Smallest Mini Bud?

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Blindowl1234

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Dec 16, 2008
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SouthWest Ohio
What is the smallest dish anyone has used for a mini bud? I know what most have tried 1.2 meter, and gotten reasonable results on some sats. Has anyone gone as small as a 36"? I've got a 36" Primestar laying around that I'm thinking of experimenting with. I'd love to show my brother what C band is all about but his yard is too small...barely had room for the motorized KU dish.
Would anything be halfway stable picture wise with something that small? Blind

Added more info: I saw a thread where Putney had done similar with what I call the egg shaped Primestar. If I could get the MUX on 99W or CW stuff on 91W somewhat stable I'd be happy.
 
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My 1.2 meter does not produce a bunch of usable channels unless you want to count all of the religious and the foreign stuff that I cannot understand.
I have never tried C band with anything smaller than a 1.2 meter dish, but I would imagine that most of what you would get with a 39 or 36 inch dish would be a few religious channels since they seem to be on the strongest transponders. IMO, it would be more trouble than it would be worth.

Try it and see. Post your results as I would like to see what can be done with a dish that size. Greg
 
I didn't have any problem at all getting the Fox muxes when they were open on G17 nor did I have any problem getting the Caribbean mux on G16 with a 1 meter and a conical scalar. Wasn't much else I could get, though.
 
If you want to research it first, here's my reading list on the subject.
Some of these threads are pretty long, so I recommend you skim them looking for pictures or tables of test results.
I particularly draw your attention to Linuxman's signal reports on his 1.0 meter dish:

Satcom1 on C-band with 84e dish
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-ai...9-primestar-84e-bsc621-2-lnbf-experiment.html

Linuxman on C-band with 1m round Primestar
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-ai...-one-meter-primestar-mini-bud-experiment.html
- satellite list for 1m dish
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-ai...mestar-mini-bud-experiment-7.html#post1509116

PopCornNmore's pix of CadData's LNB mounting brackets:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-ai...mestar-mini-bud-experiment-6.html#post1506216

Iceberg (and others) do 84e on C
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/130619-mini-bud.html

PopCornNmore does C on 1.2m ChannelMaster & C2, with brackets 'n pix!:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/181803-conical-scalar-ring-test-results.html

Iceberg and knowmiddlename signal reports on 1.2m dishes:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/188490-minibud-1-2m.html

Mikelib fights 90cm dish for C-band:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/175747-c-band-90cm-dish-worth-story-pics.html

I'm sure there are other valuable threads, but these are the ones I refer follks to, for further info.
Here's hoping you find something useful. - :up
 
76cm on C band

What is the smallest dish anyone has used for a mini bud? I know what most have tried 1.2 meter, and gotten reasonable results on some sats. Has anyone gone as small as a 36"? I've got a 36" Primestar laying around that I'm thinking of experimenting with. I'd love to show my brother what C band is all about but his yard is too small...barely had room for the motorized KU dish.
Would anything be halfway stable picture wise with something that small? Blind

Added more info: I saw a thread where Putney had done similar with what I call the egg shaped Primestar. If I could get the MUX on 99W or CW stuff on 91W somewhat stable I'd be happy.

I did receive 99w, 58w and 123w using a Walrus1957 Scalar,on a winegard 76cm offset. not reliable for regular viewing. 90 cm with Walrus Scalar works good for me. Never had any luck with the WSI conical scalar or c/ku lnbf.
 
I just did a 90cm fixed on 91W

I have not had a chance to write it up yet - - but I just did a 90cm GeoSat Pro fixed on 91W using walrus1957's conical rings.

I will go into detail this weekend - - - without the rings I get nothing at all but with them I get about 15 channels - - - - mainly EWTN and The Word Network. By no means do I get everything that is ITC but was amazed by how much the conical rings designed by walrus1957 help with signal on a 90cm dish or 1 meter.

I could NOT get the CW mux so I think you would need at least a 1.2 meter to get that (not sure tho).

The LNBF that I have is the DMX741 which does both C and Ku but so far I cannot get both C and Ku at the same time.

This is the first time I've done any C band so it took me a while to get the dish zero'ed in on 91W - - - - but I'm very happy with the results and I now have my wife's permission for a free BUD I found last weekend.
 
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Maybe I'll hold off on this idea for now. Wish my brother had a bigger yard for a BUD. He sits on a corner lot with houses way to close on all sides. Luckily he has a clear view of the southern sky...better than I've got. Not a tree anywhere around him. Blind
 
Anyone ever put a C band LNB on a Dish Network Superdish? Since Nasa isn't free any more... if so lets see it in a photo. :)

What is the smallest c-band dish available? Any under 6 feet? I just need one that will hit the satellite with Nasa (I don't recall which one it is at this moment in time) :eek:
 
smallest C-Band dish now for sale is 6 foot
There are some 5 footers around still...they are usually old "G5" fixed system dishes

Both will work fine for NASA on 87W. My 6 footer gets Nasa, TVU, ThisTV and @sports just fine in MN :)
 
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