Earth Station Fisty (2024)

[Fisty McB]

Not a complete job yet, but I thought it would be worth documenting what I've got up so far...

* Four "permanent" dishes
* One temporary dish, will probably be permanent in due course
* Active space has been reduced due to the presence of a small shed, so I've had to be a bit creative in dish positioning.



Dishes 1 & 2



Dish 1 is a simple Sky Zone 1 dish aimed at 28.2E. This replaced a 45cm dish that was starting to rust at its bolts as well as have the paint on it flake off, looking unsightly. Even with this diddy dish (equivalent to a 50cm universal dish) the UK spot beams come in at an SNR of 15-18db and even the European beam channels are at least 12db.

Dish 2 is the old 120cm dish that was originally used with a Diseqc motor a few years ago. It's a bit of an awkward beast to mount and I couldn't put this on the wall of a wooden garden shed, so a solid 50mm pole was used that is braced to the shed and cemented at the bottom. It's been kept low down just enough for the bottom face edge of the dish to look over the fence at the low-in-the-sky eastern satellites at 39E-52E, centred at a point between 45E-46E - this is not easy to align, as the tighter 3db aperture of the 120cm dish means that finding a sweet spot to successfully cover both satellite positions is trickier than say if I was using an 80cm or even 100cm dish - aligning it dead on 45E or 46E just takes too much performance off the other position. One thing I noticed about this dish a few months back is that looking down at this angle, the top of the dish tilts forward a little bit, disrupting the parabola and hitting the dish's gain. I've sorted it for now by simply using a piece of string tied up to a hook on the shed to keep the dishes' head up! The SNR difference is 2db, believe it or not. The string will eventually be replaced by some fish line, when I can find the stuff I already have somewhere!

Offset LNBs on Dish 2 include a single Inverto Black Ultra on 52E and a no name 4.3 degree monoblock on 42E & 39E. The monoblock testing showed it to be a surprisingly good low noise performer on the Wavefrontier dish (more on that later) at least on the 10.7-11.7 GHz frequencies, and so is being tested here at present- the 4.3 degree spacing works out for approx 3 degrees on a 120cm dish, but I think I'll replace these with two separate universal LNBs in the end. The main problem with the LNBs on this dish is that because it looks so far down, the faces of the LNBs are well off a vertical line that is at right angles to the ground, meaning that rain, snow etc. is able to "hang on" to the face of the LNBs longer than on LNBs at more western satellites in the arc - some sort of hood may sort this out.

Dish 3



Dish 3 is the Wavefrontier T90 that had been kept in storage for four years and had finally made its way out last autumn. The dish is centred almost on 16E - a say almost because I forgot to make sure the 16E LNB was dead centred on the rail before aligning the dish, but it's only a couple of a tenth of degrees out and doesn't matter that much. Not all LNBs on the rail are secured at the moment as some fine tuning still needs to be done, but overall I'm relatively pleased with its performance - I would have liked it to be a little lower to the ground, but the mounting options I had made this impossible and beggars can't be choosers. I'll paint the reflector surfaces in the summer, but for now there are LNBs picking up satellites from 5W, 1W, 1.9E, 4.8E & 7E (using an Inverto 3 degree monoblock), 9E & 10E (one LN, 13E, 16E, 19E, 23.5E, 26E, 33E & 36E. Once I secure the 36E LNB it might just be possible to mount an LNB for 39E that won't suffer from the lingering rain droplets that plague it on Dish 2, but the overall signal levels might be lower. An LNB for 8W is also a possibility but since the only permanent signal on the European beam there is a "Marquer" test card, it would likely be just cosmetic.

Just for anyone noticing, there is a gap between 26E & 33E, I've little need to place an LNB there for 28E while I've also tried to get reception from Turksat 5A - however the Turksat promo that is reported to be on 10992 V has drawn a blank here, which makes me think the signal is being broadcast on the "West 1" beam that doesn't easily cover Northern Ireland compared to the "West 2" beam, which doesn't appear to have anything permenantly broadcasting on its beam right now. There's also no real room to stick an LNB at 21.5E either, even a narrow one - and most of the FTA signals from that satellite would struggle on this dish size anyway.

Dish 4



Dish 4, aka "El Barto" is an 80cm dish pointing at the western end of the local arc, centred on 22W. Some tweaking of the LNBs were done last week on them, with the 15W/14W LNB now centered on 15W with the disappearance of the Russian terrestrial TV feeds from 14W, with 30W also tuned up with a different bracket now used. Like Dish 2, the dish is situated low down but enough for the bottom face edge to still see all three satellite positions.

