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<blockquote data-quote="Captain Jack" data-source="post: 809101" data-attributes="member: 243342">Welp, spent the day installing the dish and to say I am impressed is a big overstatement. I can't get any sort of signal on it which resembles a 1.2m dish. It's behaving like it's a very well installed Penta 85 - in fact most of the satellites' signal strengths are only marginally better than the Penta and nowhere near what I used to get on the 1m Channel Master (I am not even mentioning the 1.2m version).I am not sure if the dish is warped as it has been stored upright for about 7 years but stringing it didn't reveal any issues and it looks OK to the eye. So, it could be alignment - but it seems to be tracking things OK. I get satellites from 37.5W to 42E beyond which there's a house wall and trees respectively. At extremes and the middle, I cannot improve signal by nudging the dish in various directions.The last thing it could be (and is my primary suspect) is the bodged Black Ultra LNB. I don't know if the skew is wrong or if it's out of focus (pushed it too far/not far enough into the feedhorn). I washed the inside of the feedhorn as it had bugs in it and cobwebs but it seems clean. Can the old and floppy plastic feedhorn cover cause degradation in signal? I will get a proper C120 LNB and screw it on. That way I will know that the focal point is correct. However, I don't think I'll be able to adjust the skew as the flange is stuck solid inside the feedhorn. Annoying. May try nelson_b's method of dumping it in WD40 and see if I can free it up.Should it all fail, I will be putting my trusty 1.2m Channel Master on.Anyway, here are the pics. Everything is bog standard except the guy wires to stabilise the pole. It was rather wobbly at the top.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Captain Jack, post: 809101, member: 243342"] Welp, spent the day installing the dish and to say I am impressed is a big overstatement. I can't get any sort of signal on it which resembles a 1.2m dish. It's behaving like it's a very well installed Penta 85 - in fact most of the satellites' signal strengths are only marginally better than the Penta and nowhere near what I used to get on the 1m Channel Master (I am not even mentioning the 1.2m version). I am not sure if the dish is warped as it has been stored upright for about 7 years but stringing it didn't reveal any issues and it looks OK to the eye. So, it could be alignment - but it seems to be tracking things OK. I get satellites from 37.5W to 42E beyond which there's a house wall and trees respectively. At extremes and the middle, I cannot improve signal by nudging the dish in various directions. The last thing it could be (and is my primary suspect) is the bodged Black Ultra LNB. I don't know if the skew is wrong or if it's out of focus (pushed it too far/not far enough into the feedhorn). I washed the inside of the feedhorn as it had bugs in it and cobwebs but it seems clean. Can the old and floppy plastic feedhorn cover cause degradation in signal? I will get a proper C120 LNB and screw it on. That way I will know that the focal point is correct. However, I don't think I'll be able to adjust the skew as the flange is stuck solid inside the feedhorn. Annoying. May try nelson_b's method of dumping it in WD40 and see if I can free it up. Should it all fail, I will be putting my trusty 1.2m Channel Master on. Anyway, here are the pics. Everything is bog standard except the guy wires to stabilise the pole. It was rather wobbly at the top. [/QUOTE]

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