Sadoun SD180G Review

[Tron]

First, a brief overview of the "PortaBUD" Project.

"PortaBUD" was inspired by similar projects undertaken by Iceberg, Guapoharry, Phlatwound, Corrado, and others. These members used six foot segmented dishes to receive some or all of their C-Band programming, and found ingenious methods of installing the dishes in a "quick and dirty" fashion (no deep holes, concrete, etc.). The need for such a quick and easy install arose late this summer, when I realized that I wouldn't have time to clear a portion of my backyard and erect my 7.5 foot Perfect 10 mesh dish before the upcoming STS-129 Space Shuttle mission. Since NASA only uplinks on C-Band, and I wanted to receive the occasional HD feed and other NASA channels instead of the overly compressed mush on 119w, a BUD was imperative.

I've been actively involved in the TVRO hobby for nearly 5 years, but up until now have only received Ku-Band. The recent loss of many Ku-Band "anchor channels" and the upcoming retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet compelled me to get my feet wet with C-Band. PortaBUD will be the first of at least 3 C-Band dishes I plan to erect (the 7.5 foot Perfect 10 will be the second). The following thread will document the construction, installation, and performance of Sadoun Satellite Sales' newest addition, their 6 foot SD180G ground mount stand segmented dish.

 

[Tron]

Part 1 - Arrival and Unpackaging.

The anticipated arrival of the package containing the SD180G occurred on Friday, October 23rd. As you can see from the first picture, the dish comes in an angled box which is small and light enough to be shipped by conventional means (UPS instead of freight). Shipping cost varies, but is lower than one might expect due to the compact nature of the package. The cardboard is heavy enough to protect the dish from harm, and is strapped for additional security.

Upon opening the box, one is greeted by the stack of panels, six in all, that will form the reflector of the dish (pic #2). Under the stack of panels is the strut hardware for the ground stand (pics #3 and #4). Finally, under the styrofoam are the two rings that anchor the stand to the ground (or, in my case, the pallet) and the dish (pic #5). The bottom ring that attaches to the pallet is the larger of the two. I opened the hardware bag containing all of the nuts, bolts, and clamps, and sorted them all out in like groups (pics #6 and #7). The hardware bag contains a pre-formed wrench with both nut sizes, but an additional adjustable wrench or socket set will also be needed for construction.

 

[Tron]

Part 2 - Construction of the Ground Mount.

I began construction of PortaBUD by choosing a hard, level working surface. In my case, this was the back patio, which is basically a concrete slab attached to the back of the house. I cut open the box used to package the SD180G, and opened it like a book. This provided a mat-like insulation, which prevented possible scratching of the parts by the patio concrete.

PortaBUD's operational location is a pallet base built in the backyard a few feet away from the patio. Since my existing dish farm is on the patio shed roof, this location does not require an extremely long cable run. The pallet base I built for PortaBUD was inspired by similar ones built by Corrado, Phlatwound, and Guapoharry. It consists of six 2" x 8" x 16" solid cement blocks on the ground, six 8" x 8" x 16" hollow building blocks on top of them, a 48" x 40" wooden pallet (treated with Thompson's Water Seal), and eight 4" x 8" x 16" solid cement blocks to anchor down the entire thing. The nearby pallet base was already completed before the dish arrived, so I was anxious to assemble the ground mount and get those parts out of my way.

The first step was to attach the various struts that comprise the dish stand to the bottom ring (pic #1). This is more or less straight forward, and is easy to do by following the included diagram. Next, I lifted the struts so that they could mate with the top ring, and bolted them into place. This had to be done in a particular order so that they would all clear each other properly when lifted. Once assembled, the parts form a firm stand (pics #2 and #3). The elevation of the dish is set by a knob screw (pic #4), which locks an inner shaft inside the back strut in place. The two front struts also allow the top ring to pivot up and down during elevation adjustment (pic #5). The front struts are fixed; They don't move, unlike the back strut (pic #6).

Once the stand was finished, I carried it out to the pallet base to make room so that reflector assembly could get started.

 

[Tron]

Part 3 - Construction and Mounting of the Reflector.

