Bigger Dish Needed: 3.7 Meter Installation

[el bandido]

C band television should be with us for several more years. More channels and feeds will probably move to 16 and 32apsk modulations which will require a larger dish or reflector to receive them. In recent years, most homeowners have gotten good signal results on C band using reflectors 3 meters or less in diameter. Reflectors larger than 3 meters were needed when satellite television was first introduced due in part to low transmit power, and poor spacecraft design. In the mid 1980's and through the 1990's, reflector sizes for C band television were 3 meters or less for most installations at a home or residence. Commercial radio and television stations do not normally have many "small" dishes or reflectors. The smallest commercial television ku dishes are about the same size as what a homeowner would use for c band, or around 3 meters in reflector size.

There are not a lot of options for a decent reflector that is larger than 3 meters for C band operation. What is available can be expensive. You can expect to pay at minimum about 100 U.S. dollars per reflector foot for a new mesh dish that is larger than three meters. There is a little over 3 feet per meter, so you could expect to pay over $1,000 dollars for a New 3.7 meter mesh dish.

Mesh dishes can have many problems. The trick to getting a decent signal from the C or Ku satellite is to have a reflector that has a nearly perfect shape. Most mesh dishes are light and flimsy, so they do not hold their shape as well as a better built dish, which costs more money.

Commercial dishes are made to stricter standards than the mesh dishes that are sold to homeowners. Some commercial dishes may be used for both transmit and receive, which makes the shape of the reflector even more critical. Variables such as wind, snow and ice are considered when building a commercial dish, and steps are taken to ensure the dish or reflector will hold its shape under different weather conditions.

Many C band dishes are not being used. You can find both commercial and flimsy made mesh dishes in most parts of the United States if time is spent looking. A lot of these dishes may be removed for free if you only ask for them, while others may be purchased for a small amount of money. Every used dish should be checked to make sure it still has its parabolic shape before purchase or removal. It makes little sense to spend time and money installing a dish only to find that it performs poorly.

Consider carefully what you need. For example, a 7.5 foot dish will receive almost everything a 10 foot dish will receive, providing both dishes are aimed correctly, and providing both dishes have the correct parabolic shape. The 10 foot dish would produce a narrower, and slightly stronger signal which helps tremendously in areas of the satellite arc where many satellites are transmitting.

My current C band dish is about 7.5 feet or about 2.3 meters. I have spent some time looking for a replacement dish and finally found a 12 foot or 3.7 meter commercial dish. It is my plan for this thread to cover the installation of this commercial dish. The shape of the dish or reflector has been checked, and I expect to get much stronger signals when compared to the old mesh dish.

[el bandido]

Here is a picture of the backside of the donor dish.
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The hardware for this dish is in very good shape.
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This dish needs a good cleaning.
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The dish feed is galvanized, but looks to have started rusting pretty bad.
Do not yet know if the feed will need to be completly replaced.
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This dish has been removed and disassembled. Next comes the fun part of digging a hole for it.

[Costactc]

Here is a picture of the backside of the donor dish.
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The hardware for this dish is in very good shape.
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This dish needs a good cleaning.
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The dish feed is galvanized, but looks to have started rusting pretty bad.
Do not yet know if the feed will need to be completly replaced.
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This dish has been removed and disassembled. Next comes the fun part of digging a hole for it.

Knowing where you reside, how deep are you going to dig?

[el bandido]

I am located near Atlanta, Ga., and will try for about five feet in depth or around 1.5 meters. I had to remove the pole when the dish was removed by sawing it off low to the ground. I was able to measure the depth after cutting the pipe, and it was down about 5 feet.

There are 8 dish panels that weight about 19Kg or about 42 pounds each. This does not count the weight of the steel mount, so there will be a good bit of weight and wind load to deal with. Georgia has a clay soil for this area which should hold up good.

[Costactc]

Have you decided on how you are going to move that beast?

