Channel Master dish ?

[The Soulman]

Good afternoon all, hope this is in the right section, if not, appologies admin, please feel free to move.

Info first, question later.

I have just accquired what (After a little Googling) I believe to be a Channel Master satellite dish.
On the rear embossed into what appeares to be the plastic dish material are the words,
1.2 Meter / Part No. 3040646 / Mold No. 1.2M-1 / Made in the USA
The dish came with a STAB Rotor Sat HH 120 motor attached and a Triax TSI40U1 universal single 40mm 0.6db LNB

This equipment was lying around in the rear yard of the large local pub and was up until not that long ago part of the system that was installed in the pub.

For whatever reason the dish has been swapped for a different smaller fixed dish using the original pole mount.

I can only assume that whoever installed the new dish simply left this one lying around in the rear yard of the pub once he had taken it down.

I asked the manager / landlord if he was going to do anything with the dish and he told me that if I wanted it then I was welcome to take it.

Question.
I was curious as to if this equipment was of any value and if so, about how much ?
also, I do have a fairly large rear garden that has a reasonably unrestricted view of the skies, as I have a system that with a little fiddling, I could connect the dish up to, I was wondering if it might be worth while doing so and having a little play around.

At present my system has a 1mt wall mounted motorised Gibertini, in your considered opinion, would it be worthwhile giving the floor mounted 1.2 mt dish a shot or would it not be worth the messing.

Also, as the dish appears to be made of plastic and has become a little tatty looking, can I assume that it would be ok to give it a quick blast with the jet washer ?.

Any help / advice / comments would be much appreciated,

Regards,
The Soulman.

 

[wium]

Go for it.Nothing ventured nothing gained.

 

[Lazarus]

Decent reception on 26E should be a plus for you - I imagine it's tricky with a 1m where you are owing to the problem of rejecting 28e?

 

[The Soulman]

Decent reception on 26E should be a plus for you - I imagine it's tricky with a 1m where you are owing to the problem of rejecting 28e?

Thanks for the reply, what exactly does "rejecting 28E" mean ?,

Regards,
The Soulman.

 

[Robbo]

To get 26e can be tricky sometimes when you go further north as 28E can swamp the signals for 26E.

However as the dish gets a little larger, its beamwidth gets narrower, making it easier to separate close together sats.

26E where you are shouldn't be a problem on a quality 1.2m dish like that, would prob' work better with the matched feedhorn.

 

[wod]

Also, as the dish appears to be made of plastic and has become a little tatty looking, can I assume that it would be ok to give it a quick blast with the jet washer ?.

Regards,
The Soulman.

yes you can do that to clean it up, i did the same to mine when I got it.

 

[hexah]

I prefer to use a soft sponge intended for car washing, and do it by hand.

 

[The Soulman]

To get 26e can be tricky sometimes when you go further north as 28E can swamp the signals for 26E.

However as the dish gets a little larger, its beamwidth gets narrower, making it easier to separate close together sats.

26E where you are shouldn't be a problem on a quality 1.2m dish like that, would prob' work better with the matched feedhorn.

Thank you, could you advise what would be the best LNB for use with this dish and where I would be able to purchase the LNB and Channel Master feedhorn that is matched to both the LNB and dish,

Thank you and regards,
The Soulman.

 

[wod]

Thank you, could you advise what would be the best LNB for use with this dish and where I would be able to purchase the LNB and Channel Master feedhorn that is matched to both the LNB and dish,
Thank you and regards,
The Soulman.

i've found the inverto black ultra lnb to be a good choice for this dish. i've tried it and it works well, bear in mind the c120 lnb and feedhorn will be expensive. i have a spare feedhorn if your interested.

 

[nelson_b]

hi -
in my experiments with l.n.b.,s and channel master dishes -- i,v found that the c120 and matched feedhorn is an advantage over standard l.n.b,s on the channel master 1.8 metre -- even over the inverto black ultra --

but on 1.2 metre and 1 metre channel masters - the " inverto black ultra" l.n.b. will outperform the inverto C120 / matched feed combination

cheers nelson.b .

 

[Robbo]

With the Black ultra approx £15, the CM feed approx £60 without the C120 LNB, youve got little to lose going for the black ultra.

 

[The Soulman]

Ok guys, thanks very much for your replies / advice, given the obvious difference price wise, it looks like the Inverto Black Ultra for the Channel Master 1.2 mt is a no brainer, I might even order a twin output version to replace the twin Smart Titanium that is currently in use on my wall mounted motorised 1mt Gibertini.

