First time zone 2 mini dish installation.

[rolfw]

The zone 2 will perform just as well, perhaps better than many 60cm dishes.

 

[Robbo]

So any idea why the higher freqs are missing? Also, 12.000 shows up as a TP, I just checked. Is this an error in my receiver?

One Sat I was surprised to find is Nilesat...at least I think it was. Channels included Al Iraqiya, Aden, Sudan, etc. Thought that needed a far larger dish.

There isn't a TP on 12.000 GHz either, your transponder list must be out of date/wrong. As i said before, check on lyngsat, it lists them all.

Yes, you won't get 7W on a Sky dish. It is 8W that you were picking up, which can be got on a bent bin lid.

_http://www.lyngsat.com/8west.html

see 11093H

Robbo

 

[satelliteman]

OK, so a regular 60cm dish would give a better performance than a zone 2? As I say, I am limited in what I can put up at the front, so I may go for a transparent 60 or 80 if I can find one cheap enough. Looking at Lyngsat, I am missing a lot of channels.

So any idea why the higher freqs are missing? Also, 12.100 shows up as a TP, I just checked. Is this an error in my receiver?

One Sat I was surprised to find is Nilesat...at least I think it was. Channels included Al Iraqiya, Aden, Sudan, etc. Thought that needed a far larger dish.

so are you eventually going for a dish & motor?

 

[joekir]

so are you eventually going for a dish & motor?

Yes, for sure. I already have a Fibo with motor to put up at the back, but at the front, for the West, I have to be careful about what I put up. That's why I got the zone 2 and I was going to motorize it. if it won't get all the Hispasat channels, I need to get something bigger, but I am probably limited to transparent dishes. Whatever it is, I hope that it is more precise than the zone 2, which I found to have sloppy tolerances

 

[rolfw]

A zone 2 minidish should get you everything on Hispasat European beams, I have set it up on zone 1 minidishes on more than one occasion.

What do you mean by sloppy tolerances? do you mean that there is still movement on the dish after tightening the bracket? If you are not happy with that, forget the 60cm transparent dishes, as I'm sure the brackets are made of Bacofoil.

 

[satelliteman]

Yes, a Zone 1 will pull in 30west with no problems, just have to offset the dish as the skew won't pass centre. I have done it several times when testing.

As for Zone 2 on a motor, I posted a whole new thread and listed the satellites it would pick up (at my location 1.2w).

16e and 42e were marginal on this dish what with rain fade etc...
No BER lock on several transponders on 42e & 16e.

So.... if your going for the main birds then a Zone 2 may well work for you, just have to make sure you centre the dish on the motor correctly. Maybe check out the other thread.

Regards

 

[joekir]

Yes, a Zone 1 will pull in 30west with no problems, just have to offset the dish as the skew won't pass centre. I have done it several times when testing.

What do you mean by offsetting the dish? I did notice that I had to use the full skew on the Wistron LNB on Hispasat , which has a proper skew adjustment. I think it could do with even more though. I am definitely missing some channels, but if there is something I could do to improve the zone 2, I would prefer to keep it and install a motor.

I did find movemment afer the bracket was tightened, or more accurately, after adjusting the elevation. Are there any decent mesh dishes? I was looking at the Hirschmann easy align...that seems to have a nice az-el bracket.

Thanks for the help, much appreciated.

 

[satelliteman]

You shouldn't have problems with Hispa on a Zone 2.

My quote referring to offsetting the dish was because I were only using a standard Zone 1 minidish & LNb and you can't go past zero skew setting as Hispa from this location requires approx 18 ~ 20 deg skew adjustment. This can be done by turning the dish but this is for fixed set up anyway.


As you will be installing a motor, the skew will be taken care of.

Fit your motor and dish and post the results

 

[satelliteman]

Just for interest, attached is an image taken of a modified LNb for correct skew setting for 30W @ 52N, 1W. The casing had to be adapted so the LNb can rotate + postion.

All Europe transponders are being received with this dish and minidish matched LNb. Without the modification, you are unable to get the correct skew angle.

What ever LNb you are using, your skew should almost match to that which is shown in the image.

If you are unable to receive all transponder on 30W then you may have a line of sight OR other problems.

This is actually irrelevant if you are going to motorise it , this is just for info only

Hope this helps fella.

Paul

 

[joekir]

Just for interest, attached is an image taken of a modified LNb for correct skew setting for 30W @ 52N, 1W. The casing had to be adapted so the LNb can rotate + postion.


This is actually irrelevant if you are going to motorise it , this is just for info only

Hope this helps fella.

Paul

I will try installing a sharp LNB on an adapter collar so I can adjust the skew to that angle, thanks.

 

[satelliteman]

Re: Zone 2 with west satellites for joekir

Another set up today consisting of the famous Zone 2 with Dis motor complete. Received sats 30w, 8w, 5w, 1w, 5e, 7e, 9e, 13e, 16e, 19e, 28e, and 39e. Well within the capabilities of such a beauty of a dish

Wonder how you have got on Joekir?

 

[joekir]

Re: Zone 2 with west satellites for joekir

Another set up today consisting of the famous Zone 2 with Dis motor complete. Received sats 30w, 8w, 5w, 1w, 5e, 7e, 9e, 13e, 16e, 19e, 28e, and 39e. Well within the capabilities of such a beauty of a dish

Wonder how you have got on Joekir?

Did the trick, Satman. Now getting 90% + on most TPs, the worst, 11.531H, on a bad day is 70%. So the idea of motorising a minidish is not so ridiculous.
To be sure, I 'll probably end up buying something like a Fracarro Penta for the front (W), but this is OK for my introduction to Satellites. Thanks again!

 

[satelliteman]

Glad your up and running