A Few New Dish Finds

[Inno]

Well it's been a pretty productive summer as far as finding extra dishes goes.
I ran an ad in a local paper quite some time ago and came up with a 10' Orbitron as shown in following pictures. Wondering with that button hook feed is that any good for Ku?

Awhile later I came across a Star Choice elliptical which is a Channel Master 60e, and then last night I picked up a Channel Master 75e from a friend who owns a technology company. The dish was just going to go to the garbage!!!!! NO NO NO!
It was set up for the 3 satellite Direct TV setup with 3 LNBs. Wondering if the middle LNB (marked Sat C.) is a linear LNB as it specifies that it can only be used for that position.

Now I just have to get busy pouring some cement (in a few weeks) and building/reconfigure "the farm".

 

[Anole]

Love the BUD. The feedhorn is C-band.
Can't see the mesh on the dish well enough to know if it'll do Ku or not.
Someone in the BUD section will probably know that dish by name.
Same with the feed. That big blue motor is probably a give-away to someone who's well versed in the hardware.
edit: looks like "Chaparral" on the side, but maybe it's a very early model.
Don't think that's the more recent servo motor.

As for the DirecTV SatC LNB, it's very queer, but circular.
I don't know of any use, other than for DirecTV subscription.

A great haul. - :up

 

[Inno]

I know the BUD is an Orbitron dish, in fact Iceberg has put an installation manual up in the manuals forum which is great. Yes the feedhorn that is currently on the mount is indeed a Chaparral and it's definitely C-band only. The big blue thing is a cover and it's removable. Underneath it is the standard servo motor for skew. I think these covers came standard at one time but it seems like they were commonly disgarded. I have a C/Ku feedhorn that I will likely put on while installing the dish. I was just wondering if the button hook mount for the feedhorn would cause any problems with a Ku signal. Seems like a well built dish and the mount looks like it'll make things easy to install the dish which is a good thing 'cause the pole that I have for it is around 9' tall!

The larger Channel Master I guess I'll have to order some LNBs for and see what 3 satellites I'm able to pick up with it. Any suggestions?

 

[Anole]

Well, there's always TheList for C-band... and there are several lists on Global-CM.
In the regular FTA section, there are a couple of threads where the guys are fighting to get C-band on 1 meter dishes.
Several of them list interesting things they can receive... so you should certainly get all of those! - :up

Can you get us a photo down the throat of your old Chaparral ?
I guess there have been three (?) designs over the years, and I was thinking of making a display of 'em all.

I see the old timers often commenting about button hook feeds where the pole sags somewhat.
( couldn't you rotate it 180° and get it back to near-normal? - - )
If you can double check , maybe with a laser pointer, that the feed is centered ON the dish, and pointed AT the exact center, should that be all ya need?

 

[GreatFTA]

Is there a laser pointer available for satellite setup? I want one but could never find it.

 

[Inno]

I see the old timers often commenting about button hook feeds where the pole sags somewhat.
( couldn't you rotate it 180° and get it back to near-normal? - - )
If you can double check , maybe with a laser pointer, that the feed is centered ON the dish, and pointed AT the exact center, should that be all ya need?

That is a good idea............and a good excuse to buy another tool!
I wasn't thinking about sagging but that is a really good point, especially if I'm going to hang a C and a Ku LNB off the end of it. Although the LNBs I'll use will be much lighter than any available when that dish was manufactured.

I have a number of Chap. feedhorns, I'll take some pics of all of them down the throat if ya like. I know there are some differences between them but I'm not sure when each one was built.

Stay tuned...

 

[SatelliteAV]

I use a torpedo level with a built-in laser pointer. Lay across the throat with the laser centered and aiming at the reflector. Very easy to center and aim. Purchased at Lowes a few years ago. Google Shopping Link

 

[Inno]

So one of these is obviously a C/Ku feed, one seems to have a bent probe, one has what looks to be a brass ring around the end of the feed. These are all Chaparral. I also have two C-band LNBFs with two fixed probes (one for H one for V) which are I believe both Star Trak brand names.

 

[scottc98]

I can comment that the Channelmaster 84e is a great dish! Perfect for any fixed KU location. The LNB mount you have is mented for DTV, but you can modify it for other locations. I've got mine fixed at 72W, with a LNB at 61.5 and 58W (weak but a few channels). You can play around with a few different lnb combos.

 

[Inno]

I can comment that the Channelmaster 84e is a great dish! Perfect for any fixed KU location. The LNB mount you have is mented for DTV, but you can modify it for other locations. I've got mine fixed at 72W, with a LNB at 61.5 and 58W (weak but a few channels). You can play around with a few different lnb combos.

