This review is going to be a little different as I will be reviewing 2 products at once.
I recently received a WS1247 1.2 meter dish from our friends at WSI Digital. I have never worked with an offset dish this big and previously the biggest dish I had worked with was a 90cm dish. I received the dish and was amazed at the size of the box it came in. This dish is well packed. I opened it up and my jaw dropped at the shear size of the dish. I’ve worked with larger dishes but they were in pieces so you don’t know how big the dish is until its built. This is right there and its huge. Not many parts so its pretty easy to put together. I did have to laugh at the instructions. I know we don’t like manuals with the Chinese or Korean to English translation. Well no need to worry about that as there is none! There’s instructions but its in Chinese or Japanese (whatever it is). Well as a true guy, the picture worked fine. In all honesty it isn’t that hard to put together as most of the bolts only work with one spot. The bracket to hold the dish to the mast is very well built. The drawback is there is no way to use a motor that is downward shafted to hold this unless you fabricate it. If you have an upward shaft like a HH120 it will fit in there. The mast is 3 inches so if you decide to pole mount it you can get a fence post at any home hardware store. There are 2 “U” brackets to hold the dish to the mast so even if you don’t have a 3” mast a mast around 2 5/8” would work too. The dish has 2 support arms which keep the LNB in place and won’t move even in wind. Believe me, I originally tried to work with this dish while there was 30 mph winds and the LNB didn’t sway like it has on other dishes. This will hold a QPH-031 just dandy without worrying of the weight of the LNB to hold down the arm.
Decided to try KU Band first on it. Now common sense would be that with a dish this size the receiver quality meters should be jumping compared to my 76cm dish. Well that was right. I scanned the arc from 74 over to 105 and all the signals were almost at max quality on the Pansat 1500. Some of the weaker signals were jumped up to 60+ on the quality meter. Even on 103W with its oddball skew some transponders were at 99 even with the LNB skewed wrong (it was skewed as if it was motorized). Once I skewed it properly (which compared to other sats is improper) the meter just jumped. The strong transponders were at 99 quality even if I slightly moved it off the “sweet” spot. The receiver jumped with feeds that I had never seen before. Also received some DVB-S2 feeds at very good quality. For those who want 97W KU and are afraid of weak signals, let me tell you, this dish will cure those fears. All transponders were at 90+ with some stuck on 99 quality even if the dish moved off 97W a little bit.
All and all this dish is great for those weaker signals. I was very happy with it. The one drawback was there is no elevation scale so its almost trial and error. On the positive side the elevation adjustment is a heavy duty screw with 2 nuts to keep it in place. So if you need to drop the elevation a little bit you don’t have to try and hold the dish while adjusting the elevation. Just turn the screw a little bit and voila the elevation is adjusted.
Once I had KU down pat I then decided to try the “mini-bud” idea. As some of you know a “mini-bud” is what folks have called getting C-Band signals on a smaller than normal dish. Smaller than normal being 6 feet. Well I had some ideas on how to attach my scaler ring and C-Band LNB to it when someone pointed the group to a “new” product. A conical scaler ring. These are scaler rings that unlike normal ones that all are the same level, these go up in layers. Another way to describe it is that it looks like a “Devo” hat (you young folks who never saw the video “whip it” wont understand).
So that takes me to part 2 of my review.
I recently ordered a WS-KU2C conical scaler ring from WSI Digital to try C-Band on my 1.2 meter dish. Previously the only way to get conical rings were to order from Europe. There has been a want for these in North America and now they are available here from our friends at WSI Digital and Galaxy Marketing. (Conical Scalar Ring | Model WS-KU2C Kit Manufactured By WS International) I opened up the box to find the scaler ring which is powder blue in color, a 65mm LNB holder for the C-Band LNB, and the necessary hardware. The LNB holder will fit on most 1.2 meter dishes.
