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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Simba27" data-source="post: 229661" data-attributes="member: 182734">Last summer was rather busy, but I came across the old dishes today while clearing out some junk. I remembered this thread and decided it was time to find the answers.I setup a 60cm mesh dish on a pole in the garden and fitted a 0.8db universal LNB that I got from a bargain bin. I pointed it at 19E which seemed fitting because it was originally a Sky Analogue dish.Using my 80cm solid dish on the roof with it's 0.6db LNB I recorded the signal strength reading on GoTV (12663H 22000 5/6) as 99%. Then I connected the same receiver to the 60cm mesh dish and recorded 81%. An unexpected result: The 60cm disih is getting about 80% as much signal as the 80cm dish despite only having 56% of the surface area and thousands of holes in it.First I gave the dish a good clean with a brush and some sugar soap. I got all the guano and algae and loose plasticote flakes off it. I checked the signal strength again. No change, still 81%. I guess all that filth on the dish wasn't really affecting the signal too much.Next I decided to try and remove some of the rust, so I used my drill with a wire brush attachment. After a good 5 minutes of brushing, still no improvement in signal, 81%.Time to fill in the holes. I had a look in my shed for a suitable filler. Something not too labour intensive. Ready mix tile grout - perfect. I spread it on and wiped it smooth with a damp rag. Disappointingly the signal strength was still 81%. I was expecting some change, better or worse.Looking at the dish up close, I could see that due to the size of the grains in the grout, the "hole fillings" weren't completely smooth. So I gave it a light sanding and a coat of spray paint to smooth it over a bit. Still no change. 81%.Just for completeness I checked the 80cm "control dish", still 99% - so no change in transmission power or atmospheric conditions.I can't explain this result. I would have expected some change even if for the worse. I can still see faint dimples in the dish, I should probably have spent more time and made sure to get it completely smooth.The only explanation I can think of for the constant value is that the old 0.8 LNB was somehow "maxed out". Does that even make any sense? The signal reflected by the dish being enough to drive the LNB at 100% capacity, but the signal out of LNB being only 81% of what the modern decoder is expecting. I'm making this up as I go along. Somebody tell me if I'm talking bollocks here.Anyway, there's the result. No change for better or worse. Bummer.</blockquote>

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