Just Sharing This Another motorised ka band polarity project.

dreamsat

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Mar 23, 2018
Messages
1,196
Reaction score
1,754
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
2,20m Kathrein, 3,7m Andrew, KU,KA,C,C-Ext. LNBs
My Location
germany
I do not know where you saw the picture of Pololu? Maybe from S-Band. :cool: He is the only one to whom I have sent this picture. If everything works I will publish it here.
 

John

Enthusiast.
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
3,726
Reaction score
5,528
Points
113
Location
North Nottinghamshire.
My Satellite Setup
Elite 2.2 PF - CM1.8 - CM1.2 - Gibertini 1.25.
Ku - Ka -C & Ext C.
PC cards-TM5402 receivers.
Promax FSM.
My Location
North Nottinghamshire.
I do not know where you saw the picture of Pololu? Maybe from S-Band. :cool: He is the only one to whom I have sent this picture. If everything works I will publish it here.



You PM'd it to me.
** Edit - well i think you did, i'm sure iv'e seen that picture in the last week or so :confused
 

John

Enthusiast.
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
3,726
Reaction score
5,528
Points
113
Location
North Nottinghamshire.
My Satellite Setup
Elite 2.2 PF - CM1.8 - CM1.2 - Gibertini 1.25.
Ku - Ka -C & Ext C.
PC cards-TM5402 receivers.
Promax FSM.
My Location
North Nottinghamshire.
... a couple of pics showing the preparation and then the handling of my balls with a pair of tweezers !.

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


IMG_7979-a - - reduced..jpgIMG_7987-b - - - reduced..jpg
 

John

Enthusiast.
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
3,726
Reaction score
5,528
Points
113
Location
North Nottinghamshire.
My Satellite Setup
Elite 2.2 PF - CM1.8 - CM1.2 - Gibertini 1.25.
Ku - Ka -C & Ext C.
PC cards-TM5402 receivers.
Promax FSM.
My Location
North Nottinghamshire.
... stainless ball bearings of course - for the home-brew rotary joint on the 18GHz L/R/H/V project. :p
 

Channel Hopper

Suffering fools, so you don't have to.
Staff member
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
35,533
Reaction score
8,554
Points
113
Age
59
Website
www.sat-elite.uk
My Satellite Setup
A little less analogue, and a lot more crap.
My Location
UK
... a couple of pics showing the preparation and then the handling of my balls with a pair of tweezers !.

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


View attachment 124111View attachment 124112

As you own more than the usual brace, you carry on.
 

scopus

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Messages
3,174
Reaction score
3,807
Points
113
Age
59
My Satellite Setup
Primesat/Famaval 1.8 PF C/ku/Ka, Octagon SX8HD1, SX88, Openbox S3 Mini HD-V8S Freesat V7 HD-V8 Finder, Amiko A4K Combo, Satlook Colour HD Spectrum, Sansui A909 Amp and BOSE Acoustimass speakers for the audio.
My Location
Staffs UK
... a couple of pics showing the preparation and then the handling of my balls with a pair of tweezers !.

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


View attachment 124111View attachment 124112

Looks like a right balls up to me....
 

John

Enthusiast.
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
3,726
Reaction score
5,528
Points
113
Location
North Nottinghamshire.
My Satellite Setup
Elite 2.2 PF - CM1.8 - CM1.2 - Gibertini 1.25.
Ku - Ka -C & Ext C.
PC cards-TM5402 receivers.
Promax FSM.
My Location
North Nottinghamshire.
Looks like a right balls up to me....



... I mention a bit of ball activity on my behalf and everybody's coming out of the closet !!
 

scopus

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Messages
3,174
Reaction score
3,807
Points
113
Age
59
My Satellite Setup
Primesat/Famaval 1.8 PF C/ku/Ka, Octagon SX8HD1, SX88, Openbox S3 Mini HD-V8S Freesat V7 HD-V8 Finder, Amiko A4K Combo, Satlook Colour HD Spectrum, Sansui A909 Amp and BOSE Acoustimass speakers for the audio.
My Location
Staffs UK
... I mention a bit of ball activity on my behalf and everybody's coming out of the closet !!

Nothing like playing with your balls....
 

