Advice Needed Which one to choose DHSatellite 4.5m or Patriot 4.5 dish for ku band fringe reception?

[subman]

Ok Moonbase on the Dish went to one of the other group members called The Blade Runner as you know not been with on the group for about 2 years as I loaned my dish and mount out to one of my mates for EME work .

Had the dish + mount back for a few months and getting back into it again . I think I will change out that SMW type R KU Lnb as I am missing lots of channels so be looking for a replacement . So been looking at all the news feeds on Ku + C band at the moment but due to odd switching on the Type R missing lots of channels . Other wise all goes well .

So did I miss much in 2 years I do rememeber someone was upgrading to a larger dish cant think who it was ?

 

[moonbase]

Ok Moonbase on the Dish went to one of the other group members called The Blade Runner as you know not been with on the group for about 2 years as I loaned my dish and mount out to one of my mates for EME work .

Had the dish + mount back for a few months and getting back into it again . I think I will change out that SMW type R KU Lnb as I am missing lots of channels so be looking for a replacement . So been looking at all the news feeds on Ku + C band at the moment but due to odd switching on the Type R missing lots of channels . Other wise all goes well .

So did I miss much in 2 years I do rememeber someone was upgrading to a larger dish cant think who it was ?

It is only unstantiated rumours that were passed on to me 2nd hand that "The Blade Runner" bought it", I have no definite proof.
However, the 4.5m Elite was in the size that he was comfortable working with and he sold a 3.7m dish somewhere around the same period that the 4.5m was sold, possibly to make space for the 4.5m?

It must have been quite a task to loan out and return your 3.7m dish, without looking back at the pictures I think it was a single piece reflector.

For Ku-Band, if you have or can source an original Precision Ku feed with the C120 waveguide you can attach a dual probe C120 LNB to it such as an Invacom or an Inverto. This could allow you to scan the full Ku-Band in both polarities. It would make things a lot easier compared to using your "R Type" SMW LNB.

The focal length of your 3.7m is the same as the 2.8m and 3.0m Precision reflectors and uses the same length feed support arms if using face mounted arms as opposed to rim mounted arms.
To the best of my knowledge both the 2.8m and the 3.0m were supplied with the Precision Red Ku-Band feed where the position of the inner scalar is recessed compared to the outer scalar rings.
One of the Black versions of their Ku-Band feed has the inner scalar protruding above the outer scalar rings. There may have been other Black versions but I do not have any other than the one described.
Both the Black and Red versions I have used will fit your dish and both will set the feed throat opening aperture at the same distance from the dish face. In tests I found the Red version gave marginally better performance but it was not by much, fractions of a dB in the test I did.

Off the top of my head I don't think you have missed anything startling on the UK hobby satellite scene in the last two years, other forum members will possibly fill in the blanks.

 

[subman]

Thanks for the update moonbase and all ok on who bought that S/H dish . I hate to think how they transported but if you have a clear access to the sat belt I bet you can have some fun with it .

Yes I still have my 3.7m Precision one piece spun aluminium dish mounted on one of there own mounts .As for feeds yes you might remember I use a Chaparral Corotor this must be the third corotor that I have had since it was installed back in 1991 . Corrosion is the main problem plus the small servo motor for your skew control . As for problem with the SMW type R KU Lnb yes that is a bugger since with any domestic sat receiver you only have one low and one high .
Lo 10.00 13 volt no tone 10.95 - 11.70 Ghz
Lo 10.75 13 volt 22 khz tone 11.70 - 12.25 Ghz
Lo 11.30 18 volt No tone 12.25 - 12-75 Ghz
Lo 9.75 18 volt 22 Khz tone 10.70 - 11.70 Ghz

You may remember the receiver was a TM-5402HD plus the old Echostar AD 3000 IP
At the time we all had a big debait how you could rig the type Type R LNB but in the end its a non runner and not much use with a domestic sat receiver .

So looks like while I have it all in bits I might as well change over the KU Lnb I think the SMW Type G or the E would work with a domestic receiver unless there is a alternative make like Norsat , I do remember last time I bought a used Norsat C band LNB from one of the members on here . But these days its very hard to find any LNBs that has a WR75 flange .

As for our friend looking for a large dish for Ku , From looking at both dishes they were design for C band but will work on Ku but with lower specs I went through all this back in the ninetys when I went up to a 4.8m Paraclipse . I dont know of anyone in the UK who makes large satellite dishes . I was very lucky when I bought my 3.7 m as it was design for Ku band with a Cassagrain feed and was made for a CATV terminal .

Which brings me to importing from the States and the EU its 20 - 25% import duty so its a bit of a non runner plus shipping cost have gone through the roof .

