Primestar Dish on SG2100 ?

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PSB said:
Nice work and pictures! The wood post will move over the months so some slight realignment will be needed from time to time.

I would not have used steel staples as you do not want to crush or even have too sharp a bend in your coax!

I like the use of the aluminum and the DirecTV mount, picture 3 is stunning!
Thanks for posting :)

It's a coax stapler. I plan to run some scrap steel L channel up/down the corners to reduce the flexing.
 
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I know, I have the same coax stapler (I only use it now for Ground cable) and they are not permitted any longer on DBS installs as they crush the cable. With FTA you want every bit of signal you can get :)
 
PSB said:
I know, I have the same coax stapler (I only use it now for Ground cable) and they are not permitted any longer on DBS installs as they crush the cable. With FTA you want every bit of signal you can get :)

What's the best bang for buck LNB to replace the original? :) I've got a Eagle Aspen P1700KU but don't think it's much better.
 
If possible its best to keep the feedhorn that came with the dish and just replace the LNB its self. Invacom have LNB's with a 120mm flange that will bolt right on!

http://invacom.net/invacom_products.htm

Other than that any high quality Low Noise LNB will work, but you may have to crack open the LNBF to expose the 20mm neck.
 
PSB said:
If possible its best to keep the feedhorn that came with the dish and just replace the LNB its self. Invacom have LNB's with a 120mm flange that will bolt right on!

http://invacom.net/invacom_products.htm

Other than that any high quality Low Noise LNB will work, but you may have to crack open the LNBF to expose the 20mm neck.

Tks for the advice. I updated the pictures to show the bracing added to the mount .
 
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nsaspook said:
Tks for the advice. I update the pictures to show the bracing added to the mount .


WOW! Thats going NOWHERE! :D

Very nice work, and a great idea :eureka I am sure your posts and pictures will help many members.
 
Everybody, your ideas on using Primestar dishes are great, however, how can I put a Invacom .3 LNBF (not the flange type) on any of these dishes? I have the 84E and the ellip. shaped ones. I am leaning toward using the 84E using the SG2100 HH Motor and I bought a Satpros DSR 500 receiver. Any ideas and inputs are appreciated!
 
Welcome :wave

You might be able to but you’d have to shave a little bit out of the bump in the middle where the LNB holder is.

The bump in the middle will take a 20mm LNB and most LNB’s if you take the casing off will fit in there just fine. But normal LNB’s are 40mm so it would sit higher than the normal focal “sweet spot”

I have taken the casing off of LNB’s before and they fit just fine in there. Some LNB’s won’t work. I havet taken apart an invacom so I can’t comment
 
Thanks Iceberg!
I failed to mention that I have a 1 meter that has a tripod arms that hold a L
NBF. It too is a Primestar dish. I got the ideas from the threads to adapt the dish to my SG2100 motor.
I will let you know if this would work with the Invacom LNBF.
Thanks again!
MrFTAMan
 
Hey Iceberg, I found that the Primestar I meter dish will hold the Invacom .3 LNBF (with the 40 mm throat)! It fit just right. I am working on the bracket that OLD JOHN have shared in this thread. I am hoping to have the dish up and running by the end of the weekend. I will let you know how if go...
MrFTAMan
 
jackscrew on primestar dish

dirtyshame said:
Pete:
I just completed the installation of an old Primestar dish on an SG2100 motor and it works great.

