The odds are 100 to 1 that the size of the holes in the mesh will only have about 2% difference in the performance of the dish. Unless the dish is VERY OLD, the mesh is probably seen as a solid to Ku, and the fact that it's a 5' dish tells me that it probably is NOT an old C-band dish, because back in the old C-band days, people didn't buy 5' dishes. That didn't happen until the G-5 VCII days 1990 + era), and by that time I'd bet that virtually all mesh dishes had Ku compatable mesh.

Even if it isn't Ku compatable mesh, filling the holes is NOT going to help, and yes, back in the late 80's, I tried the fine metal window screen coating idea. It didn't work. The thing is, that if the dish wasn't designed for Ku, it's the shape of the dish that isn't Ku compatable, not the size of the mesh. They used to have rules of thumb about putting a pencil through the hole to see if it was Ku compatable, but even with mesh that big, the losses due to dish shape are greater than losses of signal through the mesh.

Anyway, in my opinion (and I'm sure others won't agree :-) ) , if a dish doesn't work well on Ku, it's not because of the mesh, it's because of the shape.

I'm with BJ on this. My first thought when I opened this thread was "Have you tried it on Ku yet?"
Chances are if it will work at all on Ku, it will work as is, unless of course it is VERY old as BJ said. Do the "pencil test" and at least give it a shot with a Ku feed.

As for automating, I've picked up several prime focus 5 footers (gray Laser/clone, no name on the center plate or LNB cover) that are conventional C band operator assy equipped. The mesh is identical to my 7.5 Laser that works very well on Ku. Is this what you are reffering to? (I cant believe Anole let you slide without reminding you that a picture is worth a thousand words.....lol)
Keeping the signal from "leaking thru" (duct tape???) is only part of the issue. As I'm sure you know, the signal must be reflected back at the proper angle to the feedpoint to be of any use. C band is very forgiving in that respect compared to Ku but even such actions would yield poor results for C band, much less Ku.
......unless it's a "Mad Scientist" thing in which case by all means proceed and report your findings.

Personally, if it's a prime focus I would attach a legacy (polarotor) C/Ku feed assy to it and see what happens.
That is what is on my "to do list" for my 5 footers.........

Long Hair
how much did it help ?

My mesh was in bad shape, most my ku double in signal. And the c-band when up on my pci card but didn't do much for my DCII 4Dtv.

BIG THANKS
Long Hair

have a chaparral bullseye dual c-band & ku w/servo.
will test before and again when i finsh.
the dish is in good shape. have a extra lightly damaged panel to test the mod on.
thanks B.J. & melgarga for the input.
it is a early 90s dish(it's my avatar) it picked up all the pay stations along the arc back then, was the wife's dish.
this project might be a month or 2 away now.
thanks for reading

__________________
System
C-band> 2)10' KTI, 1)Echostar 8',1)Orbitron 5 foot ,Drake 1824 + 1624
KU> 5) Fortec Star 36" (90 cm), 1) Fortec Star 31" (80 cm) , 5) STAB HH MOTOR 100
FORTEC STAR FSIR-5400, FORTEC LIFETIME ULTRA, Visionsat IV-200,Pansat 2800, Pansat 3500,Pansat 9200 HD,SV-8000,and a Azbox Premium named it Andy Pettitte because he keeps misremembering stuff