I ordered a conical scalar and when I get that I can start playing with my 1 meter primestar dish.
It's the oval retailer dish that radio shack stores used to have on their roofs.
I think jvvh has one.
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I ordered a conical scalar and when I get that I can start playing with my 1 meter primestar dish.
It's the oval retailer dish that radio shack stores used to have on their roofs.
I think jvvh has one.
Yep, not that great at C band and only use it for Ku now. 1.2 Meter is a little better. Really wish I had something up around 2 meter though--don't really have a spot in the back yard for one but would be nice.
There are probably only a handful of channels you could scan in with a 1.2m dish. I've had a 1.8m in the past on c band and it was more then adequate but 3m needed for those really tough tp.
I think channel master made a 2 meter for point of sale use in the old days.
There is a restaurant down the road that has one on the roof and I was hoping they would get rid of it when the place went belly up,but no luck.
Burger King had one on the roof aimed north and at the ground,so I know that wasn't being used.They re-did the roof and got rid of it.I missed out on that one.
Years ago somebody made a 65mm holder for the 3 arm primestar dish,but I lost that bookmark.
Staples has the dwd120t 1.2 meter but I was too late for walmart.
They dropped the price to $195 to get rid of them,sold out.
The 6 footer dwd180t is too pricey for me.
if u have the room look for an 8-10 fter that some1 wants to get rid of its a lot of fun.
Even the small dish was fun to play with on C band. Pretty hit and miss for which signals I could get. I seemed to have a magic touch for a while and got lots of stuff that now I can't seem to--can be a frustration. Part of it is wide beamwidth, part of it is the lower gain.
There is a big dish up on a tall pole down the street from me that seems to be unused and I keep thinking I should ask if they want it hauled away, but then I think "where will I put it?" Even thought about figuring out some way to remote control a dish that I setup in an open area I have access to and then beam the signal down to me in some way--but likely more work that it is worth given the other ways that I test.
There are DIY ways to build a BUD.
Searching the earth over the years I've seen some weird approaches to making dishes,usually from the old communist countries.
One method if you had a big south facing wall;it was chunks of reflector mounted on the wall that would add up to a big size dish.
To aim you would have to move the lnb around to different spots and up and down.
Radio electronics in the 80's had a series of issues for making a spherical dish.Or the oddball flat plywood fresnel dish.
If I were good at woodworking I would attempt that.
In today's world of North American c band, putting up a bud brings it all in. Things may change and probably will in the future but having the right size dish for c band is outstanding at the moment.Quote:
Originally Posted by jvvh5897
Yes, I know. But I'm an FTA only kind of guy, by-and-large. Just use TV as background noise while I do other things, so audio is often all I need (hence the DSS hack for FTA boxes is of interest--if audio is not encrypted I consider it true FTA).
I actually built a 4 foot by 8 foot dish with bent wood and window screening and tried it out--did OK even though the design I came up with had more than a few flaws. I can fit something that shape in the back yard where a full dish (with all its weight, size and wind load) is not really practical. 8 foot wide horizontal rectangle should still have the beamwidth of full 8 foot dish and about 3 dB (pretty sure 3 or was it 6 dB) more gain than 1.2 meter dish if built well.
Beamwidth in degrees for diameter D in meters = 4.25 / D so 8 foot (2.4 meter) is below 2 degrees and just what you need for satellite spacing. Gain goes by the log of the Diameter ratios squared as I recall.
Found this Thread over at Ricks site called- fresnel lens for satellite reception???
Old Radio Electronics magazines and came across this article, on page 52 of this issue from October 1985.
It talks of making a fresnel lens for satellite reception from plywood...
I enjoyed reading about it
Change hxxp to http
hxxps://ia601702.us.archive.org/1/items/radio_electronics_1985-10/Radio_Electronics_October_1985.pdf
I have the originals and was once having a conversation with a guy in spain that was playing with them.
The original article had errata and the spain guy had old pc programs to figure the cutting.
The dish has to be bigger than usual,for the 8ft C band as an example you would have to make a 10ft fresnel and so forth.
Code:https://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/threads/plywood-fresnel.111473/
the original scans and the old windows commandline program for figuring the cutting.
exe compliments of telefrancesco
I took the arms off the old primestar and found some aluminum pipe I had from an old screenhouse that is the right diameter for the bottom arm.
Once the side arms were off,I noticed the original ku lnb holder could be spun upside down,leaving room for some jury rigged end to mate with the 65mm holder.I will go with the new pipe and probably just flatten out the end once I get it the correct bend and length.
the original ku holder was mounted right at the end of the arm angled up.
To achieve the same thing the new bracket would have to be mounted like 1 inch under the arm to avoid hair ripping aiming episodes.
Or an arm with a different bend.