Hi All,
I have an interesting question here. Is there any reason I couldn't use a Dish 500 dish and arm along with the proper antenna (LNB) to receive point-to-point short range (within 3 miles) microwave transmission?
Before anyone thinks I am trying to receive commercial microwave transmissions, I'm not.
We do quite a few live events at Waycross Community Media | Community Media for Forest Park, Greenhills & Springfield Township, Ohio and I use the microwave link to feed one of several locations where we have fiber drops. The microwave receiver is an 18" dish that by all appearances looks like any DBS Dish except it is mounted upside down so I can get the best signal reception from a transmitter that is often below 0º elevation. And it has a different antenna. But the mount hooks right up to the end of the arm with the same type of screw as the Dish/Direct dishes.
So why do I want to use a Dish 500?
1) our other dish took a tumble when a volunteer tripped over the large mount and dented the dish up pretty good losing about 8db on the top signal it can get.
2) More surface area for hopefully a little more gain on the signal. The max range on the transmitter is rated at 4 miles with an 18" dish. The longest "throw" I ever do is about a mile. But I am shooting through holes in trees which as you know can attenuate and reflect the signal. Since this is an analog microwave transmission I have to be careful of multi-phasing. More gain on the direct signal will kill the "bounced" signals off the leaves. Also it will help keep a more stable signal when we have a live show and we get a torrential downpour in the middle of the production.
3) As with all non-profits we are broke. I have three old Dish 500s in my garage gathering dust that I want to put into use. I also have one extender that allows the Dish 500 to be used for a single sat location.
Any thought?
I have an interesting question here. Is there any reason I couldn't use a Dish 500 dish and arm along with the proper antenna (LNB) to receive point-to-point short range (within 3 miles) microwave transmission?
Before anyone thinks I am trying to receive commercial microwave transmissions, I'm not.
We do quite a few live events at Waycross Community Media | Community Media for Forest Park, Greenhills & Springfield Township, Ohio and I use the microwave link to feed one of several locations where we have fiber drops. The microwave receiver is an 18" dish that by all appearances looks like any DBS Dish except it is mounted upside down so I can get the best signal reception from a transmitter that is often below 0º elevation. And it has a different antenna. But the mount hooks right up to the end of the arm with the same type of screw as the Dish/Direct dishes.
So why do I want to use a Dish 500?
1) our other dish took a tumble when a volunteer tripped over the large mount and dented the dish up pretty good losing about 8db on the top signal it can get.
2) More surface area for hopefully a little more gain on the signal. The max range on the transmitter is rated at 4 miles with an 18" dish. The longest "throw" I ever do is about a mile. But I am shooting through holes in trees which as you know can attenuate and reflect the signal. Since this is an analog microwave transmission I have to be careful of multi-phasing. More gain on the direct signal will kill the "bounced" signals off the leaves. Also it will help keep a more stable signal when we have a live show and we get a torrential downpour in the middle of the production.
3) As with all non-profits we are broke. I have three old Dish 500s in my garage gathering dust that I want to put into use. I also have one extender that allows the Dish 500 to be used for a single sat location.
Any thought?
