Test Dish - Perfect 10 Ten Footer

[linuxman]

Well it has turned off nice here the last couple of days and since I had some success with the co-rotor II on my Home Brew Dish, I thought I would turn my attention to the test dish I have been waiting on the welder to deliver a piece of the mount for.

This morning, I pulled out my Perfect 10 ten footer, and started putting it together. I assembled the mount, ring, reflector and support arms all myself. I asked my daughter to help me put the reflector on the mounting ring.

This dish is going to be used for me to test LNBs, polorotors, co-rotors, actuators, and receivers. I am going to start with the big honking co-rotor from the Big Dish Bone Yard thread.

The last time you saw this dish, I didn't have very good success with it. I was using the Low Count actuator, and it just wasn't accurate enough. Well I have pulled it out of moth balls and am ready to give a second go.

It has a brand new ring-mount, new base plate, all new bolts, and new support arms. The reflector has a few dings, but it should work well as a testing dish.

As you can see in the pictures below, I have this dish and the toy parked very close together. I am going to hang a sign on the back side which faces the street. "Legal Free To Air Satellite Sales, Service, and Installation". That ought to generate some inquiries.



I will soon have a GI-650 with a DSR-905 piggy-backed to it, and a couple of DVB receivers setup in my showroom hooked to a TV, so that I can show people just what you can get.

 

[Anole]

"Legal Free To Air Satellite Sales, Service, and Installation"

Careful. Someone will demand FREE Installation, FREE Sales, and FREE Service from ya!

Ya really should put out a 1m dish beside those.
That's so when they get scared of the BUDs, they'll still come see you for the "little dish".
Beside the BUDs, the 1m will look small, and they won't realize how much bigger it is than the 20" pizza dishes they usually see.

Perfect 10, in 10' size? I was always confused that they came in different sizes with the same name!
Nice looking dish.
Glad to hear the weather is cooperating with you.
And you can still reach the LNB to tweak it.

 

[linuxman]

Careful. Someone will demand FREE Installation, FREE Sales, and FREE Service from ya!

You only get free with Linux.

Ya really should put out a 1m dish beside those.
That's so when they get scared of the BUDs, they'll still come see you for the "little dish".
Beside the BUDs, the 1m will look small, and they won't realize how much bigger it is than the 20" pizza dishes they usually see.

Excellent idea. Hadn't thought of that. Most people start with Ku. I did it backwards in the beginning and started with C-Band. Guess that's why I like it so much. So many more channels.

Perfect 10, in 10' size? I was always confused that they came in different sizes with the same name!
Nice looking dish.
Glad to hear the weather is cooperating with you.
And you can still reach the LNB to tweak it.

It has always confused me too, and it is difficult to phrase it so that others aren't confused.

Yes the weather has been nice for the last couple of days, and is supposed to be nice for another week. Mid 80's!

 

[linuxman]

I picked up a 24" Von Weise V76-5 actuator with the non-pen mount I am using on this test dish. I got it out today, opened it up to grease it good, and didn't even need to. The thing is like brand new inside and out. Someone had already lubed it with white Lithium grease, so I just added a little to it, and put it back together.

BTW, I also got a Co-Rotor with that setup and a couple of nice LNBs. I think the Ku might be bad. It is a Cal-Amp .7db, but it works and gets good signal, but after about 30 seconds, the signal fades to nothing. Gotta be some simple something in the circuitry. I need to try and fix that. They are great Ku LNBs.

I'm gonna add the antique Co-Rotor tomorrow and start wiring it up. Probably won't get much else done today except finish programming in my 922.

 

[Lynskyn]

I installed hundreds of the Perfect 10 (Laser) dishes in the 90's, both 7.5' and 10' versions, and always got very good results with them. The .375 F/D ratio seemed to be just right for both C & Ku band. Should work great for a test dish.

