Using a Starchoice Dish

[ftanl]

Using 32" Star Choice Dish for 110/119 setup. 110 is locked with 85% S&Q no skew used.
I have a digiwave 110/119 bracket. Using this bracket do I need to use skew on the star C dish to attain signal for both sats?
Or should both signals be available without skewing?

110 lnb is inserted into dish arm & positioned about 1 inch lower then 119 on the bracket & there is roughly 1/4 of an inch spacing between both lnb's.
Should they be tight against one another? or is the spacing for fine tuning signal? 110 is locked so I don't understand why 119 is being such a pain..

Right now I just have 119 lnb direct to receiver. no switches etc.. using 12297 for tp & have 0 signal. 75% quality I guess I have to simply move the lnb around until I find 119, but knowing if this bracket used with the dish needs skew will help me greatly!


Thanks FTANL
Merry Christmas All!

[ftanl]

Got the same dish as original poster. 18x32" ellpitical dish. Using proper LNB's without making any modfications to the dish, which sats could I catch? Interested in 110/119

I already have 110 locked using 1 lnb direct to receiver, no skew. Can't seem to find 119 by itself or by using brackets.

I have a couple different brackets..which one would be the best to use.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b293/BigBrook/lnb.jpg


Anyone else out there using the Star **** elliptical dish for 110/119? If so, what mods if any did you have to make?

Thanks in advance FTANL
Merry Christmas!

[WillDekkard]

With a *choice dish the LNBs will be level(one will not be lower then the other in the holder). You will then skew the dish to receive both sats. LNBs should be pretty much next to each other with only a very small space separating each LNB.

EDIT: OK, I have now collected some more of your posts from the threads you hijacked. It is best to start your own thread when you need help, rather then resurrecting an old dead thread.

[WillDekkard]

Below is a word file that may help you with your dish modification:
7669
Sorry, I do not know who wrote it to give credit.

[ftanl]

[QUOTE=WillDekkard;267699]With a *choice dish the LNBs will be level(one will not be lower then the other in the holder). You will then skew the dish to receive both sats. LNBs should be pretty much next to each other with only a very small space separating each LNB.

Thanks for your replies. Based on the info above, would I still need to do the dish mod shown in your last reply? or will the quad lnb holder or a simple Y bracket work on the SC dish using skew?

[kutter]

Thanks for your replies. Based on the info above, would I still need to do the dish mod shown in your last reply? or will the quad lnb holder or a simple Y bracket work on the SC dish using skew?

The fact that you are able to get signal and quality from 110 shows that you are at the proper focal length (or close enough) so you shouldn't need to modify the arm.

It appears that your problem lies in your location. There are parts of Labrador that do not get much signal from 119. Your best bet is to get a larger dish and dedicate it to 119.

Using an online calculator you can see that 119 is quite low in elevation around 13 degrees from Labrador City.

119 is at 13.28 degrees elevation
110 is at 17.84 degrees elevation

That's a difference of 4.56 degrees so the skew is going to be substantial approximately 117 degrees.

If you are intent on trying to get it going with the stuff you have then I would suggest putting an LNB at the Sat C position on the quad LNB holder and see if you can get signal from 119. If you can't catch 119 using the center of the dish then you will never get it from any of the off axis positions.

If it works and you are able to get a signal from 119 using that position then all you need to do is put another LNB in the Sat A position and turn your skew to approximately 117 degrees and you should get signal from both satellites.

[ftanl]

It appears that your problem lies in your location. There are parts of Labrador that do not get much signal from 119. Your best bet is to get a larger dish and dedicate it to 119.

Yeah I kind of figured location was the issue. I've tried on several occassions to get 119 & aside from a faint signal on the sat finder, I couldn't lock in. Having that said, I was using tp 12224 & 12239 on all attempts. Never tried 12297 yet with dedicated dish for 119.

When you say larger dish, exactly how big & which type of didh do you suggest? Thanks again Merry Christmas!

[ftanl]

Using an online calculator you can see that 119 is quite low in elevation around 13 degrees from Labrador City.

119 is at 13.28 degrees elevation
110 is at 17.84 degrees elevation

That's a difference of 4.56 degrees so the skew is going to be substantial approximately 117 degrees.

I currently have 110 using no skew & around 14.5 elevation..Other sat pointer sites have suggested 19.5 degrees for my location..never worked, I found that I had to subtract 5 degrees or so for any sat elevation using the SC dish.. This would put 119 at an even lower elevation, which in some cases doesn't matter..I've seen lnb's pointed at the ground and catching 80% S&Q..However like you pointed out earlier, Labrador is a little tricky.

Heading out tomorrow for a short holiday, so I'll attempt 119 again in a couple weeks. I may investigate some 119 setups while I'm out, coupled with all your help I should be good 2 go when I gets back..

MERRY CHRISTMAS! HOPE THE NEW YEAR IS PROSPEROUS & JOYFUL TO ALL!