Channel Hopper

Suffering fools, so you don't have to.
Staff member
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
35,533
Reaction score
8,554
Points
113
Age
59
Website
www.sat-elite.uk
My Satellite Setup
A little less analogue, and a lot more crap.
My Location
UK
... I mention a bit of ball activity on my behalf and everybody's coming out of the closet !!
Just keeping the tweezer comments from the mainstream.
 

John

Enthusiast.
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
3,726
Reaction score
5,528
Points
113
Location
North Nottinghamshire.
My Satellite Setup
Elite 2.2 PF - CM1.8 - CM1.2 - Gibertini 1.25.
Ku - Ka -C & Ext C.
PC cards-TM5402 receivers.
Promax FSM.
My Location
North Nottinghamshire.
... More or less finished playing with this little 18GHz - H/V/L/R pol project apart from taking off the temp feed covering due to having a lazer pointer tucked down the feed waveguide whilst aligning the feed up for illumination. It's working surprisingly well to say it's cobbled up from various bits, a home-brew rotory joint, miss-matches on coax adapters etc. I spent a fair while tweeking for best performance and don't think i can improve on it. Did a comparison to see how affective the multi-pol unit was by comparing performance between the two units, a well tweeked Norsat pll lnb fixed in the Vertical pol position looking at the stable 19.2°East Ka Newsnet Comms freq 18561 GHz V and the Multi pol unit, which both are now on the lnb changer on the 1.2 Gibby. The fixed pol has a far simpler signal path with less components in the chain compared to the multi pol unit - see drawing.
.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

18 GHz Multi Pol in position... reduced..jpgNorsat 18GHz comparisons..GIF
 

Llew

cerca trova...
Staff member
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
16,226
Reaction score
4,197
Points
113
Age
81
My Satellite Setup
Triple Dragon, Dreambox 8000, Echostar AD3000ip, TBS6522,6925,6983 PCie cards.
Gibertini 1.25m motorised dish driven by the AD3000, with either Inverto BU Quad or Norsat / XMW Ka LNBs . SMW 1.05m + 3 other dishes. Speccy: Promax HD Ranger+
My Location
The Flatlands of East Anglia
Some interesting experimentation you've done there John. The multi-pol setup gives a decent signal throughput considering the various, possibly lossy components in the path.
My Hughes 18GHz DRO LNB+ FD9000 feedhorn suits me fine at present, but I'm always up for doing Ka-related experiments myself. Unlike you, mostly hacksaw/hammer/blunt drill stuff though :-doh
 

John

Enthusiast.
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
3,726
Reaction score
5,528
Points
113
Location
North Nottinghamshire.
My Satellite Setup
Elite 2.2 PF - CM1.8 - CM1.2 - Gibertini 1.25.
Ku - Ka -C & Ext C.
PC cards-TM5402 receivers.
Promax FSM.
My Location
North Nottinghamshire.
Some interesting experimentation you've done there John. The multi-pol setup gives a decent signal throughput considering the various, possibly lossy components in the path.
My Hughes 18GHz DRO LNB+ FD9000 feedhorn suits me fine at present, but I'm always up for doing Ka-related experiments myself. Unlike you, mostly hacksaw/hammer/blunt drill stuff though :-doh



It keeps me off the streets Llew lol. I was quite surprised myself at the results achieved - at first tests, before tweeking the figures were well down and i thought i had a non goer but after careful aligning & tweeking here and there the figures came up - as you know, to get maximum smoke at these frequencies you have to tweek to within + /- 1mm on alignment accuracy.
 

John

Enthusiast.
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
3,726
Reaction score
5,528
Points
113
Location
North Nottinghamshire.
My Satellite Setup
Elite 2.2 PF - CM1.8 - CM1.2 - Gibertini 1.25.
Ku - Ka -C & Ext C.
PC cards-TM5402 receivers.
Promax FSM.
My Location
North Nottinghamshire.
... More or less finished playing with this little 18GHz - H/V/L/R pol project apart from taking off the temp feed covering due to having a lazer pointer tucked down the feed waveguide whilst aligning the feed up for illumination. It's working surprisingly well to say it's cobbled up from various bits, a home-brew rotory joint, miss-matches on coax adapters etc. I spent a fair while tweeking for best performance and don't think i can improve on it. Did a comparison to see how affective the multi-pol unit was by comparing performance between the two units, a well tweeked Norsat pll lnb fixed in the Vertical pol position looking at the stable 19.2°East Ka Newsnet Comms freq 18561 GHz V and the Multi pol unit, which both are now on the lnb changer on the 1.2 Gibby. The fixed pol has a far simpler signal path with less components in the chain compared to the multi pol unit - see drawing.
.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

