Finally - the SLIMLINE ODU is coming out

[sprog68]

Got the slimline dish and H20 installed last Friday. That is one large dish. It can still be roof mounted, but it was bigger than I was expecting. I'll have to take some pictures.

 

[charper1]

Cool, we have pics, can you get the reflector's dimensions please. Width x Height We want to know what the surface area is.

 

[tjwagner]

Slimline installed today

The installer was out this morning and I was pleasantly surprised to see him installing the new slimline for my dish upgrade. Now all I have to do is wait until December for the Ft Myers FL locals to go live.

 

[charper1]

TJ, can you please post the measurements of the reflector for us.

H" x W"

 

[tjwagner]

reflector???

Be glad to. Is the reflector the dish itself? Or the lnb part? Sorry for my lack of technical savvy. It will have to wait until morning though. It's getting too dark to go up on the roof.

 

[Stargazer]

The reflector is the dish pan that reflects the signals from the satellite in outer space to the lnbf (the part that the cable connects to). Some people call the lnbf an lnb.

 

[grydlok]

The slimline is now out for N.VA.
Im on the road but I will try to upload the white papers when I can.

 

[charper1]

The reflector is the dish pan that reflects the signals from the satellite in outer space to the lnbf (the part that the cable connects to). Some people call the lnbf an lnb.

Yes, thanks for clarifying my request guys, I went out to do some drinking and girl watching and did see the request for what a reflector is; my bad.

 

[tjwagner]

reflector measurements

32 1/4 X 22 1/2.

 

[charper1]

Thanks for the measurements TJ!

So that's 32.25" x 22.50" = 725.625 sq in surface area for the SlimLine as compared to 29.50" x 25.50" = 752.25 sq in surface area. So the SlimLine dish, based on these measurements, is a 26.625 sq in SMALLER reflector. So, did they lose anything? Is 26.6" a negligible loss? Did they overcome the smaller surface area with an improved surface design or improved LNBs? I know any comments on this will be purely speculative.

 

[benj]

Thanks for the measurements TJ!

So that's 32.25" x 22.50" = 725.625 sq in surface area for the SlimLine as compared to 29.50" x 25.50" = 752.25 sq in surface area. So the SlimLine dish, based on these measurements, is a 26.625 sq in SMALLER reflector. So, did they lose anything? Is 26.6" a negligible loss? Did they overcome the smaller surface area with an improved surface design or improved LNBs? I know any comments on this will be purely speculative.

The gain is improved. I haven't been able to read the gain data regarding the reflector itself. The data I base that fact on is comparing the signals of an H20-100 between an AT-9 and Slimline aligned using the same meter, same mount, same cabling, and the same AZ/EL back assembly.

The H20-100 shows 71 & 74 on transponders 1 & 2 respectively with the AT-9.

With the Slimline, the signals improve to 76 & 77.

The LNB also draws less current than the old AT-9 dish as well. 180ma vs. 250-300 ma of the AT-9 LNB. This is good news because you can have longer cable runs with less voltage drop between the receiver and LNB when you have an LNB that needs 30-40% less amperage.

.18a *(.015ohm * 500ft)= -1.35V across 500 ft of RG-6.

.30 *(.015* 500ft)= - 2.25V across 500 ft of RG-6 for the old LNB (this is the worst case scenario for an AT-9 LNB)

Average HVDC for your average D* IRD to select LHCP (even transponders) is 18.3v at the sat input. Sooooooooooooooo...

~18.3v - 15.5v = - 2.8v. <--- the theoretical max voltage drop you can experience to the LNB before an IRD can no longer select LHCP.



Yeah... so, just in case anyone was wondering... uh... there you go.

 

[paulman182]

Benj, this is very good info.

Thanks for the post!

 

[OneBigJedi]

Anyone in the Nashville Area Getting the Slimline?

Just wondering if anyone in the Middle Tennessee area is getting the NEW Slimline Dish yet? I will have to have a new install done around the 15th of Nov. and I just was wondering if it will be the the AT9 or the Slimline dish.

 

[dcbag]

No, I live above Nashville, got AT9 installed about 3 to 4 weeks ago. Signals seems to be good, but install looks like crap. Pole is nowhere near level, settings are not even close to correct. Some Installers don't seem to care, since they have good meters they can just slap the pole up any old way & get an acceptable signal.

 

[Spize]

Won't affect me for a while... the warehouse has a whole palet of AT9s left and no slimlines, and I have 3 prebuilt in my storage shed anyhow. BTW, the mod I made to my birdog makes the KAKU a breeze.

 

[Spize]

No, I live above Nashville, got AT9 installed about 3 to 4 weeks ago. Signals seems to be good, but install looks like crap. Pole is nowhere near level, settings are not even close to correct. Some Installers don't seem to care, since they have good meters they can just slap the pole up any old way & get an acceptable signal.

Honestly... if signal is the goal and gain is what you want, a non plummed pole is not relevant, unless we are talking a large degree off and it is poor looking astetics to the normal not retentive person.

 

[benj]

Honestly... if signal is the goal and gain is what you want, a non plummed pole is not relevant, unless we are talking a large degree off and it is poor looking astetics to the normal not retentive person.

This is debatable. I've had a hell of a time aligning the AT-9/AU-9 dish with the mast out of plumb. The more out of plumb you are, the less accurate your dither can be because the drop-off on each peak of the wave-form can never be even. It's worth mentioning that if every KA-band transponder was as powerful as each of the spotbeams are now on the Spaceway 1 & 2 birds- I might agree with you to a certain extent- but remember this: the CONUS beams from DTV11 and 12 will have 2/3 the -dB level and a 20-30% higher BER rate than what we're getting right now at 99 & 103.


I'm curious though, what mod are you talking about on your birddog? I'd like to give it a try...