[el bandido]

I am undecided on what to turn or control the dish with. I thought about using the Titanium ASC-1, but I doubt it has the amps or power in watts I am looking for. As a last resort, I will buy a good 36 volt power supply and use a regular V box. (Have the V box control only a relay that is connected to the 36 volt power supply.) Mechanical skew is another thing I would like to have for this dish system, and is another reason I was looking at the Titanium piece.

This is really not the dish I wanted, but for the price of One Dollar, I found it hard to resist. My target is the 16 and 32APSK signals, and I think this dish is a bit small for that. Still, I am happy and thankful to get it!

Here are a couple pictures of the actuator.
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[eastof111]

Why don't you ask Titanium if the ASC will handle the load. If not, can it be modified. He has helped others solving ASC problems.

[Costactc]

Is that a 36" actuator? I would suggest a VonWeise if you can get your hands on one.

[el bandido]

Why don't you ask Titanium if the ASC will handle the load. If not, can it be modified. He has helped others solving ASC problems.

I may do that, but I see problems with his specs.
! estimate I need between 5-10 amps to drive this motor, or at least 100 watts of power. In a deal like this, voltage usually falls while the current level or amperage goes up when the motor is loaded. I am thinking I need between 100-150 watts of power to drive this thing. Use the formula Volts X Amps = Power in Watts.

Now, look at his specs for the ASC-1:

AC Voltage In 115/230Vac, 50/60hz - User Setting
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Output Voltage M1 / M2 38Vdc (max)
Output Current M1 / M2 5A (max)

So we have a rating of 1.2 amps MAX at 115 volts, which gives us 138 Watts of power (Volts X Amps = Power in Watts)
Then below that, we have ratings of 5 amps and 38VDC which gives us 190 watts.
How can you have 138 watts going in and get 190 watts out? Even if you get 5 amps at 24 volts, that would be 120 watts. I think you need more than 18 watts to run the controller

Again, The ASC-1 may drive this motor without issue, but I do not trust it based on these specs.
A plus here is that there are specs to look at. Vbox and other cheap controllers do not tell you what you are getting, so you have to open it up and look at the wire size and transformer size.

[el bandido]

Is that a 36" actuator? I would suggest a VonWeise if you can get your hands on one.

The actuator is about 30 inches with a 2 inch diameter. I expect the actuator to work, but will look at getting a good one if it does not work as expected.

[rrob311]

I think you'll have no problems getting the 16 and 32 feeds once this is dialed in. Especially since many of the satellites have more power in the southeast.

[el bandido]

This is the kind of power output I am looking for. I think 5 amps will drive the actuator I have, but would not mind having a controller that is rated at 10 amps like this one.

[Only registered and activated users can see links]


PHYSICAL
Size:
19.0” x 3.5” x 9.0” (rack)
Weight:
8.5 lbs.
Temperature:
0
o
– 50
o
C
Input Power:
115/230 VAC, 50/60 Hz., 40 W
OPERATIONAL OVERVIEW
The RC1500 was designed to provide years of reliable operation through the use of a heavy duty solid-state drive network couple
d with a novel
microcontroller-based fault monitoring system. The 10 amp rated drive output capability is adequate for either moving feed tra
ckers or full-size
linear actuators and the Adapti-Drive digital servo speed control optimizes antenna movement for today's demanding Ku-band appl
ications.
Additional features like an RS-422 communications port for PC control and a very user-friendly, menu scheme make the RC1500 a u
nique and
highly adaptable piece of equipment. Overall, the RC1500 is well equipped to handle the demanding requirements for cost sensiti
ve domestic
and optionally international inclined-orbit satellite tracking.
MODES
SPECIFICATIONS
DRIVE
Output:
36 VDC, 10.0 Amps; 360VA
Sensor Input:
Pulse-type: Reed, Hall Effect, Optical
Polarization:
Standard Polarotor
TM
Interface,
optional rotating Feed-drive at
[Only registered and activated users can see links]

[eastof111]

Nice! How much?

[el bandido]

Nice! How much?