 

[linuxman]

I installed hundreds of the Perfect 10 (Laser) dishes in the 90's, both 7.5' and 10' versions, and always got very good results with them. The .375 F/D ratio seemed to be just right for both C & Ku band. Should work great for a test dish.

Hey Lynskyn,

I just went out and measured to see if the scaler was centered and couldn't believe it that it is centered right now without doing anything to it.

Course that will get messed up because the scaler is at 45" right now, and the mouth of the feed-horn is supposed to be at 45" (44.75") so by the time I move it out an inch or so, I'll probably have to re-center it.

I'm looking forward to seeing it in action.

 

[thomas34461usa]

differences

Well it has turned off nice here the last couple of days and since I had some success with the co-rotor II on my Home Brew Dish, I thought I would turn my attention to the test dish I have been waiting on the welder to deliver a piece of the mount for.

This morning, I pulled out my Perfect 10 ten footer, and started putting it together. I assembled the mount, ring, reflector and support arms all myself. I asked my daughter to help me put the reflector on the mounting ring.

This dish is going to be used for me to test LNBs, polorotors, co-rotors, actuators, and receivers. I am going to start with the big honking co-rotor from the Big Dish Bone Yard thread.

The last time you saw this dish, I didn't have very good success with it. I was using the Low Count actuator, and it just wasn't accurate enough. Well I have pulled it out of moth balls and am ready to give a second go.

It has a brand new ring-mount, new base plate, all new bolts, and new support arms. The reflector has a few dings, but it should work well as a testing dish.

As you can see in the pictures below, I have this dish and the toy parked very close together. I am going to hang a sign on the back side which faces the street. "Legal Free To Air Satellite Sales, Service, and Installation". That ought to generate some inquiries.

View attachment 27726 View attachment 27727 View attachment 27728 View attachment 27729

I will soon have a GI-650 with a DSR-905 piggy-backed to it, and a couple of DVB receivers setup in my showroom hooked to a TV, so that I can show people just what you can get.

Hello Fred,
Just out of curiosity what is the differences between a Perfect 10 and say a Unimesh dish? They both look very similar.
Thanks,
TOM

 

[linuxman]

Hello Fred,
Just out of curiosity what is the differences between a Perfect 10 and say a Unimesh dish? They both look very similar.
Thanks,
TOM

They are similar in some respects. The F/D ratio on the Unimesh is a little flatter, a .40 and the P-10 is .375.

The major difference is in the mounting ring and the way it connects to the elevation/declination mechanism.

The Unimesh is centered, and the P-10 is off-set.

The Unimesh does an excellent job, and my P-10 seven and a half footer does a great job too. I haven't had this ten footer up but once, and that wasn't a fair trial.

See the pics below:

 

[linuxman]

Well Lynskyn, you were right!!

This is an outstanding dish. Kinda wish I had it on the roof to replace my 7.5 footer for the 4DTV, though that one is doing a great job too.

I got everything wired up yesterday, and set the elevation. Didn't adjust the declination yesterday, because I wanted to get an idea where I was. Popped on the handy-dandy tuner, and turned it on. Bumped East about 5 clicks and had CW on 91W C-Band.

Played around with it a while just getting the feel of the arc. Got 12060 V test cards on 91W at 45% SQ.

Today, I went out there armed for bear and put the digital level on the main axis and set it for 39.6 precisely, and strapped on a flat piece of steel on the back of the dish to set the declination at 5.4 precisely. That jumped up the 12060 V 91W to 60 % SQ. Swung East to AMC6 at 72W and had "the mux" at 90% SQ. Swung west, and could barely get C-Band on G13 127W, and no Ku on G18 at all. Moved back to G13, and pulled up on the front of the dish and got much better signal, so I swung the dish assembly just a tad to the West, back side to the East, and boom, had LCN booming in for having 1/3 of the dish blocked by the toy.

Moved back to 91W and had the 12060 at 75% SQ. Moved back to AMC6 and had 12053V at 99% SQ.

