I got the C Band up and running! Some observations...

[cnagorka@gmail.com]

Hello All:

Well, I did it, I got the C band going with the Fortec 120 cm dish and the GeoSat dual output C band lnb. A few observations:

1. Signal strength here in WV is no problem. Here are the results of some blind scans with the Merc II:

Galaxy 16- 12 tps
Galaxy 19- 13 tps*
Galaxy 3C- 27 tps!!!
Galaxy 11- 19 tps
Galaxy 28- 9tps*
AMC 3- 21 tps
AMC 6- 6 tps

The asterisk indicates a questionable result, due to...

2. The real problem here is, as others have pointed out, overlap between adjacent sats. The 120cm dish is obviously blending signals between some sats, and trying to adjust west/east with Diseq 1.2 won't cure it. Having said that, I don't care that much as long as I can see what's out there! I haven't tried going way out west with this dish because it's mounted temporarily on my deck and the view is blocked by my house. If I put it up on the roof it'll be no problem.

3. The LNB arm on this dish is at the wrong angle, period! I noticed when I was at Sadoun's place that they had a little piece of something under the lnb holder to aim the lnb further down toward the center of the dish. This is absolutely necessary, C or Ku band! Doing this will get you a huge increase in signal quality (sometimes double).

4. The other thing that really bumps up the signal (assuming you've got it adjusted correctly) is the scalar ring- it made a huge difference, too.

5. No matter what, I absolutely, positively could get nothing out of the GeoSat C/Ku band lnb, ever. Mr. Sadoun, if you're reading this, I would really like to bring it up with me in October and try it out at your place to see if I was doing something wrong or if I got a bum one.

CN

[Jim-S]

Congratulations, I know the feeling.

[sharagim1]

Hello All:

Well, I did it, I got the C band going with the Fortec 120 cm dish and the GeoSat dual output C band lnb. A few observations:

1. Signal strength here in WV is no problem. Here are the results of some blind scans with the Merc II:

Galaxy 16- 12 tps
Galaxy 19- 13 tps*
Galaxy 3C- 27 tps!!!
Galaxy 11- 19 tps
Galaxy 28- 9tps*
AMC 3- 21 tps
AMC 6- 6 tps

The asterisk indicates a questionable result, due to...

2. The real problem here is, as others have pointed out, overlap between adjacent sats. The 120cm dish is obviously blending signals between some sats, and trying to adjust west/east with Diseq 1.2 won't cure it. Having said that, I don't care that much as long as I can see what's out there! I haven't tried going way out west with this dish because it's mounted temporarily on my deck and the view is blocked by my house. If I put it up on the roof it'll be no problem.

3. The LNB arm on this dish is at the wrong angle, period! I noticed when I was at Sadoun's place that they had a little piece of something under the lnb holder to aim the lnb further down toward the center of the dish. This is absolutely necessary, C or Ku band! Doing this will get you a huge increase in signal quality (sometimes double).

4. The other thing that really bumps up the signal (assuming you've got it adjusted correctly) is the scalar ring- it made a huge difference, too.

5. No matter what, I absolutely, positively could get nothing out of the GeoSat C/Ku band lnb, ever. Mr. Sadoun, if you're reading this, I would really like to bring it up with me in October and try it out at your place to see if I was doing something wrong or if I got a bum one.

CN

thanks for send information to us
i"m installer .please send to us all the channels you got it on c band with 120 satellite dish if you can.
thanks

[cnagorka@gmail.com]

There's a ready made FTA C-band list already made up: go to www.global-cm.net/MPEGlistCBandUS.html

It's pretty darned accurate. However, they stop at AMC 6 (72W)- from here in WV you can get Intelsat 9 at 58W, which is fantastic for me because it carries NHK World and I like japanese stuff.

CN

[knowmiddlename]

Hello All:

Well, I did it, I got the C band going with the Fortec 120 cm dish and the GeoSat dual output C band lnb. A few observations:

1. Signal strength here in WV is no problem. Here are the results of some blind scans with the Merc II:

Galaxy 16- 12 tps
Galaxy 19- 13 tps*
Galaxy 3C- 27 tps!!!
Galaxy 11- 19 tps
Galaxy 28- 9tps*
AMC 3- 21 tps
AMC 6- 6 tps

The asterisk indicates a questionable result, due to...

2. The real problem here is, as others have pointed out, overlap between adjacent sats. The 120cm dish is obviously blending signals between some sats, and trying to adjust west/east with Diseq 1.2 won't cure it. Having said that, I don't care that much as long as I can see what's out there! I haven't tried going way out west with this dish because it's mounted temporarily on my deck and the view is blocked by my house. If I put it up on the roof it'll be no problem.

3. The LNB arm on this dish is at the wrong angle, period! I noticed when I was at Sadoun's place that they had a little piece of something under the lnb holder to aim the lnb further down toward the center of the dish. This is absolutely necessary, C or Ku band! Doing this will get you a huge increase in signal quality (sometimes double).