It was now time to put those six reflector panels together, and I needed a larger cardboard mat. I cut open another large box, and spread it out next to the SD180G box. The two opened cardboard boxes gave me enough room to assemble the dish without fear of scratching. My plan, which worked well, was to assemble the panels in twos; When I had three pairs of assembled panels, I would bolt the pairs together.

I started with the one panel that is different from the rest. It is the first panel in the stack, and has the Sadoun logo stamped on it (pic #1). Physically, it is no different from the other panels, but it will form the top of the dish. I turned it upside down, and bolted it to the next panel in the stack (pics #2 and #3). When bolting these panels together, it is important to make sure they align flush with one another so that the dish forms a perfect parabola (pics #4 and #5). Also, do not bolt the second hole from the center just yet. This will be where the ground stand clamps mount, and they will be attached last. My first pair was complete (pic #6).

I assembled the remaining four panels in pairs, then began bolting the pairs together (pic #7). Finally, all six segments were bolted together to form a dome-shaped upside-down reflector (pic #8). Now it was time to bolt the six ground stand clamps, one for each segment joint, onto the second hole from the center on each joint (pic #9). The reflector was now complete.

Other than mounting the LNB, scalar, and feed supports (the last step), all that was left to be done was to move the reflector from the patio out to the ground stand and pallet base. The reflector is rather large and heavy to handle alone. I was going to wait for help, but with a bad weather forecast for Monday night and beyond, I decided to attempt mounting the reflector on the ground stand by myself. Fortunately, I was able to do this without incident, although it would have been a much easier job for two people. I bolted the ground stand clamps to the top ring of the ground stand and left the dish pointed at 90 degrees (pic #10). The hole in the middle will allow the dish to drain. Assembly pauses here until the weather improves...

 

[wrdavis]

Great pictures and text Tron

Couple questions.

Did the damage to the Styrofoam happen opening the package or from shipping?

The clamps that hold the ring onto the dish look like they would be better if they were reversed so the screw clamp was centered more over the rib?

My dish is due to arrive this evening. Unfortunately a cold front and predicted high winds will likely delay assembling until the weather clears Thursday or Friday. I'll add photos of the polar assembly and actuator arm then.

 

[Corrado]

Good work, Tron :up

I wasn't satisfied with the 8mm bolts supplied for the mounting pedestal legs. They were barely long enough. I ended up using different bolts with washers. I also added washers to the 6mm bolts on the petal segments. But, I over engineer everything to my standards.

I didn't use the 3 lower ring clamps supplied, the clamps appear insufficient for the wind load at my location.

To help focus the scalar once installed, I found a pipe in the garage that was a perfect fit and slid it down through to the center plate to tweak the ring in position.

We await further development and photos.

 

[Corrado]

Did the damage to the Styrofoam happen opening the package or from shipping?

When my package arrived a couple of years ago, it was a wreck. The arms were even hanging through. Had I been home at the time of delivery I would have wanted to inspect it before the carrier left. Thankfully, everything inside was perfect and nothing missing.

 

[wrdavis]

Sadoun requires a signature for the dish package now.

I'm tracking the packages and it is mentioned on the UPS website. A UPS female robot even called yesterday to say someone had to be home to sign or it would delay delivery. For the price of shipping a dish, really a good idea.

 

[Tron]

Great pictures and text Tron

Couple questions.

Did the damage to the Styrofoam happen opening the package or from shipping?

The clamps that hold the ring onto the dish look like they would be better if they were reversed so the screw clamp was centered more over the rib?

The styrofoam was damaged during shipment, however, nothing was loose or damaged because of that crack. Opening the box probably made the crack a little worse than it was originally.

I think you may have a good point about the ring clamps. I'll reverse them when I repaint the ring and see if they seem to be more solid in that configuration.

Good work, Tron :up

I wasn't satisfied with the 8mm bolts supplied for the mounting pedestal legs. They were barely long enough. I ended up using different bolts with washers. I also added washers to the 6mm bolts on the petal segments. But, I over engineer everything to my standards.

I, too, thought washers might be a good idea. The panels seem very secure with the original hardware, though. I think I'll leave it as is now, since adding washers at this point would require an enormous undertaking ...

 

[wrdavis]

Tron

Have you calculated the f/D ratio for the dish? I thought it might be somewhere on the parts diagram, but isn't. If not, I'll do it later when I assemble the dish.