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

[el bandido]

Another option would be to purchase a power supply and add it to an existing positioner such as a VBox.

[Only registered and activated users can see links] I

[el bandido]

When upgrading to a bigger dish size, always try to at least double your surface area or else you will not see much gain or signal increase, providing the replacement dish and the original dish are of equal performance. A crude way of doing this is to use a circle calculator. Half the distance across is the radius for a circle.

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

My 7.5 foot dish would have a surface area of about 45.36, while the 12 footer will have about 113.1 in surface area. I should have noticeable gains in signal strength since the area is doubled.

In the C band world, a 3.7 meter dish is about the equivalent of a 1.2 meter Ku dsh in respect to gain and rejecting signals from nearby satellites.

A 3.7 meter dish will give me about 41 dbi of gain at 3.6 GHz, and will cut the signal in half (reduce by 3db) at 1.52 degrees.
A 1.2 meter dish will give me about 41 dbi of gain at 11.7GHz, and will cut the signal in half (reduce by 3db) at 1.44 degrees.

[Only registered and activated users can see links]


The above information is rough estimates, but it gives you something to go by when upgrading to a bigger dish.

[el bandido]

I guess it is time to quit talking about it and start digging the hole.
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Looks like I found a nice long pipe to put in the hole.
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[el bandido]

I hope to have the hole finished tomorrow, but it will take as long as it takes to get the depth I want.
The digger handles should be even with or below the ground. We will see if i can get it that deep.
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My goal on concrete is at least 15 bags. Each bag will weigh 40 pounds or 18 Kg. I am digging in slate rock and clay. The hole depth and amount of concrete I need may not be the same for other parts of the world.

[eastof111]

That's one long pipe..... 12 footer?

[el bandido]

I think it is 13' 5", and schedule 80. It will have to be cut because I am not going to stand the dish that high. I am going to try and keep the dish as low to the ground as possible...within reason.

[eastof111]

I got lucky in my calcs and didn't have to cut for my ten footer. At its lowest point facing east, it sits about ten inches from the ground. Allows easy access to the feed horn.

[el bandido]

The pole I have was a gift, so I cannot complain about the extra length. I was very fortunate, because that thing would cost some money if bought new.

A couple of different lines of thought on the dish height.
(1) Keep the pole as low as the ground as possible to make adjusting the dish and lnb easier.
(2) Elevate the dish so there will be room to mow underneath, and to keep things from accidentally hitting the dish.

I will have to decide later this evening as to which one I am going to do. It is time to install the pole now that the hole is finished.

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[el bandido]

It is time to think about the feed and lnbs.

The stock feed system is Chaparral, with a C band lnb made by Chapparal, and a Ku lnb made by Norsat. Both of these lnbs are probably 20+ years old, but I bet they still work good.

The Chaparral scaler ring is much better built when compared to a scaler ring from Titanium Satellite or other cheap Chinese lnbf. Maybe one day I can take time and test some different scaler rings to see how much performance difference they make. The scaler or lnb feedhorn should be matched for the dish.
Below are some pictures of the Chaparral scaler compared to a cheap Chinese scaler.

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Looks like the fd is 34.

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[eastof111]

"A couple of different lines of thought on the dish height.
(1) Keep the pole as low as the ground as possible to make adjusting the dish and lnb easier.
(2) Elevate the dish so there will be room to mow underneath, and to keep things from accidentally hitting the dish."

My vote goes for #1. You won't regret it, unless you need the added height due to LOS problems.
#2 - just move the dish to your southern sat when mowing. Works for me.

[ViP3R]

The pole I have was a gift, so I cannot complain about the extra length. I was very fortunate, because that thing would cost some money if bought new.

A couple of different lines of thought on the dish height.
(1) Keep the pole as low as the ground as possible to make adjusting the dish and lnb easier.
(2) Elevate the dish so there will be room to mow underneath, and to keep things from accidentally hitting the dish.

I will have to decide later this evening as to which one I am going to do. It is time to install the pole now that the hole is finished.

