I'm wondering if I should replace my 12' dish with another or with one of a smaller size. I haven't found anything on the web, so far, that gives a definitive answer. If I can get similar performance from an 8 footer I'd like to downsize to a smaller dish. It looks like I'm in the center area of the NA satellites so maybe a 12 footer isn't necessary?
What dish size?
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It depends upon what you want to receive, I suspect. If you want to lock the DVB-S2 signals out there, you'll need all the dish size you can get. I'd give a couple of teeth to have a 12 footer. Don't give it up unless it's defective in some non-repairable way.
the right dish for the job:
Are we talking Ku or C-band?
What sort of feedhorn?
Ya know, not all 12' dishes are created equal.
You might find that a Ku-rated 10' perf dish outperforms your 12' mesh (?) on Ku.
So, knowing what you have, and what your problems are, helps determine what you should look for.
I had very specific dishes in mind when I went searching.
(Know your quarry, when you go hunting!) -
Look for what you want, and take it home when you find it.
Ya might even look into the performance of the 8' Fortec Star and GeosatPro solid dishes.
Think there's some review material in our Review Department.
(since you were considering down-sizing to a small dish)
Are we talking Ku or C-band?
What sort of feedhorn?
Ya know, not all 12' dishes are created equal.
You might find that a Ku-rated 10' perf dish outperforms your 12' mesh (?) on Ku.
So, knowing what you have, and what your problems are, helps determine what you should look for.
I had very specific dishes in mind when I went searching.
(Know your quarry, when you go hunting!) -
Look for what you want, and take it home when you find it.
Ya might even look into the performance of the 8' Fortec Star and GeosatPro solid dishes.
Think there's some review material in our Review Department.
(since you were considering down-sizing to a small dish)
I know that bigger is better. But, I still remember the good ol' days when I had to maintain the 6 meter dishes for the NBC Ku band project in the mid-80's. You don't want to blink when trying to get the sat on the bird or you'll miss the signal come up on the spec-A. That's how tight the beam width is. Anyway, if I can get by with a smaller dish it wouldn't be so "offensive" to the neighbors when I put it up on the roof. It'll be a "fun" project having a crane put a dish on the roof. I just don't understand why people think a 12' dish is ugly - looks good to me but then I'm an electronic technician (mostly terrestrial microwave) and a ham. Anyway, I did see a photo of a 12' Paraclipse on a forum members roof. My neighbors would run me out of town if I did that. Besides, beefing up the roof for such a large dish could get a "little" expensive. Of course, I could forgo C band and go with the smaller Ku dishes. 
It depends upon what you want to receive, I suspect. If you want to lock the DVB-S2 signals out there, you'll need all the dish size you can get. I'd give a couple of teeth to have a 12 footer. Don't give it up unless it's defective in some non-repairable way.
It's Ku-band performance sucks. Mostly hail and wind damage to the reflector and parts are no longer available. It's a 12 foot Paraclipse. C band still works OK.
Yea, that's one way.
Another way is a long pipe from the ground, coming up the side of the building, maybe with some braces along the way, then tied to the eaves.
No real roof reinforcement needed.
I have learned recently to keep the c band dish for c band only and put up a small solid ku dish with a motor. My c band reception increased quite a bit using a c band only lnbf.
I would prefer to have one dish for C and Ku.
If you want one dish that does both, a good solid would be your best bet, followed by a perf, with mesh in last place. Surface imperfections and irregularities seem to be a fine poison for Ku reception on a BUD but they don't affect C anywhere near as much. Shallow dishes (f/D around 0.4 or larger) are more likely to work better on Ku with combo or ortho feeds.
In terms of size, I get most of C-band on my 7.5' and a good fraction on my 6', but it depends on what you are after. If you drop down to an 8', you'll be losing about 3.5 dB of CNR from your 12', meaning easy can become hard. My 10' performs noticeably better than the 7.5' and they have identical feeds and high-end LNBs.
You could hunt around for a good solid 8-10' to rescue, but that may be hard to come by. The 2.4m Geosatpro, available from SatelliteAV, meets most of the above criteria. You may spend a lot more trying to get everything you want in a single dish and end up with less signal, but if the main criteria is for one dish, that's what you have to accept.
Yes, I wouldn't want to give up my 10s either. But I can lock a lot of S2 on my 6' and almost all on the 7.5'. Nevertheless things will likely get tougher over time, and someday one could regret giving up a 12'.
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