My SAT-playground

[RimaNTSS]

Took apart one of the LNBs today. Lots of parts. Good materials: bronze (or something similar), INOX, aluminum. Real quality.

 

[RimaNTSS]

Also today dinged tranche for new cable to Prodelin. Next time will better take cable which can be buried directly in to the soil instead of buying gofer 3x more expensive than cable itself. I usually dig it not more than 10cm and finish with gentle hits by piece of ash-tree
Tried several LNBs, but decided to stick to SHARP, it simply gave better results. I probably will be very disappointed if I buy expensive Invacom LNB and it do not make better reception.

 

[RimaNTSS]

Have found on e-bay exactly same LNB as mine http://www.ebay.com/itm/LNB-COMSTRE...374?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19e056b986
It has very narrow frequency range which is nor really good for usual SAT-reception. I picked up channel at 12283 V 3/4 27500, and could not get better reception I am getting on universal SHARP LNB, however I did not have time to properly fix this new LNB, maybe do that someday later. This LNB is for SAT-internet.

 

[RimaNTSS]

Took for testing Ivacom single LNB. If results be better than another LNBs I have than will keep invacom, if not, will bring it back to shop (salesman was so kind to agree for such a deal).

 

[RimaNTSS]

It is frustrating: Invacom LNB gives same result as SHARP. The only difference is that first costs exactly 12x more than the second one. Now I completely not sure if original Prodelin feedhorn with flange LNB will give considerable increase of signal.

 

[nelson_b]

It is frustrating: Invacom LNB gives same result as SHARP. The only difference is that first costs exactly 12x more than the second one. Now I completely not sure if original Prodelin feedhorn with flange LNB will give considerable increase of signal.

hi - RimaNTSS -
I have an almost new invacom flange quad l.n.b. here - that is not being used
i could send it to you to try on your dish if you want to pay postage? -- not sure how much that would be from U.K. to Latvia- though .
regards . ---

 

[RimaNTSS]

Nelson_b, thanks for your offer, will not use it this time. Salesman in SAT-shop will give me one to try and take it back if I am not satisfied. With flange I have another difficulty: feedhorh has 6 holes but flange LNB has 8 holes, so I will probably need some kind of adapter between feedhorn and LNB. If I make one than it will still some signal (perhaps).
IMHO: I more and more think that in the system (dish, cable, connectors, diseqcs, LNBs, receiver) more important is dish (size and shape). maybe 85% of system performance belongs to dish, and rest 15% is dispersed between other elements.

 

[RimaNTSS]

Gave Invacom LNB back to shop today, I do not need such "cheap" LNB. To not leave shop without anything in hands took couple of "expencive" LNBs (less than 5 bucks each). Need more LNBs to play with. That small one is really "shorty", smaller than handy (put it for size-comparison).
They also have Vu+ Duo2 (2xDVB-S2) receivers to sell for price of ~670 bucks, and said that tomorrow will have Vu+ Duo2 (DVB-S2 Twin) for price of ~690 bucks. I say prices in bucks, cuz if I say in Latvian Lats you will not have idea how expensive thing is. Good news, that after 1st January 2014. we are turning to EUR.

 

[timo_w2s]

Yeah I like euros, they are handy to see how expensive everything is in Finland compared to Germany. ;)

Plus it's very nice not having to think about exchanging money when you travel in Europe.

 

[RimaNTSS]

Not SAT but for SAT: took some welding lessons today. Need more practice for sure. There are first metal plates welded together, will hang those pieces on the garage wall Soon will start to upgrade my sat-stuff.

 

[RimaNTSS]

Was beautiful day today, good to stay in the roof. So, finally decided to start move Andrews 4,6m. Had 2 friends helping me, we spent there about 8 hours. After taking everything apart lowered part by part on the ropes about 10m down. Still some job to do, perhaps for another day or two. And some really heavy stuff left. Problem is that it is impossible to use crane. it simply can not get in.
Reflector is huge, about 61cm in diameter. Stainless steel screws - whole heavy box.

 

[Lazarus]

Cripes!

 

[Piltdownpaul]

Serious stuff going on there Rima!

 

[Riverblue]

I thought beavs2112's Channel Master SMC 3.0m dish set up was impressive, but this is taking it to another level

 

[RimaNTSS]

beavs2112's Channel Master SMC 3.0m dish set up was impressive, but ....

beavs2112's installation is impressive for me as well, and moreover he has his antenna already installed. To finish mine I will probably need years and years (after that time lots of things in SAT-reception will be changed and, possible, we will not need such a big dishes), so, this is not impressing me at all

 

[RimaNTSS]

After today's couple of hours work, when we took off all ribs, motors and central barrel, I feel that next time I will have all parts removed and moved home.

 

[RimaNTSS]

Guess what? After another couple of hours antenna is safely in my garage. Mount was pretty heavy and not easy to get it down on ropes. Can drink some beer (and not only) now . I do not think that will be soon when I erect this Andrew in my yard, but who knows....

 

[RimaNTSS]

I was looking for best LNB for my 1,8m Prodelin, till today it was Sharp BS1R9EL100A. But today borrowed in the shop Inverto Black Ultra (made a deal with salesman that I bring LNB back if it does not give good results, so wrapped it's neck in paper to prevent scratches). Seems that I will not bring it back to shop, cuz it gave up to 10% better signal. Now, after scanning 7*W I got 183 services, strongest one about 54% and weakest ~25%. Good LNB, and not so expensive as Invacom, only 16 bucks.

 

[Analoguesat]

Excellent - I love reading all these threads where people are tinkering with new dishes & lnb's and seeing what they can get.

 

[RimaNTSS]

From Andrew I have some parts which will not be used by me. Maybe somebody needs them or have ideas what to do with them? Please advice.