African Satellite World and Sat Gear

African Satellite World and Sat Gear

Skew:
For most satellites especially ku band have got roughly similar lnb skew requirements. For example lnb skew for 8w, 7w, 4w, 3w, 3e 5e, 7e 16e ku are all roughly similar and mostly you would not need to tweak your skew while jumping from one to another unless the signal is very dim and needs extra tweaking.

For Cband skew is a problem because lnb skew for one sat is often not same as the next. Or even one sat may need biscuit the next may not need it.
Solution to this is to put 2lnbs skewed differently next to each other to meet the unique requirements of those sats.

Luckily on the Eastern arc. 68e, 72e,76e 91.5e use the same skews and do not need biscuits so you can cruise accross using a single lnb..

But if you want to add 57e C or 45e C to that set up, you'll need to fit another LNB with the biscuit inside.

Azimuth/Elevation:

This is the East-West movement of the dish while tracking an imaginary line above the equator where satellites are located.

Now you just need to set your dish to move along this imaginary line for instance while jumping from 7w to 7e.

With cband you will hardly need to adjust your azimuth while switching sats. I used to move from 57e to 91.5 without any problem.
But ku band is quite unforgiving especially fringe sats like 4W. Azimuth setting for 7w will work for 4W but youll have to compromise signal strength for 4W. 7e 5e are ok because the beams are very strong. But by the time you hit 16e, you're completely off. And you will need to adjust elevation (North - South movement from the Equator line)

The solution to this is to use a very large dish 10ft + or use a dual-axis motorized setup which adjusts both Elevation and Azimuth for each sat.

You can also change skew automatically while switching sats. But this is hardly ever necessary and requires complex positioners like this Titanium ASC1 I use. Here the 45° show the LNB skew setting. But I've never used that feature.

View attachment 1506769

And finally if you're going to motorize your set up get a large dish .. 8ft onwards to compensate for misalignments caused by the movement.

But small dishes can also work for short movements eg 7W to 5e
Nice explanation freq always my teacher in motorizaton of dish
 
Thanks for informative explanation freq, if I got it well; geo location is also a favourable factor as you have said you used to move from 57 to 9.5 without great adjustment of left/right dish position (Azimuth). As for where I'm located (far south) from the equator, it's a different story. The overall dish location for 57 and 91.5 was completely different as it required huge adjustment in Azimuth.
In the picture below,
Dish no. 1, 46e (C) is primary with 36e parasite
Dish no. 2, 16e(ku) is primary (alone).A 30 degree difference and they almost face each other. I couldn't even combine 16e & 36e in one 6t pf (perhaps I need to try more and more).
Dish. No 3 & 4 are 76+72+68 combined and 5e respectively. I'm planning to merge 5e with 16e to save some space.
Still learning guys, I stand to be corrected.
View attachment 1506817

Welcome.

Great dish farm.

Some just love having a farm for the view instead of a motor.
You can still motorize at your location only that you'll need a polar mount dish stand like this one to allow the left to right movement.
images (16).jpeg


At the equator or very near equator, where I am fixed stand works because the satellites are right overhead and towards the horizon like the sun so I Just need to change the up down movement
By the way with a polar mount you'll move like this
unnamed (2).gif
 
Thanks for informative explanation freq, if I got it well; geo location is also a favourable factor as you have said you used to move from 57 to 9.5 without great adjustment of left/right dish position (Azimuth). As for where I'm located (far south) from the equator, it's a different story. The overall dish location for 57 and 91.5 was completely different as it required huge adjustment in Azimuth.
In the picture below,
Dish no. 1, 46e (C) is primary with 36e parasite
Dish no. 2, 16e(ku) is primary (alone).A 30 degree difference and they almost face each other. I couldn't even combine 16e & 36e in one 6t pf (perhaps I need to try more and more).
Dish. No 3 & 4 are 76+72+68 combined and 5e respectively. I'm planning to merge 5e with 16e to save some space.
Still learning guys, I stand to be corrected.
View attachment 1506817
Are all this dishes 6 ft or there is 8ft
 
one the power cable prongs ya starsat imevunjika while i was changing extensions ......
 

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one the power cable prongs ya starsat imevunjika while i was changing extensions ......
Look for another power cable with those prongs coz I had tried to change mine to three pin and it failed to power up until I put back the original the one I was putting was okay
 
Mine broke too when the box was a month old. They're very weak. Just cut it off, get another plug.. cut it to reveal the wires then connect it to the one on the box
yangu imekaa like a year plus ....but ilikuwa too wobbly wobbly
 
Look for another power cable with those prongs coz I had tried to change mine to three pin and it failed to power up until I put back the original the one I was putting was okay
thanks for this info cos Wallahy i was going to buy the three pin .... you have saved me some time and frustration
 
Welcome.

Great dish farm.

Some just love having a farm for the view instead of a motor.
You can still motorize at your location only that you'll need a polar mount dish stand like this one to allow the left to right movement.
View attachment 1507045

At the equator or very near equator, where I am fixed stand works because the satellites are right overhead and towards the horizon like the sun so I Just need to change the up down movement
By the way with a polar mount you'll move like this
View attachment 1507048
currently trying to fabricate a polar mount like this.....stay tuned.....
 

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    IMG_7300.JPG
    295.9 KB · Views: 16
Thanks for informative explanation freq, if I got it well; geo location is also a favourable factor as you have said you used to move from 57 to 91.5 without great adjustment of left/right dish position (Azimuth). As for where I'm located (far south) from the equator, it's a different story. The overall dish location for 57 and 91.5 was completely different as it required huge adjustment in Azimuth.
In the picture below,
Dish no. 1, 46e (C) is primary with 36e parasite
Dish no. 2, 16e(ku) is primary (alone).A 30 degree difference and they almost face each other. I couldn't even combine 16e & 36e in one 6t pf (perhaps I need to try more and more).
Dish. No 3 & 4 are 76+72+68 combined and 5e respectively. I'm planning to merge 5e with 16e to save some space.
Still learning guys, I stand to be corrected.
View attachment 1506817
Dish set up 3 and 4 are?
 
This one is easier if you have a good welder and materials

Yes indeed.Its almost done.am actually making it for a 12foot mesh dish that i got from someone last year with a few parts missing.i also want to substitute the mesh with aluminum sheets....
 
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