Famaval 2.4 Extension Petals - advice please

***bignick*** · 24-10-2005

Thanks for the feed back guys - its all useful stuff.

Yes, the dish and petals are a different colour Simon & and I'm relived to see you have the same issue with the satlook. I haven't mastered the satlook to the point that I see the real worth of the spectrum and span settings. I understand its useful for getting skew bang on i.e. making the height/depth of the hills and valleys as big as possible but I'm even having difficulty with that - I usually set skew by A1 eye!! Does the reading on the side (usually in the 60dbuv range) actually mean anything? I've found the only reading of real use to be the SNR reading on digital!

The final fit of the petals was such that both me and Chris reckoned that the dish looked spot on with no warping at all.

As for the channels - I will ask the customer to check these channels at the time you mentioned. We were checking the BBCs and ITVs mainly. We know that BBC Scotland and N.ire were both ok and they usually go quite early! I have to go back there as the photos taken on my phone camera were....well,

crap really!

Thanks for the extra pics zorba – there’s a dish next to the paphos dual carriageway just getting into Limassol that looks to have the same setup. Now I know what it looks like without becoming (more of) a danger on the road as I squint to see it!!!

Thx

Nick

**maniacop32** · 24-10-2005

nice view .is it a village in limassol district?

***Zorba*** · 24-10-2005

Originally Posted by maniacop32

nice view .is it a village in limassol district?

Not my installation but a place around Apesia.The name of the village may have been changed to protect the innocent.

**maniacop32** · 24-10-2005

i bet thats your previous dish .is it?

***Zorba*** · 24-10-2005

No thats still 7 floors up in limassol.If there is one thing worse than putting these extensions together,its taking them apart and putting them together again somewhere else.

***Zorba*** · 24-10-2005

I dont think its upside down,we were advised once to do it that way ,but i cant remember why.

***bignick*** · 26-10-2005

Hi all

Finally got the pics

will post as soon as I work out how to do it

Cheers

Nick

**maniacop32** · 26-10-2005

Here it is.For some reason that only nickknows he could nt upload them.

**simonskyman** · 27-10-2005

Not bad,boys.
Whats the focal length,the feedhorn looks a bit high.
Ps Dodgy stand

***Zorba*** · 27-10-2005

So how much did it cost in the end?And is it 24/7 ?

***bignick*** · 27-10-2005

We set the focal length to 93cm in accordance with an earlier post though to both me and chris we thought it seemed close to the end of the feed horn, but you can't argue with the tape measure!!

PS Dodgy stand? Please explain? I thought it looked ok, in fact I was impressed by the way that it could take 8 rawlbolts instead of the standard 4. I always smirk when I hear people talking about the size of concrete base to use then give no thought as to how they connect it to the stand. This one seemed ok especially if compared to the ones that trigger is supplied with - the footprint of the base seems too small to me - if you think of the dish as a sail then the elements (ie wind) has a greater mechanical advantage on the smaller base. I can see why he goes the extra mile and covers it in concrete.

Zorba - The first night the customers said it was good all night. A couple of days later they said they had experienced a little pixelation which is a little concerning. I've already discussed with chris to go back as the signal weakens somewhat and fiddle with the lnb using simons most ingenious plan with removing the petal. I feel in Ypsonis they should have 24/7 BBC at this time of the year..........still, not a bad first crack wouldn't you say?
As for cost....well....guess

Originally Posted by simonskyman

Not bad,boys.
Whats the focal length,the feedhorn looks a bit high.
Ps Dodgy stand

**simonskyman** · 28-10-2005

The base of the stand looked flimsy,especially the cross part,but those extra bolts are helping otherwise the stand would wobble,with the extra size dish now,more wind area.But thats why you have the tension wirw.

***trigger*** · 03-12-2005

Just thought I would post you some pictures.
In my earlier post I mentioned concreting the base and that it gets a bit windy here. Have a look at some of the pictures of why I think they should be concreted in - especially when hurricane Delta comes to town!!!

The first two are of a dish that sustained damage even though it had a base fitted (not very well though). In the second picture you can see where the dish and base "walked" across the roof. The picture is taken from where it should have been.
The third picture is of a dish that got hit by a flying pergola off a local bar.

Happy Days

***bignick*** · 03-12-2005

How windy did it get Trigg? The one that 'walked' - I take it it wasn't bolted down to the roof and was relying on the wieght of the base.

GREAT PICS!!!!

Cheers

Nick

Originally Posted by trigger

Just thought I would post you some pictures.
In my earlier post I mentioned concreting the base and that it gets a bit windy here. Have a look at some of the pictures of why I think they should be concreted in - especially when hurricane Delta comes to town!!!

The first two are of a dish that sustained damage even though it had a base fitted (not very well though). In the second picture you can see where the dish and base "walked" across the roof. The picture is taken from where it should have been.
The third picture is of a dish that got hit by a flying pergola off a local bar.

