Playing with my dish - C Band and KU Fun

[Scott Greczkowski]

Ok today I went outside after the rain stopped any played with my dish for 3 hours. There was a few things I wanted to try today including playing with the new Bsc621-2 C/ku Lnbf that MrTim sent me, and testing out one of the LNBs from Sadoun gave to everyone who attended our party last week.

The first thing I did was locked my dish and peeked the signal on a channel. The LNB I have been using on this dish is an Invacom Quad Polar. This is a LNB I really love. I figured I would try one of the LNB's Sadoun gave out last week. I expected it was a cheap LNB... Boy was I wrong! I peeked the dish for the strongest signal I could get on SBS 6 with the Invacom LNB I had a 67% signal level and a signal quality of 59%

I took off the Invacom LNB and replaced it with the Sadoun KUL1 LNB, my signal level jumped up to 72% and my signal quality jumped to 66%. This was a VERY surprising result!

I scanned the skies and was now easily pulling in signals that I had trouble with in the past including the Late Dr Gene Scott on the University Network. I must say this LNB really suprised me! (And just think if you were at our party last week you got one of these for FREE from Sadoun!)

I then popped on the C / KU Band LNB that the folks from SatelliteAV sent me a few monthss ago. I immediately got a signal reading at around (allthough slightly lower) then the Invacom LNB on KU.

Since I already had the LNB on the mount I wanted to see if I could get anything from C Band. For some reason the first satellite I selected was G4R, the dish moved over and nothing. I then grabbed the LNB and turned it a bit. BOOM I had signal! I did a powerscan on my Fortec Mercury II receiver and when it found 3 transponders I canceled out so I could tighten things down by hand. However it managed to scan in some channels... A football Game, The WB Network HD and some other strange scrambled channels.

My first picture I saw was

Iowa State - VS - Texas
G4R 3975/V/13031
Video PID 308
Audio PID 256
PCR SID 8190
SID 1

Scaned in as Crawford TES-16

It was BOOMING in with a 77% signal level and a 58% signal quality. I was happy!

I went to tighten things down and in doing so I knocked the scaller ring off the LNB and on to the ground, when I did this my signal readings went UP!

I thought it was impossible to pick up C Band Signals without the scaller ring. Boy was I wrong. Just to show I am not making this up I ran in the house and got my camera and took some pictures. In these pictures you can see the screen and the dish without the scaller ring.

I took some pictures and then put the scaller ring on. I was getting about the same signal reading with it on.

I then went back to check my KU but unfortunately it was all gone. I went back to C band and it was booming again on G4R, I then went to other C Band Satellites however I was never able to find another signal.

It was starting to get dark. I moved my dish back to SBS 6 where I started and removed the SatelliteAV LNB and put back on the Sadoun LNB, again I was watching KU.

I then took the BSC621 LNB that MrTim sent me and hooked up my cable to the KU end of the LNB and placed it in the holder. I could not find anything with it on KU. So I moved the dish to G4R, hooked the cable to the C Band side of it and still nothing, no matter how I held it or turned it I was not getting any signal. I am SURE that I had a setting wrong.

It was starting to get dark and I had a lot of equipment to get back in the house so I took off the BSC621 and put on the Sadoun KUL1 LNB. And was back in business. I went from one end of the arc to the other to make sure I did not mess up the alignment and everything was fine.

I took all my equipment back in the house and went out to dinner with the family. Tommorow I am hoping to go out there and conquer the BSC621 LNB!

I am still amazed of the C Band Signal I was getting with no scaller ring!

Anyways that was my C Band / KU Band project of the day.

 

[PSB]

Make sure to have the skew mark on the BSC621-2 at 9 o'clock (standing in front of dish)

Sounds like a fun day! Welcome back to C-Band you have certainly opened up a LOAD more channels now!

Added a picture of the BSC621-2 with the skew mark at 3 o'clock, it should actually be at 9 o'clock.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Thanks I will try that tommorow if its not raining. Daylight was almost gone when I tried screwing around with it.

On a Mercury II receiver what is the proper LNB settings for the KU side of things?

It is unusual to get C Band signals without the scaler ring? That part really got me excited. (ok I am a geek)

 

[Inno]

Good stuff!! I tried something similar today although with an old school C-band feedhorn (corotorII) with very limited success.
That's one hell of a nice "test" set you've got there........lol

 

[PSB]

The Ku output on the BSC621-2 is Universal

L.O. 9750-10600

MrTim was telling me there is a standard version coming soon!

Sure you will get signals without the scalar, but my signals have always got worse when I removed it!

 

[Mr Tony]

That's one hell of a nice "test" set you've got there........lol

Thats what I thought too. Makes my little 9" color TV look pretty paltry

Scott I know on my ASC421 C-band LNB I had to skew at 9:00 and go from there

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Thats my 17 Inch LCD HDTV my wife got me for valentines day. Its a hell of a lot easier then carrying down the 19 inch TV I was using before.

