Channel Master/Laminas 1.8m project

OK... finished the very amateurish fabrication. Not 100% happy with it - will redo it properly when I get my welder with thicker plates and materials. Will be OK for now.

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What are you not happy with, CJ?

Looks a decent effort to me.
 
Having bolted it all together with the dish on, it feels surprisingly solid.

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There's an issue with the Jumbo motor in that the limiter switch cogs seems worn out - it's not catching the other cog properly and therefore not turning. I'll see if I can replace it from my 'spares' 1224 motor. Not a huge deal but don't want it running over...

The weather looks like it might rain - hope not. We'll see what it's like after lunch.
 
Captain Jack said:
Having bolted it all together with the dish on, it feels surprisingly solid.

View attachment 92691 View attachment 92692

There's an issue with the Jumbo motor in that the limiter switch cogs seems worn out - it's not catching the other cog properly and therefore not turning. I'll see if I can replace it from my 'spares' 1224 motor. Not a huge deal but don't want it running over...

The weather looks like it might rain - hope not. We'll see what it's like after lunch.
Click to expand...

That paint job makes it look a bit like a bigger cousin to my 1.2m.
 
CJ,

It looks stable, operational and versatile.

Most of the kit looks like it can be used on other makes of dish. All that would be required for another make of dish would be a customised section of the "outer" metalwork that fits the mounting points on a dish. The inclined orbit elevation jack is quite long, is it temporary and to be replaced with a 6" or 8" actuator?

To get best sensitivity with elevation actuators, I think that the "triangle" that the actuator operates in needs to be as large as possible. This arrangement gives less degrees of elevation movement per pulse or inch of actuator.

All in all, its a good piece of work CJ.
 
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Thanks MB.

Welp, it's up and sort of aligned. I am getting good signals from 46e (17.6d:cool: to some random data stream on 34.5w which was maxing out at 20dB (as read on F15). I can see 5dB on 12522 on 55e but no lock - clearly the neighbour's house/tree is well in the way of that. I am sure I'll get 53e though, as I see that on my Fibo. Can't get beyond 34w due to the neighbour's tree branches sprouting all over our side, so will resume once it's been pruned.

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I need to slow down the Jumbo motor, it's way too fast for this dish - had real control issues with the EZ2000 positioner. I need to try it with a normal Vbox and see what that's like with it, but it's likely I'll need some inline resistors to reduce the motor drive voltage. The EZ2000 also had issues recalling stored positions. I don't think it's mechanical - more that the 1224 produces far more pulses than a normal jack and it seems to have been reaching count limits at the extremes. Not sure....

But....getting there. Will take a day off work at some point this week to try and finish it off (Ku band only for now) as I promised the good lady that I would spend next weekend putting up shelves for her...

Here it is next to the Fibo 90 looking at 1w.

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Looking good, neat install.

Are you keeping the fibo up next to it?
 
Captain Jack said:
Thanks MB.

Welp, it's up and sort of aligned. I am getting good signals from 46e (17.6d:cool: to some random data stream on 34.5w which was maxing out at 20dB (as read on F15). I can see 5dB on 12522 on 55e but no lock - clearly the neighbour's house/tree is well in the way of that. I am sure I'll get 53e though, as I see that on my Fibo. Can't get beyond 34w due to the neighbour's tree branches sprouting all over our side, so will resume once it's been pruned.

View attachment 92717

I need to slow down the Jumbo motor, it's way too fast for this dish - had real control issues with the EZ2000 positioner. I need to try it with a normal Vbox and see what that's like with it, but it's likely I'll need some inline resistors to reduce the motor drive voltage. The EZ2000 also had issues recalling stored positions. I don't think it's mechanical - more that the 1224 produces far more pulses than a normal jack and it seems to have been reaching count limits at the extremes. Not sure....

But....getting there. Will take a day off work at some point this week to try and finish it off (Ku band only for now) as I promised the good lady that I would spend next weekend putting up shelves for her...

Here it is next to the Fibo 90 looking at 1w.

View attachment 92718
Click to expand...
Alex,
You will be fine with a V Box.....trust me!
 
Nice spot.

How long are the cable runs back to the Shack, CJ?
 
Lazarus said:
Nice spot.

How long are the cable runs back to the Shack, CJ?
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It was a 100m roll, split into 3 equal parts, so around 33 metres. Not the longest I've had (50m was the longest) but not the shortest either. Hopefully, it won't attenuate signal too much.
 
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