www.satsig.net
Home

How to point satellite dish

How to make inclinometer

Finding dish offset angle and focal point of offset dish

Satellite TV reception

Sub reflector adjustment

VSAT antenna anti-icing

Antenna panel alignment

Site shielding

Use rear side struts

VSAT information

Correcting VSAT dish distortion

Antenna gain and beamwidth calculator

Parabolic dish adjustment with fishing line

Satellite dish adjustment with heavy feed

Satellite broadband providers in USA

Determining the focal length of a parabolic dish (axi-symmetric, circular)

Focal length = f

Depth = c

Diameter = D

f = ( D * D ) / ( 16 * c )

Measure the depth using a tight fishing line across the dish and a rule to measure depth c. 


Parabolic dish showing measurements needed to determine focal length
Parabolic dish showing measurements needed to determine focal length.



If the f/D ratio is low, say 0.25 to 0.35 then the feed will be close to the dish and needs to spread its power at a wide angle to efficiently illuminate the dish.  The feed therefore needs to be of small diameter.   If the f/D is 0.25 the feed is level with the dish aperture, which may make it difficult to make a satisfactory feed.

If the f/D is large like 0.5 to 0.75 then the feed will be further away from the dish and needs to project its power into a narrower angle.  The feed needs to be of larger diameter.

With a open circular waveguide antenna feed (scalar feed) the focal length will be the distance from the reflector to a phase centre point just inside the circular feed wave guide aperture.

If the feed is a horn, the phase centre (i.e. the apparent origin point of the rays) of the feed may be further back inside the horn.  The wider the angle of the horn, the deeper inside the phase centre moves. If it is unknown make four accurate signal quality measurements at carefully measured distances, say 10mm apart.  Then interpolate for the best focal distance.

scalar and horn microwave feeds
This images shows two so called 'scalar' feeds and a horn feed. The one on the left is designed to spread the energy over a very wide angle. The horn on the right spreads its energy over a narrower angle.

microwave corrugated feeds horns
This image shows the phase centre of two type of corrugated conical horn feeds. The one on the right is long and has a gradual taper. Its phase centre is at the aperture.

At 2.45 GHz an open ended tin-can can made a good open ended circular waveguide feed for extended range WiFi applications.

Small dipoles with reflectors or a short helix, for circular polarisation, are also successful alternatives.

The power at the edge of the dish should be about 10 dB lower than at the centre for best gain or about -16 dB lower for best discrimination against adjacent satellite interference.  The axially symmetric dish shown above suffers from beam blockage due to the LNB at the focal point blocking the beam.   This reduces gain and increases off-axis interference.

The rim of the dish above must be accurately flat.  For a receive only dish aim for maximum error of about 1/10th of a wavelength or about 6mm at C band and 2.5mm at Ku band.  You can use several fishing lines stretched across the dish to test the flatness of the rim of a parabolic dish. They should all just touch where they cross one another.


► Page created 15 March 2005,  amended 30 April 2023.

   All pages on this satsig.net web site are Copyright Satellite Signals Limited © 2005 all rights reserved.