Advice Needed Lenson Heath 1.5 mtr dish ??

[Vipersan]

BONUS ...
Because Carl is a bit taller than Neil ..he can see over the wall to the East ..helped by the lack of leaf on the troublesome tree ..I just locked Grozny at 53 East ...
Previously my eastern limit was Azerspace ...so a bit further East and a signal roughly equivalent to the TD88 ..
Ok I can't use the whole dish reflector..but a bonus is a bonus ..
Nice
;)

 

[Archived-1]

Great VS, have a look at the fringe thread some good hunting for weak signals there and 52.5. from what I can make out your doing well in our neck of the woods to get them , the 52.5 thread is here signals come and go for me on the 1.2 dish but its a good hunt don't give up;)
http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/threads/52-5e-yahsat-1a.158379/page-2

 

[Vipersan]

Great VS, have a look at the fringe thread some good hunting for weak signals there and 52.5. from what I can make out your doing well in our neck of the woods to get them , the 52.5 thread is here signals come and go for me on the 1.2 dish but its a good hunt don't give up;)
http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/threads/52-5e-yahsat-1a.158379/page-2

I will of course try ..but a bit ambitious maybe as I'm obviously using only the top portion of Carls reflector ..
This gives a better picture of the rough looking scan ..and the signal level possible of Rah-E-Farda @53e East ..
Not clean not powerful ..just do-able.
rgds
VS

 

[Captain Jack]

Funnily enough, I managed to catch 53E at my parents' place on the Fibo. The neighbour's tree which blocking everything from 42E onwards was chopped down - whehey! Sadly, I am only managing one Afghan channel at 4.5dB as I think only the very top of the dish is getting the signal due to a house further up the slope. It does mean that the 49E slot is potentially open in C band so once I get the LNB from Costa, I'll put my old one on the Fibo again.

 

[Vipersan]

So ..to continue this project I first needed to ensure that the homebrew triple lnb bar and bracket were actually looking at the sweet spot on Carls reflector....and indeed that the sweet spot was actually where I'd expect to find it .
IE ..in the centre of the ring of mount bolts ..
I also needed the distance from that sweet spot to the lnb clamp itself..
Ok ..
I recently bought a nice cheap triple function torch on ebay ..
Produces standard white light ...
..Ultraviolet light ..and a single roughly central lazer dot..
Useful ..but with a short length of upvc waste pipe slid over it ..is damned near the same diameter as a standard universal ku lnb.
So to work ..
I refitted the single lnb mount that came with the dish ..and mounted the laser torch in the bracket ..
switchied it on and rotated it to find it was accurate enough describing a circle of approx 1 inch on the dish face..
found the circles centre and affixed a small square of alluminium tape at the sweet spot.
Whilst the original bracket was mounted I also measure the distance ..bracket to sweet spot and wrote this on the rear of the reflector for future reference ..
43.75 inches.
Had a brew then re-mounted the homebrew triple feed bar ..
Chose the centre position and fitted my torch again ..
with the same orientation as before ..using the on/off button as a reference..
The laser dot was indeed close but slightly higher than before ..giving me a good idea how much more tilt I need to apply to the mount..and the distance measured was comparable ..it being 44.25 inches..
this can hopefully accomodated by sliding the lnbs a bit further forward ..
Overall ..I am very pleased with my guestimated creation.
Here are the pics..
You have to look closely for the laser dot in daylight..
rgds
VS

 

[Vipersan]

..Not entirely happy with the elevation mod as is ..
Certainly the idea is sound ..but the H180 top plate is made of shyte steel ..and is starting to warp due to the stresses on it ..
Particularly the thin side verticals at right angles to the plate where M10 eyebolts pass through..
I've manage to track down some suitable steel pipe ..and a U bolt clamp that will hopefully restore rigidity..
Hope the pic makes sense ..
parts should arrive in the next few days ..
Yes it cost me another £9 ..but worth it if it solves the issues.
rgds
VS

 

[Captain Jack]

VS, is there a reason why you are not using a PM and a Jack seeing how rubbish the H180 motor is?

 

[Vipersan]

VS, is there a reason why you are not using a PM and a Jack seeing how rubbish the H180 motor is?

