Advice Needed Strongest C Band Signal for UK around 20-50w

[mapperuo]

Hi there!

I'm trying to get an old 2.4 meter dish working with C Band and have been unsuccessful in getting a single thing! I've pointed Ku dishes about before without issue.

From where it is I can see 20w onwards to about 60w, The aim was 47.5w but I can't seem to find it. I fear the amount of variables are against me - C Band LNB skew, the diaelectric plate orientation etc.

I am using this LNB: https://www.amazon.co.uk/C2W-PLL-Du...TF8&qid=1472666201&sr=8-2&keywords=c+band+lnb

I have set the Skybox FS7 to 5150 in the LNB settings also.


One final point - I did briefly have this dish pointing at 16e Ku and it performed slightly worse than my 1.8m Raven so I'm fairly sure it 'works' It's just this new C Band thing thats confusing me.

Hope you can assist.

 

[John]

.... I,ll start you off then.
To help others to understand what you have got and hopefully that will chime in .....
Required: ..... Pictures, good resolution pictures, of the dish, dish mount including any motor equipment etc, make of dish.
Is it all original or is it a mix and match ? .... do you know the focal point distance, PF or OS (might be a CM).
Not familiar with that receiver so can't comment on that.
The performance difference stated between the 1.8 Raven suggests a problem ... ie: is it petalised, has it been strung ?.
I would have a shot at 55 West to try and get you in the right ball park with the dish set-up , there's some pretty strong transponders on there which a good aligned and constructed 2.4 antenna should be ok with & remove the slab on the TiT of course.
Awaiting the pictures

 

[nelson_b]

Hi there!

I'm trying to get an old 2.4 meter dish working with C Band and have been unsuccessful in getting a single thing! I've pointed Ku dishes about before without issue.

From where it is I can see 20w onwards to about 60w, The aim was 47.5w but I can't seem to find it. I fear the amount of variables are against me - C Band LNB skew, the diaelectric plate orientation etc.

I am using this LNB: https://www.amazon.co.uk/C2W-PLL-Du...TF8&qid=1472666201&sr=8-2&keywords=c+band+lnb

I have set the Skybox FS7 to 5150 in the LNB settings also.


One final point - I did briefly have this dish pointing at 16e Ku and it performed slightly worse than my 1.8m Raven so I'm fairly sure it 'works' It's just this new C Band thing thats confusing me.

Hope you can assist.

Hi -
Try 40.5 west first .... 3652 L (H) 4000 TV Grande Rio
i get a strong signal from that one using a 1.8 channel Master
no L.N.B skew needed as its a circular signal .... and positioning the plate should not be at all critical on such a strong signal ... once you have found and maximised the signal on this you will have a good starting point to play for weaker signals ...

Is your 2.4 dish prime focus or offset ? the prime focus needs a flat feed and the
offset uses a conical one

i just scanned in Record HD 4027 L (H) 9600 at 47.5 West with the 1.8m so you should be ok with 2.4m even though you are a bit further north from me

the LNB you have should do the job ok ... and your settings sound ok

regards ...

edit ... i see @John also posted while i was doing my post l.o.l. .... and indeed some pics would be good if you can manage that ......

 

[mapperuo]

Thanks guys,

Well get some pics to try diagnosis this. I think the dish is warped as it just seems deaf as a door knob even trying to find 50w and 40.5w which I couldn't find today. It's a petalised prime focus I picked up as free to a good home hoping it would atleast be good for C Band as I think I read the dishes are less needing to be 'perfect' for that rather than Ku. It has no match build quality wise to my CM.

 

[archive10]

Thanks guys,

Well get some pics to try diagnosis this. I think the dish is warped as it just seems deaf as a door knob even trying to find 50w and 40.5w which I couldn't find today. It's a petalised prime focus I picked up as free to a good home hoping it would atleast be good for C Band as I think I read the dishes are less needing to be 'perfect' for that rather than Ku. It has no match build quality wise to my CM.

