where i work and was able to lock in tp 4040 on galaxy 16 with marginal signal. We do analytics on OTA signals, and my boss wanted a better quality stream as we would lose signal during storms or overcast days.
So i did some research and we bought a 12' and 14' TEK2000 mesh dish. After 10 weeks of waiting for all the parts to show up, and digging online for videos or anything other then the poor instructions that came with it that were literally "Make it look like this", and had images for a smaller dish, i was able to get it put together. I had to buy all new hardware for it as the small washers and tiny bolts did not seem adequate to me. I also took the scalar ring arms to a machine shop and had them make new ones with the proper orientation for the tabs. There were ATLEAST 27 random holes drilled in the mesh near where the rivets hold it down, and the parts were wet when they were packaged... Really not happy with these at all....
I can not lock onto ANYTHING with either dish. I tried the the math approach, and found it to be WAY off with this dish. So i loosened it all up and tried to free arm the adjustment..... best i can get is a SS of 81 with a bouncing quality between 10 and 17.
I have a WS6909 and WS6933 hand held, and have a drop cord run out there so i could use my 3 set top boxes to try it with.
I am using a norsat LNB with a wave guide, as we are near an airport and and the airport weather radar blips in ever 30 seconds
i can take the lnb and waveguide back up to the roof and set them in the 8' dish and get my channels back no problem....


Any ideas?

 

[CCRSAT]

I forgot to add, i am in Cedar Rapids iowa

 

[Arion]

Dish is probably out of round.

Read this thread that I started on these dishes several years ago;

Tek2000 10' Mesh Dish Install & Initial Review

Hi all; I'm pretty much a total C-Band noob although I've installed a number of motorized KU band dishes and experimented with a 'mini' bud with a C-Band LNB on a 1.2 meter dish. I've had the hankering for many years to get into a real C-Band dish and I wanted new and at a decent price point...

www.satelliteguys.us

 

[ZetaMale]

My TEK 12 footer was a PITA to assemble but it does a good job of pulling in the signals. Step by step instructions would've been nice though.

 

[FTA4PA]

My TEK 12 footer was a PITA to assemble but it does a good job of pulling in the signals. Step by step instructions would've been nice though.

Yep, my 8 footer I purchased from them in 2014 had no useful instructions so you basically had to figure it out yourself. Worked fine once I got it together though!

 

[CCRSAT]

i did pre assembly inside on most of the parts as i had poor instructions and wanted to to be able to move the parts around on the bench to make sure it looked right. then i carried it all outside and put it up. The panels were put together inside so that i only had to make 4 trips instead of 8. I then had a co worker lay down on his back and we assembled the dish over him in the parking lot. He got the inside bolts and i got the outer ones. i left every other bolt loose as i knew i was going to have to tweak it some. Then we set it on the pole mount and i went around and ran my strings. I did 8 as i wanted it to be properly shaped. Then i tweaked the panels until all the strings touched and met dead center of the dish, and the snugged them down.
I am pretty sure my dish is not warped.
4 things different about my dish...
I do NOT have the flat circle piece that goes in the center of the dish. I got 2 1" thick steel circles that had 12 holes along the outside in my box of parts. when i set them on the dish, they would not sit flat against it. I would have to cut the mesh n order to bolt them on
I am using a non pen Baird mount, and am on a concrete slab. My posts are completely vertical, verified with a level
My dishes are single bird dishes. they wont be moved, so i did not get the actuator.
i installed my scalar ring rods between the panels instead of drilling and mounting them to the face of the dish

I also find it odd that i had over 250 pounds of steel i had to get rid off when all was said and done. that does not include the pole mount they sent
AND, i had to get a bunch of brass washers and bushings. on the smaller dish, the part that site on the pole mount did not fit properly onto the ring that the dish mounts to. there was a 3' gap
I will get pictures later today

 

[primestar31]