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What a nice clean hole you have! :egypt: are you going to weld some ribs to the bottom of the pole to prevent any possible spinning?

[el bandido]

One piece of threaded rod was installed at the bottom of the pole to help keep it from spinning. Decided to keep the pole about the same height as the original installation. I added 1 foot extra over the original height.

[el bandido]

The pole has been installed using 800 pounds or 363 kg of concrete. All that is left to install is the polar mount, dish panels, and the feed. I will probably wait a day or two before doing anything else.

[el bandido]

Always a good idea to check the fit of the pipe Before you install it in the ground! A small piece was cut from the donor pipe and installed in the polar mount before the concrete was poured. I was not going to dig that thing back up because the pole was the wrong size!
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I like to have just a bit of wheel bearing grease at the top of the pole. Makes for easy polar mount rotation
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Would like to install the polar mount tomorrow.
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[el bandido]

Installation of the polar is complete. None of the panel supports were damaged so the next step will be to install the 8 panels and feed.

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The panels were marked BEFORE the dish was taken down. This is a must if you want to put the dish back up the exact way it was originally.

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[el bandido]

Will take any ideas on a good commercial lnb and feed arrangement for this dish. I would probably be willing to pay up to $1,500.00 on a good c/ku system. There is no reason to get into the technical part of the feed system in this thread, but I will attach some documents explaining in detail the scaler ring and how it should be designed.

The scaler rings that are purchased from Titanium Satellite and other fta stores are not really designed correctly. Granted, they do work to a degree, and are better than nothing. I do not know how much of a signal decrease if any these cheap parts give because I have never spent time testing scaler rings. Metal costs money, so the less you use in the production of a scaler ring, the more money you can make. which is the basic China philosophy. Hopefully, No permanent, cheap made lnb parts for this dish!

This dish came with a Chaparral feed and C/Ku lnbs. Polarity was switched using a servo motor. All of these parts are probably still good and I may still use them for a while. Most likely though, I will probably put a cheap C band lnb in the original Chaparral scaler (providing it fits) and get the dish tracking the arc.

Rick Caylor has a servo controller that I am considering. I could add this and run what I have using about any fta receiver.
[Only registered and activated users can see links]

Rick also has a C/Ku Pansat feedhorn that is similar to the Chaparral Bullseye feedhorn. This looks to be an original Pansat feedhorn, so I assume the production date of it is at least ten years old.

The fd of this dish appears to be .34 because this is what the lnb is set at. I will check it in time. Most of the available C/Ku feeds that I would be interested are not advertised for a .34 fd. (Deep dishes are not made much anymore because it takes extra material to make them.)The search for something that is quality and will last several years continues. Any suggestions for a good C/Ku lnb system would be appreciated. There is no hurry because the dish system needs to be proven to perform before money is spent on lnbs and/or feeds.

[eastof111]

Some ideas, ADL dual orthomode feed or Bullseye dual or as mentioned earlier a dual c-ku ortho feed with Norsats.

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[el bandido]

Cannot run the Bullseye because the lowest advertised f/d for that piece is .39. Mine is set at .34. Commercial parts are built with much stricter tolerances than the China parts If that Bullseye was made in China, it would be advertised to work all the way down to .29 f/d or wherever they needed the numbers to be!

The dual Chaparral will work: f/D Range 33 to .42. But only on C band. No servo motor means less maintenance.

[el bandido]

I have ran into something that needs to be taken care of before any more work is done on this satellite dish. Any Polar Mount dish owner needs to be aware of this issue because it is dangerous!

The dish panels for this particular installation weigh about 42 pounds a piece, and there are 8 of them. The polar mount probably weighs a couple hundred pounds, so there is a lot more weight than what we will find in mesh or even most steel dishes. The dish needs to be pointed straight up while installing these panels, and the dish will need to be rotated as the panels are installed. (Install all panels, Install all bolts, then gradually tighten or torque the bolts.)

