The Right Equipment paired with the Right Receiver

[linuxman]

I have discovered a couple of things in the last couple of days about putting the right receiver/LNBF with a matching dish.

As most of you know if you read my thread on setting up the Geosat Pro C/Ku LNBF that I decided to make some changes with receivers and what dishes they were controlling.

I have since moved the Geosat Pro LNBF to my Birdview dish and am now controlling that dish with the Traxis 3500 and VBox II.

I moved the Co-rotor to the 10' Unimesh dish and now have the Pansat 3500 controlling the polarity and will have my VBox III controlling dish movement with a GI 450i analog slaved to it. I will also have my PC tuner (SkyStar 2) slaved as well.

I hooked up my new Fortec 5400 to my motorized Primestar 84e.

I discovered during the process that the co-rotor that was on the Birdview dish was the older co-rotor with the ADL patent which Chaparral infringed on and Chaparral has since changed their design to the current style.

I guess that is part of what made everything click together.

The Birdview was so well designed that I popped the Geosat LNBF in there and have not had to make any adjustments to the LNBF at all. I did make a small adjustment on the dish twist. If you remember, I had mentioned that it had moved ever so slightly.

The Unimesh/Pansat is now getting the same outstanding Ku signal that the Pansat/Birdview had been getting previously.

The Traxis/Birdview/Geosat LNBF while not quite as outstanding as the Pansat/Birdview/ADL designed co-rotor was, is still quite acceptable with the added benefit of being able to control multiple LNBFs and 8 port diseqc switches. That mount is where all my multi-dishes with multi-lnbfs come together. BTW, I am getting used to the Traxis, and have learned to like it. It takes some getting used to.

The Fortec 5400 is on a dish that has proven over time to be perfectly tuned and has great performance on Ku. It is doing a great job there, but like the Traxis, I had to learn to like it.

I guess what I am getting at is if you want good signal quality with a voltage controlled LNBF, you need a very well formed parabolic shaped dish with excellent surface accuracy.

If you want good Ku signal quality with a not so good parabolic shaped dish and no so great surface accuracy you need a feed-horn LNBF combo that will enhance the dish's performance.

I would trade my other 3 newer, some only a year old Chaparral co-rotors for the 15 year old ADL designed co-rotors right now if I could find them.

It is all about the right equipment paired with the right receiver. If you do that, you will be a very happy camper.

Fred

 

[Anole]

Ku on BUDs

I've been reading 90% of everything in the FTA section for at least the last year.
And in doing so, ya tend to get a feel for what's working for people and what's not.

It was pretty obvious from all the people going on about the hole-size in their C-band mesh that there was more to the Ku story.
Increasing the surface area from a 3' dish to an 8' dish, should tear the Ku LNBs a new one!
Also, the results of different members reporting their success was quite varied.

There didn't seem to be a lot of rhyme nor reason to the reports of the dual-band BSC621 LNB.
I'd been monitoring those stories quite closely for many months, and only a few had really good Ku results, while most didn't.

I'd really been wanting someone with some skills and interest, to test the BSC621 against the few competitors.
And that GeoSat C/Ku LNB was #1 on my shopping list , too.
The paper specs give the nod to the DMSI (I think), but you seem to have great results with the GeoSat.
This is no surprise, as you've done a heck of a nice job in 1:1 comparison testing.
Perhaps you should condense the long thread on it, down into just one big review post .

Anyway, it's nice to see someone debunk some of these "my dish is bigger than your dish" stories.
What was important 20 years ago (raw square feet) for C-band, doesn't necessarily get it for Ku today.
Surface accuracy seems the big deal.
And that's probably why a 1m Primestar apparently outshines an 8' BUD in most Ku applications (or so I believe)
Well, perhaps with the exception of your Birdview dishes.

I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a commercial 6' Ku-rated dish in the near future.
While it may not be the final answer for C-band, it should be interesting...
...certainly do well on Ku with any of the above-mentioned dual-band LNBs.

Anyway, thanks for the enlightening stories.

 

[linuxman]

Thanks Anole!

I have been very pleased with the results of the Geosat LNBF. I knew going in it wasn't going to replace a co-rotor for signal quality, but it comes real close.

I love that Birdview dish, primarily because the F/D and Focal length is darn near set for you. It is a bear to set the declination and elevation especially when you are using a 5-5/8" mounting pole for a 6" relatively short cap. Maybe this spring, I will take it down and have the welder come up and cut the centerpiece out of the original and weld it into the 5-5/8" pole so I can bolt it down from the top like originally designed.

But as you say, a fine tuned Primestar dish will outperform most big dishes on Ku. That is only because of their almost perfect parabolic form.

I too am waiting to get my hands on a 6' Ku dish and am looking forward to it.

Fred

 

[Wescopc]

Thanks linuxman and Anole,
I have learned that surface accuracy and Parabolic form are the single most important aspect of KU. I have been setting up some Glorystar systems with the dual LNBF setup. These are a bit of a compromise in that neither LNBF is exactly in the "sweet spot" of the parabola. This experience has taught me how important the shape of the dish must be for optimum performance. Checking the face of a set up dish with the string test - the face must be flat within 1/8", with 1/16" even better.
Bob

 

[linuxman]

Hey Bob,

This experience has taught me how important the shape of the dish must be for optimum performance. Checking the face of a set up dish with the string test - the face must be flat within 1/8", with 1/16" even better.

Caddata drilled it into my head as I was setting up the Birdview, and as comments were made by others in my thread of setting up my 5th BUD. That solid aluminum dish failure was the proving ground to me.

Fred

 

[voomvoom]

So Fred, now that you've figured out how to get the Unimesh working correctly, don't you think maybe you should give that Solid Aluminum dish another shot..........??
Well maybe not? I like reading your Adventures, so keep them coming, Please...!

Al

 

[linuxman]

Thanks Al!

It certainly is an adventure sometimes!

I didn't get much else done this fall as far as projects go, but I have several I want to do next spring.

If I can get my hands on one of those 6 foot Ku dishes, we'll see what all I can hang off of it.

Fred