Titanium Satellite CK1-S Repair

dsmith0429 · Jan 31, 2018

Hi SatelliteGuys,

Thought I'd share a "fun" project I just completed.

I repaired a Titanium Satellite CK1-S C/ku band LNBF that was damaged because of a bad terminal.

The C-band side terminal was die-cast and very thin, which broke off easily. I was about to toss it out, but decided to try and repair instead.

I had a KU-band LNBF that was no good, but had a gold plated connection,

so I carefully unsoldered the terminal, and transplanted it to the CK1-S.

BAM! perfect fit, a stronger terminal, and is working perfectly again.

The LNBF itself always worked great for me, but the terminals could use an upgrade.

KE4EST · Jan 31, 2018

I love seeing projects like this!!

dsmith0429 · Jan 31, 2018

KE4EST said:
I love seeing projects like this!!

Thanks! I just hated the idea of tossing it when it was practically new. I bought it over a year ago but had only recently started using it, and had to take my dishes down for hurricane Irma. And this is what happened when I went to reinstall. I had another c-band that the terminal wasn't soldered good on the inside that I repaired a while back too. I posted it quite some time ago, somewhere on here, it was a cheap Young YY-CD008 C-band LNBF. I also had repaired a Titanium Satellite C1W-PLL lite C-band LNBF that the terminal came loose on the inside as well.

Ku dish used for Cband

Titanium · Jan 31, 2018

Have seen many damaged f-fittings over the years of service calls, but have never broken one myself (putting them on... taking off someone else's fitting is another story). Knock on wood... Finger tighten the f-fittings with a cap of dielectric silicone. No need to wrench them.

N6BY · Feb 1, 2018

Nice repair and write-up. The satisfaction you get from fixing things yourself is worth twice the cost of buying another. (At least in my mind).

Is it possible to mount dedicated C and KU LNBFs side by side? I'm doing that with my Birdview dish and get better signal quality than the combined C/KU LNBFs.

Lone Gunman · Feb 1, 2018

And one thing on this also is the $55 you SAVED by NOT having to buy another one!! If you're on a fixed income like I am, the only way you can make money is by SAVING money on stuff like this. Some ppl refer to me as "Cheapskate" and I do resemble that remark!!

dsmith0429 · Feb 2, 2018

Titanium said:
Have seen many damaged f-fittings over the years of service calls, but have never broken one myself (putting them on... taking off someone else's fitting is another story). Knock on wood... Finger tighten the f-fittings with a cap of dielectric silicone. No need to wrench them.

When I removed the old one, it appeared to have been cross-threaded on the inside, so it may have been a manufacturing defect, but don't know for sure. I'm thinking there was a hairline crack, and it just finished breaking when I re-installed after hurricane Irma. I never wrench them (anymore at least, , that always turns out bad on RF connectors it seems. I learned that lesson from the 1st one I had to repair a few years ago. That is why it broke, instead of separating from the LNBF, it unscrewed the RF terminal with it. At least it's been a fairly easy fix so far.

dsmith0429 · Feb 2, 2018

Lone Gunman said:
And one thing on this also is the $55 you SAVED by NOT having to buy another one!! If you're on a fixed income like I am, the only way you can make money is by SAVING money on stuff like this. Some ppl refer to me as "Cheapskate" and I do resemble that remark!!

Same here, and I knew that was all that was wrong with it, so I had nothing to lose by trying to repair it.

I also have a 6 foot hurricane damaged fiberglass dish I'm trying to decide if or how I can repair. It has cracks and bulges where the dish was bolted to the frame for the post, and it had a central post for the LNB that is also bent. So a lot of work involved in restoring, but again all I have to lose is time trying.

dsmith0429 · Feb 2, 2018

N6BY said:
Nice repair and write-up. The satisfaction you get from fixing things yourself is worth twice the cost of buying another. (At least in my mind).

Is it possible to mount dedicated C and KU LNBFs side by side? I'm doing that with my Birdview dish and get better signal quality than the combined C/KU LNBFs.

As long as you can get the angles for the LNBFs correct I don't see why not. I haven't tried this myself, but I'm sure others on here have done it. But I believe that you have to have a Ku band LNBF that is made for a prime focus dish when using on a big dish.

wvman · Feb 2, 2018

dsmith0429 said:
When I removed the old one, it appeared to have been cross-threaded on the inside, so it may have been a manufacturing defect, but don't know for sure. I'm thinking there was a hairline crack, and it just finished breaking when I re-installed after hurricane Irma. I never wrench them (anymore at least, , that always turns out bad on RF connectors it seems. I learned that lesson from the 1st one I had to repair a few years ago. That is why it broke, instead of separating from the LNBF, it unscrewed the RF terminal with it. At least it's been a fairly easy fix so far.

Some ppl think they need a six foot wrench to tighten an F connector. I use connectors with an "O" ring in them, but I always squeeze in a little dialectric compound to make the "O" ring slip against the connector. I just tighten them to snug to seal the connector, but it doesn't take much to loosen them when needed. I use a security driver made for installing F connectors in a tamper proof connector. I get a better feel than when I use a wrench.

