Recent Acquisition. Spring Project?

[upnatm]

Hi Folks!

Last fall, I salvaged a decent 7.5' (2.3m) mesh dish with a Von Weise actuator, mounts and posts. And I'm hoping to add C-Band FTA to my TV this spring after the thaw.

Providing the actuator will function, I should have no troubles setting up the dish, and running cables and wires. I've had great results so far, with several KU band dishes & motors.

A friend gave me 2 LNBFs, and 3 VCII receivers (GI2600R, GI2650R, and 1 Zenith), as well as a GI2000PS power supply for the actuator. I know that VCII is kaput, but the boxes can still be used to move the dish.

My blind spot is with the C-Band components. I have no experience at bench testing any of this stuff, and know nothing about using the receivers to move the dish.

Can anyone tell me what kind of luck I will have with these parts? Can you link me to a "schematic" showing a common set-up configuration? I'm hoping to make-do with what I've got, or should I look around for something newer and better?

I am planning on buying a "V-Box" dish-mover to use with my FTA box, but I need to see what other expenses I must endure beforehand, as my budget is quite tight at the moment. I'm also saving up for a decent HD PVR for FTA.

I'm currently enjoying a motorized 3' dish with an Invacom QPH-031, hooked up to a CoolSat 7000, seeing around 25 KU birds from the eastern shores of Lake Superior. C-Band has been elusive to me, but is now within my grasp!

One other question: Will my Invacom QPH-031 work properly, mounted beside the C-Band LNBF, on the 7.5' prime focus dish? Have all my goodies on one basket? lol


I hope these pics are adequate.

Thanks for your time, any help is appreciated.


.

 

[Anole]

I'm heading out the door right now, so don't have time to comment on each question or photo, but let me drop this site on ya:
Footprints by Dish Size - Adjusting the Polar Mount for Prime Focus Antenna - C/Ku-Band Satellite Systems - Tuning, Tracking, Azimuth, Elevation, Declination Angles, F/D Ratio, Focal Distance, Inclinometer, LNB/Feedhorn Assembly, Actuator Assembly, C
That set of three or four web pages should acquaint you with all the bits you have, and give ya the basic knowledge to hook it up.
Of course, we'll help with all the details.
Looks like a nice find - congratulations! - :up

 

[upnatm]

Thanks for the link Anole!

A brief look at the site tells me that I have some very interesting reading coming up before spring!

Plenty of time to find a good heavy wooden pallet, and make a temporary base for the mount & actuator, and start testing!

Thanks again, I'll be back when I get confused!

 

[Anole]

I'm not familiar with that dual-polarity LNB+feedhorn, lower left in your first picture.
But, it's sure where I would focus my attention first.
I see down the throat of it in your fourth picture, right hand feedhorn.

That should give you both polarities for C-band.
If it doesn't work out, the C2 from Sadoun/SatelliteAV or WSI/Atlanta's dual C-band LNBF would be a good choice. (IMO)

If you want to run the motor and not be bound to an old Analog receiver, the Gbox from Sadoun was my first choice.

Your QPH-031 will only see the middle of your dish, not all the way out to the edges.
So, it may perform better on the current dish, than relocated to the BUD.
There are other Ku-only LNBF's you could use, but that's a whole 'nother discussion.

 

[Crocodile Locke]

Since you mentioned a temporary pallet I thought I'd post some pics the setup I used for a little bit last fall. It worked well for my Winegard, even with some pretty strong winds.
Good luck with your setup.

 

[phpinfo]

I used a VBox for moving a big dish. It worked great for a month and then died.

If you get a Vbox, you need to use it in short bursts. Maybe wait a few minutes before changing or adding a sat.

Otherwise it sounds like the Gbox may be the positioner to use.

 

[Tron]

Since you mentioned a temporary pallet I thought I'd post some pics the setup I used for a little bit last fall. It worked well for my Winegard, even with some pretty strong winds.
Good luck with your setup.

Nice pallet mount! How did you attach the pole to the pallet? I see what looks like a horizontal brace...

 

[Crocodile Locke]

Nice pallet mount! How did you attach the pole to the pallet? I see what looks like a horizontal brace...

The pole has the braces you mentioned welded to it in an X configuration. I just used a few long stainless steel hose clamps to secure the braces to the pallet itself and I added wooden shims between the braces and pallet when necessary until I had the pole sufficiently plumb. For the blocks I used a ratchet strap to hold the top level of them together so they would hopefully squeeze the pole a little so it would be more stabilized. Pretty low-tech, but it worked well for a temporary setup. I was getting 95% quality on 99W with that setup using my beat-up ol' Winegard so I wasn't complaining.

 

[upnatm]

So far, so good!

Hi again Folks.

We've been getting some awesome spring weather here, nice and early for our region, so I had to get "Upnatm" on my C-Band project.

Firstly, I went to the scrapyard for a 3" pipe, some old bed frames and shelving parts.
Spent a day fabricating the test stand, and the next day I had the dish up, and pulling in a signal by nightfall!

The receiver I am using here is a Pansat 2700A, I found the sat-list to be quite confusing and out of date, but I did manage to find AMC-1 at 103W.
Luckily, I was getting enough of a signal for the blind-scan to pick up a few FTA channels, I was then able to tweak the LNBF enough to get the Q up to around 40%, even when looking thru the top of the tree you see in the 2nd pic (directly behind the actuator).
I will soon move the rig to a better spot for further testing, as I was anxious to get quick results!

@Anole, I went with the LNBF that you spotted in my first post, the 4th pic here is of the name-tag on it. The 8th pic shows how much of it comes thru the scalar ring. Any opinions? Shouldn't it be less? If necessary, I will adjust it.

Heh-Heh, 5th, 6th and 7th pics show how I avoided using the old GI receiver to move the dish! Just touch the bare wires, and away it goes! It'll do until I find a G-Box for the permanent installation, I am still scouting out a spot for it on the "farm", gotta keep the wify happy too, eh?

I am quite pleased so far, all I've spent was $25 at the scrapyard, and was drinkin' beers and watching NBC on C-Band TV with the wife!

?? Any opinions on the K-Box K2HD ?? A review has not been posted here yet, but I've read a bunch of good things about it on the web.
It has pretty much everything I'm looking for, in an upgrade from my tired ol' CS7000.

Last pic is of the "gradge" roof, a month or so ago. I kept the ladder there all winter, just in case. The dish is a generic 90cm offset sporting the Invacom QPH-031, mounted on a Stab HH90. 100' of RG-6 reaches right into the living room.
If you look close, there's also an FM ant. bolted to my C-B mast at the north end of the roof.
We quit smoking in the house, so the wood-stove was hot all winter, and I think we've worn out the hinges on the beer-fridge door!

Thanks for all the help so far, I'll follow-up with more later on.

Lost Pics in Next Post

 

[upnatm]

Lost Pics

Here's the pics that I intended to attach to my previous post.
Please refer to them, as they are also in the correct order.

I don't know they got lost, I'm tired and hungry. lol

--Kev--

 

[classicsat]

I think you got it.

The Star Trak LNBF is probably a 13/18V polarity switching type.

The actuator motor terminals are simple. You don't need the +5V, just ground and pulse. You should have a sheild/drain wire with the bundle.

You can likely use the PS2000 with a Vbox or Gbox to extend its power capabilities, or to releive it of driving the motor directly. It appears you found that the IRD link plug has two pins, which when each is grounded, pulls the dish each way.