NOS "old style" Chaparral Corotors

[eaglevision993]

Hi,

I may have located a source which has a lot of NOS Chaparral C/KU Corotors available. They are the older type with the better KU probe before ADL made Chaparral change it to the "Dipole" design as in current models.

They seem to work better on KU in comparison to the "new" ones ( and by new I mean post 1995 ) and are all metal, without the plastic parts inside the C / KU throat. Wideband model including dielectric plate for linear/circular polarization included!

I bought one and installed it on my 10ft Orbitron half a year ago and it works fine. Comes complete with the "Golden Ring" for dishes with f/d ratios as low as 0.30 and all accessories like elbow, mounting screws, scalar and manual. Factory sealed since 20+ years! Works well with the Titanium ASC1.

If anyone is interested I will try to get a good price on them!
I think I can get them for a little less than the current model so let me know if anyone is interested!
It is a lifetime chance to get NOS of the "better" Corotors and I will get a spare one for sure.

I can ship them worldwide with a carrier of your choice. I am located in Germany btw.!

Let me know...
Best regards
Benjamin

 

[eaglevision993]

Just got one of these NOS Corotors as a spare part for my dish. Here are some pictures to show the difference of the KU feed to current production Corotors. The scalar ring on this model has an additional S-Band Antenna btw.

 

[AceB]

Benjamin, are these from the supplier on Cyprus? I've been thinking about getting one just to experiment on S-Band, Arabsat used to use it but not sure what is left on the band. Have you compared the performance of this model against the new version, on both C and Ku?

 

[eaglevision993]

Hi,
yes they are from Cyprus. The same source I bought the first one last year. I thought shipping last year was higher but this time I paid roughly 100 Euros including shipping. Should be about the same to the UK and I think even shipping to the US can be done for under 150 Euro total with USPS.
The same company has the KU- only feed from Chapparal and the original ADL RP1 CKU feed for sale too.

I did not compare the 2 models myself, but I read about the test and the differences in US and German satellite TV forums some time ago. The main difference is the KU probe, with the old design resembling more of the ADL feed´s original KU probe design. The old desgn was said to show a slightly better KU reception, if I remember correctly, 0.5 or 0.6 dB. This does not sound like much but can be a whole world in the digital world where lock or no lock is a thin line.

 

[Magic Static]

I notice the C-Band is circular polarized. I wonder how well it converts and works with linear signals. Should be okay. Is there anything to use the "S-Band" antenna for?

 

[eaglevision993]

On my setup, no. The S Band antenna is not connected to anything (yet).The plug is the N type I think.
The linear polarisation on C band works fine for me. The linear polarisation is 180° inverted to circular so your skew setting for R/L to H/V needs to be inverted too. You basically need 4 settings for all C band polarisations alltogether.

I guess it would be interesting to just connect a wideband scanner to the S band antenna and see what it picks up.

 

[AceB]

I was out in Cyprus last October and made contact with the person selling them as I wanted to collect one while I was there but he didn't get back to me until after I'd returned to the UK, pity because it would of saved the high shipping cost for one unit.

Arabsat is still listed with S-band capability but I'd couple it with something like this http://www.gie-tv.com/s-band-converter.html and a good gaasfet amplifier before feeding it to either my Icom 8500 or Airspy SDR before.

I'm using an LNBf at the moment and manually insert a home made depolarising plate when I watch circular signals. It's based on a Doktorofsat design using 1mm perspex and copper strip, it gives me upto 1dB improvement over the shipped fibreglass? dielectric plate which is also used in the Corotor. It's what is stopping me replacing my current feed with Corotor, I don't want to invest in two new LNBs and skew controller only to find I've lost signal on C Band due to the poorer performance from the built in plate. Buying one with the shipping cost makes it's value for money if I was to just fit the scalar with the S band feed.

 

[eaglevision993]

I doubt you will see any loss with the Corotor. The skew control will most likely make up for any loss compared to a combined LNBF. A couple degrees in skew fine tuning will do lots of improvement. Not every satellite uses the same fixed H/V skew so a feed with no skew control which only adapts the skew by following the Clarke belt will always be a compromise in my opinion. Of course, you will need a controller like the Titanium ASC 1, and 2 separate LNBs. I use a New Japan Radio KU band (10.95-12.75 GHz) LNB and a Norsat 8515F (3.4-4.2 GHz) for C Band. I switch bands with 22 kHz and between the LNBs with a Diseqc switch.

The same company that sells the feed also offers a S Band Converter at low prices IIRC. Have a look at their ebay page and combine shipping on multiple items to cut shipping costs.

 

[eaglevision993]

http://www.ebay.de/itm/141177824147?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2648&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Just checked the site and yes: S Band Converter available. Pretty cheap too!

 

[AceB]

I hadn't spotted the converter from them, thanks for the link and yes it is a good price. Where did you get your LNB's from, tried Googling them but can't find anywhere that shows prices or suggests they actually have stock.

 

[eaglevision993]

I got them from level421.com. The have mostly professinal equipment for satellite Rx/Tx.
You will not see prices on most items unless you register but the Norsat C Band LNB was 50 US$ and the New Japan Radio 2842L KU LNB was around 120 US$. These were the best prices I could find.

This is the C-band LNB (DRO)
http://www.level421.com/shoplevel421/index.php?a=1466

And here the KU LNB (PLL)
http://www.level421.com/shoplevel421/index.php?a=682