N6BY · Feb 3, 2018

dsmith0429 said:
As long as you can get the angles for the LNBFs correct I don't see why not. I haven't tried this myself, but I'm sure others on here have done it. But I believe that you have to have a Ku band LNBF that is made for a prime focus dish when using on a big dish.

Actually what I meant was if you have considered doing it instead of the dual purpose LNBF (I already have side-by-side LNBFs on my Birdview). For KU I'm using an Invacom C120 which has an adjustable F/D ratio scalar for use with prime focus dishes.

dsmith0429 · Feb 3, 2018

wvman said:
Some ppl think they need a six foot wrench to tighten an F connector. I use connectors with an "O" ring in them, but I always squeeze in a little dialectric compound to make the "O" ring slip against the connector. I just tighten them to snug to seal the connector, but it doesn't take much to loosen them when needed. I use a security driver made for installing F connectors in a tamper proof connector. I get a better feel than when I use a wrench.

I like to use use an impact wrench

Some LNBFs have thin walled F-connectors, add to the fact I had to take my dishes down in a hurry for hurricane Irma, probably didn't help either.

What surprised me was the Ku-band side seems to have a better connector than the C-band side. But probably assembled in 2 different locations, thus different parts available.

But I only finger tighten, and also use o-rings, and I have used silicone to seal some, which keeps them nice and tight, and it's easy to remove if needed.

N6BY · Feb 3, 2018

dsmith0429 said:
I like to use use an impact wrench ...

I like to weld mine. JK

dsmith0429 said:
Some LNBFs have thin walled F-connectors,....

Looking at the first photo in post #1, what's left of the F connector looks extremely thin walled. Not sure where it was manufactured, but some countries in the far east will do almost anything to save a penny on materials.

wvman · Feb 3, 2018

dsmith0429 said:
I like to use use an impact wrench

Some LNBFs have thin walled F-connectors, add to the fact I had to take my dishes down in a hurry for hurricane Irma, probably didn't help either.

What surprised me was the Ku-band side seems to have a better connector than the C-band side. But probably assembled in 2 different locations, thus different parts available.

But I only finger tighten, and also use o-rings, and I have used silicone to seal some, which keeps them nice and tight, and it's easy to remove if needed.

I bought some bulkhead connectors to use in a surveillance DVR because I kept having issues with the BNC connectors causing the video to jump and carry on. I changed all 16 of the BNC connectors to F-connectors, which took care of the problem. The solder tab on the equipment end would spin inside the main body of the connector to avoid twisting the center conductor loose from the circuit board if the entire connector was spun in the housing.

If the connector was threaded into a housing, it would be pulled loose from the circuit board if backed out too far. I found this to be the case on several LNB replacements when the customer tried to take a cable loose that had been over tightened by someone else or by the customer. I kept the old LNB's just to see what happened to it and when I took the cover plate off, I saw it had been twisted loose from the board. Usually a re-solder would fix the problem and it gave me a test LNB to play with.

I've found similar problems at the customer's receiver. It's amazing how many people damage equipment by over tightening connectors and don't realize it.

bpalone · Feb 3, 2018

wvman said:
I've found similar problems at the customer's receiver. It's amazing how many people damage equipment by over tightening connectors and don't realize it.

Then there are those few special folks, that have the ability to tear up an anvil in a plowed field.

wvman · Feb 3, 2018

bpalone said:
Then there are those few special folks, that have the ability to tear up an anvil in a plowed field.

You got that right.

N6BY · Feb 3, 2018

"Over tightened" "Thin walled"

Titanium · Feb 3, 2018

I wouldn't want to risk shaking hands with anyone who is able to finger-tighten a f-fitting to the point of breaking!

dsmith0429 · Feb 3, 2018

N6BY said:
Actually what I meant was if you have considered doing it instead of the dual purpose LNBF (I already have side-by-side LNBFs on my Birdview). For KU I'm using an Invacom C120 which has an adjustable F/D ratio scalar for use with prime focus dishes.

Ahhhh... I haven't tried yet, but I'm always up for a challenge, and I'm addicted to FTA, so I'm sure I'll be trying to soon... I have a motorized Ku-band setup, this dual purpose LNBF was one I had just bought for experimenting with on a mini-bud project using an old PrimeStar/ChannelMaster dish.

Titanium said:
I wouldn't want to risk shaking hands with anyone who is able to finger-tighten a f-fitting to the point of breaking!

Sometimes I just don't know my own strength Now if I can just keep the dogs from chewing the wiring... just had to redo a cable thanks to a German Shepherd pup...

wvman · Feb 4, 2018

dsmith0429 said:
Ahhhh... I haven't tried yet, but I'm always up for a challenge, and I'm addicted to FTA, so I'm sure I'll be trying to soon... I have a motorized Ku-band setup, this dual purpose LNBF was one I had just bought for experimenting with on a mini-bud project using an old PrimeStar/ChannelMaster dish.

Sometimes I just don't know my own strength Now if I can just keep the dogs from chewing the wiring... just had to redo a cable thanks to a German Shepherd pup...

I had a Lab pup that was hell on wires. I was told to buy some of the stuff people put on fingernails to keep kids from chewing them. It didn't slow him down. I eventually put all the wires in conduit. By all odds, that pup should have been dead from all the wire he chewed up. I would think wire would cut his insides to ribbons, but he lived to be 14 years old. Go figure.

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