rgormley

i have been told that a 1.8 mtr solid dish will peform the same as a 2.3 mtr mesh.

would i be ok with the 1.8 mtr solid dish (backyard space constraints+uglyness factor)

i`m in altona meadows and wish to get FTA feeds. also will be doing it myself as a DIY setup.
oh and the 1.8mtr is a dual C/KU unit

1.8 METRE MOTORISED DUAL BAND PACKAGE
or
satellite tv, free satellite tv channels, satellite dish kit, satellite, australian satellite, sat tv


Thanks

beer4life

G'Day,
Despite what the salesman may tell you, a mesh dish is not suitable for the KU band. This relates to the relative wavelength of the KU signals being shorter than the mesh diameter and therefor very inefficient.

Kindest Regards, " The Druid ".

__________________

jippy

Thats sort-of correct " in theory" however it can depend on the dish iteslf and also the lnb.
I have a motorised 2.3m mesh dish with a combined Yuri C/ku lnb. I easily pickup 20 satellites from my location in Qld and never had a problem in recieving any ku signals.

rgormley

so i would be ok with the 1.8mtr solid dish just for FTA and if i wish to get a TVB-jad sub i can just get there card and join a plan.

based on jippy`s reply it looks ok.

also does $175 for a 6.5 mtr 75mm gal pipe sound correct price wise?
(they will give me one cut for free) from a local metal dealer.

hope you guys dont mind with the questions....
this project will start to unfold in the next few weeks i hope!

rgormley

if the google/dishpointer site shows the height of the beam (peak of the next doors roof) at say 15mtr`s

and my dish is say 3 mtrs above the ground can i add 3mtrs to the beam height estimation?

ie: now the height of the beam would be 18mtrs at the peak of my next doors roof.

rgormley

are solid dishe`s actually solid? or in sections and when they are fully assembled become solid as such.

wondering about pickup and how larg ethey are will be a hassle to get in a trailor if infact it is a solid thing?

i see mesh dish`s can be pulled apart but as for a solid?

CONAXLE

I much prefer a solid 1 piece dish than Petal type,they buckled in strong winds and will need to be assembled correctly as you can get uneven space in between the joins.

Godzilla

I have used the Strong 2.3m mesh dishes for c band and Ku without any problems. Its marked on the boxes that their C and Ku compatible.

The mesh dish will have less chance of flexing the pole in high wind situations. Yes the dish flexs a little then springs back with minimal flexing of the pole.

A large solid dish puts a lot of force on the pole. The pole must be mounted very securly, if anything gives it will be the way the pole was mounted. Id be looking at a dish that minimises these forces in windy conditions.

I use to get the heavy duty ones they used a 89?mm pipe from memory, much more secure and sturdy in windy conditions and more accurate in motorised situations.

I think these dishes were only another $60 from memory.

The dishes back then for 75mm pipe were $180, and $240 for the 89mm pipe.
They should be cheaper now.

I use to pay $60 for a 6 meter lenght of 89mm heavy duty gal pipe afew years ago.

When the wind blows very hard (storm) you may lose your picture for a second as it flexes, then it comes back.

Hope this helps you.

mudcrab

I'll put a sapnner in the works I remember when I was setting up my C-band system, and read, and read, and took advice from people in the know etc etc.

You should alwasys buy the biggest Dish you can afford, as a beginner you probably will struggle a bit getting it aligned, a bigger dish will be a little more forgiving when leaning how to set the bloody thing up .

1 month after you get your set up working you'll encounter signals that are just on the edge of what you can receive, and then you'll be pissed off you didn't spend the extra $200 to get the 3.0m mesh dish.

Check out this place for prices

Aussie Satellite Services Home Page

now a lot of their stuff is OEM and well I suspect Chinese clones of the name brands so you have to consider the possiblilty the quality might not be same, but you weight that against the price I suppose.

As for the C/KU LNBs, setting them up, well for me a real stuggle, I did get it working, but as alwasys this kinda thing results in a trade off in the signal qualities for both bands, if you want C-Band, use that LNB on that Dish............just my opinion.

Godzilla

Good link Mudcrab, same mob i use

Want going to post i seeing as he allready found his suppliers.

Bigger is better, as any woman will tell you.

Just a little harder to line up.

weirdo

Agree with you wholeheartedly mudcrab.
That's how I ended up with a 3.7 meter dish.
Also tried one of those C/Ku combined LNB's and found it a piece of shit for fringe signals so gave it away in the end.

rgormley

are Aussie Satellite Services Home Page open on Satudays??

weirdo

THe homepage will be there any day of the week I'd say
This Aussie Satellite Services-Contact Details says yes, 9.00 - 13.00

rgormley

yes thanks the day is getting long and i simply did not look hard enough....
might pop over there tomorrow for a sticky beak

JK200SX

They close at 12noon on Saturday.

IMHO, go for the 2.3m dish - you will lose out on a lot with a 1.8m dish in Melbourne, and drive yourself crazy in trying to align it. Aussie Satellites don't sell the 1.8m dish anymore even though its on display.

rgormley

if have a motored C dish, that controls the e-w movement yea.....

but what about the lnb how does that move??

if i want to move from intelsat8 (24.77 skew) to say asiasat3s (-39.32)

do i have to manually move the lnb each time?? surley not?



to the mods (i did not think i could ask many question in one thread,
sorry if i have stuffed up on the message rules..

Farmsky

A steerable dish on a polar mount will 'roll' the dish such that lnb skew is correct whatever the azimuth or elevation.

However a word of caution, the skew for all satellites is not 'standard'. The Optus series are tilted at 45 degrees to 'standard'.

Study the dish movement and all will become clear.

Godzilla

The dish turns (rotates) on the polar mount, the lnb rotates with it adjusting skew as it turns as pointed out by Farmsky.

I use to have intelsat 701, right through to Thaicom 5 here in Melbourne on a 2.3m motorized mesh.

Even lower when i had a good receiver with a low threshhold and analog was still around.

Fernbay

Don't have the pole too long. The closer to the ground the better, otherwise you will need a cherry picker to do the alignment

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Farmsky

Unfortunately despite all the myths around this subject ... size matters.

A spun solid dish can be made into an almost perfect parabola.

A petal mesh dish is ... well less perfect.

However at C band frequencies, dish imperfections are more tolerable than at Ku band frequencies. Ku band signals are focused on only portions of the earth's surface, increasing the signal strength; so any imperfections are more than compensated by the increased signal strength and massive' dish size. Make sure the mesh is Ku rated.

When calculating dish gain, surface irregularities of the dish surface from a perfect parabola (quality of the dish) is a primary factor. Theoretically, using two identically made dishes; the 2.3m dish will have 2db gain over the 1.8m dish.

Lets assume that the 1.8m dish is 'perfect' (which it isn't) and the 2.3m dish has an Average Antenna Surface Irregularity = +/1 3mm. The gain differential between these two theoretical dishes is now 1dB.

Good dish manufacturers quote 'dish efficiency'. The theoretical dish I used above has an efficiency of 77%, which would be about ball park for a mesh dish.