Welcome to the forum, ACRadio.
Post a picture or two when you have a chance.
And thanks for the good advice.
Post a picture or two when you have a chance.
And thanks for the good advice.
ordered a dual C and ku feedhorn
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Thanks for the information ACRadio.
I only have about a 75 foot run from my dish to the receiver using solid copper wire RG6 coax.
The powered multi-switch I propose to use puts out 13.3 Volts for the verticals and it will be about an 8 foot run from it to the LNB. If it is not enough, I don't have a problem putting a power inserter in place, but want to give it a chance before I make another purchase.
I only have about a 75 foot run from my dish to the receiver using solid copper wire RG6 coax.
The powered multi-switch I propose to use puts out 13.3 Volts for the verticals and it will be about an 8 foot run from it to the LNB. If it is not enough, I don't have a problem putting a power inserter in place, but want to give it a chance before I make another purchase.
A Few Pics
My pics on Webshots are getting a bit dated and there has been quite a few changes to the dish farm over the past year. Here are a few of the changes...
--The first pic is of the dual orthomode described earlier...
--Next is the 8 ft Channel Master the orthomode resides on. It is a right hand drive that covers from 139W (after the removal of a couple of trees) to Intelsat 805 at 55.5W.
--Next is it's brother and sister dishes...an 8 ft Channel Master KU only with left hand drive that covers from Atlantic Bird 1 at 12.5W to AMC 4 at 101W. This dish just retired nine 1.2 meter dishes for digital satellite news gathering use. Beside it is the 10 ft Channel Master with a single C band orthomode feed for circular polarity. It only has an 18" Saginaw jack so it covers from Express A3 at 11W to about 83 or 84W....it can see all the circulars and I can take the insert out if I need to see NSS 10 or IS-1R or IS-3R.
--Next is a shot of the ortho on the 10 ft.
--Next is a shot of the Invacom TWF-031 C120 flange LNB on the KU dish.
--The last pic is of the scalar of the KU prime focus feed. I needed to bring the focal point in just a dab and that s why the scalar is screwed out past the feed throat. The way it's mounted I couldn't push the focal point in any farther. BTW this dish is HOT!!!
My pics on Webshots are getting a bit dated and there has been quite a few changes to the dish farm over the past year. Here are a few of the changes...
--The first pic is of the dual orthomode described earlier...
--Next is the 8 ft Channel Master the orthomode resides on. It is a right hand drive that covers from 139W (after the removal of a couple of trees) to Intelsat 805 at 55.5W.
--Next is it's brother and sister dishes...an 8 ft Channel Master KU only with left hand drive that covers from Atlantic Bird 1 at 12.5W to AMC 4 at 101W. This dish just retired nine 1.2 meter dishes for digital satellite news gathering use. Beside it is the 10 ft Channel Master with a single C band orthomode feed for circular polarity. It only has an 18" Saginaw jack so it covers from Express A3 at 11W to about 83 or 84W....it can see all the circulars and I can take the insert out if I need to see NSS 10 or IS-1R or IS-3R.
--Next is a shot of the ortho on the 10 ft.
--Next is a shot of the Invacom TWF-031 C120 flange LNB on the KU dish.
--The last pic is of the scalar of the KU prime focus feed. I needed to bring the focal point in just a dab and that s why the scalar is screwed out past the feed throat. The way it's mounted I couldn't push the focal point in any farther. BTW this dish is HOT!!!
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Nice dishes and great pics.
We like lots of pictures.
I just contacted Chaparral and told them I had purchased a used Bullseye II, and they kindly sent me the instruction manual for it via email. I love their service.
The instruction manual shows one C-Band LNB at 6:00 the other at 3:00 with the top Ku LNB at the 12:00 position with the other of course in the middle.
Your picture shows just the opposite for you installation.
Is there a reason why you positioned yours that way?
Thanks!
We like lots of pictures.
I just contacted Chaparral and told them I had purchased a used Bullseye II, and they kindly sent me the instruction manual for it via email. I love their service.
The instruction manual shows one C-Band LNB at 6:00 the other at 3:00 with the top Ku LNB at the 12:00 position with the other of course in the middle.
Your picture shows just the opposite for you installation.
Is there a reason why you positioned yours that way?
Thanks!
Mine is mounted exactly 180 degrees opposite of their diagram. They just show a standardized diagram so they can have everyone on the same page as far as installation goes. As long as the feed is lined up and oriented properly and you know which LNB is which polarity it doesn't matter. But you go by their diagram...don't mind me...
"orthomode"
Is the "orthomode" it's own name brand or is it part of the Chaparral that you were getting like the Bullseye?
Thanks,
Tom
Hi Rob,
Is the "orthomode" it's own name brand or is it part of the Chaparral that you were getting like the Bullseye?
Thanks,
Tom
ACRadio, I've got a quick question about your farm...
Do you have all the dish grounds bonded together along with the equipment grounds?
I've been over and over trying to determine the best approach to grounding...
I have 8 & 10 foot mesh dishes about 25 feet apart and about 200 feet from the service ground.
I've heard the dishes should be bonded together with #6 running all the way back to the service ground...
Just curious about your (as well as everybody else's) thoughts on this...