Here is the Danger part, especially for a heavy dish, but mesh dish owners should pay attention too. The same danger is present when changing actuators, or if an actuator breaks:
To make this dish point straight up, the actuator is removed, plus the declination adjuster is disconnected. Locking plates, or some form of locking the dish will need to be made now. This system is pretty well balanced, and will almost stay straight on its own, but as panels are added, weight will increase and balance will be lost. This thing weighs about as much as the typical full size pickup truck engine, so care will need to be taken to make sure it does not move unexpected.

The actuator will need to be installed while the dish is locked in place, and a clear path around the dish needs to be available at all times. If the actuator breaks, the dish will flop or fall in one of two directions. If the dish flopped while someone is standing under it, Death or serious injury could occur. This applies to any Polar Mount dish system.

[el bandido]

Making provisions to lock this dish in place are going to take some time, so I locked it in place for now using the actuator. Parts that move in this system have bushings, and all the bushings have been checked.
The actuator for this dish is mounted in a way that allows it to rotate the dish by pulling straight down, or pushing straight up. Not all polar mounts are designed like this. My mesh dish has the polar mount angled, which works. But I prefer the design of the bigger dish.

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[el bandido]

All the dish panels were installed in the exact same place as they were originally with the bolts only finger tight. Now I will slowly tighten all the dish panel bolts in stages. It is being done this way in hopes that the dish will have its original parabolic shape.

The next step will be the feed installation. I am going to use all the original parts that work, including the lnbs. My plan is to get the dish antenna working, then change or upgrade parts as needed.

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[ViP3R]

All the dish panels were installed in the exact same place as they were originally with the bolts only finger tight. Now I will slowly tighten all the dish panel bolts in stages. It is being done this way in hopes that the dish will have its original parabolic shape.

The next step will be the feed installation. I am going to use all the original parts that work, including the lnbs. My plan is to get the dish antenna working, then change or upgrade parts as needed.

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Nice EB, the dish looks nice and clean now compared to the first pictures you posted.

[rrob311]

When I took down the large dish off the roof I was on, I used a pair of pull ropes on each end with an assistant. This allowed us to control the dish any way that we needed without it swinging out of control and knocking us off the roof.

[el bandido]

It is always a good idea to measure and double-check all measurements and settings. This is a heavy Duty commercial dish, and you would expect everything to be set and installed correctly. That is not the case: The fd setting on the installed lnb was set around .34, but after carefully measuring and calculating this dish, the fd is .37! The dish measures across or in diameter of11'11 1/4" or 363.855 cm, (or round to 3.6 meters). The depth of this dish is exactly 2 feet or 60.96 cm. The focal length is 135.73 cm.

I Also noticed a spot on the dish. This spot appears to be a bullet from a .25 or.380 caliber handgun. Most satellite dishes will not stop any bullet, and this sort of surprised me. (Picture of bullet attached.)
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[el bandido]

I had been wanting to upgrade the size of my 7.5 foot C band dish for several years. I was seriously thinking about buying a new dish when i found this one. You will not find much difference in gain and other specs when comparing a 7.5 foot dish to a 10 foot dish. If the hardware of both dishes is equal, you could expect 1-2 db gain in C band along with a slightly narrower band-width when upgrading from a 7.5 to a 10 foot dish. A 12 foot dish may have 4-5 db gain in c band over a 7.5 foot dish. i think the real or best difference between a 7.5 foot dish and a 12 foot dish is the narrow beam-width that the 12 footer offers. Think of the 7.5 foot dish as aiming a shotgun at the sky, and the 12 footer as aiming a rifle. The signal of the 12 footer is much more compressed, and really helps to null out interference from nearby satellites.

My new dish is now operational. The total monetary cost of moving, installing, and setting up this dish is less than 100 U.S. dollars. A cheap c band lnb has been installed. This was the simplest way I knew to check the dish and get in the arc. I got lucky: The very first blindscan I tried returned transponders and channels. I was aiming for 87 West and got 97 West, so I was 10 degrees off and about 2 degrees low. I have spent some hours tuning the dish, and have seen snr as high as 20 db for some of the stronger transponders. IMO, this is a very good snr for C band.