1. I removed the existing mount from the dish.
2. Then I cut off the flange on each side just an eighth inch or so past the bend so it would be more rigid.
3. I bolted the flanges on the top and bottom using the same mounting holes. Now they ran horizontal instead of vertical, and the curved edges faced each other and were turned in toward the dish.
4. I knew that it was important to mount the dish as "square" as possible to the motor arm so that it would track properly. I solved this problem by removing the wall mounting bracket from an old DirecTv installation. I centered it on the flanges and drilled holes through the flanges using the holes in the wall bracket as a guide.
5. The pivot hole in the wall bracket was only one-quarter inch but the holes in the upper part of the motor arm was five-sixteenths, so I drilled out the pivot holes to match. This was necessary to keep the dish from flopping over to one side when going to a far-west position.
6. I soon found out that I needed a jackscrew in order to make fine tuning adjustments to the dish elevation. I used a one-and-a-half inch pipe clamp (looks like a question mark without the dot underneath), fairly rigid, and marked the motor arm where it needed to be mounted. I used a three-eighths inch bolt as a jackscrew and ran it through the hole in the pipe clamp. I placed a jam nut on each side of the clamp.
7. I had to remove the dish and the motor arm and use a drill press to drill a five-sixteenths inch hole through both the pipe clamp and the motor arm. I then used a bolt about two inches long to mount the clamp.
8. That completed the retrofit and it worked great. The booklet that came with the motor has a chart on page seven that lists the declination angles and the resulting dish elevation for each degree of latitude. Mine was 28 degrees, but the wall bracket that I used had no scale on it. I used my angle finder on the front of the dish in that flat area right in the center. By subtracting 28 from ninety I knew when I had the approximate dish elevation when it was pointed due south.
9. Then it was just a matter of zeroing in the adjustments. I had a little trouble there too. My pole was a galvanized 2 inch pipe that had been painted over. When I loosened the U-bolts to the point that I could rotate the motor easily without jerking and overshooting, it tended to walk down the pole. I cut the coupling portion off a 2 inch PVC pipe, split it lengthwise, and placed the halves against the bottom of the motor. I used a hose clamp to secure them. I still could not loosen the motor as much as I wanted because it would start to tilt forward. So I had to snug it up. I placed a piece of tape on the pipe and made a pencil mark on the tape and another on the U-bolt cleat. Then I could see how much I had turned it. Soon, I located my true south satellite.
10. It tracks all satellites great.

Old John

Hi, I am MrFTAMan. I am constructing my dish (just like the one in your pictures) and have everything needed to start. Question 1: Does the jackscrew go straight to the DTV bracket being used and bolted to it? and Question 2: On the SG2100 arm, how far up from the bottom edge do I need to have the 1 1/2 inch pipe clamp
bolted?
On your picture of the jackscrew installation I couldn't tell too much on both of the areas I am mentioning.
And lastly, how is your setup holding up?
Thanks!
 
TO: MrFTAMan
I have not had any problems with the installation but I have had problems with my receiver. Many times it will just quit working when I change satellites. It moves to the new position but will not pick up the signal. I have to turn the power off on the back of the receiver, wait a few seconds then turn it back on. It starts working again. I don't know how moving the dish could cause this problem but it has happened so often that it must be related in some way.

To answer your other questions I'll have to look at the installation. I did that job 8 or 9 months ago and my memory is fuzzy on the details. It's dark outside now so I'll try to get the info tomorrow. I seem to remember that I mounted the jackscrew to the pipeclamp then slid the clamp up the motor arm to a point where it would push against metal when being adjusted. The farther you can locate it from the pivot point of the dish would give you the slowest movement and aid you in zeroing in. The jackscrew doesn't bolt to anything other than the pipe clamp and that is with a jam nut on each side. Once the elev. adjustment is complete, lock the nuts and tighten the pivot bolt to keep it from changing.

Looks like I did remember enough to answer your questions after all.

Hope your project works as good as mine. I'm flattered that you chose my method for there are others that sound good too. Just remember that zeroing in on a single satellite is fairly easy but making it track them all across the arc requires thet it does not slip when rotated. Good Luck!

Old John
 
DirtyShame,
Thanks for your honesty about the problems you're having. It sounds to me that it may be the Sg 2100 that's giving you the fits. Or it could not be getting the proper signal from the receiver. If I was you, I would get a 10' lenght of RG 6 cable, a small TV, and your FTA receiver and go to the dish and hook it up and see how it responds when you go to one satellite to another. Who know, it may just be a bad cable between your receiver in the house to the SG 2100.
I understand that the SG 2100 can handle up to a 1.2 meter dish. You and I are using a 1 meter Primestar dish. It shouldn't be too heavy for the SG 2100.
I am going to hold off untill I hear from you, if you try this idea.
MrFTAMan
 