Determining the focal length of a parabolic dish

www.satsig.net

Prime Focus Satellite Antenna reflector calculation

Prime Focus Satellite Antenna reflector calculation

www.satellite-calculations.com

DishPointer - Align your satellite dish

Satellite Finder / Dish Alignment Calculator with Google Maps | Android and iOS App | DishPointer.com

www.dishpointer.com

 

[CCRSAT]

Here are some images of my dishes. I will add that i had to pull the lnb back out of the scalar ring pretty far to get what little signal i can

 

[Conway]

I'm no expert from the looks of your pictures i think your focal length is off. I has the tek2000 10ft dish and my LNB rods and to be screwed in 8.5 inches from the rim of the dish. I see you have 12 footer there. I am not sure where those holes should be.

 

[CCRSAT]

I measured 137 3/8" Diameter, 22 1/4" deep which comes up to 53.001 for a FL
I went out and measured from the scalar ring to the dish, and am at 47 3/4
I am a dumb ass...lol
It kinda makes sense now that i look at the holes that were drilled in the front of the dish, and how they sent out the scalar ring arms the way they were. I found the correct holes. I am going to drill out new ones in the correct spot so i can use the arms i got from the machine shop.

Will post an update when done

My biggest mistake was using this video as a reference

 

[CCRSAT]

I drilled my holes, and moved the arms. I measured again and am now at 51 3/4". i dont have the neat markings on my feed horn so i just backed it out a little farther than normal. I can now easily lock on almost any bird i look for. Still cant get the TP I am after.

I interned at the local ABC station in college, and know the broadcast engineers out there. I verified this is the TP they use for KCRG. They verified it is still live.
Using my POS satlink 6909 the best i can get is strength of 93, quality bouncing between 13 and 17. When i run a blind scan from my receiver at the dish, i get channels from an adjacent bird 97W galaxy 19.

any thoughts?

 

[TV Junkie]

 

[CCRSAT]

Whilst waiting for more ideas, i decided to go out, drill more holes, and get to my 53" focal length. Cut my hand on the pre-torn mesh, so grabbing a bandaide and going back out to sweep the sky

 

[CCRSAT]

Set the lnb and dialed in TP 4120 as best i could. Get a nice lock on Galaxy 19 again. This time i get ALOT more channels and at a higher quality. I think i found my problem though. NBC national feeds are on 4120 97W, ABC nationals are on 4120 99W. That explains why i was getting channels from 2 birds. I found the sweet spot in the middle. I think i got it from here. I just gotta move the dish a little more west. my 6909 shows a poor lock at 4120 across a surprisingly wide area.

 

[primestar31]

I drilled my holes, and moved the arms. I measured again and am now at 51 3/4". i dont have the neat markings on my feed horn so i just backed it out a little farther than normal. I can now easily lock on almost any bird i look for. Still cant get the TP I am after.
View attachment 151676

I interned at the local ABC station in college, and know the broadcast engineers out there. I verified this is the TP they use for KCRG. They verified it is still live.
Using my POS satlink 6909 the best i can get is strength of 93, quality bouncing between 13 and 17. When i run a blind scan from my receiver at the dish, i get channels from an adjacent bird 97W galaxy 19.

any thoughts?

Your chart says that's a 4:2:2 feed. A standard FTA satellite receiver can NOT receive that and decode it for direct watching. I'm unaware of any receiver made in about the last 10 years that can do that. An 'Edision OS Mio 4k' receiver from Titanium Satellite can stream that channel to your computer, and VLC can then decode it. I have one of those myself. Best receiver I've ever owned.

 

[CCRSAT]

So a standard receiver can see the channel, and pull down PID info, just cant decode it. I have a TBS card in a server inside. That was how i was watching it before the Derecho pulled the dishes off of my roof last summer. That was good kite flying weather...

 

[Captain Midnight]

Another thing you might try is a multi string test at several points to check for a panel out of position to maximize gain. I did so with my 10ft that has a slight imperfection from it falling off my mount during assembly. I use an 18ga steel wire from one side to the other to hold the dish in true shape. It helps squeeze out an extra .5-1dB CNR on weaker signals.