The real reason or the design behind this installation was to get 16APSK signals. There are at least a couple more db that I can get out of this system after everything is set correctly, and after new commercial lnbs are installed. It is good to finally see the 16APSK mux at 97West. I hope to enjoy more muxes like it in the future. 16APSK photos attached.

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[eastof111]

Nice!!!

[el bandido]

The actuator and original lnbs for both bands work. The power for the actuator will need to be upgraded, but I can move the dish a limited amount using a cheap G box for power Now the dish needs to be precisely adjusted, Decisions on what lnb(s) to use and how to correctly power the actuator need to be made.

[chewie]

Hello EB
My dish is about 350 pounds with mount, I use a venture actuator VEN-24 is the 24 inch, they have a 36" also, here are some specs.
I use the ASC-1 to power the Actuator, never had a problem so far.

Venture Actuator
NSC Item Number: VEN-24
Manufacturer: Venture Mfg. Co.
Price: $399.00
Product Options
Actuator Sizes:
Quantity:
Product Specs

Features

“User Friendly” easy to install design
Rugged steel tube construction
5 pitch ball screw
1500 lb. capacity
Tube and gearbox easily taken apart for installation and service with simple tools
Interchanges with virtually all other actuators in the field today
Black E-coated outer tube and plated inner tube for superior corrosion protection
Plastic Pilot guide prevents metal to metal contact between the tubes
Forged steel end mount design with swivel and built in standoffs for ½” bolt mounting.
Easy to install split clamp assembly for ½” bolt mounting
Mounting bolt kit included
Limit switches with single screw adjustment
Water drains and vents throughout for freeze protection
KU or C band compatable
36/24vdc motor
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Available with; Super Sensor II Reed Switch 40 ppi
Super Sensor II Hall Effect 30 ppi
Potentiometer feedback 0.25 kpi

Regards.
Chewie

[el bandido]

I am happy to say that this dish antenna has been fine tuned for C band. The dish is now locked in place, and I do not plan on doing anymore tuning until a ku band lnb can be installed.

I have never tried to turn a dish that weighs this much, and was concerned a bit about what was really needed. In testing, a Gbox that was a few years old with about 22 gauge solid copper wire was used to move this dish. This arrangement was unpredictable and I never went past about 30 degrees from center.
The small gauge wire was replaced with 12 gauge wire, with a total length of about 45 meters. The G box is a little slow, but it has moved this dish out to about 55 degrees from center without issue! So no moving problems at present!

I tried a host of lnbs (actually lnbfs) to see what worked best. There are 2 brands or varieties of c band pll lnbfs that are available in the United States. While these lnbs did good, they did not perform quite as well as my Pauxis dro lnb which is on the dish now. I do not find any real benefit to using these types of pll lnbs on this 3.6 meter dish, probably because they do not have the extra filtering needed for the pll oscillator. One of the reasons commercial pll lnbs cost more is they have the extra filtering that is needed since a pll oscillator generates more noise than a dro oscillator. So the Pauxis wins for now-by a small amount. Commercial lnbs are set to be installed in the future.

Some feeds and other cables need to be buried, and I have the conduit for that. Now I am set to watch tv for the winter without doing much of anything else. I am still deciding what I want on the dish for lnbs, and will probably wait until after Christmas to buy them.

Attached is a picture of a completed scan of 139 West. The dish has to be tracking fairly good to scan that many channels, and the lnb has to be doing something right too. Overall, this 3.6 meter satellite antenna system is probably the best investment I have made in fta.

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[el bandido]

Again??? Seriously??? The temptation was just too great. I found the brother of this dish and have inquired about getting it. Nothing like having a spare,Or maybe even one dedicated and precisely tuned for Ku band? Pictures of the brother are attached.