Dish 5 (Temp)



Dish 5 is a simple 80 cm aluminium dish I got shipped from Poland a few years back along with El Barto, and it is currently centred on 9E for reception of the Saorsat transponder on the KaSat satellite. There's nothing on here that I can't receive from elsewhere, so it's not a priority.

The future..?

I have a spare 100cm Gibertini in the garden shed that I am thinking of putting at the end of a new Technomate diseqc motor that would be positioned roughly where Dish 5 is currently located - though it will have to be located higher up than where Dish 5 is if it's going to be able to see the more western satellite on the Clarke Belt & I'm wondering if even when using a short 12 inch/30cm T & K bracket with the bottom of the pole cemented into the ground wherever (a) it would be a firm enough support, (b) wherever I could get a pole longer than 3 metres so that I have enough cemented into the ground while also able to overlook the metal screen (this covers a heating oil tank) to be able to face west enough (would bracing two pole work as long at the top pole was plumb?), and (c) wherever even with the 100cm Gibertini it would be worthwhile putting it up on a motor given what I can already receive with my fixed setup - the 100cm dish is unlikely to be able to deliver significantly more gain that the Wavefrontier already does at 10E & 7E, and I'm not a major feedhunter than bildscans a lot. The motorised dish, unlike the fixed dishes, would also be more exposed to the wind here & I live near the top of a local hill, putting potential strain on the wall of the shed.

In addition, Dish 5 is likely to be a permanent fixture - if the motorised dish is set up, it's likely going to be positioned lower down its mounting pole and centred on 3E with an LNB offset at 9E for the Saorsat KaSat LNB (I'm currently getting a 10.75-11db SNR for the Saorsat signal on Dish 5 on a clear day, with a maximum 2.5db reduction in the worst rain so far, so I'm reasonably confident that a 6 degree offset will still give enough of a rain margin though as I've said above it's not a priority as everything on it I can already receive elsewhere) and I was also thinking one for 3W or 4W as well, though there's nothing broadcasting there on either position that I can currently receive on an 80cm dish. Maybe just the two 3E/9E Saorsat LNB setup will be enough.

In addition, I've to get all the coax wiring done up properly which means partially buying them (I have some flexible water pipe in the shed for that purpose as well as a 250 metre Webro WF100 reel!) and mounting boxes up on the back shed wall for the LNB switches - but first, I'll need to stain the outside back shed wall where the boxes will be mounted. Hopefully everything should be finished up by some point in the spring of 2024, weather permitting!

LNB's used (subject to change):

(Classic) Inverto Black Ultra (single): 52E, 33E, 14 & 15W, 30W
Technomate TM-1 Ultra (single): 46/45E, 36E, 22W
(New) Inverto Black Ultra (dual): 10 & 9E, 1.9E
No name 4.3 degree monoblock (single): 42 & 39E
Inverto 3 degree monoblock (twin): 7 & 4.8E
Technomate Sky LNB (quad): 28E
MacClean LNB (quad): 19E
(Classic) Inverto Black Ultra (quad): 13E
(Classic) Inverto Premium (dual): 16E
Golden Media GM202 (dual): 23.5E
Golden Media GM202+ (dual): 5W
Golden Media GM201 (single): 26E
Triax Saorsat Ka LNB (twin): 9E (KaSat)

 

[Analoguesat]

Nice! Keep a careful eye on the red / orange cap lnbs bud - Ive found the ones Ive got here the caps have gone very brittle & are shattering after 2 or 3 years outside.

I really need to do a severe overhaul on my system here - several of the lnbs arent receiving anything due to failure or moving in the extreme storms we get up ere.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Nice! Keep a careful eye on the red / orange cap lnbs bud - Ive found the ones Ive got here the caps have gone very brittle & are shattering after 2 or 3 years outside.

I really need to do a severe overhaul on my system here - several of the lnbs arent receiving anything due to failure or moving in the extreme storms we get up ere.

I would wait a couple of days.

UK weather warnings

Met Office UK weather warnings for rain, wind, snow, ice, fog, thunderstorm, lightning and extreme heat.

www.metoffice.gov.uk

 

[Fisty McB]

Nice! Keep a careful eye on the red / orange cap lnbs bud - Ive found the ones Ive got here the caps have gone very brittle & are shattering after 2 or 3 years outside.

