Get the Maximum Satellite Signal From Your Antenna System

Hey EB!
I just registered on the forum and read your thread with interest! Very nice thread, and I enjoyed reading about your findings and experiments. Just like you, I started to experiment more this past August on my motorized 1.2M GeoSatPro Offset dish that I use for C-Band; I wanted to get the very most as I could out of it. I posted some pics of my setup on the Welcome To LegitFTA Thread if you would like to see what I been working on. I have been on the hunt for the best commercial C-Band LNBF that I could find with the lowest stability numbers and the highest gain. I couldn't afford the $300+ LNB's very well without knowing if they would work, so I opted for the Chaparral 3G LNBF instead.

I WAS using the Titanium C-Band LNBF on the 1.2M dish for almost a year with half decent results with the matching conical scaler. Like you mentioned on other threads, the huge heatsink doesn't provide any real benefit other than to lure people into buying it for it's flashy appeal. Actually, I found the huge heatsink to be in the way when I needed to move the LNBF as close as it could go towards the dish only to have the heatsink hit the plastic bracket. After studying the spec's on Brians LNBF, I knew I could do better with a more professional brand, so I got the Chaparral.

I installed the Chaparral LNBF on the 1.2M dish and with my Satlink WS-6933 meter, I started experimenting with the old Conical Scaler, a flat Scaler with a long bolt socket attached to it, and a huge aluminum lampshade I bought at Lowes. The Conical Scaler and flat Scaler only gave me 52% Q on the 99W Fox Station from MO.. I then cut out a large hole in the back of the aluminum lampshade, and put that on the LNBF to have the Quality jump up to 58-59%! So I got a clamp to secure the large lampshade onto the LNBF.

I rescanned the satellites to find out that I was now getting a few extra channels than before, and some channels came in better than before! It was difficult to watch the Weather Network with Brian's Titanium LNBF, but the pixilation cleared up after the Chaparral was installed. I am now happily divorced from Brian's products, I found something that is better! The majority of the users that are on "The Other Guys" Satellite forum all use Brian's Titanium LNBF and an Amiko A3 receiver. If your not using what they have, you will get stomped on for it. So while everyone is struggling with the Amiko A3 receivers quirks and Brians kind of half decent LNBF, I am ahead of that crowd with my own stuff. :-)

The only thing I might change after reading your thread is my RG6 cable. I'm maybe running a good 30-40+ feet of Directv brand RG6 cable I bought at Skyvision, so it isn't bad, but maybe I can do better with the RG11 cable like you have? Otherwise, I think I have done just about all I can think of to get the most out of my dish. I'm looking forward to winter to see what other satellite channels I can get without having leaves in the way. Normally I leave the C-Band dish parked on the 58W satellite so I can always watch NHK World in HD.

I'm currently using the new Manhattan 1997 receiver, which I like, my favorite was the Manhattan 1933 receiver because it had a Sharp Tuner in it. But, I overcooked it by leaving it on all week without proper ventilation. :-(

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RG11 Is not going to do a lot for you. A decent RG6 will do as well I think in most satellite systems. What I like about RG11 is the center conductor is thicker than RG6, and I like that for motorized operations. The RG11 that I have is direct burial type and should last a long time without needing to be replaced. Most lnbs have a very generous line amplifier which will make the loss factor between RG6 and RG11 a moot point except maybe on lengths exceeding 80-100 meters.

Other sites can operate as they wish, but I do take exception to some receivers being called Pirate receivers, especially when the people doing this are selling or promoting products like the Amiko A3 which is designed for theft of services.
 
el bandido said:
RG11 Is not going to do a lot for you. A decent RG6 will do as well I think in most satellite systems. What I like about RG11 is the center conductor is thicker than RG6, and I like that for motorized operations. The RG11 that I have is direct burial type and should last a long time without needing to be replaced. Most lnbs have a very generous line amplifier which will make the loss factor between RG6 and RG11 a moot point except maybe on lengths exceeding 80-100 meters.

Other sites can operate as they wish, but I do take exception to some receivers being called Pirate receivers, especially when the people doing this are selling or promoting products like the Amiko A3 which is designed for theft of services.
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I'm pretty happy overall with the Directv brand RG6 cable I've been using, can't complain about the performance. :-) My biggest problem with the Amiko A3 receiver was that it was always blind scanning way too fast, with no way to slow it down. There were many good strong TP's and channels that wouldn't get logged, because the A3 was barely giving it one or two seconds before moving on to the next. Even if I went back to rescan the TP individualy with known channels with a strong signal, it wouldn't do it. So I finally gave up and tried another receiver. Of course I will have to get corrected by someone that I was doing something wrong and the A3 is perfectly wonderful.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
 
The antenna system can only be as good as the receiver that is connected to it.

I have seen some very fast blindscans that did not miss much. These scans were much faster than the timed scans I have seen for the A3. More or less, the A3 and other receivers that are similar to it use an operating system that was designed for a phone or tablet. This media-based operating system is married to a mediocre fta receiver, so this is not a good box if you are looking for fta features such as blindscan.
 
My two cents in regards to the A3, which I posted this comment on 01-25-15.....

"If buying just for fta go with the X2, but if you're buying to have fta and more versatility, i.e., media center, streaming center, server, dlna, xbmc, pvr, access to many, many android applications etc, buy it. But to me it is an all around fun receiver to test; similar to the enigma2 plugins and options. The more bugs that get ironed out with new firmware releases, the more I am enjoying the receiver. Is it perfect? No, but neither is anything else available out there".
 
el bandido said:
I purchased the ANDREW 611678316 KU-BAND TX-RX Feedhorn a few months ago but never got around to testing its limits on the Geosat 1.2 meter dish. This feedhorn is designed for a commercial transmit and receive environment. The flange is similar to a c120 flange, but it is not a direct match to a c120 lnb. I drilled some extra holes in the feedhorn flange so I could attach it to my Invacom lnb.
This Andrew feedhorn did not perform as good as the Raven feedhorn. It is possible that I did not match the holes correctly for the c120 lnb and maybe had the waveguide mismatched a bit on the inside. Whatever the reason, it did not perform as well as the raven piece for me so I have put it in my collection of spare parts.

I have also had a chance to test an Invacom ADF-120 adjustable feedhorn for prime focus dishes. This feedhorn is mounted on a 1.8 meter prime focus Fortec dish and performs much better than the prime focus BSC321 SP standard lnb from DMS international. An adjustable feedhorn such as the ADF-120 allows you to tune for the maximum signal that your dish system will allow.


Attached are a few pictures of the Andrews feedhorn. Maybe one day I will find a suitable dish for this heavy monster. EB
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That's the feedhorn and parts I have with the Channel master 1.2 dish.
 
I am going to convert a standard lnb with a custom made adpter for the feed horn I have. Just need a small piece of 3/4 o.d. copper tubing for the waveguide extension and some kind of filler, maybe fiber glass bondo. Don't know how it will work out but I going to give it shot.
 
I believe I found a better solution. separated the feed feedhorn and lnb from the old primestar dish and the lnb bolts on perfect to the channel master feedhorn.
The old primestar lnb has been exposed to the elements laying on the ground for years so I don't think it is any good so I am thinking the eagle aspen 270 should have the same flange so I ordered one to try off ebay.0101-000056.webp0101-000320.webps-l500.webp
 
According to the info on the Eagle Aspen 270, it should be a direct replacement for a Channel Master "C" band dish's LNBF.
 
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