Echostar ad-3000ip viaccess with mpeg-2 mp do i need a replacement receiver ?

[Channel Hopper]

Nice array behind you.

The Ku LNB you have is an MTI triple band, probably badged as something else. I have a couple here, but have never seen one fail.

The C band looks like the California Amplifier, again very reliable

 

[moonbase]

...
So this dish and mount came straight from Precision after this dealer tried to plam me off with a home made polar mount and C band dish . But as you can see from the pictures its showing its age these day . I do clean it about once a year .

Apart from a bit of rust on the actuator the rest of the equipment looks to be in good condition.

Are you planning to use the dish only for Ku-Band or do you have plans to use it for C-Band as well? The reason I ask is that if you were happy to have a Ku-Band only setup you could fit a Precision Ku-Band feed and C120 waveguide transition to the 3 x support arms and bolt on an Invacom C120 LNB. This would give you motorised Ku-Band.

If you wanted to check out C-Band you could simply swap over the feed arrangement at the centre of the 3 x feed support arms for a "C-Band Only" feed holder and use a Twin Probe Titanium C2-PLL LNB.

I use the feed swap over all of the time to change over the dish use from C-Band to Ku-Band, it is only a few minutes to swap over the feed.

Pics of Precision Ku feed and custom C feed attached below.

.

 

[subman]

Yes the Jack needs a good going over with the wire brush on the dremel then a few coats of Hammerite but other wise it should be good to go as for the LNB its still working not to sure what the spec of it is only its a Quad Multiband LNB that the Echostar can switch up to the 12 Ghz band .

As far as feeds go yes I was going to change over the feeds this is why I found that Precision had gone under other wise it means find a local engineering firm to make up some new support arms , But I wanted to keep the C band and the Ku/12 Ghz band I fully understand the loss using the Corotor but its been working up to now ok I did check it with mounting a offset KU band LNB and with a dish this size it worked fine .

If there was C band dealers in europe that would be good but so far have found very few unlike the middle east + asia , I think as people got internet TV they just dropped the idea of a 3m Winegard in there back yard . Who remembers Micro X from 1990

But we shall see .

Cheers

Oh yes the Ants in the back ground yes there HF to 23 cms as I am a ham as well .

 

[Channel Hopper]

You won't lose much with the Corotor II on Ku band, but as you say, different feedarms are recommended since those on the Chaparral unit will be a tad too long for a Ku only feed.

The Echostar has the 13/18 switchover for low/high bands on the LNB you have. Use the analyser plugged into the mains to check if you get a signal.

Tonight I'll take the Emitor here out of its box and look at the battery type for possible candidates.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Well, that was easy enough, a standard 7.0-7.2 Amp hour as found in any household alarm system . Your's might be slightly different owing to the non CRT screen.

Take the nearest battery terminal off straight after removing the top cover.

I found the best route was through the side , taking the rail that holds the loudspeaker out of its captive position, then sliding the battery out,

Check all screws inside are relatively tight and none are rattling about loose before reassembly, which is the reverse of dismantle.

 

[moonbase]

@subman


I just checked my records for Precision serial numbers from dishes I have worked with and it looks like you have a Precision 2.8m dish. The clue in the serial number is the 1st two characters 28.....

 

[jeallen01]

Well, that was easy enough, a standard 7.0-7.2 Amp hour as found in any household alarm system . Your's might be slightly different owing to the non CRT screen.

Take the nearest battery terminal off straight after removing the top cover.

I found the best route was through the side , taking the rail that holds the loudspeaker out of its captive position, then sliding the battery out,

Check all screws inside are relatively tight and none are rattling about loose before reassembly, which is the reverse of dismantle.

Just curious, are you actually going to replace the battery now that you know what's needed?

 

[subman]

Looks like every one has been busy , Right the Sat Look meter is a SATLOOK MK4 FTA it cost back in 2007 £449 They sell batterys packs on Ebay for any thing from £30 -£60 from what I can see it looks like a load of AA cells bolted together and it got a fly lead with a plug on one end but not sure how you get to the battery ? Did look on Youtube but there is nothing there . Yes it does need a new battery as this one no longer holds its charge . Thanks for the info on how the meter comes apart its one more project .

Thanks Moonbase for trying to ID my dish sorry but its much larger than a 2.8 I think from looking at the polar mount its built like a battle ship and about twice the size of my old IRTE dish and mount . I will see if I can find a tape measure longer than 3m because its bigger than my 3m tape by well over a foot .

As far as the Corotor II on Ku band goes I do know some people have removed the first elbow and bolted the Ku LNB straight onto the Corotor to cut down on the loss . Does any body know this company as they seem to stock large dish gear and Corotors , Toner Cable Equipment

 

[jeallen01]

@subman

The link in your last para is missing.

 

[subman]

From looking at the Battery packs on ebay there for a SATLOOK Micro HD and I have a Satlook Mk 4 FTA the battery you are showing me looks like a battery from a APC UPS like I have on the computer .This is mine . I wonder if this is the same as yours ?

 

[subman]

Sorry Jeallen01 what info was missing ? or did you require the link for Toner Cable Equipment . Can we put URL links on this forum as I know on some you cant . If you google Toner Cable Equipment you should find the URL .

