Semi-newbie wild feeder intro

[Mr Tea]

Greetings from Silicon Valley!

I've had a 1.2m Prodelin dish (ex-VSAT repurposed for FTA) a few years. I've experimented with Ku and C-band (conical scalar works wonders) on the arc it can see--about 99w to 124w. It's been parked at 103W two years--no fun to move as it's really designed for static use. By measuring the exposed length of the az/el adjusting rods I've logged sat positions, which is crude but (somewhat) effective.

I've got a multi-LNB Ku bracket on the way and will be reporting on my setup once complete in case it's of use to anyone else with a similar setup or considering one.

I've been watching awards show behind-the-scenes and unedited show feeds on this bird until today, due to encryption.

Tuner is an Edision OS mio + 4K with TNAP and OpenVix. I know--need to get this into a proper signature.

I'll be perusing the forums for info after a family visit, but wanted to get the introduction our of the way.

T

 

[kegnkiwi]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Ferret]

Welcome to SU.

Enjoy the forum !

 

[ArloG]

Someone new from across the creek. Welcome.
A steerable polar mount or Stab type motor would be a plus.
I live on the Eastern part of the US. Played around with c band on a Viasat dish.
There are some transponders that have enough signal to give lock. But having a 12 footer really makes the hobby enjoyable with less headaches.
I've stored every satellite from 34W to 131W. 34 is the weakest and gives 3.5 dB max. so far. 115W was an elusive one. 111W I hear has a signal but haven't worked it yet.

Only in the late fall and winter can I get 131W after the leaves fall.
On the smaller dish I played around with turning a few delrin sleeve bushings to slip inside of the dish pole clamp.
Then used a wall mount pole and bracket tilted back to make a poor mans polar mount. Slipped the dish over it. A bit of tweaking.
Had a fairly usable mount that only required swinging the dish. No more up, down, right, and left. But that was for ku only. c band was just too weak.

Guess I need to do the signature thing too. Never did.
I have a mio4k. Dual Norsats on an ortho. ASC-1 mover. Also a sidecar geosatpro ku lnbf.
ViX is my daily image. You do know that you can use TNAP drivers in ViX don't you?
Load the TNAP drivers into it. FTP them to a place of your choice. Backup your ViX driver and drag the TNAP driver in. I'm using the TNAP mod right now to capture low sr tp's.
Reboot the receiver and give the drivers a blindscan test in ViX.

 

[Offtensive]

Welcome to SU Mr Tea

 

[Mr Tea]

Someone new from across the creek. Welcome.
A steerable polar mount or Stab type motor would be a plus.
I live on the Eastern part of the US. Played around with c band on a Viasat dish.
There are some transponders that have enough signal to give lock. But having a 12 footer really makes the hobby enjoyable with less headaches.
I've stored every satellite from 34W to 131W. 34 is the weakest and gives 3.5 dB max. so far. 115W was an elusive one. 111W I hear has a signal but haven't worked it yet.

Only in the late fall and winter can I get 131W after the leaves fall.
On the smaller dish I played around with turning a few delrin sleeve bushings to slip inside of the dish pole clamp.
Then used a wall mount pole and bracket tilted back to make a poor mans polar mount. Slipped the dish over it. A bit of tweaking.
Had a fairly usable mount that only required swinging the dish. No more up, down, right, and left. But that was for ku only. c band was just too weak.

Guess I need to do the signature thing too. Never did.
I have a mio4k. Dual Norsats on an ortho. ASC-1 mover. Also a sidecar geosatpro ku lnbf.
ViX is my daily image. You do know that you can use TNAP drivers in ViX don't you?
Load the TNAP drivers into it. FTP them to a place of your choice. Backup your ViX driver and drag the TNAP driver in. I'm using the TNAP mod right now to capture low sr tp's.
Reboot the receiver and give the drivers a blindscan test in ViX.

I was thinking of doing something similar to the delrin sleeve setup you describe. Only after installing the specified diameter mast in concrete did a discover the dish mount was quite a bit larger. This wasn't a problem for a single alignment but a real pain when trying to move through the arc. I was thinking of something with bearings, like a mini lazy susan, atop the mounting pole would make moving easier.

I must confess ignorance re "TNAP drivers." I do have TNAP 3.2, but OpenViX 6.7 is working without modification. Also, when I've gone to the site for TNAP, I get a message about membership being closed, and it's required to download the image--no in-the-box updating as with other images from what I can tell. If you're able to elaborate as to how the TNAP drivers help (and how to get them) or send a link to a how-to, I'd appeciate it.

Got my multi-lnb bracket but need to do some metal work getting it attached as the VSAT mounting differs from the consumer dishes most Ku stuff is designed for.

Thanks!

T

 

[ArloG]

I was thinking of doing something similar to the delrin sleeve setup you describe. Only after installing the specified diameter mast in concrete did a discover the dish mount was quite a bit larger. This wasn't a problem for a single alignment but a real pain when trying to move through the arc. I was thinking of something with bearings, like a mini lazy susan, atop the mounting pole would make moving easier.

I must confess ignorance re "TNAP drivers." I do have TNAP 3.2, but OpenViX 6.7 is working without modification. Also, when I've gone to the site for TNAP, I get a message about membership being closed, and it's required to download the image--no in-the-box updating as with other images from what I can tell. If you're able to elaborate as to how the TNAP drivers help (and how to get them) or send a link to a how-to, I'd appeciate it.

Got my multi-lnb bracket but need to do some metal work getting it attached as the VSAT mounting differs from the consumer dishes most Ku stuff is designed for.

Thanks!

T

http://www.tnapimages.com/

I believe updating from your version isn't possible. Tuner drivers can be had by selecting them from the plugins menu. Then navigate to the drivers directory and FTP to your pc.
I keep mine in separate and properly named sub directories. .
Depending on your fabricating skills. I've peeked at a few scrapped struts at the auto service places. They lose their gas charge, springs break. Instead of replacing one or the other. "Quick Strut" kits are swapped. Give it a thought and tell me. Of course a mig welder and some steel would be helpful. But cheap or free, whatever you have laying around.

 

[Mr Tea]

http://www.tnapimages.com/

I believe updating from your version isn't possible. Tuner drivers can be had by selecting them from the plugins menu. Then navigate to the drivers directory and FTP to your pc.
I keep mine in separate and properly named sub directories. .
Depending on your fabricating skills. I've peeked at a few scrapped struts at the auto service places. They lose their gas charge, springs break. Instead of replacing one or the other. "Quick Strut" kits are swapped. Give it a thought and tell me. Of course a mig welder and some steel would be helpful. But cheap or free, whatever you have laying around.

Got TNAP 6 installed--much appreciated!

Still not sure what advantage using TNAP tuner drivers has over what's available for OpenVix, which is working fine. Maybe for using additional tuners like ATSC?

Won't be able to get to multi-LNB bracket this weekend. I think challenge may be getting LNBs close enough for satellites only 2 degrees apart. I know there are skinny LNBs available for this sort of thing, so may go that route.

The dish and its mount would likely take more work to get a positioning system working with than I've the time and patience to deal with. I think I need to do a few more posts before I can post pictures but I don't think it's "positioner-friendly."

Thanks again!

T