So if any one has a spare Ku SMW or Norsat Lnb that they want to sell please pm me ,

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[moonbase]

As for our friend looking for a large dish for Ku , From looking at both dishes they were design for C band but will work on Ku but with lower specs I went through all this back in the ninetys when I went up to a 4.8m Paraclipse . I dont know of anyone in the UK who makes large satellite dishes . I was very lucky when I bought my 3.7 m as it was design for Ku band with a Cassagrain feed and was made for a CATV terminal .

Which brings me to importing from the States and the EU its 20 - 25% import duty so its a bit of a non runner plus shipping cost have gone through the roof .

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Quite a bit of the Elite Antennas tooling was bought by an engineering company from the Midlands. They were there loading stuff onto a van on the day I went there to collect the items I bought from the auction.
I had a quick chat with them and was told that they were planning to start spinning reflectors and already had orders for some.

They had bought quite a lot of the formers and the spinning machines so had plans to do something with it all.
It was good that the tooling remained in UK hands and that there were plans to use it.

 

[7mdish]

I was looking for ex-Elite dishes last July, but they told me it was all idle after factory closure. And they had no idea for any possible new activities. But, I say, it was about ten months ago, now I don't know.
I looked at that for my new setup. After their reply I turned to a good new CM 2.4m and I'm in a long long wait yet to gain such dish, hoping soon.

 

[Channel Hopper]

I was looking for ex-Elite dishes last July, but they told me it was all idle after factory closure. And they had no idea for any possible new activities. But, I say, it was about ten months ago, now I don't know.
I looked at that for my new setup. After their reply I turned to a good new CM 2.4m and I'm in a long long wait yet to gain such dish, hoping soon.

Has it left these shores ?

 

[subman]

That is good news regarding a the company that bought the old Elite antennas spinning machines will start doing there own . I bet they had a nice size van to load all that gear into .

Yes I do remember you saying they you had some gear from them as they had a load of smaller dishes on sale as well .
Well like I said its very hard to get hold of any sat gear these days . I will try and see if I get get a replacement Ku LNB from one of the other web sites . I dont want to buy from the states or Eu due to the import duty but I will see what I can find




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[moonbase]

That is good news regarding a the company that bought the old Elite antennas spinning machines will start doing there own . I bet they had a nice size van to load all that gear into .

I think the Midlands company who bought the equipment were on site for several days?
They had a decent size truck that they were loading up using a fork lift but it was getting full when I was there and they had a lot more stuff to get into it.

Judging by the size and weight of some of the spinning machines I am not sure if they would have been able to get them into the vehicle I saw, they may have had to come back with a low loader?

 

[subman]

Yes I thought they might make a few trips with the van and low loader and I do hope they start manufacturering large dishes as the only company that I know that holds a load of used dishes would be in the states . I think they have some 4m - 9m last I saw .If you put your name down there there mailing list .But you need to have BIG pockets as its not cheap plus shipping + import duty :- KU-Band Antenna Archives • New Era Systems I think when they bought over my dish they used a low loader some thing like this . But I screwed up as the polor mount would not fit down the side of the house so with 4 large guys we lifted it over the garage roof .

Wish I had a place with half a acre with a nice take off to east and west but I can do here is 65 east to about 60 west

 

[Channel Hopper]

For Ku-Band, if you have or can source an original Precision Ku feed with the C120 waveguide you can attach a dual probe C120 LNB to it such as an Invacom or an Inverto. This could allow you to scan the full Ku-Band in both polarities. It would make things a lot easier compared to using your "R Type" SMW LNB.

The focal length of your 3.7m is the same as the 2.8m and 3.0m Precision reflectors and uses the same length feed support arms if using face mounted arms as opposed to rim mounted arms.
To the best of my knowledge both the 2.8m and the 3.0m were supplied with the Precision Red Ku-Band feed where the position of the inner scalar is recessed compared to the outer scalar rings.
One of the Black versions of their Ku-Band feed has the inner scalar protruding above the outer scalar rings. There may have been other Black versions but I do not have any other than the one described.

 

[moonbase]

That is the black version I was thinking of that I do not have.
I think @John may also have one of those, I seem to remember pictures from him of that version?

 

[lotsat]

Hi, did you get any closer to seting up a big dish afterall?

Hi guys, it's been a long time. I tried getting quotation from both DHSatellite and Patriot. The quotation was from about $15,000 - 25,000 depending whether the dish was motorized or not. The quotation was without shipping cost and also duty in my country. It was way above my budget.

So I decided to take a break for a while. But recently I have decided to work on something locally. Let us see how it goes and I will give you a detailed report of it.

Thanks for asking.

 

[lotsat]

Its a pity he was to late for this dish as this was a 4.5m Shipping was over £850 and that was to the buyer in the midlands .

I wished I heard about it earlier.

 

[7mdish]

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Scroll below until you find two similar dishes, 3.7m and 4.5m.
They seem very good reading specs, maybe you can try to get a quotation.