Dishes on holiday

[Archive7]

Sorry to go off topic, but these solar water heaters have a common problem. If there is a water leak for any reason, then the owner of the tank will not know about it perhaps for weeks or months, as nobody bothers to inspect the system on the roof top because climbing a ladder is not for everybody, not even for me now.
I usually look for water flowing into the street and then check all the tenants water meters for any tiny movements which could pinpoint which apartment has a water leak.
If anyone wants to get rich, design a gadget that can detect water leaks as soon as this happens and sell it to plumbers to integrate into the system on the roof. They would get a notification few years later somehow to their mobile phones.
Or perhaps this wheel has already been invented!!!

 

[Raystorm]

Came across this little setup whilst in Luxembourg last week

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I can tell you that the large antenna is a ViaSat 13.5m Ka-Band as we have one exactly like that at work! Also, that's not SES/Astra HQ, I've visited there a few times and it's MUCH bigger!

 

[Captain Jack]

Surface accuracy must be immense on that...

 

[moonbase]

I can tell you that the large antenna is a ViaSat 13.5m Ka-Band as we have one exactly like that at work! Also, that's not SES/Astra HQ, I've visited there a few times and it's MUCH bigger!

Raystorm,

Welcome to the forum.


Rgds

 

[Raystorm]

Surface accuracy must be immense on that...

It is. The main reflector is aligned using optical photogrammetry which can give alignment down to less that millimetre accuracy. The gain is enormous though once it's correctly aligned. It's much more sophisticated than the theodolite and tape method used otherwise.

 

[Raystorm]

Raystorm,

Welcome to the forum.


Rgds

Thank you Moonbase! If anyone has question about the other end of satellite transmission, feel free to ask

 

[Captain Jack]

I have one... What happens to old transmission equipment once they reach end of life, such as countless analogue transmitters/encoders etc...?

 

[Raystorm]

I have one... What happens to old transmission equipment once they reach end of life, such as countless analogue transmitters/encoders etc...?

If by transmitter, you mean amplifier, we only tend to bin them off if they fail and it's not worth repairing it. Even then I'll keep it as a spares hulk for stripping parts out of. They don't care if the signal is digital or analogue, as a digital carrier is just a fast switching analogue wave. As for old modems, encoders, etc, there may be someone who wants to buy them, else we'll just send them off for WEEE recycling. Mind you, at the Stanley Teleport in Hong Kong, I saw rack after rack of old obsolete equipment just gathering dust!

 

[John]

Thank you Moonbase! If anyone has question about the other end of satellite transmission, feel free to ask

Hi Raystorm, welcome to the forum also. Look forward to your posts and input.
Research Concepts RC2000 antenna controllers from any redundant trucks are a nice item to source and behold if you ever come across any....... anything really, there are a few compulsive magpies on here that lust over SNG stuff.
Rgds.

 

[Raystorm]

Hi Raystorm, welcome to the forum also. Look forward to your posts and input.
Research Concepts RC2000 antenna controllers from any redundant trucks are a nice item to source and behold if you ever come across any....... anything really, there are a few compulsive magpies on here that lust over SNG stuff.
Rgds.

We have 3 RC2000's, upgraded to RC2500 standard at the teleport, two in use and one in storage. Been messing with one on a 3m Precision prime focus antenna for the past couple of weeks. That was what brought me here actually, was looking to see if I could get a Chapparal Corotor II to fit it! Our ACUs tend to be a magnitude more complex than the RC2000's though

 

[John]

It is. The main reflector is aligned using optical photogrammetry which can give alignment down to less that millimetre accuracy. The gain is enormous though once it's correctly aligned. It's much more sophisticated than the theodolite and tape method used otherwise.

... Saw that operation set up at Elite Antennas on a 4.5 Ka Elite antenna under calibration when i collected my 2.2mtr, very impressive set up.

 

[moonbase]

...was looking to see if I could get a Chapparal Corotor II to fit it!...

Raystorm,

If you are up to a little bit of fabrication for a feed holder there are some useful ideas in the topic I have linked to below.

2.4 DH Antenna installation

The topic covers the installation of a 2.4m centre focus antenna, very similar in design to a Precision 3.0m antenna. If you wish to get the precise Chapparal unit you refrerred to in your post above then eBay is possibly an option? Quite a few of the USA vendors will ship to the UK, some at reasonable cost.


Rgds

 

[moonbase]

...was looking to see if I could get a Chapparal Corotor II to fit it!...

Raystorm,

I have attached a few pictures below of a Chaparral Co-Rotor that I just dug out from the loft, I thought that I may have had something of this nature. The one I have is the Chaparral Tri-Band Co-Rotor for S, C and Ku bands. You are welcome to borrow it for a month or two if it's the type of thing you are looking for?


Rgds

 

[Raystorm]

Raystorm,

I have attached a few pictures below of a Chaparral Co-Rotor that I just dug out from the loft, I thought that I may have had something of this nature. The one I have is the Chaparral Tri-Band Co-Rotor for S, C and Ku bands. You are welcome to borrow it for a month or two if it's the type of thing you are looking for?


Rgds

Moonbase, that would be perfect! I'll message you about it. Edit - at least I would if I could!

 

[moonbase]

Moonbase, that would be perfect! I'll message you about it. Edit - at least I would if I could!

Raystorm,

I think that you need to have made a certain number of posts on the forum before you get access to the Conversation (PM) option? Alternatively, you could ask one of the forum staff to enable it for you, there is a section of the forum dealing with access rights, link below.

Site Access or Membership Problems.


Rgds

 

[PaulR]

Sorry Raystorm. MB, is right about the level of privileges and that they increase after a few more posts. I've had a look to see if I can allow PMs but I can't see how to do it. Hopefully one of the other Admins does!

 

[Raystorm]

Thanks everyone, figured it would be something like that

 

[PaulR]

Yes, it's to stop (or slow down) spammers. They can seldom waste time building up posts in order to be able to spam other forum members. And we can usually spot nonsense posts from those who do try to wait.

 

[Captain Jack]

@Raystorm what about old things like PAL encoders, Videocrypt, D2MAC etc.?

 

[PaulR]

Surely they would be with the broadcasters who would then deliver the encrypted signal to be uplinked.