I suffer serious poor picture quality / pixelation at times on Eutelsat at 16 degrees East when trying to watch the footy, (Tring) do you guys think the Inverto Black Ultra on the wall mounted 1mt Gibertini might go some way to improving this ?, again your advice / help would be much appreciated,

Regards,
The Soulman.

 

[Robbo]

11283H is one of the strong tps for that sat location, I'm surprised that you're having probs there with the gibby 1m, then again I don't live in Blackburn. Tring pictue quality isn't up to much anyway, but pixelation shouldn't occur, but it can get blocky sometimes during action due to compression. I think you need to check your dish alignment first, although if you're going o get an ultra anyway, why not try it on the gib.

 

[Rick]

Tring is doable on a Penta 58 up here Just. I've been installing TD88's for Tring, and I know a 1m Gibby will pull it in no problem. I would check your dish allignment, as it does need to be pretty spot on for it.

I would expect the 1.2cm to get you a good signal boost on the viasat nordic beams, you should also pull in 4w, which will be just out on the gibby, and the MBC's on 26e should become rock solid.

 

[The Soulman]

Tring is doable on a Penta 58 up here Just. I've been installing TD88's for Tring, and I know a 1m Gibby will pull it in no problem. I would check your dish allignment, as it does need to be pretty spot on for it.

I would expect the 1.2cm to get you a good signal boost on the viasat nordic beams, you should also pull in 4w, which will be just out on the gibby, and the MBC's on 26e should become rock solid.

Thanks Rick, I set the system up myself some while ago in the happy days of Art sport on Hotbird at 13 East.
I aligned the dish using the relevent info from the internet (Lat and Long) the dish instructions for elevation for my location and a well expensive satellite meter (£6.00 as I recall) from Ebay.

Once installed I put the relevent lat and log co-ordinates into the receiver using the USALS option and drove dish to the full range of satellites that the dish would allow, as I recall I could drive the dish to all the satellites Eastwards and as far as Hispasat at 30 West (At which point the dish was about 20mm from crashing in the wall)

I could receive pretty good pictures on the furthest satellites East and West and most all in between.
Given the fact that I am by no means an expert satellite systems installer (But I'm no dummy either) I assumed that I was pretty much "On the arc".

However since the days of Art sport and up untill a few weeks ago the systerm has been unused / unplugged and the present problems have only surfaced since I purchased a Tring card and have come to use it, maybe the dish has been blown slightly off line (Which I doubt) or maybe it was never really bang on the arc.

Assuming the dish is not quite set up right Rick, and given the fact that I occasionally install / relocate / mess around with satellite systems, which budjet meter would give me the best chance of setting the dish up correctly.
I think I did a decent job with the original install but would always appreciate an experienced persons guidance with regard to something like this.

I really would only be looking to spend coppers (£40 ish) compared to the kit that you are used to but then again, I would only be using it maybe once or twice a year, so if you know of anything thats half decent / for the hobbist within this price range please let me know.

(Rick, been looking at the Digisat Pro Accu, is this any good ?)

Thank you and regards,
The Soulman.

 

[hexah]

The three satellites at 16e are strung out in terms of elevation and azimuth, plus the beams are not optimized for the areas they are meant to cover.

That means you have to fine tune the dish elevation specifically for the channels you normally watch from 16e. As you only want one transponder it is a matter of fine tuning signal quality on that one, and hope the rest of the arc is ok.

 

[Lazarus]

Also, since a failure at the beginning of this year, signals from 16E are severely degraded compared to what they used to be.

Added to which, a spanking new Bird intended to vastly improve the situation was launched a few days ago and promptly suffered what is in effect a total loss.

So another year or so will pass before that's all put right.

 

[Rick]

While we have space junk for satellites at 16e it's not going to be an easy catch. Personally I wouldn't bother with cheapish meters. They just aren't that much use. Especially for 16e, all you will do is bounce between 13e and 19e and struggle to pick out 16e as it is so much weaker. I actually did my first few installs with a old fortec reciever and a 7" LCD tv and a long lead

Far better to use the recievers meter they usually display signal bars in the antenna setup menu. You choose the transponder you want to allign on, then watch the quality bar as you adjust the dish and LNB. Once you get a stable signal do a scan and check channels to make sure your on the right satellite, then tweak everything to max the signal It will be accurate enough to give you a very good allignment. If you struggle to hit 16e after lining up on 1w, and your mast is perfectly plumb, use USALS to send the motor to 16e and tweak the dish for a signal. Then retest your arc.