3m mesh dish in the UK

[kippysat]

Not a problem.

Lets start with C-Band from 40.5W, last time I checked I received over 200 channels from this satellite.
I think it was somewhere around 220 last time I counted and was probably most if not all of the listed transponders?

This was with a Precision Antennas 2.0m prime focus dish using a variety of LNB's such as Norsat, Titanium and Zinwell with polariser barrels and feeds with dielectric plates.
Other satellites I have received and locked C-Band frequencies with the same setup are listed below:

57E, 53E, 51.5E, 49E, 46E, 38E, 20E, 10E, 4.9E, 3.1E, 2.9E, 0.8W, 5W, 8W, 11W, 18W. 22W, 27.5W, 43.1W and 47.5W.

I am blocked from receiving 55.5W, 58W and 65W due to trees and buildings at my current location but think they will also be receivable with a 2.0m dish.
Some of those satellites are harder to receive than others. Paksat at 38.0E is a notoriously difficult catch in the UK but I managed to lock frequencies from it

For the purpose of @kippysat I think a 1.8m or 2.0m dish will provide many hundreds of channels from the various satellites visible to a UK location and be a great introduction to the world of C-Band.

For anyone based in the UK with a 24/7 critical need for C-Band reception in all weather conditions I would recommend a dish larger than 2.0m. The OP of this topic is possibly in this category?
However, for hobby purposes and reception of hundreds of C-Band channels I think a 1.8m or 2.0m dish will do the job more than adequately.

@moonbase .... I get it now about your advice regarding the wheels/castors. It's a clever way of circumventing our UK regulation of
not having a fixed dish that is well in excess of 1.0m. By installing a "moveable" structure I should be ok.

I also think it is sound advice (as I am a novice to c-band) to start smaller and work my way up. Thus starting with a 1.8m/2.0m
makes sense to me and building a platform on wheels/castors, which can support a structure holding the dish securely in place.
@moonbase already described in another thread how this can be achieved. I am also in the building trade so can make my own
adjustments and produce something that works well for me.

 

[moonbase]

@moonbase .... I get it now about your advice regarding the wheels/castors. It's a clever way of circumventing our UK regulation of
not having a fixed dish that is well in excess of 1.0m. By installing a "moveable" structure I should be ok.

I also think it is sound advice (as I am a novice to c-band) to start smaller and work my way up. Thus starting with a 1.8m/2.0m
makes sense to me and building a platform on wheels/castors, which can support a structure holding the dish securely in place.
@moonbase already described in another thread how this can be achieved. I am also in the building trade so can make my own
adjustments and produce something that works well for me.

@kippysat

As you are in the building trade you should have no problem making a mobile platform.

I made one from an old wooden pallet that I braced with some off cuts of decking and gravel board.
The castors were bought from eBay for around £15 and were rated with load bearing overage of about 33% per castor after considering the dish, mount and anchorage weight.

To immobilise the platform when the dish is in use I used a raising/lowering system, lowered is on the castors for moving about, raised is castors off the ground and platform fixed in place.
The raising/lowering is very basic, just steel plates with a nut welded over a hole in the plate to accept a threaded bolt, one per corner. The steel plates were bolted to the platform.

If you are serious about it, want to get started and put the effort in to source a dish setup and other accessories you can be up and running in a very short space of time.

 

[kippysat]

@kippysat

As you are in the building trade you should have no problem making a mobile platform.

I made one from an old wooden pallet that I braced with some off cuts of decking and gravel board.
The castors were bought from eBay for around £15 and were rated with load bearing overage of about 33% per castor after considering the dish, mount and anchorage weight.

To immobilise the platform when the dish is in use I used a raising/lowering system, lowered is on the castors for moving about, raised is castors off the ground and platform fixed in place.
The raising/lowering is very basic, just steel plates with a nut welded over a hole in the plate to accept a threaded bolt, one per corner. The steel plates were bolted to the platform.

If you are serious about it, want to get started and put the effort in to source a dish setup and other accessories you can be up and running in a very short space of time.

I can definitely do this. Everything you have described regarding the structure my guys and I can do....

 

[moonbase]

I can definitely do this. Everything you have described regarding the structure my guys and I can do....

@kippysat

There is currently a 2.2m Precision Antennas one piece spun aluminium dish listed on eBay. It is motorised and comes with feed support arms, polar mount and actuator.
This is an absolutely top class dish, it is broadcaster quality, no damage and in perfect condition. The same company used to supply dishes to BBC, ITV, Virgin, SKY etc.

If you are serious about getting into C-Band here is a golden opportunity served up on a plate.

 

[kippysat]

@kippysat

There is currently a 2.2m Precision Antennas one piece spun aluminium dish listed on eBay. It is motorised and comes with feed support arms, polar mount and actuator.
This is an absolutely top class dish, it is broadcaster quality, no damage and in perfect condition. The same company used to supply dishes to BBC, ITV, Virgin, SKY etc.

If you are serious about getting into C-Band here is a golden opportunity served up on a plate.

Yeah. I have just seen it and put it in my watchlist. To my untrained eye that looks like a good price as well.
There is also a 1.8m precision as well, but bizarrely, it is more expensive.

 

[moonbase]

Yeah. I have just seen it and put it in my watchlist. To my untrained eye that looks like a good price as well.
There is also a 1.8m precision as well, but bizarrely, it is more expensive.

Kippy, no point watching it, there are a mixed bag of curiosity merchants, blaggers, puffers, dreamers and tyre kickers watching it. I include myself in that lot as a curiosity merchant !
Get an offer stuck in on it, the seller will accept an offer for sure.

The seller originally had it up for sale at £390 or offers then he jacked another £100 on to the price after reading positive comments about the dish on another forum.
That was a mistake, it has not sold and has been listed for over two weeks now. I think an offer of £300 collected might buy it.

The thing is, dishes of this quality and size very rarely get offered for sale, it is probably only the second 2.2m Precision Antennas dish setup I have seen on eBay in a decade, I bought the previous one.
Even if you do not install it straight away it is worth getting and storing it as the opportunity might not come up again for some time.

Sure you can always cop for a 1.8m channel master dish easy enough, however, this bad boy kicks the bitch reet out of a 1.8m Channel Master.

 

[suesue123]

wonder waht eqivalent solid idh is to 3m mesh?

 

[moonbase]

wonder waht eqivalent solid idh is to 3m mesh?

Depends on what frequency band is being used and what size mesh is used.
For C-Band on both dishes, the solid vs mesh equivalent size gap is less than for Ku-Band on both dishes.