Resurrecting another C-band dish

[brex2001]

My friend ivanyakinoff hasn't used his S-10E Orbitron in many years. The cover was filled with wasp nests & the feedhorn was corroded inside. His analog receiver had long since been donated to the dump.
Now that he's retired & of limited mobility I'm giving him some help. I've set him up with an Openbox S9, Vbox X, good used flat cable, 3x4 multiswitch & a new dual LNBF. Later we'll add a Ku dish & motor, 4x4 multiswitch.

The buttonhook would not center properly no matter how much it was tweaked. The clamp for the feedhorn was garbage too. Time for something better.....

Replaced the lnbs with a DMX-242 LNBF. Replaced the buttonhook with quad legs of 1/2" emt conduit, 58.5" overall length to get the correct FL. For those of you that want to duplicate the legs for a S-10E, crimp one end 1" back & drill 1/4" hole 1/2" from that end & bend to 45*. Crimp the other end 1 3/4" back with 1/4" hole 3/8" from the end & bend to 10* opposite to the other end. Crimp the ends of the conduit in a bench vise as parallel as possible. The S-10E has 12 ribs making it easy to 90* spacing. Choose 4 ribs & drill a 1/4" hole from the receiving side 3 1/2" from the outer edge. Secure the outer ends of the legs with 2" long bolts. The holes in the ribs could be moved inward another 1/2" allowing you to add long stove bolts to the scalar for adjustment (ala Mike Kohl's idea).

The pole was loosely attached to the eaves & very poorly at that. I added a 5ft piece of 2" angle iron anchored to the wall studs & 2 turnbuckles. The angle is secured to the pole with a 1/2" u-bolt. It didn't take much to plumb the pole this way.

I was only able to track from 83*W to 137*W but now that I have a SatHero SH-200 meter I'll try fine tuning the arc again.

 

[Lone Cloud]

Very cool that you are doing that for your friend. I am on C-band the vast majority of the time and I am sure your friend will enjoy it, even assuming he goes true fta and doesn't sub.

Even if you were stuck with 83w to 137w, there is plenty on there. if you went with like a 741 C/Ku lnbf you might be able to grab some of the linear Ku stuff, like Hist., Tuff and PBS.

But nice of you to do that and I salute you for it.

 

[toucan-man]

I set up an elderly woman with 97W this week via a spare Primestar I had. But she has an old BUD in her yard, now you're giving me ideas for next year's upgrade.

Thanks for posting !!!

 

[Dishman Dan]

Great project! Nice save! :up

It is hard for me to find enough time to work on just my own stuff!
I am still hoping to get a C band dish set up before winter for my retired father in law.
I know it is November but we even have a tornado watch tonight so anything is possible!
This is a great inspiration to me - Thanks!

 

[brex2001]

More Orbitron fun

Thanks guys! He's been enjoying the fta c-band alright. His vision is poor so he makes the excuse " you expect me to read all that" but I give him gaff - no spoon feeding. Ha ha. He's learning.

I had pics detailing the leg construction but just can't seem to find them.
I did much the same quad leg convert to my SX-10 Orbitron but they have 18 ribs.
Both S-10E & SX-10 dishes have the f/L ratio & FL: 0.30, 35.75". At least 35.75" as starting point.
This same dish got blown over last January with the edge hitting the concrete - popped 2 panels out.
I had spent quite some time having had to remove one of the perimeter edge pieces, rolling out the bent panels & reassembling the dish. Pulling those ends together by yourself to line up the bolts in the joining plates is like stringing a archery bow - it gets more difficult at the last.
So this time I took a short-cut: hot glue gun to stitch the panels to the ribs. It's not my favorite dish. Ribs & glue.

Forgot that 18 ribs doesn't divide evenly. OOPS.
For the SX-10 with its 18 ribs I drilled holes through the outer edge 5.25" before first rib center, count 5 ribs, 5.25" after that rib another hole, count 4 ribs, another hole 5.25" before the next rib, count 5 ribs, 4th hole 5.25" after that rib. So the rib count goes 5-4-5-4 around the edge.

Now for the shop math: 360*/18=20*. [120"(diameter)x3.1416]/4=376.992/4=94.25". 94.25" per 90* segments of a circle.
360.992"/18=20.944. [4x20.944]+[2x5.25]+ 94.276". Close enough!

I made 2 sets of 4 legs at the same while I was at it.
For a SX-10 the legs need to be longer - I made some plates of 1"x1/8" galvanized flat stock to extend the legs about 1.5" longer. I may make another set of legs - conduit is inexpensive.
I wanted to get this dish tweaked well enough to try out an LNBF, a dual ortho feedhorn & a servo c-band only on the Pansat 9500HDX.

 

[Keystone7]

Brex2001,

You are doing a pretty nice job there. You keep that up and I might have to fly you to Indiana to set me up for C-band. Keep up the great job!

 

[DK_Sat]

I got a 8' foot Orbitron dish from Skyvision about 23 years a go i no longer have the dish, it suck on KU satellites good on C-Band

 

[Lone Cloud]

I thought most guys leave the buttonhook mount in and center the scalar with thin cables.

OK well it's done and I'm glad it worked. If I were going to use half inch conduits, I guess I would leave the buttonhook rod in until I had all three or four conduits bolted in

 

[brex2001]

I thought most guys leave the buttonhook mount in and center the scalar with thin cables.

OK well it's done and I'm glad it worked. If I were going to use half inch conduits, I guess I would leave the buttonhook rod in until I had all three or four conduits bolted in

The buttonhook for my SX-10 centered OK - just OK. I tuned the FL for best Q to get the approx. desired depth first then measured from the scalar edge to the edge of the dish to determine the needed leg lengths, allowing for some adjustment.

I have 2 other dishes that could use improvement this way - a 10ft Winegard Pinnacle with a sagging buttonhook that was already guy wired, & the 12ft Paralipse. The Paraclipse will have to wait until I reassemble it up in Oregon. The Pinnacle would be easier to assemble here - fewer parts.

 

[brex2001]

Even if you were stuck with 83w to 137w, there is plenty on there. if you went with like a 741 C/Ku lnbf you might be able to grab some of the linear Ku stuff, like Hist., Tuff and PBS.

He has a dvbs stb also he wants to hook up to his dishes - a Viewsat something or other. Therefore a 4x4 multiswitch & dual output lnbfs for C & Ku.
The roofers kinda beat up the panels in his Orbitron so I don't think the 741 C/Ku would work well at all.
He was telling me yesterday he's becoming a rugby/football fan. Heck, we get him set up with Ku fta he may become a hockey fan too.