Has anyone ever mounted a SWM LNB on a Primestar dish? Was wondering if I will see much gain. And yes I have a mount that is skewable so that I can angle it to hit all 3 birds (99, 101 & 103).
SWM on a Primestar dish
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I have a feeling the focal length would be wrong and the LNB spacing on the SWM LNB may not be right.
Agree with Iceberg. The Focal Distance Ratio (FD) and the Focal Length (FL) for the Primestar (Channel Master) dish are different than the FD and FL the SWM multi-satellite LNBF was designed for. This means that the signals for multiple satellites will not focus (converge) to the same multiple feedhorn positions of the SWM multi-satellite LNBF.
While it is possible for one of the LNBFs to receive one satellite, the additional offset LNBFs will not be in correct positions to receive the reflected signals for the other satellites.
While it is possible for one of the LNBFs to receive one satellite, the additional offset LNBFs will not be in correct positions to receive the reflected signals for the other satellites.
The focal length I'm not worried about. It's the spacing on the LNB that I worry about. With there being 3 in one enclosure and the throat being so different is what may be an issue. Should be about to find out soon. I've finished all the cutting and trimming of the arm. Just need to assemble it (need some screws I don't have) and put it on the mount. It will be an independent ground mounted system. I have a separate LNB so it will be just a matter of switching the cable from the Directv dish on the roof to the Primstar ground one. Satafan I'm lucky in the area I live. The skew is only 1.4º for my area so dithering of the dish should be very small. This is one of the dish's has a skewable mount on it so should be able to compensate for the dither. I've already roughly set the 1.4º in the mount. Once I get 101 set I will then go for 103º and 99º. I will then be able to compare SS thru the DVR w/present measurements. We will see and I consider it an interesting project. All I can lose is a little bit of time while playing w/it.
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You will likely note that the dish will need to be panned slightly East/West to optimize each satellite quality reading.
If a single position doesn't work for the dish. I will go back to the dish supplied by Directv.
Well got around to messing w/Primestar elliptical dish today. I didn't play w/it that long so it's not completely peaked. So I may mess with it again to see if I can peak it some more. It's no where nearly as strong of a signal as the DTV dish right now. I don't know if it will peak as well or not. But just wanted everyone to know that the elliptical Primestar dish is hitting all 3 birds. The mount I have it on really isn't sturdy enuff for that heavy duty of a dish and mounting pole. Now that I have had my fence extended out to the front of my house I will probably put it on something heavier before I attempt to do anymore with it. Then I will put all the 4 Dish net sat dishes behind it in a row to hit 129, 119, 110 and 61.5 (my "locals").
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