This antique Co-Rotor is doing an outstanding job. I haven't had to touch the in and out Focal Length since I set it yesterday according to the factory specs.

I've got White Springs at 75% with half the dish blocked.

The Equity stations on G18 11720 are only at 45%. They don't like having any of the dish blocked. The H stations are booming, but the V stations aren't all that great. Has Equity turned the power down since G18 moved into place?

Anywho, I'll probably spend a little more time on it in the morning tuning, and then wire it into the showroom and start testing things.

BTW, the C-Band LNB is a Cal-Amp Mini-Mag 30K, and the Ku LNB is an old-style (with an elbow built in) Chaparral .6db for those interested.

Don't know whether it's the dish, or the antique Co-Rotor, but you would have to pry them both out of my cold dead hands now.

 

[jsattv]

Linuxman I am studying your Dish Tuning Techniques to try and get my 12 Footer in line so I can pick up 123.0W and 74.0W on Ku Band. I had 123.0W on C Band with 72 S and Q previously but today when it was raining heavily Up here I noticed Quality on 123.0W on C Band had dropped off to 25 % Quality, would you advise me to increase Elevation?

 

[linuxman]

Linuxman I am studying your Dish Tuning Techniques to try and get my 12 Footer in line so I can pick up 123.0W and 74.0W on Ku Band. I had 123.0W on C Band with 72 S and Q previously but today when it was raining heavily Up here I noticed Quality on 123.0W on C Band had dropped off to 25 % Quality, would you advise me to increase Elevation?

Hi jsattv,

I would have to go back and re-read all your most recent threads to see where you are before I could give any advice on what you should do at this point.

I learn something new every day about the best way to tune these babies. Like the flat piece of steel I used on the back ring of the dish to set the declination. I couldn't find any place decent to check the declination, so I decided to make one, and it turned out very well.

You might want to try that too.

I have the same problem with the Birdviews. There really isn't any decent flat spot to check the declination, so just this evening, I decided to try using the scaler ring on the Birdviews to set the declination since the support arms are solid, and there is no give, it should be the perfect spot.

 

[jsattv]

Hi jsattv,

I would have to go back and re-read all your most recent threads to see where you are before I could give any advice on what you should do at this point.

I learn something new every day about the best way to tune these babies. Like the flat piece of steel I used on the back ring of the dish to set the declination. I couldn't find any place decent to check the declination, so I decided to make one, and it turned out very well.

You might want to try that too.

I have the same problem with the Birdviews. There really isn't any decent flat spot to check the declination, so just this evening, I decided to try using the scaler ring on the Birdviews to set the declination since the support arms are solid, and there is no give, it should be the perfect spot.

Thanks Linuxman and congratulations on setting up your new 10 Footer. I also seem to remember that Shaun Kenny used a Flat piece of steel on his Video that you recommended to me to measure Inclination or Declination. It also seems to be more accurate when I get a small ladder and measure Inclination and Declination with the Sears Digital Level right up around the middle of the 2 Bars. Thankx for the Tip.

 

[linuxman]

Glad I could help jsattv!

Well I went out after supper and put the final tweak on the whole assembly. I haven't touched the elevation since I set it earlier today with the digital level.

Starting with:

129W G27 11964 H 2920 Ku White Springs, still at 75% SQ half the dish blocked
127W G13 4186 H C-Band is at a consistent 99% SQ with half the dish blocked
123W G18 11720 V Ku still at 45% SQ with a third of the dish blocked
91W G17 3720 H C-Band is a consistent 99% SQ
91W G17 12060 V Ku is now at a consistent 85% SQ
72W AMC 6 12053 V is a steady consistent 99% SQ

I am going to quit tuning. I don't think I can get it any better than that. Maybe I could, but it would be pointless.

This dish/Co-Rotor combo is as outstanding as I have had up besides the Birdviews.