Channel Master/Laminas 1.8m project

im intrigued - how did this all end? well....are you happy? how did it compare to a 1.5 in the end.
im thinking of upgrading to either a 1.5m or 1.8 - probably 1.5 ....
 
Sorry missed this. I stuck with the CM 1.8 - it's a fine performer. Increases over 1.5m are mostly evident in C band, rather than Ku, though it's been a long time since I had the 1.5m installed. I still have a 1.8m Laminas in the garage gathering dust.
 
i will soon be adding to this thread - first step, concrete base...lol

painting dish green this weekend if weather stays fine.
 
manikm909 said:
painting dish green
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I just remembered I bought 2 boxes of green spray paint made in USA. Each box costed me 5 EUR. Now I am looking for any objects (maybe antennas) to be painted.
 

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RimaNTSS said:
I just remembered I bought 2 boxes of green spray paint made in USA. Each box costed me 5 EUR. Now I am looking for any objects (maybe antennas) to be painted.
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you're always getting bargains!!!
:)
 
Following years of neglect, I am embarking upon a refresh of the system. Having listened to people in this thread, I will be doing the following over the next couple of months - just in time for rains and winds.

1. New set of coax cables from the dish back to the house - with spares!
2. New set of cables for the jack arms - I am currently using an 8-core alarm cable, with two cores twisted together but it's pretty crappy.
3. The cable runs are over 40m, so I'll be getting an active multiswitch (EMP Centauri 9/4 on order) to sit near the dish somewhere. This will allow me to connect multiple receivers simultaneously without faffing with switching indoors.
4. With some extra cabling, the current 20mm conduit won't do. I will likely get a 40mm or 50mm waste pipe that will run along the edge of the garden into the house. I may or may not keep the existing conduit - don't really want two conduits but might be worth keeping motor cables separate from coax/signal cables?
5. The switch will need a new LNB - still looking to see which one is best (@scopus gave me plenty of pointers here). Will also need a twin-output C-band LNB

Possibly for later - LNB changer or multi-feed arrangement so I can have 2x C-band LNBs and 1x Ku in the middle. The changer sounds like a lot of work, even though I have most bits for it already. Perhaps for a sunny day.

Whether any of the above gets done remains to be seen!
 
Captain Jack said:
Following years of neglect, I am embarking upon a refresh of the system. Having listened to people in this thread, I will be doing the following over the next couple of months - just in time for rains and winds.

1. New set of coax cables from the dish back to the house - with spares!
2. New set of cables for the jack arms - I am currently using an 8-core alarm cable, with two cores twisted together but it's pretty crappy.
3. The cable runs are over 40m, so I'll be getting an active multiswitch (EMP Centauri 9/4 on order) to sit near the dish somewhere. This will allow me to connect multiple receivers simultaneously without faffing with switching indoors.
4. With some extra cabling, the current 20mm conduit won't do. I will likely get a 40mm or 50mm waste pipe that will run along the edge of the garden into the house. I may or may not keep the existing conduit - don't really want two conduits but might be worth keeping motor cables separate from coax/signal cables?
5. The switch will need a new LNB - still looking to see which one is best (@scopus gave me plenty of pointers here). Will also need a twin-output C-band LNB

Possibly for later - LNB changer or multi-feed arrangement so I can have 2x C-band LNBs and 1x Ku in the middle. The changer sounds like a lot of work, even though I have most bits for it already. Perhaps for a sunny day.

Whether any of the above gets done remains to be seen!
Click to expand...
From my days as a sat installer, I still have a BOREHOLE C+Ku feed for use on any (but preferably a parabolic) antenna. Also a few C and Ku band LNBs. If interested, drop me a line here.
 
Channel Hopper said:
At least it's sunny, the brass monkey could give you a hand with stiff nuts.
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Indeed and unfortunately, the cold snap stopped play. I have not a hair on my head and I have no idea where my hat went.

Didn't get a lot done despite never ending faffage. I drilled two 32mm holes (behave CH) for the cables into my new man cave which took forever...but they are in. Then I faffed with fitting compression F connectors, which was a failure as it seems like either my connectors are crap or I don't know what I am doing. The connectors just spun around on the cable and a moderate yank freed it from it. I tried to compress harder with my tool but that just broke the connector. So I've gone with the screw-on ones.

The cable itself is a Triax 4 core one from SSS and the thing is proper heavy duty. The idea was to run 2m of it from the LNB to the multiswitch in the junction box all colour coded and then run a pair of normal shotgun xx100 cables 30-40m inside the house. However, I found it extremely difficult to maneuver and didn't think it brought a lot (if any) advantage over a pair of the aforementioned shotguns... Other than colour coding.

I was also planning on running some new actuator cables to the junction box - just to get the dish side finished. But cold stopped play.

Some pictures... The switch is a Vision one that I bought for cheap on ebay. I originally had EMP on order but it was out of stock and other retailers were a lot more expensive. Hence this one. I've no idea if it even works. I did modify it to take 18v from the LNB changer port on JPC's positioner as I didn't want to run mains cable 30m down the garden.

