1.8m - 2.5m dish questions .. ??

[Mr. Mister]

Hi guys..

I am about to order my new dish.. Im gonna get rid of my 1.1m motorized triax to watch the EPL on Viasat..

Its looking like a 1.8m at the moment.. but i would love to go to a 2.5m.. ( Got plenty of space out in the sticks.. ) lol

Can anyone tell me what kind of motor i would need to drive this momma..

H2H is prolly no good at all this dish.. So will prolly have to have a 36v actuator.. ??

Will i need a Vbox or similar to drive it.. as i dont think any of my Vu+ Duo`s will drive it.. ??

Thanks for any advise..

[Larry-G]

the last large dish i had was a 3 meter channel master with a 18" 36v jack actuator to move it ( was 10 years ago mind you ). and yes you are correct the Vu will not be able to power the motor directly you will need a positioner such as a vbox etc.

[Mr. Mister]

Hi pheonix..

Thanks for the reply..

Would this be any good that i saw on fleabay.. ??

Item number: 120504559077

thanks

[Larry-G]

yeah thats about rite mate, although i'd hold off in buying the actuator untill you have a dish then you can go about buying the rite kit for the job.

[digidude]

the actuator you need would depend on the az/el mount that its being fitted to, which would depend on the dish, but as pointed out, you would need a Vbox to drive it, youd then set your Duo to use motorised Diseqc 1.2 commands instead of USALS

Big dishes in the UK is quite a small market, but, may be worth contacting the site sponsor directly if you cant find nothing on the shop listings and see what they can offer

http://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/index.php?route=information/contact

avoid the maplin big dish offers though m8, they may be cheap, but theyre also VERY nasty

[Donnie]

I have a vbox for sale if you are interested ?

[garrycraig]

Hi Mr Mister
Advice on Diseqc Motors.

This is a development where digital receivers now contain software to control a Diseqc motor rather than a hardware positioner board to control a standard 36V motor.

The problems with Diseqc motors and why the "V box" is so necessary with larger dishes.

Diseqc is a new development where digital receivers now contain software to control a Diseqc motor rather than a five amp hardware positioner board to control a standard motor. The motor control works digitally down the coax signal lead and a 4-wire control system is not required. Also the concept has become an industry standard. Sounds good so far but what are the drawbacks?
1. Diseqc motors have all been lightweight universal fit motors with a thirdary rotating pole that the dish clamps to. They are not designed for a particular dish and they do
not properly bolt onto the back of a dish. Slippage can occur in high winds at the thirdary rotating fixing.
2. The coaxial cable is designed to carry the signal from the LNB to the satellite receiver. It is also designed to provide power to the LNB. The satellite receiver provides about
500 to 600 mA (0.6A) to power the LNB. Typically an LNB might draw about 300 mA. This leaves 200 to 300mA (0.3A) to power up a Diseqc motor. Clearly a proper hardware (4 wire control system) positioner which can provide up to (typically) 3 to 5 amps is a far better system as it can drive better bigger, stronger, quicker motors. With 300mA a Diseqc motor must be very small. The only way a very small motor can move a dish is by putting a large gearbox on the end of the motor to provide "leverage". This means that a Diseqc motor moves very slowly from one satellite to another due to the large amount of gearing.
Small motors & thirdary thinner rotating poles which the dish can slip on are far from ideal for use with even larger dishes (e.g. 1.0m+ or 90cm + in exposed locations.). Storm force winds in the UK can provide serious wind loads on a motorised dish. You really do not want to be worrying about whether the dish is going to come down every time it is windy.

I was reading the above on another web site the other day so the v box, 36v actuator is the only way.

cheers

Garry

[The Bishop]

There is another option which is to use an older receiver such as an Echostar AD3600 to move the dish using the inbuilt 36v positioner board. This will also give you an "autopeak" or "autofocus" option, ie, it moves the dish to the satellite then scans either side of the stored position to find the maximum signal and locks to that. An older receiver such as the Echostar AD3000 or AD3600 can be bought quite cheaply on the auction site. Also, you are not restricted to using a 36v actuator, if you can source a Jaeger 1224 AZEL H-H motor you can use this, however, they are no longer in production so you would need to have a good hunt about for one of these.

As "digidude" has indicated, it might be best to get the dish first and see what mount or polar head is available for it then decide on any options for a motor. One thing is absolute, you need a 36v solution attached to the dish either powered by a vBox or a receiver. If there was a choice, I would opt for the Jaeger 1224AZEL every time, way better that a 36v linear actuator, this also allows for inclined orbit tracking using the optional elevation actuator.


The Bishop

[sonnetpete]

the actuator you need would depend on the az/el mount that its being fitted to,

avoid the maplin big dish offers though m8, they may be cheap, but theyre also VERY nasty

It's probably worth pointing out that you need a polar mount for an actuator, not an AZ/EL mount.

Agreed about the Maplin's dishes, their reputation precedes them!!

You may want to look at Laminas fibre dishes. I have a 1.2M and it's a quality dish. You can get them up to 2.7M with polar mounts.

_http://www.hollex.pl/anteny-satelitarne/epoksydowe/

Try the site sponsors, I know they were looking at trying to import these dishes.

[The Bishop]

Hi guys..

I am about to order my new dish.. .......Its looking like a 1.8m at the moment.. but i would love to go to a 2.5m.......


Mr. Mister,

If you have not yet ordered your dish there is a nice 1.8m Precision prime focus dish with stand, mount and motor on the fleapit auction site at the moment, it is item number 260827774390. The seller is only asking £950 for it but might be open to negotiation once a reality check kicks in. As far as 1.8m dishes go, this is as good as it gets, forget Andrews/Channel Master, Gilbertini and all of the rest, none of them come close to the Precision spun aluminium dishes.



The Bishop