were there ever or are there such things as mini prime focus KUBand dishes?

[edugamer]

Are there any mini prime focus KUBand dishes being made 30"/39"?
I never see many 30," 33," or even smaller pizza type dishes that are prime focus. Maybe they are just not in high demand do to them not being as effective by nature of the design?
just curious. I read up that offset is fairly new and became wide spread some time in the 90s. I just think it would be so cool if they put out a mini prime focus KUBand dish. Just think they look so cool and have somewhat of a retro classic aesthetic to them. Been considering decorating some of my dishes to look like miniature retro dishes but the offset arm is the icer. I brought home a directv offset the other day and my sister thought it was a soup ladle lol!
I also notice all offset dishes are not perfectly round. They are always somewhat distorted. In the case of most slimline, saddle shaped. Noticed this when I took one apart and layed the reflector face down. The same is also true for my new KUBand one. Not a perfect circle but more oval and saddle shaped Read this is to concentrate as much of the signal as possible which makes perfect sence. I really thought it was damaged at first. I could of swarn when we had directv new in 2005 our total choice 33" dish was an offset yet it looked round so did our dish network when we had that.

 

[danristheman]

I have seen some on YouTube not to many.

 

[cyberham]

Interesting video. But I'll take digital any day over analog.

 

[edugamer]

I have seen some on YouTube not to many.

very cool!

 

[harshness]

I never see many 30," 33," or even smaller pizza type dishes that are prime focus.

30" is probably too small for reliable FSS reception on more than a few satellites. Why lock yourself out of being able to get everything that is available?

The DBS people (Bell, DIRECTV, DISH, Shaw) can get away with much smaller dishes because they're using circular polarization combined with higher power.

 

[Larry1]

One of my friends who has now passed away, had a C-band dish and also a prime focus Ku dish. The Ku dish was from an early pay system he got from somebody he knew. He had a 36" dish. He never had the 36" dish hooked up. We would trade recording from my Ku band dish and his C-Band dish.

 

[Brct203]

the main advantage of offset dishes is that the LNB/Feed assembly is not in the line of reception, so it does not create a "shadow" on the reflector, as opposed to a prime-focus dish where the Feed assembly means that the center of the dish is wasted for reception. No big deal on a large dish, but for DBS and medium power reception, the goal was to get by with the smallest dish that would still allow reasonably reliable reception, so ever square inch counts.

I have recently seen a small prime-focus dish, probably about 3 feet in diameter, stored under a workbench at my kid's high school wood shop. It is dented beyond usable. It still has a Ku feed and LNB that look like stuff from the mid 90's, judging by the look.

As for the DBS providers getting away with smaller dishes, I think it's only about transmission power, not about polarization. DBS in Europe is all linear nowadays.

 

[Larry1]

In my area, an offset dish tends to not accumulate as much snow as a prime focus.

 

[Titanium]

Flip the offset upside down with the arm on top. Not snow collector!

 

[N6BY]

In my area dishes collect more bird poop than snow.

 

[Magic Static]

I've got a couple four footers in the yard but haven't seen anything smaller.

 

[harshness]

Flip the offset upside down with the arm on top. Not snow collector!

Adding back some or more of the surface area blockage of a prime focus reflector.

More the reason to go large.

 

[Titanium]

Wrong... it is still an offset reflector no matter if the arm is at the bottom or the top....

 

[RimaNTSS]

It is still possible to buy 90cm PFA, at least shop's webpage shows that.

 

[moonbase]

There is a 90cm spun aluminium PFA listed on facebook marketplace for sale in UK

 

[harshness]

Wrong... it is still an offset reflector no matter if the arm is at the bottom or the top.

I don't know what I was thinking.

Doesn't inverting an offset dish bring it closer to birdbath by twice the offset?

 

[a33]

Doesn't inverting an offset dish bring it closer to birdbath by twice the offset?

I would absolutely think so.

Greetz,
A33

 

[Titanium]

Don't know what I was thinking.

I don't know what I was thinking.

Doesn't inverting an offset dish bring it closer to birdbath by twice the offset?

 

[a33]

Don't know what I was thinking.

Well, with the dish upside down, I guess the front of the feedhorn gets less snow...?

Greetz,
A33

 

[NYDutch]

Does the double bounce reflector setups used in the dome style portable dishes count as a "prime focus"?