Good to hear, it really looks like a quality dish. I plan on having it fixed and trying for 3 satellites, not sure which ones yet. I'm currently looking at G10R, AMC3 and G13 C-band with 3 fixed dishes. Hmm, have to change my sig.

 

[Inno]

What sort of spread would I be able to achieve with this dish? How many degrees either side of the main LNB?

 

[Anole]

Here's a nice thread for getting 87° and 97° on a Primestar 84e.
Pictures in the very first post.

A much longer experimental thread came earlier.
It delivered 123° & 129° on what wound up being another 84e.
Here's the link to the post with pictures of the final configuration.

I think you participated in the latter thread.

 

[scottc98]

you'd be able to get a lot more with circular lnbs. Your brackt you have now is about 9 deg each direction from the middle.

furthest one direction I've gotten is 14 deg one direction (72, 58). Thats about as far as I could go and I was losing signal at 58w. With fine tuning and some small, good quality LNBs, you could be good at about 6 deg each direction from the middle.

You may be able to squeeze closer, but you will be limited by LNB size to get the spacing close together.

Ex. Sadoun dual KUs can get 5-6 side by side pretty easy on the dish. You may need to modify the bracket and use something other that the plastic holder. 4 is possible with a new bracket but I haven't played around too much. My 84e is for AMC 6 so there isn't much to add on for me, especially with my T90 getting 74 and 79. My LOS for that dish is only 82-45W so not much I can do

 

[linuxman]

Great finds Inno!!!

The C/Ku Co-Rotor in the fourth picture from the left is the newer style Co-Rotor. All the others are C-Band only that I can tell.

The one with the brass colored ring is the famous "Chaparral Gold Ring" used on deep F/D ratio dishes like the Winegard Pinnacle which has a 0.28 F/D.

All good finds, and as stated the 84e is the flagship of Ku dishes for multi-lnbs.

 

[Anole]

like this ?

Inno -

Is this the Channel Master dish 'n LNBs you have?
A bit of documentation on 'em.

 

[Inno]

Inno -

Is this the Channel Master dish 'n LNBs you have?
A bit of documentation on 'em.

Yes, that looks like it. Thanks for that. Looks like I have some reading to do.

Linuxman, that "gold ring" chap. I believe came from a Winegard antenna which as I recall (a lot of years ago) came from a house located very near a communications tower. Wish I still had that dish!

 

[Anole]

how do you measure up?

you'd be able to get a lot more with circular lnbs.
Your bracket you have now is about 9 deg each direction from the middle.

You know, Scott has a couple of great points, there! -
The existing bracketry shows you how far apart 9° is.
Measure how far apart the LNBs are, center to center.

Now, if you want two birds 12° apart (assuming you can get there on this dish) ..
... just calculate 12/9ths of the above spacing, and mount your LNBs.
That should give you a good starting place.

But say you want 4° apart.
Well, 4/9ths might be too tight for regular LNBs.
So, try the little ones SatelliteAV sells.
These are Universal, but he also has Standards.
I have one here in my hands, and they are about 40mm across the face, or roughly 1½" in diameter.

 

[Inno]

Here's a nice thread for getting 87° and 97° on a Primestar 84e.
Pictures in the very first post.

A much longer experimental thread came earlier.
It delivered 123° & 129° on what wound up being another 84e.
Here's the link to the post with pictures of the final configuration.

I think you participated in the latter thread.

You are correct, I did. And after that I added 129 to my 123 dish.......but I didn't find Whitesprings to my liking. I'm sure I'll find something good to do with it.

 

[scottc98]

I use to use this dish for 74W before the T90 was there. I used my invacom for 74 and strapped a Fortec Univ to the side for 79W. Both LNBs are pretty thick but it was the Dish bracket that was causing some issues. I was still able to get a strong signal (60s) for the NY nets on 79w along with the Utah channels when they were there. That is also 5 deg seperation with some thick LNBs. The ones from Sadoun mentioned before should have no problems with 4 deg.

for some other combos, I also used part of the LNB bracket (bottom) and attached the end on the left or right to extend the length.

Anole has a good idea about measuring the distance. I would probably look into making a different bracket that removes the plastic portion, providing LNB mobility end to end. Sort of like a slide bar that the T90 lnbs use, so you can move the lnbs at will for whatever combo you want. Take notice that the present bracket raises the lnb as it move outward from center. You may need to put that in play when you make a new bracket.

 

[linuxman]

Linuxman, that "gold ring" chap. I believe came from a Winegard antenna which as I recall (a lot of years ago) came from a house located very near a communications tower. Wish I still had that dish!

In all probability, it was a Pinnacle, and they are good dishes.

Maybe you'll find another one.