New Inverto KaKu lnb

maybecrazy

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I take your point st1 but there is a approx 7.5cm difference between the LNB feedhorn and the CM feedhorn focal points. Surely that has got to make a difference.
 

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I take your point st1 but there is a approx 7.5cm difference between the LNB feedhorn and the CM feedhorn focal points. Surely that has got to make a difference.

Between the two bands you should get no more than about 10mm focal point difference.

The sweet spot occurs just inside the feed throat, more or less regardless of the band (C/Ku/Ka). S Band and above 50GHz have slightly different rules.
 

John

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a) Excellent results! Always good to discover more mileage than you thought possible from your system.
b) Why butcher the LNB and feedhorn? The Inverto KaKu comes with an integrated Ka-tuned feedhorn than matches the CM120 quite nicely. Don't get me wrong - you should of course, as you say, just go ahead and do it. But I doubt you will get more oomph from the CM120 Ku band feedhorn. But again - it shall be very interetsting to find out!


.... I would agree with st1 & scopus on this one recalling my past dealings with modding Ka feeds and it could end up in tears and a knackered CM feed.
If you just can't stop the urge to have a go then you must, i know how strong these urges get lol.
I personally think you would be better off leaving the Inverto Ka/Ku feed intact as is because i think it's pretty good but give a lot more attention to fine tuning the Ka performance of the dish installation for absolute best feed focal point position to give maximum S/N figure, which will include fine tuning for skew as well and accurate bore sighting of the feed to the dish face. The Ku performance will not be a million miles off after that.
I still think you would benefit greatly by having the inclined jack fitted to the 1224, you then have total control over the dish pointing for accuracy.
We are not a million miles apart in the country, i'm only up the road nr Mansfield so there should not be too much difference in received signal strength between us --- famous last words as Ka reception can be very strange but iv'e just looked at the two frequencies you listed and the S/N levels you had , i tweeked my 1.2 Gibby / Inverto Ka up for maximum smoke using elevation + E/W nudging and my levels are
like this: 21537 H--you 11.1dB, mine after tweeking-14.5dB. 21540 H--you 8.7dB, mine after tweeking 12.2dB .
Your def hooked lol.
 

maybecrazy

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I would love to do lots of things with my dish but being at roof level it's difficult so I'm afraid it's always going to be a compromise for me.

I have an Octagon SF4008 on order which going by other owners reports has very sensitive tuners, should have that hopefully in the next 10 days or so.

Just re-scanned 16e and picked up another couple of channels STV 1 and 2

BTW can't find much on the forum about the Soarsat LNB so I assume it must be useless for anything else ?
 

Llew

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BTW can't find much on the forum about the Soarsat LNB so I assume it must be useless for anything else ?
I have experimented with a Saorsat LNB, replacing the DRO puck with one operating at a lower LOF (taken from a spare/dead KU LNB - the low F 9.750 puck).

This gave me some extra frequency reach into Band C, enabling access to one or two feeds in the lower part of the band.

Whether you think it's worth the trouble modding the Saorsat depends on your keenness in experimetation. In any case it's easy enough replacing the original puck.

KA Band C with a modded Inverto LNB
 

nelson_b

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I did a similar mod for the Fibo 1.2. Whilst Ku improved somewhat , Ka suffered.
Be interesting to see what results you get.

Hi @scopus
Been thinking of putting one of these l.n.b.,s on a fibo 1.2 myself .... now i,m not so sure about cutting the feed off:( ... these l.n.b,s are not particularly cheap ... any more info on this ?
 
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scopus

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Hi Nelson

I got all the info of a German forum. A guy called DX Hagens did the original conversion. I did it a little bit differently. I used a copper pipe cutter to make the cut on the feed waveguide. It almost fits snugly in the C120 adaptor that comes with the fibo but had to put an aluminium ring on the Inverto to get it to fit correctly. Might be worthwile trawling the Inverto thread i might have put more info on there.
 

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Nelson, Take a look earlier on in the thread, I posted some pictures etc...

New Inverto KaKu lnb
 

nelson_b

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Hi Nelson

I got all the info of a German forum. A guy called DX Hagens did the original conversion. I did it a little bit differently. I used a copper pipe cutter to make the cut on the feed waveguide. It almost fits snugly in the C120 adaptor that comes with the fibo but had to put an aluminium ring on the Inverto to get it to fit correctly. Might be worthwile trawling the Inverto thread i might have put more info on there.

