On Fri, 22 Jun 2012, Patrick L. Francis wrote:
One of these days I'll get around to putting up a dish here, but to improve
c/n in the past I've used better cable from the lnb to the Novra than we are
using now, a shorter distance from the lnb to the Novra, adding an
appropriate attenuation sequence, keeping the Novra away from interference
(such as setting it on top of a computer etc..) ... it's not really that
hard... besides G, your dish has always been very reliable, as are you :o)
I have a 75'+ run to the dish, and found that RG-11 cable with nice, thick
shielding on it does wonders. That alone reduced TI and signal loss
significantly, and with a near 3 dB gain in signal to boot!
Things I have learned:
On the mainland, a 3.7 meter dish MINIMUM is needed. 3.8 is better.
On the coasts and near the Canadian border, 4.5 meters is needed,
and the NWS already has that as their spec.
A $49 LNB? It'll work. If you want it to always work when you need it
though...forget it. Me and my Norsat 3120 does just fine. Costs
somewhat more, but trust me, it is worth it.
8VSB is a bear to work with. Be patient. Literally, being off by
millimeters can significantly reduce your signal strength.
It took me 4 times to adjust the dish and "dial it in" and get it
as close to exact as possible. But I don't have the greatest equipment.
If you have a "bird dog meter", or know someone who does, you can get
'er done better and faster...on the first try.
If you want to have signal pad for heavy rain fade...AKA living in the
midwest and southern U.S. ...get yourself a 4.5 meter dish. Thank us
later. (Someone who has a 10 meter dish gets signal overload and had to
put an attenuator on it. Nice problem to have. :-) )
Even though it is a big chore to set up...if you use NOAAport for serious
classroom instruction, and cannot afford to be without data...then get
one. If you are satisfied with the IDD reliability, or cannot afford a
dish and related equipment, stick to what you have. But, if it's not a
cost issue (and get creative---many NPR stations and campus cable TV head
ends are abandoned with their big dishes!), do it!
What I'm glad about is that now at least we can compare c/n to multiple
sources (with hopefully more in the future) so that when things appear to go
hinkie from time to time we don't need to worry as much, and can simply see
if others are experiencing similar issues :o)
Yessir! I like it. Thanks for the legwork, Patrick!
Gilbert
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Gilbert Sebenste ********
(My opinions only!) ******
Staff Meteorologist, Northern Illinois University ****
E-mail: sebenste@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ***
web: http://weather.admin.niu.edu **
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