Sounds suspiciously (and worryingly) like a Jonsa petalised dish.
Is it 6 petals, has an Integrated Mount/stand, and rusts like there's no tomorrow?



Then your mileage will vary.,,
It is too easy to assemble this inaccurately, and the build quality / prceision is rather dubious.

BUT it was designed for cheap mass-market C-band reception, so it should work better there than at Ku-band.
And if your Ku performance only slightly worse than the CM180, then it might just be adjustments and pointing that you need to get right....

 

[mapperuo]

Found 40.5w today! Hurrah, 130 ish channels came in, around 80% quality so thats my first C Band find and atleast validates the setup. Couldn't hear anything with the sat finder by moving it further west for 47,5w, Need to check tomorrow if I'm making hitting my elevation limit. Satbeams is showing it at 15 degrees...

 

[mapperuo]

And yes that looks to be exactly what kind of dish it is st1, The previous owner appears to have hammeritied the base and painted the surface in places. Was going to buy one of these on ebay but glad I found this freebie, it's really poorly made but I shan't argue if it does my C band needs on 47.5w.

I dont think Its bolted together tight enough as the round middle plate won't fit on, Not sure if it would increase signal much anyway?

 

[nelson_b]

Found 40.5w today! Hurrah, 130 ish channels came in, around 80% quality so thats my first C Band find and atleast validates the setup. Couldn't hear anything with the sat finder by moving it further west for 47,5w, Need to check tomorrow if I'm making hitting my elevation limit. Satbeams is showing it at 15 degrees...

Good to hear that you are getting somewhere now ....
Have a good play around with the l.n.b. positioning and feed positioning .... and experiment with the plate position too and get the best signal / quality you can from the setup first ..at 40.5 W..... as 47.5w will not be as strong, and a much more difficult catch with that dish ..... good luck

 

[John]

... i can see you have had / got the strings on it, with it being a 2.4 i think it would be worth while spending some quality time and patience on it to get the panels lined up as accurately as possible with careful accurate lnbf positioning as NB says and you could end up with something that might just pip the 1.8CM. Good luck with it, crack on & keep us informed

 

[drhans]

130 ish channels came in

Well that's not very good... on my 2.4m dish, where the LNB is 6 degrees of focus, I'm getting 257 services at 40W, this setup performs similar to a fortec 240, which is basically what you have, so I'd say you need to do better than 130 channels if you want to be getting most out of the dish.

I'm attaching my scan from 47.5W. I suggest you look for Kentron at 4084L, it's the strongest signal with the best margin.

Also I think you should use different LNBF. The Titaniums are very disappointing. The dual output one I have even outputs 1dB less on one of the outputs.

 

[mapperuo]

Thanks for that, shall head out with my socket set after the grand prix and get this beast into shape.

I could just point the 1.8m CM over to 47.5 but it's happy with it's Ku fibre lnb and I'd rather not touch it!

 

[archive10]

I dont think Its bolted together tight enough as the round middle plate won't fit on, Not sure if it would increase signal much anyway?

Not a lot. The scalar rings on your LNB feed-horn is in the way anyway.

But why are you not using the 120-degree holes on the LNB feedhorn scalar for the feedarms?

 

[mapperuo]

Not a lot. The scalar rings on your LNB feed-horn is in the way anyway.

But why are you not using the 120-degree holes on the LNB feedhorn scalar for the feedarms?

View attachment 97196

No instructions with the dish so wasn't aware! Ill try those holes.

 

[archive10]

No instructions with the dish so wasn't aware! Ill try those holes.

Three feed-arms on dish space 120 degrees apart (to make up 360 degrees in total)
You need to attach each feed-arm spaced regularly around the LNB scalar.
This may involve rotating the scalar until you reach the right fit.

Don't think this will improve reception hugely, but may just give that extra little something once you've spent hours adjusting the individual panels...
(I know - I had a 180cm version of these dishes once... ;) )