Dirtyshame,
I have read that for Directv and Dishnetwork systems, the distance from the receivers to the dish should not go over 100'. If the distance is greater than 100' there would be signal loss. I don't know if your FTA system is set up that way. It could be that if your dish is over 100' the signal from your receiver software is gradually getting to your SG 2100.
I figure what is true about the Directv and Dishnetwork would be true with the FTA systems. If you or anyone out there know for sure please let me know!
In the mean time I am going to work on that mount that you came up with. It seems to be the best setup. I got the flanges cut off and filed down and got the necessary hardware.
 
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To: MrFTAMan
My dish was moving to the correct position and stop but the info note on the screen said that it was positioning. The software just hung up. Resetting the receiver would start it working again. Note that I am using the past tense. My receiver is a Pansat 3700S. Today I reset it to the factory settings, I was going to set it up from scratch. After I had done a "SMART SEARCH" of G10R it said no programs found. When I started backing out of the installation procedure it stepped along fine until I got to the language menu. From that point it would go forward but would not get to the operation area. I tried resetting the receiver several times but it always came back to the same thing---select language.

The manual that comes with it is virtually useless but I'll try to make sense of it again when I can find time. I doubt that Pansat would honor their warranty since they would not e-mail an answer to a question I had once. I'll probably just junk it and try a different brand.

My cable is only about 40 feet long and goes directly to the SG2100 and from there to the LNBF. My serious problems started when I deleted a slew of foreign language channels on IA-5 and as many scrambled channels as I ran across. I think there is some way of connecting the receiver to my computer and downloading new uncorrupted software. I just don't have time to study that angle right now.

But as far as the dish installation goes there is no problem. Good luck!

Old John
 
Old John, if you are using "USALS", did you remember to reset all the settings in the menu after your "Resetting the receiver" (assuming this was a factory reset), such as the "My Longitude" and "My Latitude" settings? Because if you did not, the motor won't position correctly. Just a thought.

Al
 
Ok, Old John, I will go ahead and start putting together the mount you created and I will let you know how it comes out. I hope you get your problems of the receiver straighten out. I got a Satpros DSR 500 receiver. Right now it is tied into my C span 4dtv system and it work OK that way.
 
To: AL

I wish I had heard from you earlier. Today I dug the manual out and did what you said and everything is working again. I had a heck of a time deciphering the manual, they must have thought the words were worth $100 each since they left out so many that would have cleared things up.

Since I did the factory reset I now have to sort thru the channels again and rename them to something that means something to me.

Thanks for the help! I found out that you must have at least one channel tuned and stored before you can get past the choose language screen when exiting. Oh, one other thing, my receiver is a 3500S instead of a 3700S.

MrFTAMan: All I had to do as far as the dish installation goes is push a button on the motor housing to make the mark line up with zero before going thru the procedure that AL described above.


Old John
 
dirtyshame said:
Oh, one other thing, my receiver is a 3500S instead of a 3700S.
Old John
Congratulations, I noticed that, I wasn't going to say anything. I have the 3500s also, that's how I knew there is no 3700s.

Al

Maybe in the future there will be a 3700s, or better yet a 3700HD.
 
That's great, dirtyshame!
I set my pole yesterday and today I buillt the mount you created for the 1 meter Primestar dish. The only thing different I am going to do is to create a piece of flat metal to be bolted to the bottom flange so I could bolt the jackscrew to it, so it wouldn't be resting against the dish (on fear it could punch a hold thru the dish on a very windy day).
I am going to put it on the pole this evening but wait until the weekend to start the headache of programming the receiver and the system. I am really looking forward of getiing it going.
This thread has been a great help to me, and I appreciate the help from Old John and Iceberge.
One question: I am using the Invacom universal .3 LNB for my system. On it there is a schew settings on the front end. I live in Northwest Mississippi (zip code 38759). The old Primestar dish LNBF had a feedhorn that had the settings on it just like the InvacomLNBF) but I don't remember what it was set on before I removed it a few months ago. Anybody know the schew setting?
 
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