Ka B/C overlap (Hughes) Thread

Llew

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I'll check when it's up, but I think it was one way - screwing in increased the LOF. We'll see.
 

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John

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Very interesting thread, inspired yet again. I'll get the araldite out tomorrow lol.



Life's too short, iv'e started tonight

Hughes dro mod.jpg
 

Llew

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May be too wet and windy this morning I think to install the Hughes on the dish, later maybe.

Meanwhile, a quick check with the VMA dongle - 20 GHz (5th harmonic with VMA signal source set at 4 GHz) with the LNB DRO screw fully out. LOF 18700 MHz.

Mine will tune down to around 19.7 GHz John before the filters kick in. Maximum I can tune to seems to be about 21.0 GHz with the screw fully in, so in effect it's acting as a mostly Band C LNB, but I will check on this when it's installed again.

Let us know how yours performs John.


Hughes Mod.JPG
 

John

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Well, also did the switching mod last night as well .... it would appear that by completely opening up the LO can at the top and using the signal source it will cover from 19.498 to 20.718 with a nice flat response across the band. At the moment the set-up is very rough and i'm struggling to see below 19.498.
A quick tweak on what seem to be variable caps on the BP filters for L&R brings the gain up and tweaks the flatness of the band. It's drawing about 150mA on each port selected.
Iv'e got a LOF of 18538.7 at the moment.
I'll upload some pics shortly Llew
 

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Well, also did the switching mod last night as well .... it would appear that by completely opening up the LO can at the top and using the signal source it will cover from 19.498 to 20.718 with a nice flat response across the band. At the moment the set-up is very rough and i'm struggling to see below 19.498.
A quick tweak on what seem to be variable caps on the BP filters for L&R brings the gain up and tweaks the flatness of the band. It's drawing about 150mA on each port selected.
Iv'e got a LOF of 18538.7 at the moment.
I'll upload some pics shortly Llew


For further experiment i might tidy up & build up the sides of the LO can to be about 4 pucks high to take it just up to the underside of the outer cover to improve stability of the LO, as it is the lid has a slight influence on LOF when replacing it ???.
19.498 to 20.690 is pretty flat & decent output , just drops off a bit when it starts getting further up the band.

1-HUGHES LOF CAN....reduced...jpg 2-HUGHES MOD-TOP END FREQ..jpg 3-Modded Hughes LOF can........jpg
 

Llew

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Good idea, sheilding the oscillator enclosure as much as possible for stability John. Not meant to be assaulted by a tin-opener :eek:
Worth the mod I suppose, to see how far up the Band it can stretch.
 

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That's a lot better, the double layered foil sides are now up to the top of the lid and in contact with the absorber pad that sits over the LO can, and there is no frequency shift when the lid is screwed down.
Just need to swap it out with the non-frequency modded unit on the dish now.
The foils a bit Heath Robinson but it seems to be doing it's job.

LOF foil sides...reduced...jpg
 

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Llew, if it's not too late and if you still have the Hughes set up on your bench i'd be interested to know how low you can go with your tuning slug wound all the way out whilst still remaining usable stability and also with slug in at max to see what the highest usable stable frequency is.
Installed my open-can Hughes on the 1.8 and received useable data strength signals down at around 19.480 GHz. Ta.
 

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Not set up tonight John, bath now awaiting so will check on the morrow.
 

Llew

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Llew, if it's not too late and if you still have the Hughes set up on your bench i'd be interested to know how low you can go with your tuning slug wound all the way out whilst still remaining usable stability and also with slug in at max to see what the highest usable stable frequency is.
Much the same as yours John. Spectrum not very flat with this LNB.

Hughes slug in.JPG

Hughes slug out.JPG
 

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Nice to see this thread revived with such enthusiasm ..Well done John..
Sorry I'm not getting involved ..
Far to cold atm ..plus I dont have access to the gear you and Llew have..
Interested though ..so I'll keep looking in.
rgds
VS
 

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John should be in Leominster picking up his new 2.2, I was going to go with him but having car trouble which needed to be sorted today...
 

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Much the same as yours John. Spectrum not very flat with this LNB.

View attachment 104276

View attachment 104279



Thanks for checking Llew .... yep, frequency range works out the same it would seem. You have a different design of Hughes to the one i have Llew which might be the reason yours drops off quite a lot once it gets to around 20.250 onwards and seems quite raggy on the display.
Have you any thoughts how it could be made to go further down in freq , puck change ??. Ta.
 

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Had thought of that John, yes, but its boxed enclosure means it might be difficult to do anything useful, although you seem to have a little more space around the puck (I could open mine up a bit more no doubt).

As to the puck's fundamental frequency, it's going to be somewhere around 9.25 GHz to give the original Hughes' x2 LOF of 18.5 GHz or thereabouts, so we're looking for a puck of <9.25 GHz to have any luck in spanning lower than it goes now. That's assuming the filters allow this of course.

Cementing a piece of ceramic to the puck to lower the resonant frequency is one possibility, but it might be impossible here because of the screw head's proximity to the puck when screwed right in. We could try adding loading to the puck by increasing the screw's physical size ( a small half-nut screwed on the tip perhaps)
 

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Had thought of that John, yes, but its boxed enclosure means it might be difficult to do anything useful, although you seem to have a little more space around the puck (I could open mine up a bit more no doubt).

As to the puck's fundamental frequency, it's going to be somewhere around 9.25 GHz to give the original Hughes' x2 LOF of 18.5 GHz or thereabouts, so we're looking for a puck of <9.25 GHz to have any luck in spanning lower than it goes now. That's assuming the filters allow this of course.

Cementing a piece of ceramic to the puck to lower the resonant frequency is one possibility, but it might be impossible here because of the screw head's proximity to the puck when screwed right in. We could try adding loading to the puck by increasing the screw's physical size ( a small half-nut screwed on the tip perhaps)


Ok, thanks ... food for thought Llew. I might be a bit slow to try anything at the moment due to doing the change-over work of my 1.8CM to the 2.2 Elite antenna but i will come back to it for sure.
 

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Yes, looks like much work (and fun) to be had there John. Most envious I am, not a ghost of a chance having a monster like that on my patch . Good luck mate.
 

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Yes, looks like much work (and fun) to be had there John. Most envious I am, not a ghost of a chance having a monster like that on my patch . Good luck mate.


I had to fight the council though Llew, they started coming the high all mighty attitude with me but i stood my ground to get permission. I get on with my surrounding neighbors ok and they happily signed a kind of petition thing that i put together to back me up and eventually the council got off their high horse and slipped into the background after officially granting that the installation could stay.
Where there's a will, there's a way.
 

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I had to fight the council though Llew, they started coming the high all mighty attitude with me but i stood my ground to get permission. I get on with my surrounding neighbors ok and they happily signed a kind of petition thing that i put together to back me up and eventually the council got off their high horse and slipped into the background after officially granting that the installation could stay.
Where there's a will, there's a way.
I'll be up to collect the 1.8 next week............
 
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