First C-Band Dish Need Motor Suggestions

[card13]

I just got a used fiberglass 8ft Offset dish. I had a 90CM Geosat KU dish with USALS Motor, which worked well till our most recent windstorm where it damaged the motor. I picked up this new to me dish and would like to motorize it. The LNB Mount is at a friends so that will be re-attached before end of month, I also have a C/KU LNB on order.

I got spoiled with the KU USALS, so I'm learning how to do it the more traditional way now. I am Washington State, USA so my arc is low in the West and peaks in the South East. I understand it's a DISEq 1.2 protocol for C Band Actuators. I assume I only need a singular Actuator, but this is where I am unsure. I read there's an Elevation Actuator or an Azimuth Actuator. Do I need both (which I would obviously need a different mount), and what's a recommended model?

 

[primestar31]

That's a fixed Prodelin offset 8 foot dish for KU reception. There's NO motor beyond a old Ajak HH-180 drive that's capable of moving it. Those are REALLY rare motors to find, and you'll have to do some massive modification to adapt one, IF you could even find one. Also, you'll need a conical scalar to use that prime focus LNBF with an offset dish.

Good luck. I highly recommend you keep looking for a prime focus dish, and nothing smaller than 10 feet. You'll need it with the way everything is changing signalwise.

 

[card13]

That's a fixed Prodelin offset 8 foot dish for KU reception. There's NO motor beyond a old Ajak HH-180 drive that's capable of moving it. Those are REALLY rare motors to find, and you'll have to do some massive modification to adapt one, IF you could even find one. Also, you'll need a conical scalar to use that prime focus LNBF with an offset dish.

Good luck. I highly recommend you keep looking for a prime focus dish, and nothing smaller than 10 feet. You'll need it with the way everything is changing signalwise.

Does that mean that if I change out the arm/mount I'd still be stuck? I did notice it has holes for other LNB arms (my friend got the same model with a different LNB arm more similar to the Geosat Pro 90CM).

As for KU/C, my area recommends a 4-6 ft for most C Band according to Satbeams - World Of Satellites at your fingertips. I would prefer a 10ft+ prime focus, but there weren't any avail in my area for my price range at the moment, so I decided to start here.

 

[Titanium]

The 8 ft dish might provide enough gain to receive the stronger DVB-S C-band signals, but not adequate to receive signals with higher FEC rates and modulations requiring a higher SIgnal to Noise Ratio (SNR). The minimum diameter for a 3 degree beamwidth is over 7 feet, any smaller diameter relector "sees" too much of the sky and unable to attenuate adjacent satellite signals from interferring. Larger reflectors will provide higher SNR agains't terrestrial interference such as 5G.

Agree with Primestar, it is a fantastic FIXED KU band dish. Not suitable for most C-band considering the labor and cost of materials to fabricate a motorized mount.

 

[cyberham]

Here is the list of in-the-clear video channels that I typically receive on the southwest coast of Canada at the moment using a motorized 4-foot offset dish on C-band from satellites 139W through 84W. There are additional audio channels not mentioned.

A user can decide if their personal tastes justify installing a small C-band dish. I assume an 8-foot offset dish would receive more (perhaps significantly?) since I blind scan in many more transponders across the arc but signals are too low in strength to lock. Even a couple extra dB from a little larger dish could provide better results I assume.

139W: Alaska Rural Communications Service (ARCS)
133W: EWTN mux (rel.)
125W: ShopHQ mux
119W: Nunavut/NWT (gov.)
117W: Heraldo TV, SMRTV/Radio (Mexican)
115W: Justicia, Canal 10, Canal del Congresso (Mexican)
105W: TRC, Cepropie (gov.), VA+, UAA, A Mas+ (Mexican)
103W: Home Shopping mux
101W: Daystar (rel.)
97W: Imagen, Excelsior, CBN feeds (rel,)
91W: Word (rel.), CW Backup

Plus, very occasionally, network sports feeds.

 

[primestar31]

Does that mean that if I change out the arm/mount I'd still be stuck? I did notice it has holes for other LNB arms (my friend got the same model with a different LNB arm more similar to the Geosat Pro 90CM).

As for KU/C, my area recommends a 4-6 ft for most C Band according to Satbeams - World Of Satellites at your fingertips. I would prefer a 10ft+ prime focus, but there weren't any avail in my area for my price range at the moment, so I decided to start here.

It'll likely work for the stronger stuff, IF you want to go to all the trouble to mount it as FIXED, on a single satellite. That's the easiest way to just get going. You'll never be able to mate it to a standard polar mount, as it's just too large and heavy. Also because it's offset, installing it on a polar mount meant for prime focus requires that the TOP of the dish to be tilted DOWN quite a bit. That puts a LOT of strain on a polar mount. I know for a fact that a Ajak HH-180 can be retrofitted, as there's a couple posters here that have done it. However, it takes a nice shop, and some real skills to do so.

I had one years ago that was the 6 foot version, and it was great for KU stuff. Just to give you an idea, that 6 foot Prodelin only gave 3dB more signal than a 39" Glorystar dish. Granted, that doubled the signal gain. So, I would assume that the 8 foot version would give another 3dB gain OVER the 6 foot version. Meaning, 6dB gain over a 39" ku dish.

My recommendation to find a prime focus dish stands. Check Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, tell EVERYBODY you know that you are looking for one, etc. Try to find a MESH or metal spun dish, over an old fiberglass dish. Much easier to deal with in everyway. The early prime focus fiberglass dishes weren't meant for todays type of satellite signal reception, and it can be hard to tell if one is worth bothering with, unless you've been around at least 30-40 years of paying attention to the whole market.