Hi CJ ..
Yes I know the H180 isn't the best construction ..but I already own it ..and is very accurate tracking the arc ..
I do now have a polar mount courtesy of the purchase from Simon (still waiting to be re-furbed) ..but then I'd have to buy another actuator ..
Always an option if the H180 ever fails ..but the money pot isn't bottomless so I want to use what I have already where possible.
The H180 is actually a good design ..
Just a pity they skimped a little on materials and imo there are design flaws and could have been better conceived.
All part of the fun CJ ..and if my mods prove effective ..the H180 will eventually be a motor to be reckoned with.
rgds
VS

 

[Archived-1]

..Not entirely happy with the elevation mod as is ..
Certainly the idea is sound ..but the H180 top plate is made of shyte steel ..and is starting to warp due to the stresses on it ..
Particularly the thin side verticals at right angles to the plate where M10 eyebolts pass through..
I've manage to track down some suitable steel pipe ..and a U bolt clamp that will hopefully restore rigidity..
Hope the pic makes sense ..
parts should arrive in the next few days ..
Yes it cost me another £9 ..but worth it if it solves the issues.
rgds
VS

You should have used my idea VS it would have cost pennies and done a good job, you probably have the bits lying around, but we all have our own ideas.

 

[Vipersan]

You should have used my idea VS it would have cost pennies and done a good job, you probably have the bits lying around, but we all have our own ideas.

You idea was a good one Martin ..and I was seriously considering it ..(no bits lying around sadly)
certainly it would add strength and rigidity to the actual m10 eyebolts ..but introduces 2 weak points at the nuts/ferules ..
But this way I can not only add rigidity laterally ..but also by clamping the pipe down to the H180 base plate ..it will hopefully stop this warping also..
btw I priced up 2 x threaded spacers/ferrules ..and a short length of m10 threaded bar on ebay ..
like these ..
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181149210...AX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_2402wt_893
..it came in at roughly under £10 (stainless steel)..so little difference price wise.

rgds
VS

 

[Vipersan]

...took me about 3 hours to cut the pipe ..make spacers ..and u bolt washers drill holes...disassemble and put everything back with the new gear in place ..
Have to realign now of course..weekend I think..
BEND THAT if you dare fearsome westerlies..
lol

 

[Captain Jack]

Very nice! Looks nice and sturdy. And with a shortened original plate also means less flex on that one.

 

[Lazarus]

Who is that peering over the fence?

Planning Officer?

 

[Vipersan]

Who is that peering over the fence?

Planning Officer?

One of my helpful neighbours ..
The very chap who helped me put Carl up..so takes a keen interest...in my constructions..
WAS going to say erections ..but thought better of it
He's 75 btw ..and currently on my roof replacing those missing slates..
top man imo..

 

[wod]

Further down your street looks like an old dish for 19e still up on a house

 

[Captain Jack]

Further down your street looks like an old dish for 19e still up on a house

I think that's his dad's house?

 

[Vipersan]

Declination is a joy to adjust now ..but of course I have no references on Carl ..so got my inclinomter on the dish ..pointed at 0.8w and rotated the elevation nuts till I was roughly at 29 degrees ..
Went inside and there was a picture ..
Too dark to tweak now ..but at least I'm in the ball park.

Oh ..and my roof is watertight again ..
The sun stayed out till tea-time ..
All in all ..a GOOD day...
Nice
;)

 

[Vipersan]

Been tweaking Carls arc since about 9AM this morning ..
I'm sure I'm very close indeed ..
Certainly I can receive signals from 53 East to 61 West
..of course I don't expect miracles from 53 East as Carls reflector is partially obscured..

Would one of you guys with a 1.5 give me comparison figures for the following ...
Amazonas @ 61W 12642 H >> 10.9 to 11db
Intelsat 14 @ 45 W 11608H>> 11.8 to 12.1 db

Intelsat 10-8 @ 0.8W 10778H>>12.8 to 13.1db

Intelsat 12 @ 45E 11523V 13.8 to 14.0db
Express AM22 @ 53E 11044V 5.9 to 6.0db

Conditions here light rain/drizzle ...hence the slight variability of the dbs taken with the TBS6925.
declination is soooo much easier now ;)
rgds
VS

 

[Captain Jack]

Good job, VS. It's peeing down hard here and every satellite is down by at least a couple of dB...

 

[Vipersan]

Not a cloud in the sky atm ..
Sun shining though it is a bit cold..
More importantly no rain.
Been out and fine tweaked the inverto black dual ...and managed to add another
0.9 db 10788H 0.8W...
0.6 db 11523V 45E ...
0.7db 11608H 45W....
0.7db12642H 61W
..and a measly 0.2db at 11044V 53E (not unexpected...still a gain is a gain)

...Nice..
About as good as it gets for Ku on Carl.