My SAT-playground

[Huevos]

now sun focuses on LNB and makes it very hot

I doubt it. It's not like you are tracking the sun. Even when the sun is near the arc (which only happens twice a year for a few days) it only takes a matter of minutes for it to pass the axis.

 

[RimaNTSS]

You are right about twice a year, but for me it happened yesterday during tuning-up antenna when I was looking for birds. Maybe instead of repainting antennas I should find out those "dangerous" periods and try to avoid direct sunlight.

 

[timo_w2s]

Very nice!

Yeah, even I was feeling the warmth on the LNB cap yesterday from my 80cm plastic dish as it's got quite a shiny finish but it's not so bad for me with the smaller dish up north.

 

[Huevos]

Maybe instead of repainting antennas I should find out those "dangerous" periods and try to avoid direct sunlight.

For Latvia, 27th Feb - 3rd March, and, 10th - 15th Oct.

As far as sun damage to the LNB I would have thought a white dish would do more harm as it reflects the most light.

 

[RimaNTSS]

For Latvia, 27th Feb - 3rd March, and, 10th - 15th Oct.

Aha! Yesterday was 9th October, one day before danger :-righton Fortunately today there is no sunlight and seems that will not be back till end of February 2012 :-worship Thanks.

 

[RimaNTSS]

Was changing LNB another day, seems that one of those days sunshine made it's bad work. Should be more careful in the future

 

[RimaNTSS]

Hi! Have got my last purchase from e-bay. Already have installed C/Ku LNB and new sat-meter is working OK. Only problem appeared with that positioner, it simply exploded when I connect it to 220V. I know, I was buying it from USA, but in e-bay item description was written Power Input 110-220V AC /50Hz as well in the instructions which came printed Input voltage 180-240 VAC 50Hz. Seems that they tricked me. Not a big deal, just 35 bucks. I will try to open case with that seller. But meanwhile will look for new transformer 220/36/12V. Have plans to buy 36" heavy duty actuator for 180cm antenna. Sadly winter is coming and it is too cold to work outside. :-cry1

 

[RimaNTSS]

Hello! I spent some time last evenings tuning 150cm primefocus. Managed to get pretty good signals from arc 24,5*W-90*E (on the attached picture antenna is pointed to 90*E). That was not so hard in spite of fact that I just started with polar-mount, maybe because I did some reading in advance. Probably I could get also 30*W, but another antenna (T90) on that direction and that is obviously not transparent . Still looking forward to try C-band (another experience). By now I have put dual Ku-band LNB, just to have independent outputs to receiver and FS1. I am not very happy with sat-meter showed you in my previous post, which is First Strike Meter FS1: not very handy to tun LNB cuz 3rd hand is needed to hold meter unless you hang it somewhere. Secondly, it takes time to program it, but at least it is possible to make list in excel spreadsheet and then export it to FS1. Thirdly, something is wrong with frequencies, for example some frequencies should lock on particular sat are not working, and there is some vice versa occasions (perhaps I am doing something wrong and need more experience with that as well). But good things about FS1 is battery, which lasts up to 3-4 hours, also can get power from SAT receiver via coaxial cable, and most important that it locks signals really fast.
It is interesting to see that on parallel treat polar-mount discussions are going on. My compliments to Captain Jack!
I think that balance of polar-mount system is very important and to get it right, center of gravity should be much lower than those systems have originally.Otherwise we will always get problems on far-East and far-West satellites.

 

[RimaNTSS]

Good evening!
Spent some time today adjusting SAT-hardware. Main idea was to get 30*W on 120cm antenna, but taking in account that offset antenna with 1 LNB is not sexy enough, added additional LNBs. Although there is almost no interesting content to watch (at least for me).

 

[RimaNTSS]

Only problem appeared with that positioner, it simply exploded when I connect it to 220V. I know, I was buying it from USA, but in e-bay item description was written Power Input 110-220V AC /50Hz as well in the instructions which came printed Input voltage 180-240 VAC 50Hz. Seems that they tricked me. Not a big deal, just 35 bucks. I will try to open case with that seller. But meanwhile will look for new transformer 220/36/12V. Have plans to buy 36" heavy duty actuator for 180cm antenna. Sadly winter is coming and it is too cold to work outside. :-cry1

After Case-escalation e-bay decided to pay back all my money and positioner will stay as my property. E-bay also gave me 10$ coupon for my future purchases. Meanwhile I have got transformer to supply V-box with 36VAC power. This is 110Watts transformer with several secondary windings like 4 times 10 and 2 times 2,65, so I can get variable voltage for V- box starting of 20 and finishing of maybe 40 VAC.
I also hope to get brand new 36" actuator by the end of this month. So, will try to get my system working soon.