Do you have all the dish grounds bonded together along with the equipment grounds?
I've been over and over trying to determine the best approach to grounding...
I have 8 & 10 foot mesh dishes about 25 feet apart and about 200 feet from the service ground.
I've heard the dishes should be bonded together with #6 running all the way back to the service ground...
Just curious about your (as well as everybody else's) thoughts on this...
Well ya might ought to start a new thread about this as this thread is about orthomode feeds...it is a good question tho. Start a new thread and I'll give you my take on it there.
I saw the Chaparall called "orthomode" somewhere. I think it is just a term used to describe dual C and dual KU band on one feedhorn.
Can't wait til it gets here. I will post pics when I get time to install it. Work schedule is hard core right now.
Ok, I have a question about the voltage as stated above needing to be 17 or 18V to get the best signal on the Vertical side of the old style C-Band LNBs.
I am not doubting anyone's word, but just have a question.
I just put the meter on my Pansat 3500 which is currently running a used Cal-Amp 25K LNB that I picked up somewhere along the way.
It is clearly putting out 13.7 Volts on the Vertical channels and 18.9 Volts on the Horizontal channels.
I'm getting some pretty darn good Signal Quality for just 13.7V being fed to the LNB.
If I put a power inserter in the line and bumped the voltage up to 18, will that increase the Signal Quality I am already getting on the Vertical side?
I am not doubting anyone's word, but just have a question.
I just put the meter on my Pansat 3500 which is currently running a used Cal-Amp 25K LNB that I picked up somewhere along the way.
It is clearly putting out 13.7 Volts on the Vertical channels and 18.9 Volts on the Horizontal channels.
I'm getting some pretty darn good Signal Quality for just 13.7V being fed to the LNB.
If I put a power inserter in the line and bumped the voltage up to 18, will that increase the Signal Quality I am already getting on the Vertical side?
It would be dependant on the make and model of the LNB. It all depends on how the manufacturers circuitry behaves with a reduced voltage. What will work with one may not work with another. To know for sure the LNB manufacturer may be able to tell you or try a power inserter to find out for yourself. Just make sure to get a power inserter for the proper voltage for the LNB. As specified on the Norsat web site, their LNB's require +15v to +24v. The LNB manufacturer should be able to suggest a power inserter to use or a google search such as
DC Block Power Inserter with AC Adapter For LNB Power Insertion
Amazon.com: Dual LNB Power Inserter: Electronics
If you tell the receiver the vertical channels are horizontal, then the receiver will put out 18.9v for all the vertical channels. Then use one of your other receivers to run the servo for the polarity, or physically rotate your LNB 90 deg to test this out. This should be able to tell you if the voltage is a factor or not.
Thanks Larry1,
Good information and links.
Yes, your test would prove the theory, and I may have to give it a try, but all this information is for the Bullseye II when it gets here.
That will be the real test after it is all setup and the SQ readings are logged in. Then put in the power inserter to see how much improvement there is.
My quality readings were fine if compared to other quality readings and would have basically been acceptable. But after I took a look at the hard data it was an easy decision to install the power inserter. I use the one at the Amazon.com link in Larry's post above. I will spend 30 bucks for an extra db C/N any day...and here's why...
Lots of times (especially if our first technical exposure to satellite is with DBS) we think that a satellite is transmitting it's maximum power with every signal. This might be true with DBS sats but with FSS sats it's not always the case. There are at least 2 situations that can affect the received signal (other than rain fade)...one is uplink power and the other is padding (attenuation). A satellite is nothing more than a sophisticated repeater in the sky. It transmits a proportional amount of power in relation to the amount of signal it receives from the uplink. If an uplinker backs off on the uplink power the satellite responds with less transmitted signal. The size of the uplink dish can determine the amount of uplink power authorized to be used. If it is a smaller uplink dish then there is a limit to the power that can be used because a smaller dish will cause the signal to fan out more and not be as concentrated...this can cause adjacent satellite interference.
Padding can occur when the uplinker wants to saturate a transponder but doesn't necessarily need to have a super powerful signal returing to earth. A network feed might fall into this category since the dishes used to receive a network distro are going to be quite large and well aligned. A network distro would also probably be using the whole transponder and I think a pad cannot be frequency specific. On a full time transponder a pad can help the satellite save power as well.
When looking for that HD sporting event I have seen a couple of times that the signal was close to the ragged edge...I'm glad I had that extra db. I'm using a slightly undersized dish also so I need every tenth I can get...
Thanks ACRadio.
I am going to be looking for every extra db C/N I can get too, so I am prepared to buy the inserter.
I have noticed myself that some HD feeds are weak in quality. Even on my 10' dish. You are absolutely right. The next tp on the same sat will be booming in.
I would also be worried about buying a very expensive LNB and risk the chance of damaging it by running it at under the specified voltage. I do not know the circuitry of the LNB, so maybe there is no risk, but after spending all that money on the LNB's to not spend a few dollars more on a power inserter?
Would something like this also help on a normal stardard KU LNB. I'm thinking in particular on the AMC3 PBS feeds. I'm booming on the other transponders, but always have issues with the PBS 12179 transponder no matter what I try.
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