 

[Hermitman]

The scalar ring you were using probably was picking up background noise and reducing the amount of usable signal to your receiver, especially on an offset antenna using a ring designed for a prime focus antenna. The best scalar ring is one designed for the dish its being used on. The ring not only concentrates the satellite signal toward the feedhorn but also should be designed to block out the background signal from the edges of the dish and outward. Without the ring, your signal quality probably increased because you weren't picking up any background noise in your signal. Remember, the LNB you're using has its own little conical shaped feedhorn helping to concentrate the signals.

 

[vj9999]

Make sure to have the skew mark on the BSC621-2 at 9 o'clock (standing in front of dish)

Sounds like a fun day! Welcome back to C-Band you have certainly opened up a LOAD more channels now!

Added a picture of the BSC621-2 with the skew mark at 3 o'clock, it should actually be at 9 o'clock.

Are you sure about 9 o'clock? Maybe that's the case for prime focus dish, but for me on offset dish only 12 or 6 o'clock produce acceptable results.

 

[PSB]

Yes I am sure, 9 o'clock. The type of dish you are using does not affect the angle that the satellite signal comes down at!

 

[drhydro]

Scott,
I was able to pick up c band signals without a scalar ring also. Real neat to see c band on a little dish

 

[pmb1010]

Yes I am sure, 9 o'clock. The type of dish you are using does not affect the angle that the satellite signal comes down at!

I am using the BSC-621-2 Universal Ku, and 5150 C band LNBF, and I must have it at 12:00 o'clock or 6:00 clock (up or down) not 9:00 or 3:00 (left or right) to get signals.

My result is the same as VJ9999 has stated.

Offset 1.2m fortec dish.

 

[PSB]

I am using the BSC-621-2 Universal Ku, and 5150 C band LNBF, and I must have it at 12:00 o'clock or 6:00 clock (up or down) not 9:00 or 3:00 (left or right) to get signals.

My result is the same as VJ9999 has stated.

Offset 1.2m fortec dish.

Have a look below! If it works don't fix it

 

[digiblur]

Thats my 17 Inch LCD HDTV my wife got me for valentines day. Its a hell of a lot easier then carrying down the 19 inch TV I was using before.

I'm sorry Scott but we have to revoke your FTA license for violation of Section 10, Part 21-A Paragraph 3. "I shall not use an LCD for an FTA test set."

 

[Inno]

More power to him, I'm just not gonna drag my 51" projo to the backyard for testing purposes........the neighbours would REALLY think I'm off my rocker then!
Sad to think that that's the main reason though.............

I'm sure it's much lighter and easier to carry than the 13" CRT set I'm using.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The LCD TV was a blessing today. It was nice most of the day however we had sudden bursts of rain. I just unplugged my TV and receiver and ran in the house.

When the shower passed I went back out and continued from where I left off.

The receiver and TV combined weighed less then 10 pounds.

I had to do this 4 times today.

More on my adventures later.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Ok so here is what happened today...

I went out there and took off the Sadoun LNB and put on the BSC LNB from MrTim. I did like pete said and set the mark to 9 O clock and nothing. I then set it to noon and had KU Signals. Guess some of the LNB's are marked diffrently.

So I got it locked on KU and now was time to play with C Band....

Nothing on C Band.

So pushed the LNB in and out until I had a C Band signal. Got it!

Put the scalar ring on and optimized it for best signal.

Then went back to KU....

Nothing on KU.

We kept on having these mini showers so I had to keep unplugging my equipment and LCD TV and running it into the house and waiting for the rain to stop.

I couldnt come to a happy medium where I could see KU and C Band. The winds started to pick up and the skyes turned black. I decided to take off the BSC again and go back to the Sadoun LNB. Got it all setup and got my equipment in the house before we got a heavy downpour.

I reset my Fortec Mercury II receiver and loaded each satellite by doing a powerscan. I am surprised I can pick up the HORIZONS 1 satellite at 127 from Connecticut. I scan in a bunch of channels however none come in, and they are not labeled as being scrambled. Very strange.

Anyways I did a powerscan on all the satellites from AMC6 all the way over to Horizons 1 and am happy with the results.

I think the only way I will get C and KU to work is if someone makes a holder for my 1.2 meter dish which folks a standard KU LNB and one of the bigger C/KU band LNB's this way I can adjust each LNB accordingly.

 

[Eastcoast]

I havn't had much success with the KU section of the BSC621-2 either, the C side appears to receive qiute a number of C band.I think that I will try to mount a seperate ku lnbf in there as well something like the one Pete was working on. has anyone tried the C/KU combo shown in the Tele-satellite magazine, looks strange and was wondering if the Scalar will actually be effective like that.

Dave

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I could eaither get C Band or KU Band with the BSC621-2 but not both at the same time.

Again if someone made a holder that could hold both a 40MM Standard KU LNB and a 65 MM C Band LNB) that would be AWESOME! Then you could truely do C and KU Band on a 1.2 meter Dish.

BTW I was able to get a nice strong signal on G10R C Band on the transponder for the Outdoor channel, however when I scanned it it did not pick up anything. I thought that was odd.

 

[Mr Tony]

Some channels you have to manually add the PID’s (I know the WB feed on G11 you have to)