The C-band Tin-Dish challenge

[John]

Strung it last night and it was pretty close. Aligning the holes and the petal levels must have helped. Spare scalar - good idea, thanks.
2.4m at C band is about the same as 90cm at Ku on the woolyness scale.
I'll try but work gets in the way


That confuses me even more. I find it hard to believe that the footprint varies as much as it appears. The strongest TP for me was 3984V at 9.3dB SNR.

7 transponders on 40E locked whilst pointing at 38E.

I can't find the beacons on 38E 3702.9H & 4196.5H according to http://frequencyplansatellites.altervista.org/Beacon-Telemetry_Europe-Africa-MiddleEast.html . 40E beacons are strong.

I'll check out the 38E beacons shortly G, we are very heavily covered in a thick layer of frost & mist at the moment .... Brrrrrrrr very cold this morning.

 

[John]

Hi - john .
Recalling past results posted on here, i think folks near the south coast have done better with this sat than us further north .
Using 1.8 offset with a Zinwell + stepped conical feed (no Avcom barrel) i,m locking Dunya Ent ..
4091V 3330 this morning ... a number of others are showing some signal but are not lockable .. using DR HD F15 receiver.
The AJK transponder usually locks on 1.8 here but is only on air for a few hours in the afternoon.

@s-band .. will look with the 2.4 C.M later if i get time to put the C band l.n.b on ...
the only time i,v had 10 or more transponders though - up here in the north west - from this sat was using the 3 M Prodelin
regards ...

Cheers NB, does seem a bit strange this one. I'll have a go at 4091V

 

[John]

Strung it last night and it was pretty close. Aligning the holes and the petal levels must have helped. Spare scalar - good idea, thanks.
2.4m at C band is about the same as 90cm at Ku on the woolyness scale.
I'll try but work gets in the way


That confuses me even more. I find it hard to believe that the footprint varies as much as it appears. The strongest TP for me was 3984V at 9.3dB SNR.

7 transponders on 40E locked whilst pointing at 38E.

I can't find the beacons on 38E 3702.9H & 4196.5H according to http://frequencyplansatellites.altervista.org/Beacon-Telemetry_Europe-Africa-MiddleEast.html . 40E beacons are strong.

Btw G ..... like that beacon list site, not seen that before ;)

 

[nelson_b]

Cheers NB, does seem a bit strange this one. I'll have a go at 4091V

Hi again --
AJK transponder 3984 V 2893 is active now also .. but is below lock currently here today ?
This sat is the most unpredictable one up there l.o.l.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Strung it last night and it was pretty close. Aligning the holes and the petal levels must have helped. Spare scalar - good idea, thanks.
2.4m at C band is about the same as 90cm at Ku on the woolyness scale.
I'll try but work gets in the way


That confuses me even more. I find it hard to believe that the footprint varies as much as it appears. The strongest TP for me was 3984V at 9.3dB SNR.

If you are at the threshold for reception the footprint is probably the least variable part of the link budget at the distances involved.

The LNB characteristics (not just the noise figures/sensitivity) but the frequency response throughout the band, which will also differ on each - of the four - polarities. The mechanical characteristics at the feedhorn end and how the matching of the bore relates to the focal point of the dish reflector at all points.
Electrical interference and incoming wireless at the IF frequencies will play a part.

You will also have different sidelobes as well as the ground and background noise from buildings nearby, which will be affected by reflections from any number of offbeam objects, outhouses trees.

Differences in temperature, humidity and particulates in the atmosphere at all altitudes........

 

[nelson_b]

AJK transponder 3984 V 2893... back up to its regular strength now of around 7.5 db on 1.8 C.M.

 

[John]

AJK transponder 3984 V 2893... back up to its regular strength now of around 7.5 db on 1.8 C.M.

Iv'e thawed out a bit since this morning and temperatures are up to a sweaty 2 deg.
Things have returned to a bit more normal but i'm getting a bit of hassle from the bird next door at 40E which has some sigs at around 13dB at times.
If it were not so cold outside i would have a bit of a tweek.

 

[blademedia]

@s-band This might be of interest to you, reading elsewhere this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Satellite-Dish-professional-3-6-metres-/291941979677?hash=item43f919161d:g:CYAAAOSw8vZXMOUk

comes with a mount doesn't say what type but its a tracking mount, even if you don't use the dish it comes with still a cheap mount

 

[s-band]

@s-band This might be of interest to you

comes with a mount doesn't say what type but its a tracking mount, even if you don't use the dish it comes with still a cheap mount

Thanks. I asked the seller for some pics and for more details when he/she first listed it 6 months+ ago. I got couple of words in reply, something like "view it" so it didn't fill me with confidence and I left it.

Edit:Where does it mention the mount?

Useful & interesting posts from all re: 38E. I didn't get time to play outside today.

 

[blademedia]

Thanks. I asked the seller for some pics and for more details when he/she first listed it 6 months+ ago. I got couple of words in reply, something like "view it" so it didn't fill me with confidence and I left it.

Useful & interesting posts from all re: 38E. I didn't get time to play outside today.

