c/diy-satellite-dishes

-1

the_leo•9d ago

Cheap LNB fried after one rainstorm in Florida

Picked up a no-name LNB from an eBay seller for like 12 bucks and it worked fine for about three weeks. Then a heavy downpour hit my setup near Tampa and the thing just stopped putting out any signal at all. Anyone else have luck with those budget LNBs or should I just bite the bullet and get something better?

14

drew_jones31•11d ago

Picked a wire mesh over solid aluminum for my dish, totally different signal

Honestly I was torn between using a solid aluminum sheet and a wire mesh for my 4 foot satellite dish build. I went with the wire mesh because I heard it handles wind way better and it cost me about $12 less at the metal supply shop. After mounting it on my roof last weekend, the signal is actually stronger than I expected for C band channels, but I get a little bleed from side interference. Has anyone else tried mesh and regretted it or is this just normal with lighter materials?

7

emmam89•17d ago

C-band vs Ku-band for home built dishes - which actually pulls in more channels?

I've been experimenting with two different LNB setups on my 8-foot mesh dish in the backyard. The C-band gives me solid signals from old satellite feeds but the Ku-band picks up way more free-to-air channels from modern birds. I'm leaning toward Ku now because I caught 12 channels last Saturday alone versus maybe 3 on C. Has anyone else noticed one band outperforming the other for your setup?

14

the_wade•18d ago

Wasted $150 on a cheap LNB before I learned to check the noise figure

About six months ago I bought a generic LNB off Amazon for $30 because I wanted to save some cash on my first DIY satellite dish build. It worked okay for the first week, catching a few free channels from a weather satellite. But then the signal started dropping out every time a cloud passed by, and I couldn't figure out why. After reading through some old forums and checking the specs, I realized the noise figure on that cheap LNB was something like 0.7 dB, way too high for reliable reception. I ended up spending $180 on a quality Invacom LNB with a 0.1 dB noise figure, and now I get steady signals even during light rain. Has anyone else burned money on bargain parts that just didn't hold up?

7

mianelson•20d ago

TIL the hard way that a cheap TV dish won't catch weather satellite signals...

I used to just grab any old DirecTV dish off Craigslist for my builds, but after spending 2 months trying to lock onto NOAA 19 with a 18-inch one, I switched to a 36-inch offset dish I found at a ham radio swap meet near Denver last spring. The difference was night and day, I started getting clear images of cloud patterns on the first try. Has anyone else had trouble with small dishes for L-band signals?

24

aaronsullivan•21d ago

Bought a $90 Ku band LNB off eBay and got burned

Back in 2021 I picked up this fancy Invacom QPH-031 LNB from a seller in Florida. Figured a 25 year old dish with a brand new LNB would finally lock in those weak PBS feeds. Spent like five weekends messing with skew angles and focal distances before I realized the internal switch was shot. Did anyone else waste cash on a hyped up component that just plain didn't work?

3

ivan_murphy80•21d ago

Finally upgraded my LNB from a basic one to a PLL type... wow

I was running the same old cheap LNB that came with my first dish for like 4 years. It worked fine, caught the big satellites like 95W and 97W without issue. But last month I swapped it out for a PLL LNB I found on sale for 30 bucks. The difference on weaker transponders is honestly night and day. I'm now pulling in 3 or 4 more channels from 87W that used to just flicker in and out. Even the signal bars on my old reliable feeds jumped from 65% to 80%. Has anyone else noticed a huge jump switching to a PLL type on a 90cm dish?

1

troy_price•22d ago

Took me 6 months to figure out my LNB was aimed at the wrong satellite cluster the whole time

I spent close to half a year trying to get a stable signal on C-band. Kept swapping cables, replacing splitters, even bought a new receiver. Turned out I had the dish pointed maybe 5 degrees off target. A neighbor with a spectrum analyzer spotted it in about 10 minutes. Anyone else burn months on something that simple?

2

sanchez.mary•24d ago

Critique from a retired RF engineer fixed my dish alignment completely

I was tweaking my 10 foot mesh dish for weeks trying to pull in NASA TV from the GOES satellites. A guy named Frank on the local ham radio net said my focal point was off by almost 2 inches. He told me to measure from the center of the dish to the LNB holder with a tape measure instead of guessing. Turns out I had the scalar ring mounted way too high because I watched a YouTube video from some guy in Texas. I redid the whole setup last Saturday with his method and instantly locked onto 3 channels I had never seen before. Made me realize I was overcomplicating things with fancy online calculators. Has anyone else had a random neighbor or old timer give them advice that actually worked better than the guides online?

28

pat_moore•24d ago

Went with solid aluminum dish over mesh for my build. Regretting it now.

Picked a 75cm solid aluminum dish because I thought mesh would flex too much in wind. Installed it on my roof 3 months ago. Wind load is brutal. Had to reinforce the mount twice. My neighbor used a mesh dish and his signal is just as stable. Plus his mount is way simpler. Wish I'd just gone mesh from the start. Anyone else make the solid vs mesh choice and switch later?

28

price.ray•25d ago

Noticed the old C-band dishes are getting harder to find at scrap yards

Went to the yard in Hattiesburg last week looking for a polar mount and came up empty. 10 years ago you could find a 10-foot mesh dish every other trip, now they are all scrapped or sitting in some hoarder's backyard. I swear the switch to those little DirectTV dishes killed the whole hobby around here. Anyone else having trouble finding old parts for a proper build?

4

xena_bailey18•26d ago

Picked a 10-foot mesh dish over a solid fiberglass one for my backyard build

Glad I went with the mesh because the wind almost took me off my ladder last week and that fiberglass would've been a sail, anyone else deal with wobble issues on a solid dish?

