FTA Dish converted to receive KU-band

 

Like so many people these days David Prutchi has a space communications array in his back yard. His modification of his FTA dish allows it to be used to receive Ku-band transmissions from geosynchronous FTA satellites as known-Az/El beacons.

“The Fortec Star 120 dish is small enough to be handled by a Yaesu G5500 Az/El rotor, yet provides 21.7dB gain in the L-band, and 27.7 dB gain in the S-band.  In addition, it provides enough gain for the Ku LNBF that good FTA satellite reception is achieved despite the polarization mismatch that results from Az/El aiming without a dedicated geosynchronous horizon-to-horizon motor.”