Mod'ed DirectPC dish

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Ironsides

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Dec 4, 2008
319
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North Carolina
This may have been covered on other threads, didn't see it. I have an old DirectPC dish, I've been playing around with a couple of years. The original LNB was toasted so I have replaced it with a Universal Linear LNB and made a few simple modifications to the bracket. Currently pointing to Galaxy 18 with a "Q" of 68 on the strongest tp.

Heres My question, think it possible to add a 2nd lnb to grab AMC 21 for PBS? I am guessing I will need another Linear LNB to grab this if it is possible?

I have A C-Band 10 foot dish I have used for nearly 20 years for FTA and just recently started playing with Ku side of things. If I like what I am seeing I think I will upgrade my Sami to ku. It should be able to handle KU with ease according to the model dish it is. When I originally purchased it I made sure it could handle KU for future!

Receivers, Pansat 2500, Pansat 2700, and Neusat 6000 P and a Uniden Supra Pro Series and boat loads of others in the shop....

Thanks for the help in advance!

Best,
Ironsides
 
The main problem is getting two LNBs close enough together for 123° & 125°.
The fact that you have a long focal length dish, is a big help.
But, your location in North America also has a serious affect on the problem.

There are two threads around here with enough info to give you some direction, if not the answer.
Let me find 'em for ya...

edit: here we go.
WescoPC has a wonderful thread on getting the 2° spacing.
You should read his entire thread, then focus on my post with a link to the AMC21 thread, for more info.
 
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Cad -

Thanks. It's seasonal. I ran a similar one last Xmas.

But the top hat 'n cane for New Years wasn't quite so obvious.
Not sure what'll happen this year. - :D

SantAnole
 
I thought this maybe a problem...

The main problem is getting two LNBs close enough together for 123° & 125°.
The fact that you have a long focal length dish, is a big help.
But, your location in North America also has a serious affect on the problem.

There are two threads around here with enough info to give you some direction, if not the answer.
Let me find 'em for ya...

edit: here we go.
WescoPC has a wonderful thread on getting the 2° spacing.
You should read his entire thread, then focus on my post with a link to the AMC21 thread, for more info.


Thanks for your reply!
I thought adding 1 more LNB would be a problem so heres another question or a couple..

Using my DirectPC Dish I currently have on Galaxy 18 could I and wouldn't it be better to go with an HH motor? Getting out as cheap as possible and not having to purchase another dish...seems this Old dish does a good job on Hard to hit birds anyway.

I would like to upgrade the LNB to something better than The Fortec Star Univeral.

Weight with the dish is a factor I need to consider that old dish is heavy so what would be the best Motor if I could use one...and Best LNB for it?

I would like to use this dish because replacing it would be expensive and also adding a HH motor and new LNB...I can cut costs by just getting the motor...and of course a new LNB!

Thanks for your help! ;)
 
Ironsides;

Consider an array, free dishes are all over the place, many with linear lnb's on them (superdish, DTN, Primestar). You can upgrade to bigger dishes as circumstance/money allows
 
Thanks for the advice..LOL!

Ironsides;

Consider an array, free dishes are all over the place, many with linear lnb's on them (superdish, DTN, Primestar). You can upgrade to bigger dishes as circumstance/money allows

I would consider adding another dish, however my wife would crap a trout, a gold one. I have one 10' Sami, a 12' foot Para Eclipse, 5 small dishes up and a yard full of dishes just laying around...

I guess my best move would be to just upgrade my Sami to Ku and be done...Arrays are nice but I already have at least 20 antennas of sorts up and around the house... I am lucky I haven't been killed by my wife and lighting! LOL! Did I forget to mention I have so much RF floating in here, I twitch? LOL!!! My secret is out, I like antennas and dishes and anything to do with radios, scanners and birds is space...

I truely would say, I have an antenna farm! Most people speak of that and when I see pics or visit, turns out to be the same in every case, not a farm but rather a garden when compaired! ROFL!
 
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Happy Holidays

welcome to the forum .....
Nice to see new people here.

I can't say I am totally a newbie here, I registered several years ago and forgot my user name and password...I am not much for posting, just reading and reading and reading some more...But thank you, I appreciated that very much...

FTA is really stuck in my blood and I love playing around with antenna's and dishes! I've played around with C-Band for years and years. I was lucky Satellite Guys was the 1st FTA site I came across way back.

Got a Pansat 2500 for my 1st digital upgrade and hooked her up to a Uniden 4400 Supra and been loving it. That lasted a couple of years and then I upgraded to a 2700 and that lasted a couple of years.

