Upgrade by Feedhorn?

Norm

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I have a motorised 1.2M Channel Master dish that I'm looking to optimise performance because installing a bigger dish is out of the question. Satellite Superstore (for example) lists a Channel Master Feedhorn although I can find no reference to this on the CM website (maybe not an actual CM product?).

Would I get a significant performance improvement from the feedhorn and a 0.3dB LNB over the 0.6dB LNB that I currently use? I appreciate that this is probably difficult to quantify in absolute terms - and I am not looking for specific improvement in any one area, I am just a "tinkerer" who wants to know he's getting the best from his system. I think I have a grasp of the reasoning behind the feedhorn principle.

So, waste of time or a worthwhile upgrade ie £100 or thereabouts well spent? And would a lot of fine tuning be required after installation - not that this is a huge problem because the dish sits proudly in the back garden?

Thanks for any opinions, Norm.
 

rolfw

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If you are using anything other than the Channel Master dedicated feedhorn, you are not optimising your dish Norm.

With the addition of the correct feedhorn and a decent low noise C120 LNB, you should make some tangible gains in signal quality and probably strength as well.
 

Norm

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Thanks Rolf. That was all the encouragement I needed. I will report back on what tangible gains I reckon I make with the feedhorn and better LNB.

Norm.
 

Channel Hopper

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If you have trouble getting the correct feed, then let me know. I have probably got a spare in the garage

Channel Master no longer exists as a manufacturer
 

Norm

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Channel Hopper - thanks for the offer. I had already ordered the feedhorn and LNB which arrived on Saturday and I fitted on Sunday morning.

Unfortunately just after fitting, my receiver (BEC6800CIP) had a serious crash - lost everything, limits, satellite positions, everything. This receiver has had a history of rebooting and losing about half the stored channels (seriously annoying!) but this was the worst yet (I think it probably defaulted to factory settings).

So Sunday afternoon was spent reinstating some of the data (a useful learning experience if nothing else) This receiver is now on its very last warning - Basil Fawlty thrashing coming up.

Strangely, it seems to work a bit better (so maybe the bug which was causing the failures has irradicated itself somehow). I had never been able to figure how to add transponders for example (the manual is pretty basic anyway). I now know that the reason I couldn't add transponders was because the feature didn't work and it does now! Doh!

The only thing that I tried with the new LNB and horn was whether I could get anything out of 4W. This was maybe a tad optimistic in the North end of Scotland (Aberdeen) and so it proved - nothing.

Norm.
 

Channel Hopper

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You could have asked about 4W first. Anyone here would have given the answer, (maybe even cheaper than the feed)
 

Norm

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To be fair, getting 4W wasn't the objective - the objective was to optimise the performance of the existing dish which cannot be replaced with anything larger. The only thing I got to try before the receiver crashed was an attempt at 4W - and you have to try these things, no matter how much the odds against! Don't you? Maybe the mistake is admitting it?

Norm.
 

Channel Hopper

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Maybe the mistake is admitting it?

One learns more by realising mistakes have occurred
 

Channel Hopper

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What are you doing on here ?
 

rolfw

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LOL, nice welcome CH. :)
 

Channel Hopper

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More a surprise acknowledgement of acquaintance than a welcome

You dont know the name ?
 
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