Smallest Possible Ku Dish

[ckudrna]

Hi,

I am wishing to get into the world of FTA, as I find many of the channels available and programming very intersting. I travel internationaly very frequently and have come to known some of these channels well, like Dubai Sports and such.

The issue is I live in a apartment with a perfectly clear view of the southern sky, but i have another Directv dish already installed off of the end of the balcony.

I do not want to piss off the management of my apartment complex, so i would like the smallest possible dish with a motor mount possible.

As I said, i have a perfectly clear view off the sout east, south, and south west sky off of the second floor of my balcony.

What size dish would we be talking in order to get a good choice of channels from various sats that i am able to see.

I am located in Tempe, Arizona. we have clear weather 340 days out of the year, so rain reception, etc is not an issue. I get 99% on most Sats for the Directv at any given time.

What are the programming differnces betwen C band sats and KU band? A 10 foot dish is certainly out of the question for now.............

Any help or advice getting into this hobby would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Mike Greiner]

It depends on the satellite and your physical location, but I think the smallest Dish that will work is a .75 Meter.

Depending on which satellite you want to pick up, you might be able to rig something up and get away with a single Dish with maybe 2-3 LNB's

Claude Greiner

 

[ckudrna]

Hi,

What are the various LNBs that are required for most FTA programming?

It is my understanding that these sats are geostationairy and are located over the equator? I get very good signal on my Directv sats, so I would think i would also get very good signal from anything else within reason.

Can someone give me a quick explainer of the need for multiple LNBs? Are they for different sat frequencies? Sorry for the lack of knowledge.

I would be aiming to pick up some major sats like IA5 Telstar, AMC3/4, PAS9?

Thank you very much Mike!

 

[PSB]

OK you can forget C band : ) A 30" dish is as low as you want to go, and depending on how many TV,s you have hooked to your DirecTV system potentially one motorized dish would work for everything, (if you have multiple locations with DirecTV it will not work) you could have a Ku band LNBF and a DBS LNB on the same dish and point at any satellite in the Clarke belt, sounds like you have a great line of sight and some nice weather.

 

[ckudrna]

Hi Peter-

Thanks for the response, i appreciate it.

I currently have the three LNB for directv, i have a HDTV and i use the three for that on the 18x20 inch dish. I would use an additional dish for any other satellite ventures i have.

So a 30 inch dish would work? I have two televisions, but i am not totally concerned with not having the FTA in the bedroom, maybe just in the living room.

So I would be looking at a single Ku band LNB on a 30 inch dish and a motor control on it? Are the motor controls integrated in some reciever boxes or are they seperate units?

Thanks

 

[PSB]

Most receivers are DiSEqC 1.2 compatible meaning they move the motor automatically, one cable from the receiver to the motor then on to the Ku band LNBF. Then everything is done using the remote control, I still get a kick every time I see my dish move! They are not as easy to install as a regular dish or DirecTV installation but many people manage to get them installed, some quicker than others. The problem with most apartment installs is line of sight, but if you set it up on the outside of your balcony you should have no problems, a 30" dish will work fine as you are a lot closer south than me, there will always be break ups on some channels in bad weather and some channels are very weak, its a hobby and not a TV service, but is fast starting to get that way, much the same as FTA satellite is in the UK and Europe as a whole.

 

[ckudrna]

Hi Peter-

Thanks for the info on the receivers. I think i would plan on mounting it on the outside of the balcony to get a totally unobstructed view. My DirecTV dish is this way and it works well, took me a while to align that one as the receiver AZ eli tilt readings were way off, and the numbers DirecTV gave me were even farther off.

It is a very fascinating hobby, pointing a chunk of metal into space and getting TV signal from the other side of the globe, quite cool.

So I gather the first real step is to get the mast mounted perfectly level, and then go on and find the "true south" satellite? Motor assemblies are connected between the mast and the dish correct? I would think I would be able to get some decent results with my great line of sight and cloudless weather down here (and the fact i am so far south).

Is their any good step by step info guides i Can pick up from the bookstore or read about online?

How often do yo uhave to "realign" your dish to ensure it is positioned correctly? I wish i lived off in some rural area and i could cover an acre with dishes in various positions and not have to worry about being evicted.........!!

