Best 1.2m Dish?

[roccky]

Hello,

I am struggling to find a 1,2m satellite dish.

I am going to mount it on my Stab hh 120 motor, so I would like the dish to be under 12kg. Stab says it can handle up to 17kg, but I have heard of guys with their motors destroyed rather soon with dishes around 17kg.

So any advice will be very welcomed. Anyone knows the weight of the Fracarro 120 or the Andrews 120 (formerly Channel Master)? I can't believe nobody includes this information in their websites, since it looks critical. Any other (hopefully cheaper...) options?

Thanks!

 

[Journey]

The Gibertini 1.25m is a really nice dish mate and it's particularly light also in its one piece aluminium form

 

[roccky]

I have read somewhere that Gibertini is around 27kg (braket included). Do you have one?

 

[Journey]

I did have one until recently, sold it as i has too many dishes

After a quick google, your right, a bit too heavy

aluminum face weights 11 kg
steel backplate with mount 16.5kg
complete gibertini 1.2 m weights 27.5 kg

i thought it was a lot lighter just from lifting the actual dish around, but i was obviously not taking into account the backplate and mount

 

[roccky]

Well, it is strange, since websites usually say that it is 4kg... ??!!??

Thanks anyway mate!

 

[sonnetpete]

My Laminas weighs 6.2kg dish only and 8kg with an Az El mount. It runs quite happily on my Clarke Tech USALS motor. The main problem is that I don't know of a distributor in the UK. Spec sheet here :

http://www.laminas.com.pl/page_eng/ofc1200_eng.html

 

[gibertini]

Hello,

I am struggling to find a 1,2m satellite dish.

I am going to mount it on my Stab hh 120 motor, so I would like the dish to be under 12kg. Stab says it can handle up to 17kg, but I have heard of guys with their motors destroyed rather soon with dishes around 17kg.

So any advice will be very welcomed. Anyone knows the weight of the Fracarro 120 or the Andrews 120 (formerly Channel Master)? I can't believe nobody includes this information in their websites, since it looks critical. Any other (hopefully cheaper...) options?

Thanks!

there are quite a few second hand channel master 1.2m dishes for sale with polar mount/actuator on E*** that you could get for the price of a new 1.2m. much better to use a polar mount if using a heavy and quality 1.2m i know only to well from experience as i run a gibby 1.25m on a stab 120 and it was struggling so i removed it before it was destroyed

 

[roccky]

The maninas looks great but I can't find it either. Regarding polar mount/actuator, the point is I already have the motor, so I would prefer if I could find a suitable dish. Although it is proving to be more difficult than expected

If someone could confirm weight for Fracarro or Andrews that could solve the problem!

 

[Captain Jack]

Forget mounting the Channel Master on the Stab motor - it's too heavy. Don't even try it.

Gibertini 125 is doable but only if you're in a sheltered location.

 

[roccky]

OK, thanks. Not sheltered at all unfortunately. Has anyone got the SAC 120?

It doesn't look the best dish in the market, but only this one and Fracarro seem to be available

 

[Captain Jack]

What are you trying to receive? Perhaps a 1m will suffice?

 

[roccky]

A little bit of everything. I have triax 110 now and just some rain spoils everything sometimes. Since intallation got damaged after bad weather, I am now trying to upgrade (I am also looking for a new lnb, maybe the UNYSAT-Universal-Twin-LNB. )

 

[RimaNTSS]

I think it is not big difference between 1,1m antenna you already have and 1,2m. If you have place and it is not prohibited to install bigger dish you better go this way. And, of course, actuator and positioner.
But talking about 1,2m dishes and their weight, probably plastic ones are the lighter then aluminum ones. In my country plastic square dishes are quiet popular, I have 90cm, 1,17m, 1,4m, those are really light, durable and good for multifeeds.

 

[sonnetpete]

A little bit of everything. I have triax 110 now and just some rain spoils everything sometimes. Since intallation got damaged after bad weather, I am now trying to upgrade (I am also looking for a new lnb, maybe the UNYSAT-Universal-Twin-LNB. )

Any particular reason why that LNB? The Inverto Black Ultra is well regarded on here and I notice the UNYSAT is €94 whereas the Black Ultra twin is €22. I'm almost sure my French supplier would ship a dish to the UK but how the costs would compare by sourcing an Andrews 1.2M in the UK, I'm not sure...

 

[roccky]

I had the hope that LNB would help a bit with signal losses due to bad weather... but I don't really now how it compares.

I guess in the end I will go for the S.A.C.:

http://www.sacelectronics.co.uk/Product.aspx?PID=790

since it seems to have slightly better gains than the triax 110m, and since the Fracarro might be too heavy as well.

 

[sonnetpete]

Given a choice between the two, I'd go for the Fracarro. Mainly because the dish face is aluminum and the SAC is all steel and I'd imagine quite a bit heavier. I have a Fracarro Penta in my multisat set up and it's impressively engineered.

Don't get too concerned by weight, it's the shearing force of the wind that will be your greatest problem. I see you give your location as Hove, so I hope the dish is going in a sheltered position, away from those gales that gallop up the Channel.

 

[roccky]

Unfortunately my location is not away from the sea : ). A little bit sheltered, but quite exposed anyway. Sure, wind is the biggest problem, but I guess it is healthy to keep weight as low as possible, and always under 15 or so.

The problem with the Fracarro is that I have no idea about the weight of the bracket. And I guess it will be heavy as it is the Gibertini bracket or the Andrews, for example.

Regarding your Laminas, it looks like a high quality dish. Is the Az El mount the thing were you attach the motor? (my motor is Stab hh 120). Could you send me the details of your French supplier?

 

[sonnetpete]

Yes, an Azimuth/Elevation mount is standard on most dishes below about 1.5m and it's the part you attach to the motor stub. No doubt there will be exceptions, but to the best of my knowledge most brackets are constructed in steel. The dish face material does contribute considerably to the overall weight though.

My French supplier is :

http://www.2galli.fr/boutique/liste_rayons.cfm

You'll see he stocks Laminas dishes up to 2.7M. The OFC 1200 which is the one I have is about half the price of an Andrews 1.2M I've seen advertised elsewhere. Note that Andrews dishes are just about bullet proof and I'm sure a cut above my Laminas in quality.

 

[Robinson74]

Regarding your Laminas, it looks like a high quality dish. Is the Az El mount the thing were you attach the motor? (my motor is Stab hh 120). Could you send me the details of your French supplier?

I live about 5km from Laminas workshop.
I can try and find out if they ship them to the UK.

 

[archive10]

Yes, an Azimuth/Elevation mount is standard on most dishes below about 1.5m and it's the part you attach to the motor stub. No doubt there will be exceptions, but to the best of my knowledge most brackets are constructed in steel. The dish face material does contribute considerably to the overall weight though.

My French supplier is :

http://www.2galli.fr/boutique/liste_rayons.cfm

You'll see he stocks Laminas dishes up to 2.7M. The OFC 1200 which is the one I have is about half the price of an Andrews 1.2M I've seen advertised elsewhere. Note that Andrews dishes are just about bullet proof and I'm sure a cut above my Laminas in quality.

The CM120s + AzEl is quite heavy. Way more than 17 kg. I'll weigh a CM120 + AzEl bracket + arms tomorrow and post the result.

Also notice that the most widespread AzEl mount on the CM requires a 76 mm pole top. The Stab seems to have 54 mm top according to Stab, so you'd need an adapter of some form. CM does make a pole mount that should fit from 50-76 mm, but they are not that common. (My distributor has a couple in stock, though).