 

[RimaNTSS]

Hi! I was little bit disappointed with standard antenna's mechanism, especially adjusting of elevation. So, bought some cheap stuff (turnbuckles and some nuts and bolts) in DEPO store today and made small modification at the back of 120cm offset. Feel better now.

 

[RimaNTSS]

Hello gents! I do not know how all you survive North-West of me, but I am little bit worried about coming horror-night. They predict pretty strong and gusty wind soon. That will be a real test for my antennas.
I have a question: If I use polar-mount antenna, what is maximum number of tuned satellites on dreambox?
By now I see that 32 is maximum.

 

[Huevos]

By now I see that 32 is maximum.

That's not true. It is a maximum of 32 LNBs, not 32 satellites. The Vu+ is the same, 32 LNBs per tuner, which I guess is an E2 limitation. So, for example, you might use a motorised dish for 30 satellites, but that only counts as 1 LNB.

My 1.5m motorised dish counts as 3 LNBs (Ku-band, C-band circular, and C-band linear) but receives from 43 satellites.

 

[RimaNTSS]

Thanks for inspiration. I just started with motorised, that's why questioning that. How should I configure dreambox in that case? What should I write in "Reception settings"?
Configuration Mode - of course Advanced
Satellite - some particular satellite or All Satellites1 or 2 or 3 or 4? DeseqC mode - I suspect 1.2
Not using USALS, so should be stored positioner positions.

 

[Huevos]

Thanks for inspiration. I just started with motorised, that's why questioning that. How should I configure dreambox in that case? What should I write in "Reception settings"?
Configuration Mode - of course Advanced
Satellite - some particular satellite or All Satellites1 or 2 or 3 or 4? DeseqC mode - I suspect 1.2
Not using USALS, so should be stored positioner positions.

You need to provide some details of the aerial system (switching, V-box, etc). And have you got a meter?

First I set up my V-box. I put it so 0000 was due south and when it goes east it counts - and when it goes west it counts +. You need a paper to take notes at this stage. Move the dish to your first satellite (watching your meter) and save the position in the V-box as "01". Next satellite "02" and so on keeping a note of what satellites correspond to what position numbers.

Then on the Dreambox don't do "all satellites", you need to set up the satellites individually. Basically you select your first satellite and then set up one LNB that addresses the central LNB on the motorised dish including any switching, etc. if there is any. Set it up DiSEqC 1.2 and add "01" as the stored position. Now select the second satellite you saved in the V-box, select the same LNB and change the stored position to "02".

And here's a tip: the stored positions (V-box positions) belong to the satellite; and the DiSEqC commands belong to the LNB. So if you are on 28E and 28E uses LNB #1 and you change a switching command that change will affect every satellite that uses LNB #1, not just 28E you are currently configuring.

 

[RimaNTSS]

Yes, I have got sat-meter First Strike FS1, and already installed antenna on polar-mount. This antenna has 1 universal LNB and already gets Clarke bell. This LNB is connected to V-box, and V-box is preprogrammed according to my list, for example 42*E is on V-box counter's position 22 and this position is stored as #24. V-box connects directly to dreambox. So, on dreambox Reception settings I enter Turksat 2A which is on LNB#24 and stored V-box position 22. But main problem again, that there are only 32 LNBs in dreambox settings to chose from.

 

[RimaNTSS]

I think I started to understand what you are trying to tell me!: I should use same LNB number for each satellite, but only different V-box stored positions! Will try this tonight (if antennas survive storm).

 

[Huevos]

I think I started to understand what you are trying to tell me!: I should use same LNB number for each satellite, but only different V-box stored positions! Will try this tonight (if antennas survive storm).

Yes that is correct (all satellites that share 1 LNB all have the same LNB number). You only change the LNB number if you are trying to address a different LNB.

 

[RimaNTSS]

Thanks for advices. That was really so easy.
P.S. Storm is over and no damages observed, I am happy.

 

[GreenmanBelg]

Hi! I was little bit disappointed with standard antenna's mechanism, especially adjusting of elevation. So, bought some cheap stuff (turnbuckles and some nuts and bolts) in DEPO store today and made small modification at the back of 120cm offset. Feel better now.

You really are a very creative person.

Well done.

JD