5

karencampbell•26d ago

Visited a radio observatory in New Mexico last month and kept noticing how many of their homemade dishes used old satellite TV parts

I saw at least 5 setups at the VLA visitor lot built from scrapped DirecTV LNBs and rusty pizza pans, but everyone online swears you need machined aluminum for a decent signal, so who's actually right about cheap hacks versus spending $200 on real gear?

26

reese_lee9•27d ago

Overheard a guy at the hardware store say he uses old pizza pans as satellite dish reflectors

I tried it with a 16 inch pan from a clearance rack and caught 3 extra channels from a satellite 22,000 miles up, anyone else ever repurpose kitchen stuff for this?

10

the_parker•27d ago

TIL I was aiming my dish all wrong for 6 months. A guy on YouTube showed me the right way to use a compass.

I used to just point the dish roughly south and wiggle it around until I got a signal. Took forever and I'd lose channels every time the wind blew. Last month I watched a video where someone explained you gotta account for magnetic declination in your area. I'm in Portland so that's like 14 degrees off. I adjusted my mount and locked onto a satellite in under 10 minutes. Now I get 30 more channels than before. Has anyone else tried using a proper azimuth calculation and seen a big jump in signal quality?

6

juliarodriguez•28d ago

Painted my dish with metallic paint, signal dropped by 60%

I wanted my homemade 1.2 meter dish to look less rusty so I put a coat of Rust-Oleum metallic silver on it last weekend. After the paint dried I aimed it at Galaxy 19 and got nothing. Checked the LNB, cables, all fine. Scraped the paint off the inner surface and the signal came right back. Learned the hard way that any metallic paint acts like a shield and kills the signal. Anybody else run into this with a specific paint they used?

13

the_max•28d ago

PSA: Scrap metal yards are goldmines for dish parts, found a 1.2m offset in Detroit last Thursday.

Picked up a busted commercial dish for $15, the reflector was fine just needed to replace the LNB arm which cost me another $8 in threaded rod from the hardware store, anyone else scrounging salvage yards for parts?

21

juliarodriguez•28d ago

Worst week ever trying to catch NASA data with a homemade dish

Spent all last week tweaking my 8 foot mesh dish to grab some weather satellite passes. Got the LNB angle perfect on Tuesday, then a storm rolled in Wednesday and threw everything off by like 2 degrees. Spent Thursday recalibrating with a signal meter I got off eBay for $30. Finally locked into a NOAA bird on Friday morning, and then my dog ran into the feedhorn cable and snapped the connector clean off. Has anyone else had a run of bad luck like this where everything lines up and then one dumb thing ruins it?

14

drewr15•1mo ago

Built my first dish with a wire coat hanger and tin foil

For about 6 months I was using a cheap satellite finder meter that kept giving me random signal blips. Turned out the meter was picking up interference from a old transformer box on the power pole in my backyard. Moved my whole setup 12 feet to the left and suddenly locked onto a stable signal from a bird I thought was dead. Anyone else had a nearby utility thing mess with your readings?

27

irisowens•1mo ago

Swapped my aluminum foil cone for a mesh sieve and picked up a signal that was right in front of me for months.

I was scratching my head over a weak C-band feed on 87W for like three months, then a buddy from the local club brought over his grid dish and we pulled in clear channels while my setup just sat there buzzing, now I'm wondering if anyone else has ditched solid reflectors for mesh and seen a big difference?

27

wade250•1mo ago

Old ham radio guy told me to use a pizza pan as a dish reflector... actually works

Met this retiree at the junk yard last fall, he pointed at a beat up pizza pan and said 'that'll pull in AMC 9 no problem.' I laughed but threw it on my mount anyway. Been getting 23 channels steady for 6 months now including some weather data feeds. Anyone else ever try random metal objects as reflectors?

10

wyatt135•1mo ago

Rant: That moment you realize your dish alignment has been off for 8 months

I was troubleshooting a weak signal on my C-band setup last Tuesday (in my backyard near Phoenix) and finally decided to triple check my elevation angle. Turns out I had it 3 degrees off because I used a bubble level that wasn't calibrated - been missing half the free channels this whole time. Anybody else have a simple setup mistake screw them over for way longer than they want to admit?

13

park.miles•1mo ago

Am I the only one who thinks aiming by signal meter is overrated?

Last Saturday I was out in my backyard in Phoenix trying to lock onto Galaxy 19, spent 45 minutes tweaking my DIY dish with a cheap meter, got nothing, finally just eyeballed it against a neighbor's roof and pulled in a crystal clear 122 on the bird in under 2 minutes, so has anyone else found better luck with dead reckoning over those finicky gadgets?

19

the_susan•1mo ago

Heard someone at the park say satellite dishes look like junk in yards

I was at the library in Austin last week and overheard a guy complaining about how ugly DIY dishes look. It got me thinking about how we could make them blend in better instead of just putting up a big metal flower. Maybe painting them to match the roof or using mesh instead of solid stuff would help. Any tips on making a dish look less like an eyesore?

2

max_hernandez27•1mo ago

Used a wok instead of a proper dish for 8 months what a joke

I spent almost a year trying to get a signal from that old DirecTV bird at 101 degrees west using a stainless steel wok. Thought I was being clever saving $40 on a real LNB bracket and just taping the feed horn to the handle. My buddy came over last Tuesday with his $30 solid dish from OfferUp and had a picture in 15 minutes. That's when I realized the wok's curve was totally wrong for focusing the signal. I was basically picking up noise from the neighbor's garage door opener. Now I'm kicking myself for all those weekends spent tweaking the angle on a kitchen pan. Anyone else try some dumb household object and waste months? What finally tipped you off?