A couple of weeks ago, I ran across a Neusat at a yardsale and was lucky it actully worked when I got it home and didn't need anything done.
Picked it really cheap and Decided that Old Direct PC dish need to be cleaned up and put back into service. It had been on a post in the back yard for a couple of years. The LNB was toasted and the radio was OK but I had no use for that...Sooo

I did some research and found where several had made some complicated mods to the Original LNB holder. I thought wasn't necessary and came up with my less complicated design. Which only required a 4" or so cut of Angle Aluminium, drilled 2 holes and use the original allen bolts and then drilled a 3 hole for an LNB bracket. If you know this dish and lnb bracket, I had to take a little meat off it with a cut off grinder. If you can find a picture of this dish, the orginal bracket on the lower section has a slot thats about 1" to 1 1/2" wide which is almost a perfect fit for a 40mm LNB bracket. It just needs a little trimming to make it fit correctly!

Bought a cheap mounting bracket off Ebay and a Fortec Star Universal LNB which now I regret but it will do for now...I will upgrade that soon!
Then started reading about how hard it was to locate Galaxy 18, which I guess again I was lucky, I pointed at 121 and found it within couple of minutes, dropped a couple of degrees, panned right and bam right one 123.

Here I am once again to bother the boards with questions!
I know you didn't expect my lifes history but I enjoy talking about projects and doing things! Being disabled and don't have good use of either my hand or legs makes things hard for me..but I enjoy this hobby very much!

Thanks again and Happy Holidays to all here!
 
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Ironsides;

Look into those Tech Tracker 0.2db red lnb's. Weird color. I've put 5 of them in my array and they work very well. I had adjacent signal interference with 123/125 on modified superdishes, wondering if you may have a similar issue with the direct PC on those birds. But, the fun is in the experiment!
 
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I truely would say, I have an antenna farm! Most people speak of that and when I see pics or visit, turns out to be the same in every case, not a farm but rather a garden when compared! ROFL!

Well don't just torment us, post some pictures of your farm. I remember when Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz had this advice for small farmers -- “Get big or get out.” Maybe he was thinking of antenna farms, too.
 
Sorry

Guys, sorry but at this time I am unable to take pictures. I have a digital camera but its older and uses a floopy, this computer doesn't have a drive! I'll have to try and find an old floppy drive for this machine and see what I can get up here! I might could ask a friend to take some pic's for me next visit!

Getting back to the DirectPC dish, I am thinking of adding a Invacom LNB to it to see if that helps. Upgrading the coax cable to see if that improves on the Fortec Star Universal LNB....I regreted purchasing that LNB, but, I have to admit it has worked well during all this rain we've had going on...not to mention the wind and the fact I haven't tied the dish down solid as of yet.

Time being a major factor...
 
Decided to add

Well, after much thoughts and considerations, I have decided to try the Invacom Dual on my mod'ed DirectPC dish. Aim it at G18 and hope for the best...:)
 
Keep the forum updated on your results. I have a DirecWay dish (weighs 27 pounds) that I have been trying to create a mount for since Spring. Every time I mount it for due-South, I don't get G26 and in the process of "adjustment" I end up bending my self-made mount (due to the dish's weight)...so I've scrapped my plans for a motor and have been eyeing another LNB or two for AMC21 and/or G27 and leaving it stationary.
 
going motorized

In previous posts, I thought guys with those heavy dishes simply discarded all the metal mount, and bolted their own home-brew hardware to the back side of the dish.
There are several threads with many pictures.
Let me know if you're unable to find 'em (threads are several years old).

That mod's documented for the larger Primestar dishes.
I think it applies to the DirecPC dishes as well.
 
Directway

My results so far have been very good. Not sure what you are looking for in way of a mount. Does your dish still have the orginal arm? :confused: I will assume it does and the original LNB is toasted? The radio has been removed? If not remove it.

As soon as I can I will try to post pictures of the below, in the mean time this might give you an idea or two to try out for a mounting bracket. I am assuming you meant the LNB bracket and not the dish mount. If you meant the dish mount, mine has the original with skew adjustments. Can't help you there, so I will just post this for others who might need an idea of mounting the LNB!

Unless you just want to make a bracket, you can buy one on Ebay for like $7 bucks including shipping just to test with. :)

If your dish still has the original arm, It should have 2 allen bolts? The original mount required 2 allen bolts (not sure of the size but would appear to be near 5mm to 6mm. In between those two holes you should see a slot about 1" to 1 1/2" wide and about the same in depth. It has a small back stop the original LNB rested against. Remove that...with a cut off grinder or dremel tool. Leave the bottom part in, that will give your new bracket a rest stop.