Here's a jpg of the parts diagram for the polar mount version.

 

[Tron]

I have not, but I'm guessing by the shape of the dish that it is very close to, if not the same FD as the 6-foot Fortec.

 

[signal.quest]

What are the dimensions of your J Mount? Where can I buy one of the same size? Thanks.

 

[TRG]

Tron

Have you calculated the f/D ratio for the dish? I thought it might be somewhere on the parts diagram, but isn't.

My paper for the Fortec FC06-180CM (which looks identical) says 584mm or 26.93in. The paper is in the manual section.

 

[wrdavis]

Its the mount from a Direcway DW6000 system. Around 30" tall and 2 3/8" OD. I see people on ebay selling them, but they are heavy and shipping is high to match. Direcway had a way of constantly "improving" things from what I've seen. That's why I mention the older DW6000 model. Newer ones may be totally different in length or adjustable struts. BTW Direcway is Hughesnet for doing an ebay search.

Starband has a similar mount and in some ways even better. The early one's struts were basically giant enclosed turnbuckles. Meant you could bolt down both ends and simply twist the center section to lengthen or shorten it. But they also "improved" on the design dropping the turnbuckle center section and replacing it with a screw in or out foot section. But to use that meant you have to disconnect one attachment to the roof or wall or what ever it was attached to. Adjust it in or out re-attach and see if was plumb yet.

I'm at 38 degrees latitude and the angle the dish will is near 45 degrees. So I figured the height the mast was around 26" . Further north the required mast height would approach 36" at the poles.

Here's a link to my post trying the mast with a mock up dish.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/c-band-...-motor-control-2-1m-dishes-1-1-2m-dish-2.html

 

[Tron]

The 1.2 meter Channel Masters (most of them, anyway) used a 3" OD mounting pole, so if you could find a non-penetrating mount from one of those dishes, it might work better. I dabbled with that idea for this dish, then time constraints made me abandon the search for a suitable NPRM and just use the ground mount on a pallet.

 

[guapoharry]

Wow. Good stuff from all of the posters.

Nevertheless, Would it be mean or rude to say that with three different installations going on in this thread, it is really confusing?

Maybe I'm stupid, but I just now noticed that wrdavis' posts have nothing to do with Tron's review.... (after reading the thread earlier last week.)

 

[nycrich]

I believe that Tron and myself are posting pics/install FYI on a Sadoun Fortec 6 ft Polar Mount. Tron has the newest version, and I have the older version from Sadoun that I purchased 2 months ago. I am posting some of my install pics here because most of it is the same( the only difference I notice was the fixed plate where the actuator would go & Sadoun has a stamped logo). I did not put an actuator on my dish yet while I find the best spot (I can see from 15W to 138W). Most members have either of these dishes and almost 95% is the same install. I thought it might be best to post both pics of the dishes and it might be a sticky since most people ask/own/have questions on them. However credit goes to Tron for posting detailed pics.

 

[Mr Tony]

I broke off wrdavis's posts to a new thread that is here
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/192603-sadoun-1-8m-polar-mount-assembly.html

since his is the polar mount whereas these two are the fixed dishes

 

[TRG]

Since NASA only uplinks on C-Band, and I wanted to receive the occasional HD feed and other NASA channels instead of the overly compressed mush on 119w, a BUD was imperative.

What kind of signal are you getting and are you aiming at 72W or 137W?

Finally, after a year of procrastinating, I assembled my 6 footer (Fortec) for the networks on 99W. I get an 88 Q reading on a Mercury II. I'm going to try some other sats but there might be some spots where trees will be in the way. BTW this is my first BUD. It only took me about 20 minutes to peak the alignment on 99W using my trusty Birdog.

 

[Sadoun]

I broke off wrdavis's posts to a new thread that is here
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/192603-sadoun-1-8m-polar-mount-assembly.html

since his is the polar mount whereas these two are the fixed dishes

Iceberg,

The Fortec 180cm dishes are different than the Sadoun new 180cm (6ft) dishes (i.e. the SD180G: Ground Mount Style, and SD180PM: Polar Mount Style. )

If you want to keep this as SD180G "only" review, I would recommend you move the Fortec posts to anew thread.