I really need to do a severe overhaul on my system here - several of the lnbs arent receiving anything due to failure or moving in the extreme storms we get up ere.

Will keep the tip in mind for the LNBs, though I've found the Golden Media GM201 & GM202+ LNBs to be very good performers for weak signal conditions - the GM201 was the only LNB in my assortment that could not only reliably lock the Dubai transponder (12130 V) on 26E but also even hold on that signal in moderate rain, as well as giving extra margin on the Qatar & Bahrain transponders too, while a GM202+ is giving good results on 5W with myself well outside the 48dbW footprint margin - not enough to pick up the French DTT multistream transponders, but enough for the RAI equivalent with a reasonable rain margin (best on clear days is 10.2db SNR). There's a GM202 in place for 23.5E (it's actually a little west of it to allow the 26E LNB to be spot on, not as good as the GM202+ but the signal from that is plenty strong not to worry about it. As for those Golden Media LNBs, the plastic cap does look a little on the thin side but I guess that gives an excuse to keep a couple of spare for the future, as satellite reception sundries are starting to get less plentiful these days. The red cap LNB is a cheap Maclean quad I got from Amazon pointing at 19E - nothing extraordinary needed for that!

All the best with your own work AS when you get 'round to it!

 

[Fisty McB]

A slight change made in my setup recently - the 4.3 degree monoblock wasn't getting either Turksat 42E or HellasSat 39E on Dish 2 properly, so it was decided to try and use two separate LNBs to receive each position. Adding the LNB for Turksat was fine, but HellasSat was not due to the steep downward elevation of the LNB meaning any LNB bracket was fouling the LNB arm, so instead I've fixed an additional LNB for 39E to the extreme right-end of the Wavefinder T90, clamped to the LNB for 36E, leaving now just three LNBs on the Dish 2 monster. With these two new seperate LNBs in place, SNR readings are better for both satellites than what they were with the monoblock.



Given recent goings on with Vivacom on Hot Bird, if they're going to make 13E their new home then it might be worth focusing the 1.2 metre Dish 2 on 46E alone, adjusting the LNBs for 52E & 42E respectively. Time will tell.

 

[Fisty McB]

A couple of updates for 2025...

New cables have been installed with compression F-plugs & silicone grease for good measure, other cables have been tided up, stones laid in the back garden, and dishes 2 & 5 have been replaced.

Dish 2 was becoming unwieldy to handle, plus it was "top heavy" looking at low elevations that was causing the top of the dish to lean forward, sacrificing some 1.5db in SNR unless corrected. Both dishes were suffering from rust in various places that was making them adjusting etc. difficult to handle. So Dish 2 has been replaced with an 80cm dish (spray painted red) that's aimed at 42E with an offset LNB at 52E - with no FTA European broadcasting activity now at 45E, and there's nothing I was watching from 46E, I decided to leave those positions out of the new setup.



Dish 5 has been replaced with a 60cm dish for reception of Saorsat (spray painted blue & green) - reception has proved "interesting" compared to the old 80cm dish it has replaced, the SNR figures on the 60cm dish are rivaling the old 80cm dish, between 0-0.75db less to what it was on clear sunny days, but it appears to suffer more in heavier rain compared to the old 80cm, though reception still above threshold levels so no break up. It's more for a "proof of reception" as I can receive the Saorview DTT signals strongly here anyway & they provide more than what Saorsat provides (including no programme blackouts).



So all that's left to do for now is to spray paint the Wavefrontier T90 dish & reflector, replace the leads from the 3 LNBs on "El Barto" with good black WF100 coax rather than the RG6 currently in use, and to attach rain shields on the Saorsat LNB as well as either the LNB on 52E or 39E. I've kind of given up on installing a motorised dish for now, maybe next year?

P.S. With the Eutelsat bird on 33E now cleared of broadcasting and in an inclined orbit, it's LNB has been removed from the T90. As a test I tried to receive the Turksat Promo channel on 31E but nothing was received. I suspect that it's on the "West" beam than the "West 2" beam (the latter covers N. Ireland, the former doesn't).

P.P.S. When I was uploading pics for this post the forum software seemed to hiccup converting PNG to WEBP, uploading JPGs instead was fine for the red dish but not the blue/gree dish - I had to save it was a native WEBP image and then upload for it to appear without errors.