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[rrob311]

Cool you must have a nice yard to fit these. Do you have a open view of the arc there? I have dishes in different parts of the yard to be able to expand my arc around trees.

[el bandido]

Yes.
I have a bit of room and I have a good view from 15W to 139W.

[eastof111]

Glad you were able to fine tune that heavy dish. Good luck on obtaining the brother.

[ViP3R]

Holy crap, more cleaning to do, does no one wash their dishes...lol, no bullet hole in this one?

[el bandido]

The dish I have now has no bullet hole. It has the bullet embedded in it instead!

Some people buy and use expensive satfinders or other special tools to align the dish. I think the special and expensive tools are great if you align dishes every day or on a regular basis. But I do not align dishes often. I use to align by taking a receiver and tv out to the dish. But I did not do that with this dish install. The only thing I used for aligning this 3.6 meter dish was a smart phone and a enigma2 app. A screenshot video of this app in action is attached.

[eastof111]

I still use a SatHero meter for my ku dishes which makes it very easy to align. Many years ago for the bud, I made a laser pointer contraption that fits in to the throat of the lnbf. Nowadays, you can buy a laser digital level that can be used to center the feed horn and then the lnb or lnbf.

[ViP3R]

I still use a SatHero meter for my ku dishes which makes it very easy to align. Many years ago for the bud, I made a laser pointer contraption that fits in to the throat of the lnbf. Nowadays, you can buy a laser digital level that can be used to center the feed horn and then the lnb or lnbf.

Same here I use the Sathero SH-200 for my KU dishes it makes thing so much easier..When I first started the hobby with KU i was just running back and forth to the TV and the dish...lol

[el bandido]

I ran into problems moving this dish to the far end of the west arc or 139 West. The GBox V3000 purchased from Sadoun several years ago did the best job. I tried a couple of VBoxes, but they did not last long before producing errors. Both types of positioners would start with around 36 volts, but the voltage would drop by a large margin once the dish moved 20-30 degree from center or due South.

My solution to fix this issue was simple. I purchased a 24 volt dc supply from Ebay that is rated at 200 watts. I disconnected the 36 volt dc supply in the GBox and installed the Ebay supply in its place. Now there are no more dish moving issues.This dish system seems to need about 180 watts at peaks which is about double the amount of power a GBox or VBox can produce.

I do not like butchering or modifying electronics like this but there were not many options left besides a commercial dish mover. Most commercial dish movers do not have diseqc 1.2 capability. About the only dish positioner or dish controller left to try would be the Titanium ASC1. This is the only Consumer positioner that I have seen that is rated at 5 amps at 36 volts, which would be 180 watts.
FTA consumer specs are usually wrong and cannot be trusted. My experience testing the other cheap positioners shows a large voltage drop as the amperage draw increases. The Titanium ASC1 will need to stay around 30 volts and give 5 amps at peaks to correctly drive this dish to the far ends. I will try to test the ASC1 in the near future and see how it does compared to the stock VBox and my modified GBox.

[DaveLH]

Just read this project of yours EB missed it when you were doing it. That is some dish and 12 feet to boot. Looks good.

[el bandido]

I finally got to try the Titanium ASC1. The dc power output for the actuator is not much better than the other positioners I have. The ASC1 has a large case, and should be better suited for modifications than the other consumer satellite dish movers. A thread on modifying the ASC1 is in the link.

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

I would like purchase a 36 inch actuator for this dish later this Summer or maybe in the early Fall.

[el bandido]

The actuator that came with the dish is still working, but I am tired of waiting for it to die.
A Venture 36" ball actuator will be installed when time permits. Looking forward to getting more satellites!

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[MikeB]

I love Venture actuators, they are built really well, and the ball screw version especially will last nearly forever with a little maintenance. They are also usually so quiet, you can't hear them run even if standing right next to them while they are running.

