Hello Roman,

let me introduce to the international satellite community – and above all to the Polish satellite fans – the following project.
I’m talking about my Polish offset dish Mabo. Of course, there’s not much to talk about, but I’d like to introduce it from the point of view of construction.From Polish forums full of unhappy owners I’ve learned that this model loses its gain after two-year exposure to windy conditions due to soft material and works like a ca. 1 metre dish. That’s why I decided to make additional preventive construction modifications – I was happy that I bought a dish that was working at full gain.
    The actual practical justification for my construction modifications proved right after a year of strong winds. A great dish tester in my region is the Astra 2D satellite whose vertical transpoders can be received with at least a 180 cm dish. With the Skystar 2 pc sat card (rev. 2.3) the strongest transponder still reaches a signal level of 46 – 55 %, i.e. the values I measured when I first installed the dish a year ago. After a year I conducted further measurements using the same dish and I presented the results in the article “My practical experience with the reception of the Astra 2D satellite“.
    The whole construction set me back €100 plus a couple of metres of 20 mm heating tubes and stainless steel bolts along the circumference. It’s an easy, clear and effective solution for anyone who has purchased this dish and wants to use it for a longer period of time than the manufacturer intended it to last. I’ve sent the photographic documentation to the manufacturer as well as to the skysunsat.pl  It may be of some benefit even to those who are reading this right now. This article may also serve as an answer for the owner of the Mabo polar mount who asks in the section “Satelitná poradňa” how to achieve the widest range of movement of the actuator and an error-free circumscription of the orbit.
    In closing, I'd like to say through the dxsatcs site that the manufacturer should replace the original 60 cm back ring with a 120 cm one. The dish would be reinforced and it's not such a financially demanding change that the manufacturer could not afford it. I think it would be effective to a certain degree. The supporting tube is unnecessarily oversized. Statically, for a 180 cm surface a 6 cm pipe should be enough against the wind, so I'd suggest the tube to have no more than 7 - 8 cm.