Antenna thread

Vipersan · Aug 15, 2016

Not fully self supporting of course on account of the loose fitting ball joints ...but able to balance it in the 'use' position..

....got some M6 rose joint track rod ends coming from China ...which might be a better solution ...but these are easily replaceable ...
time will tell..
rgds
VS

...errr scuse the mess ..
lol

..Oh and got some serious monofilament ...high breaking strain fishing line from China today ...so was able to repair my homebrew bamboo wind chime..
..and yes I like cats ...
;)

Vipersan · Aug 17, 2016

Christina had her first fitting today for the new tripod ..
Looking good and so very close to the correct FD and centre ..
rgds
VS

..and before anyone says it ...
Yes one of the extension wings has weathered badly ...but does still work..

Vipersan · Aug 24, 2016

Had a delivery of parts today from China ..
Hopefully the last pieces of the puzzle ..for the new tripod / triple lnb mount..
rgds
VS

Vipersan · Aug 24, 2016

Into the realms of the unknown ..
Maybe this will work ..
maybe not ..
Time will tell ..
rgds
VS

..only wish the sun had stayed long enough to complete it ..
Rushing now to avoid the darkening skies ..
You Lucky sods in the S/E

Vipersan · Aug 24, 2016

It's a start I suppose ..
BBC Africa at 1W is currently coming in a 6.5db on the F15 ...with no tweaking as yet ..
I'm pleased with this but I suspect I can prolly get a little more from the centre ESX lnb..

Vipersan · Aug 24, 2016

..A bit of tweaking with the Elevation Jack ..now pulling 7.4db ...
So ...getting closer ...
Better concentrate on the FD next...
But not tonight I fear ..I'm cream crackered ...
;)

John · Aug 24, 2016

Vipersan said:
..A bit of tweaking with the Elevation Jack ..now pulling 7.4db ...
So ...getting closer ...
Better concentrate on the FD next...
But not tonight I fear ..I'm cream crackered ...
;)

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

You might be cream crackered but the main thing is ....... youv'e really enjoyed yourself

Vipersan · Aug 24, 2016

Couldn't resist a bit more -indoor- tinkering ..
connected up the second ESX which is offset by about 4 degrees from the focus ..
This one has no plate and is for linear birds..
There will be a penalty to be paid for not having it at the focus ...but since the majority of DXing is circular ...this one is at the focus ..
Not possible to use the centre lnb for linear even with the plate out ..on account it is rotated so that the electronics of the lnb is at the bottom ..
So not at zero and not at 90 ...
Not a problem in circular of course as this does not require the lnb to be plumb...

Didn't get anything at first from the linear bird at 37.5W ...
Then it dawned on me ..to change H to V ..
Silverbird came in at 10db which isn't bad considering the linear ESX is offset ...
Tomorrow I correct this error H & V ...but not going up ladders in the dark ..

rgds
VS

Vipersan · Aug 25, 2016

So ...turns out that either the lnb clamp diameter is a bit overlarge ...or the esx lnbs are a bit narrower than the clamps were intended for ...thus a bit sloppy and can't be gripped as tight as I'd like ..
So ..cruised fleabay again ...and bought myself half a metre of shrink tubing ..
2:1 shrinkage and 76mm diameter unshrunk ..
I hope to be able to modify the outer diameter of the ESX lnbs though the wall thickness of the tube is not specified ...
No matter ..if it is too thin I'll wrap a sleeve of 0.5mm thick plastic around the lnb outer first and shrink the tube over it ..
rgds
VS

Vipersan · Aug 27, 2016

So ..
The shrink tube arrived about 10 minutes ago ...and first job was to cut a couple of inches and try it ..
Well ...a reasonable job ..but the fact that the unshrunk size was a bit excessive ..plus the way it had been stored ...ie flat ...(see photo) ..
made the shrinkage slightly uneven ...but still very useable I think..
rgds
VS

Channel Hopper · Aug 27, 2016

Vipersan said:
So ...turns out that either the lnb clamp diameter is a bit overlarge ...or the esx lnbs are a bit narrower than the clamps were intended for ...thus a bit sloppy and can't be gripped as tight as I'd like ..
So ..cruised fleabay again ...and bought myself half a metre of shrink tubing ..
2:1 shrinkage and 76mm diameter unshrunk ..
I hope to be able to modify the outer diameter of the ESX lnbs though the wall thickness of the tube is not specified ...
No matter ..if it is too thin I'll wrap a sleeve of 0.5mm thick plastic around the lnb outer first and shrink the tube over it ..
rgds
VS

In the past I have drilled and tapped two or three more bolt holes in the scalar ring to position the LNB on dead centre, but only because I don't have a fetish for rubber.

Vipersan · Aug 27, 2016

All 3 done now ...
That stoped it farting in church ...as the old saying goes..
lol

More adjustments tomorrow ..
far to dark to be up ladders now.

Vipersan · Aug 27, 2016

Channel Hopper said:
In the past I have drilled and tapped two or three more bolt holes in the scalar ring to position the LNB on dead centre, but only because I don't have a fetish for rubber.

Totally understand what you say CH ..but sadly this wouldn't help in my case ...on account the scalars arent attached to the tripod ..
see previous photos ..
The lnbs are carried by a plastic clamp around each lnb and hung from the ally letterbox frame ..
this is where the 'slack' was ..thus I needed the lnbs to have a few more mm girth..

Lazarus · Aug 27, 2016

So what you are really saying is that they were not well hung?

Vipersan · Aug 27, 2016

Lazarus said:
So what you are really saying is that they were not well hung?

Indeed they were not ...but they hang well enough now ...
unlike llews which are overheating ..
or so it seems

archive10 · Aug 28, 2016

Vipersan said:
All 3 done now ...
That stoped it farting in church ...as the old saying goes..
lolView attachment 96801
More adjustments tomorrow ..
far to dark to be up ladders now.

@Vipersan: Hey, VS, looking really good, but doesn't this sub-thread actually deserve a separate thread in "Pictures of Member's Installations"?
Or are you going to use the C-band stuff for SDR too?

Vipersan · Aug 29, 2016

st1 said:
@Vipersan: Hey, VS, looking really good, but doesn't this sub-thread actually deserve a separate thread in "Pictures of Member's Installations"?
Or are you going to use the C-band stuff for SDR too?

Indeed I am buddy ..
Hence the 3rd lnb added at the focus ..
Centre will be R/L ...the one for H/V and lastly an Aero tcxo c1 PLL for 25E ..
When Christina is not in use for C band Dxing.
rgds
VS

archive10 · Aug 29, 2016

Vipersan said:
Indeed I am buddy ..
Hence the 3rd lnb added at the focus ..
Centre will be R/L ...the one for H/V and lastly an Aero tcxo c1 PLL for 25E ..
When Christina is not in use for C band Dxing.
rgds
VS

Ah - I knew there might be madness behind the reason...

Keep going - looking forward to the results...

Vipersan · Aug 30, 2016

Works quite well actually ..
A decent number of T packet hits currently being received on the tcxo titanium ..
Nothing earth shattering ...but for my modest system ..
not bad at all ..

I guess I'm still missing a few hits on all my dishes ...on acount I'm only monitoring 1 T packet frequency per sat/dongle

I seem to remember it was possible to expand functionallity of SDR# to cover 2 frequencies at once ?
Anyone want to help me out with this ..
If so I'll ask again in the Aero thread to keep it tidy ?
rgds
VS

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