[el bandido]

I have been using the Venture actuator for over a year now, and am pretty much satisfied with the way it has operated. The dish had to be modified a little bit to get into the eastern satellite arc, and in the process of modifications, I made an error that bent the actuator tube. This error ended up costing about $200.00.

The actuator motor cover filled with water in the later part of 2019 which resulted in some moving errors, and I ended up re-calibrating the dish. No actuator or dish calibrations have been needed since the water issue, which means this dish system has ran for at least 6 months without losing any actuator counts. The dish is normally moved several times a day as I do a lot of blindscanning.

Actuators such as this one do not have a braking system, and rely on the friction of the screw to stop and hold a position. This particular satellite dish weighs close to 350 pounds without counting the weight of the polar mount or any of the mounting hardware. This much weight is highly unusual in fta satellite dishes.

When this dish is parked at 40 west, then moved up a bit to another satellite a few degrees away, the actuator will move the dish without issue, but the dish weight pulls the dish actuator back east a bit. This unwanted rollback of the dish will mess the positioner counts up. There are no brake systems that I could find for this actuator, so my solution is to run the dish up at least 61 degrees west before driving the dish back down. So if I am at 40 west and I want to select the 43 west satellite, I need to first drive the dish to 61 west, and then back down to 43 west.

Another thing that I dislike about this Venture actuator is it is extremely noisy. The noise seems to have decreased as the actuator has aged a bit, but in my opinon it is still too noisy.

Other than the problems or issues previously described, this Venture actuator performs flawlessly. I enjoy the trouble free movement this dish actuator has provided, and I am pleased with the actuator speed, which is usually around 2 degrees of movement per second. This actuator gets its energy from a power supply that can produce 5 amps for extended periods and 8 amps of surge at an advertised 36 volts dc, with an actual 35 volts dc being measured under a 5 amp load.

Attached is a video showing the actuator moving the dish from 40 west to 87 west. More or less, the actuator has to pull the weight of a car engine when it is started up at 40 west. The venture 36 inch ball screw actuator handles this job with ease. Having a proper power supply also helps.

[Fearless]

I'll show you mine if you show me yours. ;) ASC1 more power and custom build.

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[el bandido]

Excellent Custom Build!

I use the small WX-DC2416 power supply, which can produce 180 watts for extended periods. (See Link)

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

That little supply has been driving my dish around the arc for some time now. There is a thread on modding the dish mover.

[Fearless]

I like that power supply :) Good price too. Wish they had some. :( The one I used is from a 4DTV unit. A DSR920 or 922. I used a lot of the cables and other stuff from those as well. I have read your threads but the pictures are not there anymore. :( I was thinking the same as you about the LNB power options I don't use. So I deleted that and the F conn boards and put the DiSEqC switch inside the box. The smaller transformer is from an old Uniden receiver 20V. But I have another plan to rebuild the thing rotating the mainboards 90° CW and ridding myself of most of the cabling inside. I picked up a length of 3-1/2" wide 1/8" thick aluminium strap that I cut new front and rear panels for the ASC1 case. They fit nicely.

[rrob311]

Thats great you are able to use parts from the DSR to modify those. I have a stack of those receivers along with some other analog units.

[Fearless]

Well shoot!! ;) My DiSEqC switch inside the box failed. I've never had a DiSEqC switch fail in all my years of using them. I fried a multi-switch once with total abuse, but never had a DiSEqC failure. So I got into my rebuild ideas sooner than expected. Rotating the main boards was the primary target. But I needed to optimize my space inside the box. Reducing the footprint of the power supply would be a way to do it. The PS Bandito suggested was indeed smaller than what I was using but actually had a larger footprint. Since they had a low profile I thought to stack them but they didn't offer a 18V ~ 22V option for the logic circuits. I had some time ago found a split-bobbin 18V transformer I intended to use and decide to go with it. The inside of the case is 8" X 8" and the mounting plate is somewhat smaller. So I got a new mounting plate and cut it larger than the original. ( 7-3/4" X 6-3/4") With the reduced size of the split-bobbin transformer it all fit together nicely.
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