My SuperSish 121W Install

DCXFORDGM

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Dec 18, 2003
176
0
Decided to go with a pole, What a Dish very heavy duty for personal use. Was a bit tricky in picking up FSS 121W with 110 and 119, I peaked at 125 on 10T on 110 and on FSS 121W 15T at 91 and 119 at 115, very strong signal. I decided to make a bracket to install dp34 switch on back of dish like DTV. For the money this dish should come with a bracket, overall difficult install verus a twin or DTV dish. Here are some pic's enjoy!
 

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Sorry, guy - I REALLY do NOT like that DP34 mount. Those feed cables are going to fail in a fairly short amount of time being crimped like that.

Each type of cable has a minimum bend radius. I never go under 2" and at least one of yours is as small as a 1/4".
 
I could see them failing only if being bent back and forth, I have had RG-6 bent like this on other dishes and they have been working for over 3 years. If they do fail, I will change them. No not that small 1/4, they is alot of room if you are looking at the side. I did consider the bend and thought about putting bracket on other side and can do so very easy but it would not be compact. They are a bit tight but I purchased high quailty RG-6 cables and they went in very easy, these white cables, outter portion of cable is hard and absorbs most of the bent where in a monster cable, they bend easy and the copper/metal takes most of the bend.
 
I actually like the general look of your bracket. Like Simon said, the cable radius can and will be a wear/tear issue. My bigger issue is the type of cable you're using for the LNB to 34 switch. Call it nitpicky, but not too sure how well that would hold up in the weather over time. With the typical PPC compression fittings most of use, I imagine the radius will be a bit bigger.

On a positive note, any chance of giving out dimensions for your 34 switch bracket? It really does look better like that than zip-stripped to the back of the dish or the pole.
 
I wanted a thick piece of metal<sheetmetal> to support DP34, cut it with a metal cutter and mounted using both skew adjuster bolts. Drilled two holes for switch, test fitted, then painted<anti-rust spray>. I did not want mounted on house or tie-strapped to pole, I was thinking of making a few to exact size and putting up on ebay under dish items, just a thought?
 
I like everything except your cable connectors. SimpleSimon is right. They will let water in and fail. Get some good weather-proof connectors like snap-n-seal or digicon and replace them before you have problems. In the 6th picture it looks like you have a line of sight problem with your house. I could be just the angle of the picture though. Fix the cable problems and it will look like a professional installation. Good job.
 
Great job, but I'll have to agree about the coax.. that's one REALLY tight turn there. Do they make elbow connectors for a situation like this?
 
Line of sight is ok, this 121w dish picks up all three birds with very high signals<impressive>. What I was thinking about doing is getting the weather proof boots that go over the connectors to DP34 switch at radio shack.
 
All those boots do is hold water IN. Those cable look like standard Radio Shack pre-made cables. I'd suggest spending $40 or so and snip off the existing ends and put Snap-N-Seals or something water-resistant on there.
 
OoTLink said:
Great job, but I'll have to agree about the coax.. that's one REALLY tight turn there. Do they make elbow connectors for a situation like this?

yeah, they do make elbows for coax, but they aren't snap-n-seal or anything, they have no weather protection either....
i used some on a dp34 switch one time to make it fit in an old primestar wall box....

the install looks good though, i totally agree about the wire though, i would put compression connectors on there, i wouldn't want to take the chance or water getting into the wire... or the switch.
If you want me to make you a couple of peices of wire up PM me....
 
I will take a look around today for new ends at DP-34 and at LNB's to replace them. Back of DWAY dish is this, The DW6000 sits inside the house, just cables run off it<two>.
 

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You might want to consider changing those cables out- most store cable has minimal braided shielding(if any at all), not to mention bad crimp on ends. A lot of guys just use self tapping screws and shoot them through the dish (no bracket needed) when placing the switch outside. The switch outside should be a last resort though- we always try to put it insde if at all possible.
 
Couldn't locate boots or cable ends I liked, will search on, I have one grip with the superdish, where is the superdish sticker that goes on LNB cover.
 
I would say it is good setup, but the cables from LNBF are wrong by two counts: no rubber boots and the radius of bending is abnormally small. Last thing will change impedance at that place, will produce reflection of signal and will degrade signal level for certain frequencies.
 
FWIW, those cables are probably the kind you'd get at walmart or something.. *shrug* I've seen them used outside before lol.
 
I thought about moving switch clockwise but the DP34 says this side up, what is the harm in keeping it on it's side?
 

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