How big of a dish do I need for c band?

[Charlie Baker]

It seems fta channels are getting sparse on ku, so I have been considering getting a dish for c band also. I live in Ohio, 40 N 81 W, do you think I could get decent reception with a 6' dish?

I have set up my 1 meter by myself, it took awhile, but I did get it finally. Is a bigger dish something a novice can do by themselves?

I have a disecq switch now at the 1 meter dish with 2 open ports, can I just use that switch to run a cable to the big dish? I would like to place the bigger dish about 35 yards from where the 1 meter dish is now, is that doable?

Thanks for any suggestions, I would like to be as prepared as I can be and avoid some of those "oops" moments I usually get myself into.

[elgemcdlf]

With C Band bigger is better. I would recommend getting a dish 8.5' or larger that is capable of both C and Ku. You can probably find one for free not far from your house. You can just pipe it into the current DiSEqC switch. If you check the list in my signature I have all three dishes run into the DVB receiver.

[Charlie Baker]

How big of a path can a movable big dish cover? It seems a lot of the satellites are in the middle of the arc, so I would think you could cover most of them?

[elgemcdlf]

I can get to 139 with 87 being my center. I have trees blocking east view but I could go just as far to the east.

[Charlie Baker]

I just found a 10 foot fiberglass dish not far from my home. I stopped and talked to them and I think I am going to get it. How difficult is it to set up a 10 foot dish? Can anyone suggest a site or link to an overview of setting up something like that?
Any things I should look for or avoid?

[pmb1010]

Originally Posted by Charlie Baker

Any things I should look for or avoid?

Bring some of that bug spray that shoots a stream for the huge wasps that like to nest in the LNB cone.

[Vitruvius]

10 feet... that is awesome. You should get great signal. If it is on polar mount that will be great for getting sats on the arc. Just keep the same angle of dish if it near your house, cause someone else took the time to tune it already... you will just have to rotate the assembly on your post.

There are some good websites to view what is needed.... You can do a search for threads on this website. Simply, you will need a steel pole mounted perfectly plumb in 3 feet of concrete. The steel pole should be sized for your polar mount... Perhaps they will let you take that as well... Major demolition is needed to get that transportable...

Good luck.

[Charlie Baker]

It has not been used for several years. The polar mount is pretty rusty, all the bolts and such. I thought I would have to take it apart and clean it up good, but that would mean I have to readjust everything. I think I would rather mount a new pole than try to get the one they have out of the ground. I don't know about the actuator, the lnb is a chaparral, I didn't write down the model number. I will as soon as I go out again. How sturdy are they to transport? How much will it weigh? I am excited to get it here and start to get it together.

[Charlie Baker]

and I do have a can of wasp spray sitting on the bench, waiting to go!

[Vitruvius]

I got a used 2M dish for free. The actuator did not work so I got a new one for $99 from Sadoun. I did not want to fool around with the old Chaparell LNB so I used one from my old C-Band dish, a C621-2, and it worked fine except for Ku band. The dish was lying on its side and had not been used for a few years as well. The polar mount was rusty, but it still worked well, with all bolts easily removed or tightened. You may be surprised how you would not need to do much to the rusty old thing... Just try to keep the same angle on it during your cleanup. You could mark the angle on the assembly with a scratch mark... Make sure get a new pole with the same outside diameter for your polar mount... Good luck.

[ramrod]

same boat;went and took down a 10 ft dish free to get it gone.got all the inside boxes and was told it worked when they unhooked it.got a 4.5"x9' pole set,spent 2 days putting dish up in one peice and nothing works.look at what you get.

[Charlie Baker]

Originally Posted by ramrod

same boat;went and took down a 10 ft dish free to get it gone.got all the inside boxes and was told it worked when they unhooked it.got a 4.5"x9' pole set,spent 2 days putting dish up in one peice and nothing works.look at what you get.

Was it fiberglass, and was it heavy. How difficult was it to transport. I plan on picking it up this week, and would like to know what to expect. The people said the same thing about this one, it worked great when they stopped using it, about 4 - 5 years ago. But, I am not getting the box, just the satellite. I guess I will see what happens.

[Vitruvius]

First of all, if you are getting a dish for free... great. If it is bent way out of shape, it should work fine. The mesh dish I got, had one panel of mesh out of its slot and I had to twist a bang it back into place... and in the end it worked fine.
If you are getting all old equipment.. there are several variables that could affect it working. Motor, Lnb, receiver, cable connections, and aiming the dish could all affect the system working. C-Band is a bit difficult to setup alone without previous experience. You must have patience. The physical dish should be fine, and is probably the most expensive part of the setup.
It is a lot easier aiming the dish if you know the lnb and receiver works. It would be a good idea to buy an inexpensive receiver (Dynamic at Sadoun) $130, and a good C-band LNB (C621), $50. This assumes you have good cable and connections. Get a tv and receiver very close to your dish and set it all up and tune the dish right first.

My system, I had to buy a new actuator. I had a receiver and an LNB that I knew worked with my Ku system. It certainly helps knowing what equipment is good and what is bad.