4. The other thing that really bumps up the signal (assuming you've got it adjusted correctly) is the scalar ring- it made a huge difference, too.

5. No matter what, I absolutely, positively could get nothing out of the GeoSat C/Ku band lnb, ever. Mr. Sadoun, if you're reading this, I would really like to bring it up with me in October and try it out at your place to see if I was doing something wrong or if I got a bum one.

CN

Congratulations of getting the MiniBUD working so well. It's not easy! The C side of my GeoSatPro CK1 works fairly well, but the Ku side is very insensitive compared to my Invacom QPH-031. I may have a focal length issue, but haven't determined this yet. The GeoSatPro dual C-band LNBF is outstanding for the bucks. You probably already know you can minimize adjacent satellite interference for specific situations on dishes several ways to receive a favorite channel. I once attached a removable "TI-type" shield to the outer edge of the reflector, facing inward, to kill the hits. This was not a high-tech solution, but it worked.

[cnagorka@gmail.com]

Hi:

Well, you got more than I did out of the GeoSat unit! I got absolutely nothing after so much fiddling around...you're right, though, the dual output C band lnb works great, and the Invacom quad (which I have on the 90cm dish) totally rocks.

I would be interested to hear a few pointers on the adjacent sat interference. For me, it didn't seem like any signal was being degraded, it was just irritating to do a blind scan and get all excited, then find out that I'm seeing the exact same tps and signals that I just saw the next sat over.

CN

[William Eng]

Good Job. Have you actually picked up any watchable channels from these transponders? Keep us posted.

I brought the scalar cone ring too, but I haven't installed it yet on my 120 dish. Without it, I only got one C band channel, a religious channel.

[cnagorka@gmail.com]

Hello:

There are some watchable channels out there; I've disconnected the system until I install it permanently, but I can remember a few:

as I said above, NHK World on Intelsat 9 at 58W comes booming through, which is great. Remember, it's in english! There's a bundle of american channels going to the Caribbean on Galaxy 19, I believe- one is an NBC affiliate, but during local news time you get reggae acts from the Virgin Islands! There are a couple of MyNetwork feeds, and a bouquet of channels which scan in as "GDMUX 1, 2, 3" etc, I never figured out whose feeds they were. I will say that the number of horse racing feeds was insane- all of the feeds you see on AMC 5 in Ku band (NYN) are individually available on C band, via Roberts Communications Feeds, spread out among three different sats (and, no, that's not a mistake caused by adjacent sats bleeding through!).

When I set the system back up on my roof, I'll go through and give everyone a detailed list of what I find, as it appears that there's some interest in the subject.

CN

[William Eng]

Hello:

There are some watchable channels out there; I've disconnected the system until I install it permanently, but I can remember a few:

as I said above, NHK World on Intelsat 9 at 58W comes booming through, which is great. Remember, it's in english! There's a bundle of american channels going to the Caribbean on Galaxy 19, I believe- one is an NBC affiliate, but during local news time you get reggae acts from the Virgin Islands! There are a couple of MyNetwork feeds, and a bouquet of channels which scan in as "GDMUX 1, 2, 3" etc, I never figured out whose feeds they were. I will say that the number of horse racing feeds was insane- all of the feeds you see on AMC 5 in Ku band (NYN) are individually available on C band, via Roberts Communications Feeds, spread out among three different sats (and, no, that's not a mistake caused by adjacent sats bleeding through!).

When I set the system back up on my roof, I'll go through and give everyone a detailed list of what I find, as it appears that there's some interest in the subject.

CN

Be careful putting that dish on your roof. I had a tough time trying to hold the dish steady with one hand and tighting the nuts and bolts with the other hand. That's where my knee comes in. This dish is heavy, not like the 80 cm, the edge will dig into your skin unless you wear gloves. I would suggest that you consult a roofer to make sure your roof won't sag over time with this weight on it.

Looking forward to seeing your complete list of receivable channels.

[cnagorka@gmail.com]

I've actually given this a lot of thought- the weight of the dish, etc, wouldn't be supported by the roof at all. I'll take an example from the 90cm dish, where I bracketed a length of iron pipe to a big heavy vent pipe sticking out of the roof. It's worked great for several months. What I would do would be to get a longer length of schedule 40 pipe and actually cut a hole in the roof for it, and fasten it to the rafters and cieling joists in the attic. Distributing the stress that way shouldn't be any problem. There are pre-made rubbery plastic sealers designed to go over vent pipes to make the hole water tight, which I'll use, of course. So, the bottom line is that the roof itself won't take any weight at all, it'll all be taken by the structure of the house. It's a bit of a project, but if it's done right it'll give perfect clearance to the dish, and you won't even see it from the front of the house. If my neighbors saw two dishes up there they would think I was with the CIA or something. Now that's an idea

CN