FTANL:thumbsup:

[D-troit]

Yeah I kind of figured location was the issue. I've tried on several occassions to get 119 & aside from a faint signal on the sat finder, I couldn't lock in. Having that said, I was using tp 12224 & 12239 on all attempts. Never tried 12297 yet with dedicated dish for 119.

When you say larger dish, exactly how big & which type of didh do you suggest? Thanks again Merry Christmas!

You must use tp 12297 for sat 119 that is the first conus tp on that sat the others are spot beams which you will not get unless your in that spot beam location.

Then you say the following:


Right now I just have 119 lnb direct to receiver. no switches etc.. using 12297 for tp & have 0 signal. 75% quality I guess I have to simply move the lnb around until I find 119, but knowing if this bracket used with the dish needs skew will help me greatly!

You are contradicting yourself here. The dish is only 18in high even though it is 32in wide the height is what matters in finding the satellites the width is great for adding extra sats but I would think a bigger dish is needed from your location one with a round or oval configuration much higher than 18in. even the larger starchoice dishes would work very well.

[ftanl]

You must use tp 12297 for sat 119 that is the first conus tp on that sat the others are spot beams which you will not get unless your in that spot beam location.

Yeah, 12297 is what I used last night..All other attempts we're made using the 12224 & 12239 tp's...

Then you say the following:

You are contradicting yourself here. The dish is only 18in high even though it is 32in wide the height is what matters in finding the satellites the width is great for adding extra sats but I would think a bigger dish is needed from your location one with a round or oval configuration much higher than 18in.

A bigger dish..Yes, but do all big dishes enable dn without modfication? The dish I have picks up 110 pretty easily, so one would think it would catch 119 signal aswell

[ftanl]

even the larger starchoice dishes would work very well.

I have 2 other star choice dishes. One is round maybe 30" dish the other one is also round & about 4foot across..lol The arm on the big one is elevated at about 35-40 degree angle & the thing weights about 100lbs so I never really tried that one yet..

I will be investigating other sats in the future, now that b3v is toast..It would be greatly appreciated if some peeps could upload pics of their SC dish setup.

Thanks FTANL:thumbsup:

[jam25]

great testing man.
i see you have some skills,
did u happen to take a leave out my book?

[D-troit]

great testing man.
i see you have some skills,
did u happen to take a leave out my book?

Maybe this one is yours dont remember where i got it. lol

[D-troit]

Yet another one on a Channel Master 40x30 dish no cutting necessary. Same as Star Choice dish attaching the y yoke underneath the arm. This will lose a little of the focal point but not enough to worry about on the stronger circular sats.


A bigger dish..Yes, but do all big dishes enable dn without modfication? The dish I have picks up 110 pretty easily, so one would think it would catch 119 signal aswell

Yes this dish and lnbs will work on any circular sat. You will need a SW21, Diseqc switch or 22khz to switch the legacy lnbs.

[ftanl]

Yet another one on a Channel Master 40x30 dish no cutting necessary. Same as Star Choice dish attaching the y yoke underneath the arm. This will lose a little of the focal point but not enough to worry about on the stronger circular sats.



Yes this dish and lnbs will work on any circular sat. You will need a SW21, Diseqc switch or 22khz to switch the legacy lnbs.

That looks like a nasty setup..

[ftanl]

Maybe this one is yours dont remember where i got it. lol

That is exactly the sort of link I was looking for. There are some neat/complex DIY setups, but the Y bracket one looks the easiest.
I'm thinking my dish is the same as the one pictured 24"x32" think it's bif enough? or should I be looking at something closer to 30" round??

Thanks again, some very useful info.

[ftanl]

I currently have 3 star choice dishes that meet the min size.
Which one would work best for DN?

24x32" Elliptical dish? Skews
30" round dish? doesn't skew
Another round dish that looks like the 30" except it double the size.



http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b293/BigBrook/imagesCA9ZX1AT.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b293/BigBrook/imagesCAGDYYAR.jpg

[D-troit]

I currently have 3 star choice dishes that meet the min size.
Which one would work best for DN?

24x32" Elliptical dish? Skews
30" round dish? doesn't skew
Another round dish that looks like the 30" except it double the size.



http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b293/BigBrook/imagesCA9ZX1AT.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b293/BigBrook/imagesCAGDYYAR.jpg

To use the Y Yoke you will need one that is skewable. The 24x32 should be big enough. Give it a try looks like just what you need. Measure the distance from the center of the eye to center of dish with the linear lnb on it or maybe draw a line with some cut out cardboard from lnb down arm to center of dish to get an ideal what your original focal point is. When you attach the Y Yoke underneath the arm you can put a little shim or spacer underneath one of the ends depending on what way you have to go to keep your focal point as close as possible to center of the dish and at or near to the angle of the original lnb.

[lme]

This is my set up with an old 65E *choice.