Channel Master 84e

[eastof111]

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.

 

[eastof111]

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).

View attachment 15281

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.

View attachment 15282

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.



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.

View attachment 15284

 

[eastof111]

Managed to modify the second supplied lnbf holder bracket. Came out great.



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 https://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/threads/european-dish-in-north-america.378904/page-2.

Hope he gets his up and running and posts some signal levels.

 

[Megatron817]

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.

 

[Megatron817]

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.

 

[eastof111]

Good to know, thanks. Before I switched to the DTV AT9 for better performance, I used a Slimline that shared 87 and 91.



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.

 

[Megatron817]

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.

 

[eastof111]

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.

 

[Megatron817]

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.

 

[eastof111]

Nice! Glad you were able to improve the signal.

 

[eastof111]

Getting there..... I wasn't satisfied with the 84e location and mount. So, I returned the DTV dish back to its original location. I thought the 84e would serve a better purpose to be used as a test bed for future lnbfs.

I looked for some NPRM units for the 84e but the supplied j-poles were not big enough to mount it. Plus, it would not be as portable.

Found this old beat up heavy duty "tool stand" on Craigs list.




After a little refurb and inverting the tool stand, it looks like it will do the job and doesn't look too bad. It's just light enough to be moved by one person and yet heavy enough to sustain minor wind gusts. If need be, I can always use some cinder blocks for additional weight.

View attachment 15321

Time to set up the 84e; hopefully it will be worth the effort.

 

[eastof111]

Had some time to mod another 84e bracket to fit the five year old DMSI lnbf that I was using on the old DTV AT9 dish for 87 ku. Here are some comparisons.

The Eagle Aspen on the 84e dish.

and the numbers are:





The DMSI on the 84e dish.





View attachment 15384

Nice increase, especially on the LPB xpndr. Just a note.... the 84e had a Channel Master Quality Approved sticker dated 10-15-2002 in the shipping carton. I am guessing the Eagle Aspen lnbf was probably from the same time period.

Time to start mounting some older lnbfs later and compare some numbers.

 

[Megatron817]

Porbably not easy to get a perfect skew with the eagle aspen and the no rotating feedhorn. all I saw on the old primestar lnb and feedhorn I could skew either +40 or -40 by removing the feedhorn/lnb flange screws rotating and replacing screws. The dish looked skewed in the pictures or is that a optical illusion?

 

[el bandido]

I used to have about 3 5 gallon buckets that were full of cheap ku lnbs. Most of these lnbs were bought new over a period of time. On any given dish, you will have lnbs that will work a bit better than others. Some lnbs will work better at a certain frequency, and some lnbs will work better on a certain dish than others. Finding a lnb that matches your particular dish is the key!

A 1 db increase in SNR is not much, and it may mean more on one fta system than it does on a different fta system. Sometimes I have been able to get a 1db increase in SNR on a given frequency by changing or deleting a switch. A decent RG11 coax may also help increase the SNR by a small amount as compared to the smaller Home Depot or Lowes coax.

It is good to see a dish being installed with care and tuned for the best possible signal. The fine details are overlooked a lot and this is why you see posts about low or lost signals.

 

[eastof111]

In reality, there's probably an additional loss added to this setup because I added two extra coax lengths to reach the 84e dish from the switch box. Both lengths are using unknown old couplers that may not even be rated for the higher sat frequencies.

I did try skewing the Eagle but it didn't make any difference. The dish skew was sufficient to handle the task.

Once I have everything to my liking, I will run a good cable to the switch box. Should there be any new linear lnbfs (no universals) show up for sale, I will try them out on the same sat.

Too bad there isn't a good Norsat type lnbf with built in switch available. Maybe there is an equivalent out there, but I haven't come across one.

 

[eastof111]

Received my extra lnb brackets for the 84e dish today. Too bad these guys are closing, considering they have excellent service (impaktproducts.com).

 

[eastof111]

Found a good lnbf on Amazon that compliments the 84e. For 8 bucks with free shipping included it's quite a bargain. It produces about the same db strength as the old DMSI lnbf listed in above posts.

 

[eastof111]

I was thinking of using and old Invacom QPH-031 linear/circular with a new motorized dish. Before doing so, I modded a 84e bracket and mounted the Invacom. Basically, it is about one db lower than the Maverick posted above. Back into the closet except for emergency use.

 

[eastof111]

Received an Inverto Black Ultra RT lnbf from a U.K. retailer. Below are the comparisons between the Maverick Mk1-PLL lnbf which I have been using for over a month. The Mk1 is still my favorite low priced lnbf because of the performance it delivers.

But, the Inverto is now an upcoming favorite for low signal transponders, which once locked in, will produce a higher db signal and keeps the signal level from fluctuating to a minimum.

Montana pbs on my fixed DTV ku dish has been having low signal problems during the past couple of months, while the other pbs mux is solid. The Inverto should be a good replacement for the current lnbf. This low or irregular signal is usually resolved with a larger dish, but when space limitations does not allow it, a good quality lnbf hopefully resolves the problem.

Below current MK1-PLL signal level:



Below Inverto signal level:

 

[chewie]

Received an Inverto Black Ultra RT lnbf from a U.K. retailer. Below are the comparisons between the Maverick Mk1-PLL lnbf which I have been using for over a month. The Mk1 is still my favorite low priced lnbf because of the performance it delivers.

But, the Inverto is now an upcoming favorite for low signal transponders, which once locked in, will produce a higher db signal and keeps the signal level from fluctuating to a minimum.

Montana pbs on my fixed DTV ku dish has been having low signal problems during the past couple of months, while the other pbs mux is solid. The Inverto should be a good replacement for the current lnbf. This low or irregular signal is usually resolved with a larger dish, but when space limitations does not allow it, a good quality lnbf hopefully resolves the problem.

Below current MK1-PLL signal level:

View attachment 15511

Below Inverto signal level:

View attachment 15512

View attachment 15513

Hello East
can you share the name of the place where you purchased the Inverto.
Let us know.
Regards.
Chewie