After getting the LNB holder put on the dish I decided to use the GeoSatPro C/K1 LNB as a test. I had worked with that LNB on my 6 footer so I knew what results I was getting on that dish. Attached the conical ring to the LNB and attached the setup to the dish. The equipment I was using was a analog receiver, a Pansat 1500, and a Motorola DSR-905. Since the dish doesn’t have a elevation meter I decided to use my analog receiver to lock onto Shepherd’s Chapel, which is on Galaxy 16. That way I can go from there for digital signals instead of spending a lot of time trying to lock a signal. Within a minute I had Shepherd’s Chapel locked with no sparklies. Now the big testing begins…digital.
My line of site on the north side of the house is from 72-111 so I knew I had a few satellite to lock. Since I was on 99W I wanted to see how much I could lock and at what quality. Hooked up the Pansat and right away World Harvest TV locked at 30 quality. But the Networks were only at 15. I moved the dish every which way and couldn’t get them any stronger. Then I decided to push the LNB in and then the magic started happening. I had it flush with the back of the conical ring but if I pushed it in about ¾”-1” the signal jumped. What I saw made me very happy.
Networks-55 to 60
My Network TV-75
World Harvest-45
ABC HD-30 with jumps to 35
WAPA Puerto Rico-90
Other feeds registered between 45-60. The meter on the Pansat reads true so the threshold is around 25-28. I was not able to get KCWY (NBC Casper) and can get that (barely) on the 6 footer. So all and all I was very happy right here.
Decided to move over to 97W and locked KCSG at 55-60. Went over to 91W and was able to lock almost everything there that I was able to get on the 6 foot dish.
CW-60
EWTN-60
The Word-90
Most other transponders registered around 45-50 but these are scrambled. There are some weaker feeds that I was not able to get that I can get on the 6 footer.
87W gave me some difficulties but I kinda knew it would. I can lock “This TV” at 30-35 but because it has a higher FEC (5/6) it wasn’t 100% stable. Needs around a 45 to stay stable. The radio mux with Religious stations I did peak at 99.
72W I was able to lock NASA at a decent signal of 30. Compared to my 6 footer I was happy that NASA came in. On my 6 footer it usually comes in around 45 quality. Worked my way over to 101 and locked Golden Eagles Broadcasting at 60 quality and was able to get a couple other religious stations. Couldn’t lock anything on 103 which has given me fits even on the 6 footer. Moved over to 107 and locked a few transponders there at 45 quality. With the C/K1 I also hooked up the KU side to my Motorola DSR-905 and locked Starchoice channels with a +7.5 to +8.5 ebno which is really good. I tried to see if I could lock 105. As most know there is a subscription offering on 105W and I thought if I could get that satellite with decent results maybe folks could subscribe. Well my curiosity turned to sadness. The best I could lock on a music channel was +3.0 which is just barely above threshold. If it was a video channel it would pixelate a lot. Audio channels play fine. So much for that idea.
I did move the dish back to 91W and did lock on some DCII channels with good results of +8.0 ebno. I was not able to move the dish any farther west from 107.3 due to the house being in the way. Hopefully I try that soon.
All and all I am very happy with both products. The fact that I was able to lock most satellites with good results makes this a great idea if you are limited when it comes to C-band. Now I know it isn’t a miracle worker and can’t get all the signals up there that a full size C-Band dish can get but I know some people can’t put up even a 6 foot dish. But using a 120cm dish that is motorized with the WS-KU2C Conical Scaler Ring you will get some good results. A great setup if you can’t get the networks where you live is a fixed dish at 99W with the conical ring for the Networks. The fact that I can get most of the channels on 99W with the 4 footer that I could get with my 6 footer makes it a great addition to any setup.
I want to thank Robbie at WSI Digital for supplying the 1.2m dish to try out. I was in shock when he offered to send me one to test out. I was really happy when the conical scaler ring arrived as it opened a whole new opportunity for the dish to pick up C-Band signals are very good results.
