Extending a satellite TV dish using ali sheets

[pride21]

hi all here is the results of a cheap dish extension,the parts are 200mm by 100mm ali sheets and 1inch hinges cost about £20,i did not want to go any bigger because of neighbours,i admire VS for his patients and ingenuity in making his extensions but i wanted to experiment on the cheap to see if there would be an improvement on what i get now,anyway the results are very promising nearly every channel has gone up in quality from 1% to 12% and has brought in channels on border line, such as dounia on 30E which is rock solid and viasat 1,africa tv on 22W i also picked up ertu on 24W but for some reason its not there this morning,to get the results i recorded all transponders before hand then after,i recommend to try this experiment.cheers

 

[rolfw]

An interesting experiment and not expensive to try.

 

[aceb]

Nice job Pride and as Rolfw says a nice cheap experiment, I might just have to try this when things warm up a bit. The C band bar is being raised once again

 

[nelson_b]

very good - pride21 -

C band reception is "so" open to experimentation --
it can , and does produce some surprisingly good results --
nice one

regard nelson.b.

 

[Topper]

Very good indeed but still lots of patience required to drill all those holes for the hinges:-worship

 

[rolfw]

That's what no more nails is for Topper.

 

[pride21]

i used super glue great stuff

 

[Lazarus]

This definitely scores a good 9.7/10 on the VS Ingenuity Scale.

Bonzer.

 

[Channel Hopper]

very good - pride21 -

C band reception is "so" open to experimentation --
it can , and does produce some surprisingly good results --
nice one

regard nelson.b.

With the increased stability of modern electronics, it is also possible to combine domestic C-band LNB outputs from more than one dish to improve reception, but as you say, strapping panels onto one dish is a good starting point.

 

[Vipersan]

Well I have to say ..I'm impressed..
Thought about doing something similar with aluminium mesh a while back ..but opted to go for the more permanent fibreglass solution as you know.
I love to see someone who's prepared to attempt such experiments.

What it does tell me ..is that I have a _very_ good chance or 'real' improvement ..assuming I ever get these wings finished.
But am not prepared to compromise the end result by rushing to finish...though I did contemplate just sticking temporary ally foil on the part finished wings to see if there was anything to be gained.
Looks like you beat me to it..but am happy you did.
Nice one ...and deservedly full of 'Pride'
;)
rgds
VS
...perhaps one day the mods will make available ..'ingenuity awards' to be handed out to deserving projects..
A bit like the knight awards ...that used to be displayed..

 

[pride21]

thanks for that VS i have no doubt that your extra wings for the dish will be a success be interesting to see how much gain there will be once fitted.cheers

 

[pride21]

hi all the ali extentions held up except one in the gales put a dab of super glue on it which fixed it,i am well pleased with the results so far,on 57E i get 20ch but could not get the VOA on 4055R until now as shown in pics,also ertu mux on 24.5W i have got back,the other pics are Douna on 30.5E,TV Africa and Viasat 1 on 22W,on 40.5W i get argentinisima on 3774L which is there all the time and out of the 256ch i get, epoca on 3889L is the strongest with over 90% quality,just an after thought dont you think manufactures who make the c-band lnbf would improve their products with a different plate instead of outdated slab of teflon,the technology to make a simple plate like i and VS make must be cheaper than teflon.i tried the dish with ku lnb out of interest and was supprised with extra gain of 1%-4% quality which brought in weak channels.cheers

 

[nelson_b]

i tried the dish with ku lnb out of interest and was supprised with extra gain of 1%-4% quality which brought in weak channels.cheers

the k/u gains are a nice bonus ----
thanks for the pics -- some good C band results there
i,v not had any spare time to play with satellite dishes recently maybe next month i should think about extension panels - - as i seem to have reached my limit with, feed and plate setup -----

regards nelson.b.

 

[Vipersan]

..Well ...if you ever fancy adding wings to your alcoa Nelson ..
You can borrow the mould if you like ..
But I suspect you will be improving the offset ..
rgds
VS

 

[Channel Hopper]

just an after thought dont you think manufactures who make the c-band lnbf would improve their products with a different plate instead of outdated slab of teflon,the technology to make a simple plate like i and VS make must be cheaper than teflon.i tried the dish with ku lnb out of interest and was supprised with extra gain of 1%-4% quality which brought in weak channels.cheers

Many compounds can be used as a plate, from glass fibre to perspex to polybin lids to the material for kitchen chopping boards. The only requirement is that it exhibits dielectric properties at the frequencies used, and can be cut or moulded to fit into the throat of the feed.

Apart from that, it's just a question of experimenting to find what works and what doesn't. I would have thought that standard glass would work, but it's unlikely I have enough patience cutting a pane of the stuff to shape.

edit - a list of materials and their permittivity

_http://www.asiinstr.com/technical/Dielectric%20Constants.htm

Acetone compounds appear to be some of the best (and water scores very well), though whether this is at high microwave frequencies, I'm not sure.

 

[pride21]

i agree with you CH, its if i used the plate the lnbf came with i would not get a lot of channels that i get now,then if manufactorys improved on their hardware you would think they would look at ways to improve on the plate.