Earth Station Fisty is in the middle of a small reconfiguration at present. First, dish B3 has been taken down - despite the dish being placed above B1 for a clear line of sight, it was not coping satisfactorily for 15W (focus) & 22W (offset) in wet conditions so has been removed for the time being lest anyone strike their head on it!
Secondly I got a consignment shipped in from Poland earlier this month that among bits and bobs included a 45cm offset dish. It was intended to experiment with for signal levels to see how good it would be for 28.2 east - for historical reasons dishes smaller than Sky Zone 2's are a rare sight locally (though I have seen a couple of Zone 1's pressed into service recently), so I was expecting that the diddy dish would be OK for the UK spot beam channels it might struggle with the 2G Pan-Euro channels. It's presently using a cheap "narrow" Amiko LNB salvaged from the spares box but the signal levels being delivered are equal or better than the 28.2E offset LNB on B1 which is ~12 degrees off focus. SNR levels are ranging from 14.8db for UTV HD to 10.6db for Vintage TV. No loss of signal on any channel in the rain, while the slightly weaker levels on the B1 offset LNB stood up to rain well also so should be fine. I might replace the 45cm (actually it's 40x45cm) LNB with a better one but it does the job fine presently. Only concern is that the dish this close to the ground might have a problem in the rare occasions of heavy snowfall, but it should be easy to clear if that happens! Those inspecting the back of the dish will notice part of a wooden clothes peg in between the pole and bracket - this is because the minimum elevation of the dish is 24 degrees and the elevation required for Astra 2E/F/G here is 20.0 degrees, so the bit of wood forces the dish to look down slightly.
This means the 78cm dish (B2) has been moved up the pole a bit to sit just above the 45cm dish. I'm looking at possibly replacing this with an 80cm aluminium dish I got from Poland to reduce weight/wind load on the pole, with its narrower LNB arm hopefully allowing for a better position for an offset LNB looking at 42E instead of 39E as it is at present.
Plans for the B1 dish are to remove the 28.2E LNB and refocus the centre to 13E where there is more stuff of what I watch or might watch compared to 16E where Magic TV Bulgaria is the only channel I watch with any regularity (though it might be worth keeping an eye on when the UEFA Champions League starts again). At present a couple of HD transponders get lost on Hot Bird in wet weather, and using an Inverto Green Eco or Black Ultra on centre focus should work better than the Alps single on a tight offset. If space allows, I'll try an offset LNB for 5W - the only transponder of interest is the France Televisions one with France 2, 3, 4 & O which is usually the strongest and has a low SNR requirement.
As for the western satellites, I have one final new 80cm steel dish that could be pressed into action especially if 5W from B1 isn't reliable. Seems like I'll never be "finished" with what I play about with! I wouldn't mind putting up as many dishes as necessary, but there is a very small amount of backyard space to work with plus a neighbours' acceptance factor.
