My Channel Master 180 permanent installation for 28.2E

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Just a quick update on the ground mount.

The storm on Nov 3 is the strongest to have come through since I put up the dish.

Originally, I was concerned that the concrete fence-post holders would not be enough (the mounting instructions for Channel Masters states at least a cubic metre of concrete should be used.)

We had average wind of 25 m/s, gusting to 35 m/s (danish record of 53 m/s in other parts of Denmark that night). And wind direction was more or less head-on to dish.

I am happy to report, that while I could see the dish rocking back and forth many centimeters when hit by gusts, there has been no change in the reception quality at all.
In fact, the reception has been consistent since I tightened the bolts of the mount in 2011. Notwithstanding the potential uknowns of 2E, I have been very fortunate to have all channels 24/7 with only occasional MPEG blocking during very strong downpours.
 
Good to hear your dish is doing OK, oddly enough I was thinking about it the other day and was curious how it was working.
 
Dish is still raising eyebrows with new visitors, but otherwise doing just fine.
(Must say that the dosh spent on the Channel Masters was some of the best I ever spent).

But something else has actually changed; the signal path.

I moved the FoxSat from the server-closet to the living room.
This eliminated the IR extender and HDMI extenders.
Especially the RF IR extender was giving us a lot of grief.

This also means that the main signal no longer comes straight from LNB over quad-shielded cables into the Humax.
Instead the two feeds comes into a wiring cabinet, one gets combined with cable TV signal, then both are sent through another 15 metres of (only) double shielded cable to a wall-socket. At wall socket one is split again from cable TV signal, and both are sent through another couple of metres of double-shielded cable (with at least two L-shaped F connectors on each), and then into the box.
And everything still work fine...

Only symptom of signal path prolongment is that the Humax sometimes complains about "no or bad signal" for 1 second when zapping before picture comes on. I ascribe this to the lag in the auto-gain circuit of the tuners on the Humax. The actual signal is now so weak, especially on the combined/split signal, that the AGC needs to kick in before the box will tune properly. (?)
But it still works just great, and I can see from the status page that the signal quality is 100% on most if not all channels.

In other words, the C/N ratio is still very good, it's just the absolute signal strength which is a bit low. I dare conclude that signal quality still matters over signal quantity.
 
Nice dish & a neat and tidy Installation and great pics of your Work.. ....I was just wondering ..why on a dish that size ...you don't have. ..the Cm/Raven feedhorn ?.....as a standard 40mm LNB is probably not illuminating the whole dish face..?
 
Steve Steve said:
Nice dish & a neat and tidy Installation and great pics of your Work.. ....I was just wondering ..why on a dish that size ...you don't have. ..the Cm/Raven feedhorn ?.....as a standard 40mm LNB is probably not illuminating the whole dish face..?
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Thanks for your comments.

I was thinking about the CM/ASC/Raven/etc feedhorn back when 2D was still pixelating on rainy days.
But, evidence on this site (multiple threads) and other sites pointed points to the Black Ultra Quad being equal and perhaps even superior in performance here in Scandinavia to a C120 LNBs with the CM feedhorn. Particularly on the horizontals on 2D, and on H/V separation.
So when 2D went away, and everything got a lot better with 1N, and now 2F, there has been no need to try and find an alternative. This may change with 2E, but I doubt it...

(Only major upgrade I can think of is getting a gregorian mount and mirror for the Rx/Tx version of the 180; this would give better alignment of the H and V as I understand it. But again, has not been necessary yet.)
 
st1 said:
Only major upgrade I can think of is getting a gregorian mount and mirror for the Rx/Tx version of the 180; this would give better alignment of the H and V as I understand it. But again, has not been necessary yet.
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As long as you remember to keep it clean or the performance will drop off.
 
st1 said:
Thanks for your comments.

I was thinking about the CM/ASC/Raven/etc feedhorn back when 2D was still pixelating on rainy days.
But, evidence on this site (multiple threads) and other sites pointed points to the Black Ultra Quad being equal and perhaps even superior in performance here in Scandinavia to a C120 LNBs with the CM feedhorn. Particularly on the horizontals on 2D, and on H/V separation.
So when 2D went away, and everything got a lot better with 1N, and now 2F, there has been no need to try and find an alternative. This may change with 2E, but I doubt it...

(Only major upgrade I can think of is getting a gregorian mount and mirror for the Rx/Tx version of the 180; this would give better alignment of the H and V as I understand it. But again, has not been necessary yet.)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply....I suppose ...if it ain't broke ..don't try to fix it ...as they say !...but i found a Feedhorn was a must for me .. to get max signal ...as some times , I'm really on the edge of 2F uk beam evening reception !....good luck with future upgrades and 2E.....
 
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st1 said:
The official CM/Andrew/ASC/Skyware kingposts are far too expensive to purchase here in Denmark (needs to be mail ordered in from abroad). Instead I had one made to my specs locally at the blacksmiths of one of our correctional facilities. (Cut to measure, welded and galvanised). Very sturdy, exactly to my specs, although delivery times were slightly, erh, prolonged.
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Looks great st1! Would you mind sharing the lenght of the pole, and the size of the bottom plate?
 
satkingno said:
Looks great st1! Would you mind sharing the lenght of the pole, and the size of the bottom plate?
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Not at all. I have the drawings that I sent as instruction somewhere at home. I will try and find them this weekend when I am there Again.
But I seem to remember the pole length being 185 cm, and plate size being 42 x 42 or something like that.
 
Great, thanks st1!
 
st1 said:
Not at all. I have the drawings that I sent as instruction somewhere at home. I will try and find them this weekend when I am there Again.
But I seem to remember the pole length being 185 cm, and plate size being 42 x 42 or something like that.
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Looked all over the place, but I can't seem to find the drawings.
But the measurements above are real - went out with a measuring tape the other day.
 
No problem, pole already made. Used your measurements above, thanks! :)
 
Do you by any chance have an az/el mount for the 1.8 for sale st1? I have a big polar mount with two 36v motors on it, but i dont need the motors, as I will just use the dish for 28.2E.
 
satkingno said:
Do you by any chance have an az/el mount for the 1.8 for sale st1? I have a big polar mount with two 36v motors on it, but i dont need the motors, as I will just use the dish for 28.2E.
Click to expand...
I might have. :)
Could do some form of swap, possibly, logistics permitting.
I'll send you a PM to discuss.
 
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