View attachment 124200View attachment 124201



... perhaps aught to clarify due to unclear print that the Promax reading on the bottom pic is 15.9dB and that was the maximum obtained at the time
 

Channel Hopper

Suffering fools, so you don't have to.
Staff member
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
35,533
Reaction score
8,554
Points
113
Age
59
Website
www.sat-elite.uk
My Satellite Setup
A little less analogue, and a lot more crap.
My Location
UK
It keeps me off the streets Llew lol. I was quite surprised myself at the results achieved - at first tests, before tweeking the figures were well down and i thought i had a non goer but after careful aligning & tweeking here and there the figures came up - as you know, to get maximum smoke at these frequencies you have to tweek to within + /- 1mm on alignment accuracy.

How accurate is the DiSEqC 1.2 rotor system on the end of the dish, in terms of repeatability moving clockwise/anticlockwise ?
I can't recall is there is a focussing system on the 5402 receiver, though I have seen one within the SF8008 tuning menu.
 

John

Enthusiast.
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
3,726
Reaction score
5,528
Points
113
Location
North Nottinghamshire.
My Satellite Setup
Elite 2.2 PF - CM1.8 - CM1.2 - Gibertini 1.25.
Ku - Ka -C & Ext C.
PC cards-TM5402 receivers.
Promax FSM.
My Location
North Nottinghamshire.
How accurate is the DiSEqC 1.2 rotor system on the end of the dish, in terms of repeatability moving clockwise/anticlockwise ?
I can't recall is there is a focussing system on the 5402 receiver, though I have seen one within the SF8008 tuning menu.



Using one of these for changer lnb position but use it manually to align each lnb centre position with a fixed reference point at the centre of the lnb position on the end of the Gibby support arms. It's reasonably accurate and convenient to use but i suspect it's the weakest point of the alignment chain. I'll have a look into using something that has a better/finer nudge tuning i think.
........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Lnb changer control..JPG
 

John

Enthusiast.
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
3,726
Reaction score
5,528
Points
113
Location
North Nottinghamshire.
My Satellite Setup
Elite 2.2 PF - CM1.8 - CM1.2 - Gibertini 1.25.
Ku - Ka -C & Ext C.
PC cards-TM5402 receivers.
Promax FSM.
My Location
North Nottinghamshire.
... had this bit of a whim this afternoon between the rain showers about returning to an idea i meddled with on a Ku feed some years ago that wasn't all that successful. On my 1.2 Gibby 18GHz L/R/H/V Ka rig i use an 18GHz scalar feed off a Hughes ODU. It very slightly over illuminates but is the best matching feed i have found for this dish up to now. So, with a bit of scrap 20mm wide x 2mm thick ali strip i shaped it around the edge of the Hughes feed with a jubilee clip to hold it in place to bring the feed angle to 70° to suit the Gibby - nothing scientific - just a poke and hope experiment to pass an hour or so. The result was positive without doing any adjustment on focal point tweaking etc but the heavens started to open up again so just put a temp plastic bag over the feed to keep the water out. Certainly worth making a new proper job of one when i feel like it.
Just a few pics and the original comparison note. Test freq was the comms freq - 18.561 V on 19.2°East as it's quite stable.
....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
 

Attachments

  • 18GHz scalar ring mod .......... reduced..jpg
    18GHz scalar ring mod .......... reduced..jpg
    594.2 KB · Views: 18
  • 18GHz scalar ring mod .... reduced..jpg
    18GHz scalar ring mod .... reduced..jpg
    599.9 KB · Views: 18
  • 18GHz scalar ring mod ....... reduced..jpg
    18GHz scalar ring mod ....... reduced..jpg
    807.9 KB · Views: 18
Top