KU on a 1.2m dish....WOW!!!!

[Mr Tony]

Decided to move the KU dish again. Had an idea and hoped it worked.

I have a Starchocie (Shaw Direct) HD receiver but wasnt utilizing the HD part (I know....what was I thinking). The dish/LNB setup I had the LNB went bad so I was setup for F1 only. 99% of the HD programming is on AnikF2 and the SD programming is on AnikF1 (F2 has French programming and F1 has 3 HD channels). I had some issues with line of site on a previous setup. Finally decided to swing the 1.2m dish over and see what would happen

lets just say I'm very happy

Moved the dish to 111.1 and maxed out a DVB transponder. I thought "yay" as I can do that with a 76cm dish. Hooked up the old Starchoice receiver and dialed in a few channels on F2 like NFL Network, EWTN & the french channels.
On the previous dish setup (84e Primestar) I had good numbers...now I have awesome numbers.

Then I decided to try and put a 2nd LNB for 107.3 which would free up my Primestar dish for a different satellite. Here is where spacing is dramatically different when the dish is larger. On a 76 or 90cm dish, put the LNB next to it and boom it usually worked. Tried that and nothing. Moved it slowly away and the numbers jumped. I was shocked as the 75e LNB the "eyes" are squished together to get 4 degree spacing. On the 1.2m dish the spacing is a good 3/4"-1" away from the other LNB. Got real good numbers on F1...about the same or a little better than what the 84e was getting.

Used the Iceberg special (hoseclamps and wood) to secure both LNB's. Hooked up the cabling with a Sadoun 22k switch and hid that in the bracket for the dish. Tried the HD receiver on Starchoice and got great numbers.

Here are the ebno #'s for a few channels. You 4DTV guys will understand
For the others the rule of thumb I always used was +5.0 is good, +7.5 is great and anything above 9 is awesome.

On F1 most channels are between +10.0 & +11.8 with a couple in the +9.5 range. This is what I had on the Primestar dish
On F2 the HD channels the ebno's read lower so folks said between +6.5 & +8.0 is "normal"....well, I'm not "normal"
lowest HD ebno is +8.8 and highest is +10.1
SD channels are around +13.3 to +13.9....I wanted that screen so bad to flip to +14.0

some pics (the last one is the SC 75e LNB for comparison of the difference in the gap of the LNB's)

 

[Mr Tony]

lets just say I am very happy with KU band signal on a 1.2m dish

 

[Corrado]

Gotta love those zip ties and hose clamps.

 

[Mr Tony]

the zip ties hold the switch to the mast
the hoseclamps and wood is what makes it work

 

[Anole]

Is that the new "anti-rain-fade" solution? -

Bigger dish =
. more gain
. longer focal length, which gives
. greater LNB spacing

We should all have 1.2m dishes! -

 

[n4bbq]

the zip ties hold the switch to the mast
the hoseclamps and wood is what makes it work

In the southern US, we use duct tape, pronounced duck tape, for such things.

 

[zamar23]

In my 2-LNb setup, a signal Q improved by 20% as I adjusted the second LNB's focal point further from the dish (I use a rounded WSI 4-12 deg. Bracket). Your setup doesn't seem to allow that? Also, would the signal Q improve, if you raise the second LNB, while inclining it down and pointing towards the dish center? I got such effect, waiting to be explained, but had to add some wood under the bracket clamp to get it inclined.

 

[Fizbi]

Pic #7 looks like the dish took a slight beating; some noticable dimples around the four mounting bolts.

Did it come like that or did you have a bad day?

I'm tempted to upgrade.

 

[Mr Tony]

zamar
I tried to adjust up and down and even pushing the LNB away from the dish and in all cases the ebno's went down. If I tilted the LNB up or down, the ebno drops slightly (from 10.7 to 10.2 as example)....where the LNB is right now gives me the best signal ebno's

 

[Mr Tony]

Is that the new "anti-rain-fade" solution? -

for the HD channels? yes
(the HD channels on Shaw Direct use 8PSK so the numbers are going to be lower)
plus I could put 2 LNB's on it with no issues. The 84e Primestar the closest I could get was 5 degrees apart.

 

[Mr Tony]

Pic #7 looks like the dish took a slight beating; some noticable dimples around the four mounting bolts.

Did it come like that or did you have a bad day?

I'm tempted to upgrade.

I dont know. I went out and checked the actual dish and the bottom bolts there is nothing. The top ones between the bolts you can see a "dimple" effect but the bolts were barely tightened when installed. Hand tightened then 1/4 turn on the wrench

 

[PopcornNMore]

Good work Ice.

 

[dashaund]

Good work Ice! Very interesting. Inspiring ideas...

 

[Mr Tony]

If the other side of the arc there wasnt a wasteland of KU (113, 116.8, 121) I'd put another LNB on the other side

Might try 121 C-Band on the other side. I know I got respectable results when the dish was at 125W and I got STO at 60 quality on Pansat 1500

 

[pro96]

Nice.. 1.2m does rox on the ku wild side.

 

[Larry1]

Try your WSI DMX522 to see if it gives you that extra point.

 

[Mr Tony]

I did try that originally. Sadly it didnt give me the magical 14.0

I went with the Sadoun dual so I could use the hoseclamp. Otherwise I would have to rig something up

 

[Larry1]

Do you have, or have you tried a different 22khz switch?

 

[Mr Tony]

I saw it tonight....the magical 14.0

TVA Montreal (711) showed 14.0 ebno

I wasnt worried but its nice to have HD channels again

 

[Cadsulfide]

Cool Beans!