Thanks a lot for your help.

 

[PSB]

If you give me your zip code I can give you all the angles you need to point a motorized system, but your right best to read up as much as you can first, there are quite a few great web sites to get started. I have never had to realign my system but if you ever had to its really easy, you get the mast as plumb as you possibly can, set the angle on your motor, peak your signal in on your true south satellite and you are done, its that easy, it took me two or three times to get the hang of it but I can set them up in minutes now, if all your angles are right you are bang on the arc in the sky every time, half the fun is the set up!



http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Installation/HH-mount-installation.htm

 

[ckudrna]

Hi Peter,

My zip code is 85281

Thanks a lot for the link, i will certainly read up as much as possible.

Do you manually have to put in the coordinates of each SAT so the box knows where to shift the sat to?

Thanks again for all your help, you have been a great help

 

[PSB]

Depending on the receiver, some have the USAL function when you find and punch in your true south satellite the USALS finds the rest of the satellites, some fine tuning left or right may be needed but its very accurate, I used to be in mechanical engineering and the process is very much like a machine tool, but with the regular DiSEqC1.2 receivers you find your true south bird then motor round to the next satellite store the info then move on to the next, when the satellites are stored , just changing the channels makes the dish move, I will give you the angles in a moment...

 

[PSB]

If I could find your Latitude and longitude that is, whats your closest major city?

 

[PSB]

Phoenix, close to Cooperstown?

 

[ckudrna]

Hi,

I am in Tempe, Phoenix airport is west of me a couple miles. Scottsdale is north of me

 

[PSB]

True south satellite would be Anik E2 at 111.1 W
Total elevation =51.6 deg.
Angle to set on motor=57 deg.
Declination=5.377 deg.
Distance to satellite=37000km
Magnetic deviation= -12 deg
So you would aim at 168 deg on a compass.

 

[ckudrna]

So it would be aimed roughly SSE (168 on compass), or slightly off to the left of my balcony?

I am going to read up and try to find as much info on this hobby as I can this evening. Quite cool stuff.

How many various satellites do all the members here get programming off of? Are their a couple major ones and a ton of smaller sats with far less programming?

Thanks alot Peter, you have given me great information.

 

[PSB]

The most popular satellites are T5 (IA5) T6(IA6) and G10 but everyone has their favorite, I like T6 as its my true south satellite and its full of news feeds.

 

[Mr Tony]

Pete is real good at what he does

 

[ckudrna]

Peter has been a great help getting me educated to a gradeschool level in this stuff!!

I am reading more and more online about FTA. Sadly, i have not been able to find a book talking about FTA or anything like that on Amazon/Borders. Anyone know of any good books to teach me a little more?

In the near future I think that deal on this forum for $369 with dish, motor, Pansat, kitchen sink might be in the cards. When i return to my apartment in Arizona i am going to look into the best way to mount the dish and map out the compass headings with magnitic deviation to the various sats and see what my mounting options are. I would think the apartment complex would be less than thrilled to have another dish hanging off the outside of my balcony.!!

 

[PSB]

Check your PM's for more reading material!

 

[ckudrna]

Hey thanks a lot, great stuff.

Ok, lets talk equipment now.

I am thinking a 30 inch dish would be great to start with. I would want the blind search reciever and a motor mount to get that guy moving out there.

I am a college student, so price is always an issue. Where can I find the best price for stuff like this? Ebay? The sticky deal?

Would a universal LNB be the best?

I am mainly intersted in picking up news feeds and foreign stations. I see all the frequencies for all the various channels on the sats, will a universal LNB cover all of the Ku band stations i want to see?

I would like to try to mount this guy as close to the top of the concrete railing thing (the railing on my balcony is like a a small concrete wall with a terra cota cut out thing on the bottom and stuco covered concrete on the top) that i can in order to keep it a little less exposed to keep the management happy, while still getting a great deal of sat signals.

What kind of range from the south sat to either side could be expected, like 30 degrees in each direction? So like 80 degrees to 140 degrees would be in my "range" of sats? I am not sure quite how the positioning works.............

When a sat says it is "111.1W", what is that based on? Would i am the 111.1 degrees plus magnitic deviation to aquire that sat?

Thanks!