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    Channel Master 84e
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    Nice! Received the Channel Master 84e dish today. As you can see from the pixs, it survived the UPS torture test due to the styrofoam corner packaging. Without the styrofoam it most likely would have had some damage. Larger and more obnoxious fragile labels might have helped.

    It's a brand new unit with all necessary nuts, bolts, plastic lnbf holders (2), multi-switch, coax cable, ground wire, mounting pole, Eagle Aspen 270 ku lnbf and instruction sheet.

    I hope to have it up and running within a week or two. Since it will replace my old DTV AT9 dish pointed at 87 ku, I will be sure to list signal levels between the two on the LPB mux.
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    #2
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    Tweaked the DTV dish prior to removal this afternoon. This dish has been up and running for almost five years, along with the lnbf (which I think is a DMSI or some similar name - the company went belly up a few years ago).

    [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

    NewsSource 11960 H 29270 = 12.5 db
    LPB mux 11811 H 11150 = 9.5 db
    Florida channel 12044 V 3200 = 12.5 db
    Patient channel 11800 H 2686 = 10.5 db

    Used the same DTV 2" j-pole for the CM 84e dish. Had to buy a pipe at Ace hardware to use as an adapter. 2" OD ->> 2.25" OD to mate with the CM 84e mounting bracket. I didn't want to plant the supplied dish pole in the ground (wifey decision there), that's why I substituted the Ace pipe.

    [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

    Made sure the pole was perfectly plumb and mounted the CM 84e bracket to the pipe. Used a self tapping bolt to attach Ace pipe to DTV j-pole and plumbed again. Mounted glass dish to bracket and attached lnb arm to dish.

    Mounted lnbf holder with Eagle Aspen lnbf and hooked up SatHero meter. Ten minutes later had the NewsSource mux tuned in. The LPB mux also tuned in but not satisfied with the numbers. The culprit is the Eagle Aspen not providing as much gain as the DMSI, but I am guessing it should have better stability. Plus, the lnbf holder is for two lnbfs with 6 degrees of separation. Due to that, it is not optimized for reception of one sat.

    [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

    Later, I will have to make a single lnbf holder for the Eagle Aspen and also for the DMSI to compare the two. Too bad I haven't been able to find a single lnbf holder for this dish. I will post the numbers when everything is running properly and comparisons are made. I have a feeling this will be an outstanding performer once all the glitches are eliminated.

    The dish is really well made and all parts fit correctly. Not too heavy, the dish bracket holder is the main weight culprit. But in regards to degree adjustments, the DTV AT9 can't be beat in this area.

    [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
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    #3
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    Managed to modify the second supplied lnbf holder bracket. Came out great.

    [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

    Will try to put the dish back up next weekend with the modded holder and Aspen Eagle lnbf. Since the mod was so easy, I ordered five more brackets so that I can play with other brand lnbfs.

    By the way there's another op that ordered the CM84e at [Only registered and activated users can see links. ].

    Hope he gets his up and running and posts some signal levels.
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    #4
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    Mar 2018
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    West Central Florida
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    I put up one very similar to that one an old primestar dish. I believe it measured 30" tall and about 40" wide. Hacked up the original lnb holder for a plastic bracket and used a geosat standard PLL lnb. Got it pointed at 91w for ku. working good but tightening those four elevation bracket bolts was a PITA. keep an eye on your signal strength. mine kept loosing like 30% every time i tried tightening it up. I found tightening the one opposite the one from the scale side first worked best then the other three.
    Last edited by Megatron817; 11-04-2018 at 08:59 PM.
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    #5
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    I moved the old Primestar dish to 87w.
    Was able to get LPB at 61%.Wasn't able to get that channel with the smaller dish I was using before.
    Even a DTV slimline I now have on 105w didn't get it when I tried it on 87w.
    The lnb in the picture sits a little high on the arm. My elevation is about 2 1/2 degrees higher than what it is suppose to be on the scale but seems to be doing ok.[Only registered and activated users can see links. ][Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
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    #6
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    Good to know, thanks. Before I switched to the DTV AT9 for better performance, I used a Slimline that shared 87 and 91.

    [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

    I still use it for 91. I am guessing back then, the LPB signal was much stronger so that the Slimline was able to handle it. When the LPB signal started going south, I replaced it with the AT9 which has served me well.

    I guess eventually, I might have to replace some of the existing Slimlines with slightly larger dishes due to aging sats and types of transmissions.
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    #7
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    West Central Florida
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    Yeah the slimline had good signal on 87w and picked up an LPB feed channel with color bars but not the other LPB channels and it worked decent on 91w but the last few AXS tv broadcast feeds have gottin less signal and pixilating. guess they don't want people with small satellite dishes watching. The slimline did decent on 103w picked up cozi but weak and pixilating and seems to do decent on 105w for the most part. That 4k Phish concert last week on 105w showed 100% quality with the slimline.
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    #8
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    Just a thought... I think it's coming down to the age of each sat, how much "life" the bean counters are allocating to each sat and how much the customers are willing to pay for each sat's transmission power for their corresponding transponder. The higher the power, the more $$ the bean counters request.

    I may be wrong but an example on 87 is the NewsSource transponder. Big bux there, so they are willing to pay more $$ for the extra transmission power (both day and night). At my location they stay at a constant 12.5 db. The Florida channel, paid by the state (money not a problem), constant 12.4 db. The LPB mux, paid by a slightly poorer state, fluctuates between 8.5 to 9.5 db, depending on time of day. The Patient channel which caters to major hospitals (again $$ there), stays at a constant 10.4 - 10.5 db.

    When the sats were newly launched, the transmission power of each transponder were most likely not controlled as much by the bean counters in order to attract customers. Then reception was great with the smaller dishes. Jump to the present and we have the current reception experience.
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    #9
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    Mar 2018
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    I flipped the lnb holder around to the outside of the old bracket and was able to get a better signal out of LPB on 87w.Gained over30%.Had the LNB to close to the dish the other way and could not bring it out any more.
    [Only registered and activated users can see links. ][Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
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    #10
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    Nice! Glad you were able to improve the signal.
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