 

[jeallen01]

Sorry Jeallen01 what info was missing ? or did you require the link for Toner Cable Equipment . Can we put URL links on this forum as I know on some you cant . If you google Toner Cable Equipment you should find the URL .

I don't need the link, but others might.

 

[subman]

Ok sorry did not know if I could put links on this forum this is the link : Buy Commercial Satellite Dish| Toner Cable | www.tonercable.com Oh well back to searching for bits .

 

[subman]

Morning Moonbase , in my search via the internet for big dish spares and parts I came across this company I was wonder if you knew if this was the same company that restarted after Precision Antennas went under .This is there link Satcom feeds & antennas / wideband high power EW antennas & feeds - Elite Antennas as they seem to have able to able to make spun parabolic aluminium dishes . They seem to be based in Leominster HR6 0QF

 

[moonbase]

Morning Moonbase , in my search via the internet for big dish spares and parts I came across this company I was wonder if you knew if this was the same company that restarted after Precision Antennas went under .This is there link Satcom feeds & antennas / wideband high power EW antennas & feeds - Elite Antennas as they seem to have able to able to make spun parabolic aluminium dishes . They seem to be based in Leominster HR6 0QF

I gave a history of the evolution from Precision Antennas to Elite Antennas via Andrew and Q-Par in one of my earlier replies.
Elite Antennas started up in 2010 using the old Precision Antennas tooling. Unfortunately, Elite Antennas went into voluntary liquidation in April 2019.

Unless the Serial Number does not follow the conventional system or it has been transplanted, it indicates a 2.8m dish. If you measure the diameter of the rear mounting ring on the dish and it is approximately 1200mm then a 2.8m dish will have approx 800mm of land between the outer edge or the rear mounting ring and the rear peripheral ring that the dish surface wraps around on the rear side.

As the dish is wider than your 3m tape measure we have to assume the serial number does not follow the usual convention that was used by Precision Antennas? There is no need to source a longer tape measure, just measure the length of one of the reinforcing rods on the rear side of the dish and the diameter of the rear mounting ring. From those two measurements a good approximation of the dish size can be obtained.

Irrespective of the true size, it is a lovely dish and very high quality.

 

[moonbase]

Morning Moonbase , in my search via the internet for big dish spares and parts...

For spares and parts for a Precision Antennas dish you will need to look to the online 2nd hand market such as eBay, Facebook, Gumtree or enthusiast forums such as this one. Quite a lot of the Elite Antennas parts are identical to the Precision Antennas parts so components from either manufacturer should be suitable.

Alternatively, there are a few forum members who have the tools and skills to manufacture some parts for use on Precision Antennas dishes. Examples of components I have had made are adjustable feed support arms in stainless steel, feed holders for both C-Band and Ku-Band LNB's and polariser barrels for C-Band to eliminate the use of a dielectric plate etc.

 

[subman]

Thanks for the reply I am already speaking to Dr. Richard Holliday as he was the owner of to Q-par + Elite Antennas but the whole thing went under Any way him and his wife are now running a new company that can supply reflectors from 0.3m to 4.5m diameter there contact details are H.R.HOLLIDAY MICROWAVE & RF CONSULTANTS. hrhbxl@yahoo.com .

I will ask him if he knows any thing about my dish and the size but the good news is I have found a 5m tape measure so I will check but from looking at it I would say its well over 3m coming on for 3.8m , This is across the dish not round the rim .

Stay tuned

 

[John]

Thanks for the reply I am already speaking to Dr. Richard Holliday as he was the owner of to Q-par + Elite Antennas but the whole thing went under Any way him and his wife are now running a new company that can supply reflectors from 0.3m to 4.5m diameter there contact details are H.R.HOLLIDAY MICROWAVE & RF CONSULTANTS. hrhbxl@yahoo.com .

I will ask him if he knows any thing about my dish and the size but the good news is I have found a 5m tape measure so I will check but from looking at it I would say its well over 3m coming on for 3.8m , This is across the dish not round the rim .

Stay tuned

.. That's very interesting information there - thanks for that

 

[subman]

If I hear any more John I will let you know but there does seem allot of big dish owners out there still who are having problems finding bits .

Ok just returned from the step ladder in the back garden and I can comfirm that the dish is not 4m its 148 inches from rim to rim which makes it 3.75m the tape is not bar tight but its well over 3m as you can see in the pictures .

As for finding a replacement receiver I have a reply from satellitesuperstore they have lots of receivers but they would all require a VOX box for the jack but not sure how we would control the skew on the Corotor . Which means back to the idea of a ADC1 that can control Jack and skew and still a separate receiver .

 

[John]

.. Oooooo look at the muck on that lol - BUT, it does show the joint weld area better.
Re: 2 x axis controllers -- i use a RC2000 to haul my 2.2 Elite antenna about both in AZ & EL and i use it in totally manual mode, just my preference.
I also have a ASC1 controller as a spare.
The RC2000 is a large unit & built like a battleship but is extremely reliable.
The ASC1 has a good robust exterior but is not as good on the electronics inside. You can get an add-on external board that screws onto the motor / pulse terminals at the rear which makes the unit more stable in operation. It also has a nice software program for it that has all the satellite positions and polarity settings which is very useful.
There both a bit of a pain to obtain though.