Happy Days

***trigger*** · 04-12-2005

Official figures state 95kph but it was much much windier than that - especially in gusts. Quite a lot of damage here. You can see on the first pic i think that the dish has bent around the 12 fixing bolts where it fixes to the mount. I'm sure i read somewhere that Famaval quote 160KPH as survivable speed - but not sure so will try and find out.
Xmas has come early for me as had 57 call outs on the first day and lost count since.

Too right about the builder not putting the steels into the roof. The base was essentially free standing. Muppet!!

***bignick*** · 13-01-2006

Hi guys

Myself and manicop went back out to this dish recently to re-finetune it as the owner rekoned he lost some channels at about 2300L. We reset it using Simons petal removal idea...

.... worked a treat!! It helps that we are starting to understand how to get the best out of the satlook now. I'll phone the guy back in a day or two just to make sure its gone ok but we both felt there was a massive improvement and it was ssssooo much easier with the petal out of the way.

Cheers

Nick

Originally Posted by simonskyman

It seems you did a good job if it works all night.Well done guys.What about 8-10am?
Does ITV Yorkshire(10.891H) work after 7 pm?And ABC1 (channel 281).
I just started using the satlook recently(because i lost my roversat) and i cant get the "4th light" on or s/n readings,bloody annoying so i rely on the spectrum and span reading.
One other tip is to take off the bottom petal so you can get closer to the dish and adjust lnb for final readings without disturbing the dish,then carefully put petal back.
As for not been in line,I had that problem on a couple of dishes but not a big deal as long as the final shape is not warped,you can tell by looking at the dish from a side ans bottom view.do you have the old beige dish and new grey petals?The grey dishes have a slightly different edge that fits better to the petals.

virado · 13-04-2008

Google translation

Greetings to all, it seems that this antenna is a rare beast in any paraboloide the focal point optimum is determined by the diameter and depth, apart from the mechanical problems, the numbers add up to 240 cm but not at 310 cm. Not .....

saludos a todos, parece que esta antena es un bicho raro, en cualquier paraboloide el punto focal optimo esta determinado por el diametro y la profundidad, aparte de los problemas mecanicos, los numeros cuadran a 240 cm pero no a 310 cm. no se......

Please post in English, or at the very minimum, include a translation. Admin

fuertesport · 13-04-2008

hi trigger
i live in fuerteventura
can you fit petals to a std sky dish i.e 1.3m
to make it bigger
regards
simon

Originally Posted by trigger

Find attached the pictures

Note this dish was installed in the morning and the concrete base was due to be done in the afternoon. Normally I would recommend doing the base first but it's football this weekend and everyone is in a rush!!

Pic 1 - Shows all 3 ties to the ground
Pic 2 - Close up of how cable is attached to back mount
Pic 3 - Close up of what we call a "Turnbuckle". As you turn it, it tightens both ways (left hand thread on one side and right on the other)
Pic 4 - The downward stay - funny angle I must admit - Different guage wire but it was all the local supplier had left!
Pic 5 - Note the bolt in the middle of the mount. We drill and Tap the mount and put a bolt in each side because we have found the mount will still turn on the pole no mater how tight you do the 3 bolts.

Hope this all helps

Let me know if you need more info, pics etc

Triggs

virado · 14-04-2008

In order that the focal point continues being the same 93 cm, the depth of the disc tendria that to be more or less 65 cm if so changes the value of the f/d to 0.300 Someone can confirm the profunidad of 65 cm?

***bignick*** · 14-04-2008

Originally Posted by virado

In order that the focal point continues being the same 93 cm, the depth of the disc tendria that to be more or less 65 cm if so changes the value of the f/d to 0.300 Someone can confirm the profunidad of 65 cm?

Perhaps the info at the end of this post will help: My 2 dishes in Cyprus

Hope that helps

Nick

virado · 14-04-2008

Bignick thank you for your help
not seen the post before, right i was thinking the f/d it is 0.300 an angle of lighting is needed of at least 150 º not to leave of the dish because then we catch noise and if it is this way and with the extensions it is obtained 2db more (he,she) means that with 240 and the same focal distance and the same horn feed illuminates out of the parable? Or probably there is a small difference of 0.5 cm in the position of the conversor between(among) 240 and 310?

Saludos

johnreynolds · 19-09-2009

Hi

I live on the Costa Blanca have a 2.4 Famaval Dish installed to our community of 50 Properties and looking to possibly extend the dish to 3.1 by way of Petals to better improve BBC2 and Ch5. We have free to air channels. 2 questions:-
1. Where might we be able to purchase the Petals from & at what sort of cost??
2. Has any one else had similiar thoughts for same reasons and did it help??

Regards

John

***woborny*** · 19-09-2009

the petals may not make the channels become available 24/7 but depending where exactly you are they will increase reception of bbc2 for maybe about an hour or two only. expect to pay around 400 euros in spain for the petals

this has been discussed before on here for the costa blanca....

Famaval panels 2.4 dish

best get the company who installed the dish to do the petals, if you were satisfied with their work!

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