Also on show is @RimaNTSS F plug doer-upper - a real finger saver especially in this cold.

Lastly is the trusty FS1 meter. It's absolutely no frills but I've had it for years and the battery on it lasts ages. I keep thinking about getting the DVB-S2 version but ghad it's expensive.
 

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At least you did something outside, I got as far as the wood reserve and then returned as the cuts on my fingers started complaining.

I've used that multi cable before on one job, a real sod to pull through modern loft spaces since it is annoyingly stiff to unfurl when cold (oooerrr).

It is slightly worse than CT100 once you go beyond 25m so (and was about three times the price when I bought it from Germany about a decade ago) , independent runs and marking down the numbers that identify the cut points in metres at each end from then on.
 
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Yes, the cold is the devil. I avoid maneuvers in cold weather. There was one year when I almost froze during the winter time on montages, but the work had to be done.
 
Captain Jack said:
Indeed and unfortunately, the cold snap stopped play. I have not a hair on my head and I have no idea where my hat went.

Didn't get a lot done despite never ending faffage. I drilled two 32mm holes (behave CH) for the cables into my new man cave which took forever...but they are in. Then I faffed with fitting compression F connectors, which was a failure as it seems like either my connectors are crap or I don't know what I am doing. The connectors just spun around on the cable and a moderate yank freed it from it. I tried to compress harder with my tool but that just broke the connector. So I've gone with the screw-on ones.

The cable itself is a Triax 4 core one from SSS and the thing is proper heavy duty. The idea was to run 2m of it from the LNB to the multiswitch in the junction box all colour coded and then run a pair of normal shotgun xx100 cables 30-40m inside the house. However, I found it extremely difficult to maneuver and didn't think it brought a lot (if any) advantage over a pair of the aforementioned shotguns... Other than colour coding.

I was also planning on running some new actuator cables to the junction box - just to get the dish side finished. But cold stopped play.

Some pictures... The switch is a Vision one that I bought for cheap on ebay. I originally had EMP on order but it was out of stock and other retailers were a lot more expensive. Hence this one. I've no idea if it even works. I did modify it to take 18v from the LNB changer port on JPC's positioner as I didn't want to run mains cable 30m down the garden.

Also on show is @RimaNTSS F plug doer-upper - a real finger saver especially in this cold.

Lastly is the trusty FS1 meter. It's absolutely no frills but I've had it for years and the battery on it lasts ages. I keep thinking about getting the DVB-S2 version but ghad it's expensive.
Click to expand...
Ohhh I like that tool that tightens up the F connectors..Where did you get that from CJ?
 
Making progress but slow. Have relaid the cables from my upstairs office to the new downstairs one yesterday. A lot of bodging as I had to extend existing cables to the new cave - it's further away. The joins shouldn't matter too much - most will be used for power supply and motor control. Coax ones will be used for the T90 fixed dish and temporarily the Channel Master until I lay more trunking and cable.

It's incredibly chilly out there and every evening my hands feed like sandpaper. So trying to do as much as I can inside...
 
The final nail is being driven into the coffin for my Channel Master dish. The lovely field behind us is being turned into yet another soulless housing estate. While it doesn't really do much to the dish, the wife is insisting we plant some evergreens/trees at the end of our garden so we don't see the monstrosity that is the new estate - especially the building works that will follow over the next 5(!) years. The trees mean that they will all block the dish...

That, as well as the bloody neighbour's tree which is blocking much of the eastern arc, means that there's little point in keeping the dish - at least where it is.

I will likely be putting up my Fibo 90 on the side of the house, which has a good view of the eastern arc to about 30W and eventually retiring the Channel Master. Sad days ahead.
 
Captain Jack said:
I will likely be putting up my Fibo 90 on the side of the house, which has a good view of the eastern arc to about 30W and eventually retiring the Channel Master. Sad days ahead.
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I think we should consider a RIP to Satellite thread or something, It's surely only a few years away :( I doubt you'll notice a loss of the dish.
 
Captain Jack said:
The final nail is being driven into the coffin for my Channel Master dish. The lovely field behind us is being turned into yet another soulless housing estate. While it doesn't really do much to the dish, the wife is insisting we plant some evergreens/trees at the end of our garden so we don't see the monstrosity that is the new estate - especially the building works that will follow over the next 5(!) years. The trees mean that they will all block the dish...

That, as well as the bloody neighbour's tree which is blocking much of the eastern arc, means that there's little point in keeping the dish - at least where it is.

I will likely be putting up my Fibo 90 on the side of the house, which has a good view of the eastern arc to about 30W and eventually retiring the Channel Master. Sad days ahead.
Click to expand...

Feel for you CJ, we have had coming up to 20 years of loosing really very close surrounding beautiful farm land and countryside taken up with building thrown up housing estates with very dubious occupants - it's very demoralising and is not good for peoples mental health.
On top of that, we got the 5G towers crap.
I'd love to give a full blown opinion on how to rectify the problems but i'd only get arrested
 
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