Now you need something like a 1"x 1" aluminium angle about 4" long. Bore 2 holes in the angle so they fit exactly over the 2 original holes in your dishes arm.

Make sure the angle is turned like and upside down L and it covers the very front (looking towards the dish) of the original mounting. Use the original Allen bolts and mount it!

Now you are going to need to take the new bracket, and cut out a slot just wide enough for it (new LNB bracket) to slide down in. The very top side of the upside down L, should be nice and flat and should fit nicely. Thats where you need to cut the slot, just cut until your depth meets the side of the aluminium. Don't remove the side.

It will be about 1" wide and you need to cut out enough aluminium that the Plastic mount can fit snug and plumb and slide up and down. If you cut this out accordingly this will put your LNB very close to the focal point of the original LNB. You will also have enough up and down adjustments to get it close if not exactly the same. Depending of course on type of LNB. Leave the aluminium on the Front side looking towards the dish because it will act as support and you will need to bore a hole in it later.

If you purchase the mount from Ebay I suggested, it comes in 2 parts, Plastic and metal with 2 mounting bolts. Don't use the metal part, you will not need it.
If you follow the above the plastic part should fit nice and plumb in your slot you cut in the aluminium angel. Fit it in, and in the center you should see the up down adjustment slot on the plastic, drill a horizontal hole in the aluminium angle centered and sized to fit the bolts that came with the new bracket. Should be something like 4mm hole or 5mm... Now bolt it on this will make a very nice and simple means to mount a Linear LNB for testing. :)


Later you might wont to reinforce it by taking another aluminium angel cut to fit over the inside part to support the front side of the LNB holder (the inward side facing the dish):confused:

The back side should be covered by your 1st attempt. All this sounds complicated, took me about 5 minutes to make and it will not move, bend or otherwise. Still have adjustments for Up and down and I can change my LNB with ease. :eureka


Note, The DirectPC dish needs to be set to dead zero on Skew and you have to skew the LNB alone for stationary setups. Also know, it is very narrow to adjust, means you have to move it in very small steps. Like a 1/16" at a time and sometimes that is to much! :eek:

I had very good luck with a FortecStar Linear Universal LNB and this setup.
LNB information is, FSKUVN Universal Linear FortecStar. Standard LNB would be just fine. LNB costs Less than$20 bucks...;)


I will try as soon as I can to post actual pics of my mounting of the LNB. I am going to have to beef it up a little as I have added an Invacom LNB and its much larger and heavier than the Fortec. So far my mount has worked well with no sagging even under the weight of the new Invacom LNB. :up I know this sounds very confusing and complicated just to mount and LNB. However, I researched this Dish for almost 2 years before making my bracket. Let me tell you in that time, I saw all sorts of expensive and confusing and very complicated mounts for this dish. Why? I asked myself! I saw all sorts of mounts using machine shops and about every thing possible but simple.

My mount may not be the best idea out there but it was simple and cost less than $4 dollars not including the Plastic LNB holder. I could have made just as easy...Just prefered that plastic one better. With this approach you can add LNBs using a MAGIC LNB bracket with ease which what I like...Easy is best!



hxxp/cgi.ebay.com/Universal-Single-Dish-LNB-Bracket-LNB-Holder-LNB-Mount_W0QQitemZ260311881773QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item260311881773&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1240%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A2%7C294%3A50
 
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If you google

If you have some time to spare, I did a google and found a boat load of information on mounting your dish using mod'ed brackets. Some maybe of use to you, consider checking google out.
 
My issues with self-made mounts for my motor hasn't been that didn't hold, etc. What I've run into is, I've made three mounts so far and when I put the motor on my pole, attach the dish, I never can find a satellite. Since I am after my due-South, I work to find that...here in-lies my problem:

Is it the motor isn't mounted level enough on my pole (mast)? Is it my mount isn't perfectly squared-up to my dish (90-degree angles)? Or is it the motor settings are not correct in the manual. The latter I believe isn't the issue, and I suspect the middle issue is 50-50. It's the first issue I've felt has been my downfall. What usually happens is I am trying to adjust the motor on my pole by loosing-up the bolts, etc. and over the course of the hour or two "adjusting" the weight of the dish starts to bend something, so I scrap the whole project.

I've used an old DN DBS mount I modded, made one out of metal bars & clamps, and even tried to use the DirecWay hardware by retrofitting PBC piping. This last one had the most "promise" but I always go back to a plum motor mounted on my pole. I recently got an old DTV mount I was looking to mod. I've seen a picture here on the forums using that option and it may be the trick. But I haven't rule out the option of just leaving it stationary and pursuing dual-LNBs so I can run two receivers to two different TVs.
 
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