If you have been wanting a conical ring for your smaller dish to try and pick up C-Band, I highly suggest getting one. A lot of people have wanted one for a while and now finally a company has started selling them. So you better get one before they sell out
You can get them at Galaxy Marketing and WSI Digital
Pics of the dish with the conical scaler ring
I recently received a WS1247 1.2 meter dish from our friends at WSI Digital. I have never worked with an offset dish this big and previously the biggest dish I had worked with was a 90cm dish. I received the dish and was amazed at the size of the box it came in. This dish is well packed. I opened it up and my jaw dropped at the shear size of the dish. I’ve worked with larger dishes but they were in pieces so you don’t know how big the dish is until its built. This is right there and its huge. Not many parts so its pretty easy to put together. I did have to laugh at the instructions. I know we don’t like manuals with the Chinese or Korean to English translation. Well no need to worry about that as there is none! There’s instructions but its in Chinese or Japanese (whatever it is). Well as a true guy, the picture worked fine. In all honesty it isn’t that hard to put together as most of the bolts only work with one spot. The bracket to hold the dish to the mast is very well built. The drawback is there is no way to use a motor that is downward shafted to hold this unless you fabricate it. If you have an upward shaft like a HH120 it will fit in there. The mast is 3 inches so if you decide to pole mount it you can get a fence post at any home hardware store. There are 2 “U” brackets to hold the dish to the mast so even if you don’t have a 3” mast a mast around 2 5/8” would work too. The dish has 2 support arms which keep the LNB in place and won’t move even in wind. Believe me, I originally tried to work with this dish while there was 30 mph winds and the LNB didn’t sway like it has on other dishes. This will hold a QPH-031 just dandy without worrying of the weight of the LNB to hold down the arm.
Decided to try KU Band first on it. Now common sense would be that with a dish this size the receiver quality meters should be jumping compared to my 76cm dish. Well that was right. I scanned the arc from 74 over to 105 and all the signals were almost at max quality on the Pansat 1500. Some of the weaker signals were jumped up to 60+ on the quality meter. Even on 103W with its oddball skew some transponders were at 99 even with the LNB skewed wrong (it was skewed as if it was motorized). Once I skewed it properly (which compared to other sats is improper) the meter just jumped. The strong transponders were at 99 quality even if I slightly moved it off the “sweet” spot. The receiver jumped with feeds that I had never seen before. Also received some DVB-S2 feeds at very good quality. For those who want 97W KU and are afraid of weak signals, let me tell you, this dish will cure those fears. All transponders were at 90+ with some stuck on 99 quality even if the dish moved off 97W a little bit.
All and all this dish is great for those weaker signals. I was very happy with it. The one drawback was there is no elevation scale so its almost trial and error. On the positive side the elevation adjustment is a heavy duty screw with 2 nuts to keep it in place. So if you need to drop the elevation a little bit you don’t have to try and hold the dish while adjusting the elevation. Just turn the screw a little bit and voila the elevation is adjusted.
Once I had KU down pat I then decided to try the “mini-bud” idea. As some of you know a “mini-bud” is what folks have called getting C-Band signals on a smaller than normal dish. Smaller than normal being 6 feet. Well I had some ideas on how to attach my scaler ring and C-Band LNB to it when someone pointed the group to a “new” product. A conical scaler ring. These are scaler rings that unlike normal ones that all are the same level, these go up in layers. Another way to describe it is that it looks like a “Devo” hat (you young folks who never saw the video “whip it” wont understand).
So that takes me to part 2 of my review.
I recently ordered a WS-KU2C conical scaler ring from WSI Digital to try C-Band on my 1.2 meter dish. Previously the only way to get conical rings were to order from Europe. There has been a want for these in North America and now they are available here from our friends at WSI Digital and Galaxy Marketing. (Conical Scalar Ring | Model WS-KU2C Kit Manufactured By WS International) I opened up the box to find the scaler ring which is powder blue in color, a 65mm LNB holder for the C-Band LNB, and the necessary hardware. The LNB holder will fit on most 1.2 meter dishes.
After getting the LNB holder put on the dish I decided to use the GeoSatPro C/K1 LNB as a test. I had worked with that LNB on my 6 footer so I knew what results I was getting on that dish. Attached the conical ring to the LNB and attached the setup to the dish. The equipment I was using was a analog receiver, a Pansat 1500, and a Motorola DSR-905. Since the dish doesn’t have a elevation meter I decided to use my analog receiver to lock onto Shepherd’s Chapel, which is on Galaxy 16. That way I can go from there for digital signals instead of spending a lot of time trying to lock a signal. Within a minute I had Shepherd’s Chapel locked with no sparklies. Now the big testing begins…digital.