O.k. thanks for the reply .... and the link to the pics etc ...
I will do some more research before i do any cutting .. :)
no hurry, too damp and cold for playing out with dishes at the moment ...
i,v tried one of these l.n.b,s on the Channel master,s 1.8 and 2.4 the results were o.k. .... but i suspect that they " leak " some of the Ka signal.
The Fibo 1.2 is the biggest solid metal offset dish that i,v got ... i will try without the fibo feed (dont expect that will be a success) and also try it as a regular dish - without its sub - reflector - before i consider cutting the feed off the inverto ka/ku
 
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maybecrazy

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It's quiet in here :)

Well here it is, my c120 Inverto KaKu LNB

I had a rummage through my box of discarded/old/rubbish sat bits and pieces and came across an old polariser adapter ring from too many years ago that I care to remember :)

It's perfect for the job in hand, now luckily my son-in-law's uncle is the manager of an engineering factory and did the complete adaption.

The hole in the adaptor flange had be enlarged to 23mm to accept the throat of the LNB and he also cut the throat of the LNB and bonded it altogether.

Just need my mate to get back from his trip to fit it to the dish and hope that it performs as good as it looks.

IMAG0071.jpg IMAG0073.jpg IMAG0074.jpg IMAG0076.jpg
 

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It's quiet in here :)

Well here it is, my c120 Inverto KaKu LNB

I had a rummage through my box of discarded/old/rubbish sat bits and pieces and came across an old polariser adapter ring from too many years ago that I care to remember :)

It's perfect for the job in hand, now luckily my son-in-law's uncle is the manager of an engineering factory and did the complete adaption.

The hole in the adaptor flange had be enlarged to 23mm to accept the throat of the LNB and he also cut the throat of the LNB and bonded it altogether.

Just need my mate to get back from his trip to fit it to the dish and hope that it performs as good as it looks.

View attachment 103550 View attachment 103551 View attachment 103552 View attachment 103553



Nice job matey, look forward to see some before and after comparison figures.
 

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Hi MC! Could you do any comparison regarding the performance? Would be nice to know if its worth the hassle to use with c120 on a PF dish

It's quiet in here :)

Well here it is, my c120 Inverto KaKu LNB

I had a rummage through my box of discarded/old/rubbish sat bits and pieces and came across an old polariser adapter ring from too many years ago that I care to remember :)

It's perfect for the job in hand, now luckily my son-in-law's uncle is the manager of an engineering factory and did the complete adaption.

The hole in the adaptor flange had be enlarged to 23mm to accept the throat of the LNB and he also cut the throat of the LNB and bonded it altogether.

Just need my mate to get back from his trip to fit it to the dish and hope that it performs as good as it looks.

View attachment 103550 View attachment 103551 View attachment 103552 View attachment 103553
 

John

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scopus

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Done a similar thing on my Inverto, grafted a Hughes (Ka) feedhorn on mine, as I only use this LNB for Ka and not Ku for my Channel Master 1.8.
Was worth it, gave me a good 2dB gain. I found when I did this on the Greg 1.2 using the cone feedhorn, Ku improved but Ka was slightly worse. So I would suspect the same with the above mod, but could be wrong.
 

maybecrazy

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Hi MC! Could you do any comparison regarding the performance? Would be nice to know if its worth the hassle to use with c120 on a PF dish

Sorry for late reply, the modded LNB is still not on the dish yet, as my dish is at roof level I have to wait for my friend who is an installer to do it and at the moment he's on a 3 week cruise !

Also my RX is now the Octagon SF4008, a new STB to market with not yet mature drivers which initially gave spurious signal readings but after several driver updates the signal reading is now ok and evidently compares favourably to pro meters.

Rest assured I will post before and after results as soon as the LNB is installed.
 

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If anyone can help possibly. Is there a combined Ka/Ku LNB for a Channel Master dish please? Looking at receiving as an example Ka on 16east.
Thank you
 

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They do make them, but you will need the right one for your requirements since there are a number of Ka band services with different local oscillator frequencies.
 

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Thank you. I understand Inverto used to make one but don't anymore.
Am trying to watch 16 east Ka and 7east Ka. With normal Ku. Dish is the 1.2 Channel Master.
Combined LNB for Ku and Ka. If this doesn't exist it's a shame but if it does and you can point me in the right direction of one I would be very grateful
Thank you
 

nelson_b

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Thank you. I understand Inverto used to make one but don't anymore.
Am trying to watch 16 east Ka and 7east Ka. With normal Ku. Dish is the 1.2 Channel Master.
Combined LNB for Ku and Ka. If this doesn't exist it's a shame but if it does and you can point me in the right direction of one I would be very grateful
Thank you

Hi -- Laser.
Satellite superstore had them (at a price) early this year ... but discontinued now :(
A 1.2 Channel Master might not be big enough.
( i,m not sure Channel masters are the best dish for K/A .. being a mesh inside plastic .... i think a good quality "solid" metal dish could be better ? )
I struggled with some K/A transponders at 16 e with a 1.8 channel master here .. when i tried in the spring ... i never got around to testing on the 1.2 channel master yet .. if i get a spare afternoon i will give it a try.
 

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Looks like you are right laser, the Inverto Ka/Ku is now a discontinued product....
 
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