Could be a little jem mount, something like this you never know, I would be chasing it up

 

[s-band]

It's just a stock photo, I think "The photo is not of actual dish. as dish is currently dissasebled." (sic)

Of course, it could always be the dish bargain of the century

 

[blademedia]

It's just a stock photo, I think "The photo is not of actual dish. as dish is currently dissasebled." (sic)

Of course, it could always be the dish bargain of the century

Yes its a stock photo, but they don't make rubbish mounts for 3.6 dishes, what ever the mount is it will be quality

 

[Channel Hopper]

Yes its a stock photo, but they don't make rubbish mounts for 3.6 dishes, what ever the mount is it will be quality

Some mounts on dishes of that size are true horrors.

 

[blademedia]

Some mounts on dishes of that size are true horrors.

Do you have any examples, ive never come across a bad mount for this size dish and ive installed a fair few different types in the past.

 

[moonbase]

I tried 38E and got 12 transponders but not the 2 above (EBSPro vertical scan attached). I just managed to lock 4184V at about 4dB but got nothing from 4114V. I was using a Norsat 3220 but tried a Tit to double check, it was about 1dB down....

s-band,

Did you use a power line inserter with your Norsat 3220 LNB. If I recall correctly, the Norsat 3220 might need 18v to operate at its maximum performance . I would need to check on that as I am not 100% sure on it. I recall buying a power line inserter some time back to use with some Norsat LNB's but I cannot recall the justification for my purchase and did not get around to setting it up. I think there is some info on "Ricks" web site about it.

Rgds

 

[John]

s-band,

Did you use a power line inserter with your Norsat 3220 LNB. If I recall correctly, the Norsat 3220 might need 18v to operate at its maximum performance . I would need to check on that as I am not 100% sure on it. I recall buying a power line inserter some time back to use with some Norsat LNB's but I cannot recall the justification for my purchase and did not get around to setting it up. I think there is some info on "Ricks" web site about it.

Rgds

If i remember correctly when i last used my Norsat 3520 pll Cband lnb a couple of years ago seemed to favour an 18 v supply

Btw G .... like the Zinwell test rig so pinched the idea, i found the jubilee clip to be a useful addition lol. I nabbed the last Cband adapter from the chap in Lincoln to have a play with, it's a bit higher up the band than i would have liked but got it cheap enough to have a play with.

Btw .... just one more thing about 38E .... was monitoring 3984V for sign's of life this morning from about 8am ish and there was absolutely nothing on the analyser showing .... come round to just before 10am and the signal just started to appear but very low. Slowly but surely it crept up over the next hour or so and reached it's normal of just a tad over 7dB, lockable from about 5dB up.

 

[s-band]

MB, I was powering it from the TBS card but don't remember which voltage. The data says it's OK 12-24V but the regulator can't be that good as it lets 22kHz through. Data sheet here

John, I see what you did with the holes. I used smaller screws and aligned the guides bye eye. The test set-up was a bit top heavy, I used gaffer tape after the pic was taken. If you got the same WG to coax adapter as mine, a Flann 11A093-NF10, it's frequency range is 3.22-4.9GHz

(to others, this discussion follows from a conversation about mis-placement of holes in cheap rectangular to circular WG feeds & testing LNBFs)

Joining consumer waveguide bits always seems to result in steps (including the AC-Comm polariser). Every step will result in a mis-match to some extent with its associated losses and potential for frequency dependant variations. It would be nice to have a feed that wasn't bodged together!

Btw .... just one more thing about 38E .... was monitoring 3984V for sign's of life this morning from about 8am ish and there was absolutely nothing on the analyser showing .... come round to just before 10am and the signal just started to appear but very low. Slowly but surely it crept up over the next hour or so and reached it's normal of just a tad over 7dB, lockable from about 5dB up.

Even more strange. It's not inclined and only has a very small E-W wobble, it's not close to the horizon. I'll have another look for the beacon next time I put the dish out but has anyone else found a beacon?
Edit: I didn't follow my own link, this is what we're looking for: http://frequencyplansatellites.alte...metry_Europe-Africa-MiddleEast/Paksat_1R.html

 

[John]

Strung it last night and it was pretty close. Aligning the holes and the petal levels must have helped. Spare scalar - good idea, thanks.
2.4m at C band is about the same as 90cm at Ku on the woolyness scale.
I'll try but work gets in the way


That confuses me even more. I find it hard to believe that the footprint varies as much as it appears. The strongest TP for me was 3984V at 9.3dB SNR.

7 transponders on 40E locked whilst pointing at 38E.

I can't find the beacons on 38E 3702.9H & 4196.5H according to http://frequencyplansatellites.altervista.org/Beacon-Telemetry_Europe-Africa-MiddleEast.html . 40E beacons are strong.

Can also see both the 40E beacons pretty strong on the 1.8 and can just see, only just, the 38E beacon at 4196H

 

[Channel Hopper]

Do you have any examples, ive never come across a bad mount for this size dish and ive installed a fair few different types in the past.

The early Patriots were awkward in the extreme to align, mainly down to the weight being too far forward, and the Prodelin 3.4 and 3.7m have a 70 degree arc only, with a preference of east or west motor setup only.

 

[Captain Jack]

The early Patriots were awkward in the extreme to align, mainly down to the weight being too far forward, and the Prodelin 3.4 and 3.7m have a 70 degree arc only, with a preference of east or west motor setup only.

Couldn't have been as bad as TD110, surely?