My line of site on the north side of the house is from 72-111 so I knew I had a few satellite to lock. Since I was on 99W I wanted to see how much I could lock and at what quality. Hooked up the Pansat and right away World Harvest TV locked at 30 quality. But the Networks were only at 15. I moved the dish every which way and couldn’t get them any stronger. Then I decided to push the LNB in and then the magic started happening. I had it flush with the back of the conical ring but if I pushed it in about ¾”-1” the signal jumped. What I saw made me very happy.
Networks-55 to 60
My Network TV-75
World Harvest-45
ABC HD-30 with jumps to 35
WAPA Puerto Rico-90
Other feeds registered between 45-60. The meter on the Pansat reads true so the threshold is around 25-28. I was not able to get KCWY (NBC Casper) and can get that (barely) on the 6 footer. So all and all I was very happy right here.
Decided to move over to 97W and locked KCSG at 55-60. Went over to 91W and was able to lock almost everything there that I was able to get on the 6 foot dish.
CW-60
EWTN-60
The Word-90
Most other transponders registered around 45-50 but these are scrambled. There are some weaker feeds that I was not able to get that I can get on the 6 footer.
87W gave me some difficulties but I kinda knew it would. I can lock “This TV” at 30-35 but because it has a higher FEC (5/6) it wasn’t 100% stable. Needs around a 45 to stay stable. The radio mux with Religious stations I did peak at 99.
72W I was able to lock NASA at a decent signal of 30. Compared to my 6 footer I was happy that NASA came in. On my 6 footer it usually comes in around 45 quality. Worked my way over to 101 and locked Golden Eagles Broadcasting at 60 quality and was able to get a couple other religious stations. Couldn’t lock anything on 103 which has given me fits even on the 6 footer. Moved over to 107 and locked a few transponders there at 45 quality. With the C/K1 I also hooked up the KU side to my Motorola DSR-905 and locked Starchoice channels with a +7.5 to +8.5 ebno which is really good. I tried to see if I could lock 105. As most know there is a subscription offering on 105W and I thought if I could get that satellite with decent results maybe folks could subscribe. Well my curiosity turned to sadness. The best I could lock on a music channel was +3.0 which is just barely above threshold. If it was a video channel it would pixelate a lot. Audio channels play fine. So much for that idea.
I did move the dish back to 91W and did lock on some DCII channels with good results of +8.0 ebno. I was not able to move the dish any farther west from 107.3 due to the house being in the way. Hopefully I try that soon.
All and all I am very happy with both products. The fact that I was able to lock most satellites with good results makes this a great idea if you are limited when it comes to C-band. Now I know it isn’t a miracle worker and can’t get all the signals up there that a full size C-Band dish can get but I know some people can’t put up even a 6 foot dish. But using a 120cm dish that is motorized with the WS-KU2C Conical Scaler Ring you will get some good results. A great setup if you can’t get the networks where you live is a fixed dish at 99W with the conical ring for the Networks. The fact that I can get most of the channels on 99W with the 4 footer that I could get with my 6 footer makes it a great addition to any setup.
I want to thank Robbie at WSI Digital for supplying the 1.2m dish to try out. I was in shock when he offered to send me one to test out. I was really happy when the conical scaler ring arrived as it opened a whole new opportunity for the dish to pick up C-Band signals are very good results.
If you have been wanting a conical ring for your smaller dish to try and pick up C-Band, I highly suggest getting one. A lot of people have wanted one for a while and now finally a company has started selling them. So you better get one before they sell out
You can get them at Galaxy Marketing and WSI Digital
Pics of the dish with the conical scaler ring
Dish, scalar, and LNBF.
DEVO, :haha
I'm assuming that you used the KU-band side of the C/K1 on the 1.2M in your above satements?
. I know exaclty what you mean about the box size - that 4' gets really big when you see the box 
. I'm not all that familiar with the different size dishes (I've seen them, but haven't really dealt with many of them).I was even shocked at the size of the "raw" dish. I'm now excited to get it put up & see what it'll do here farther south - less atmosphere to receive through 
