12 ft Paraclipse manual

[brex2001]

Is that a FLAT roof? If it is there's no way I'd rent a boom truck. I'd get a couple hands, take the dish off the pole, lay it on the roof, remove just enough bolts to break it in two pieces, and lower the two halves down with a couple ropes with a man on each rope. I broke mine in half in 20 minutes after I got it on the ground, with just a ratchet and open-end wrench, and some pliers.

Yes it is a relatively flat roof-just a little crown to it with parapet walls.

I didn't want to show too much of the building because some scrap metal guy might take advantage of the pics to locate the dish. The property owner did assure me that I would have first claim on this dish but then again some 'salvage' guys saw the feet off the bronze statues in the parks to steal metal around here.:rant:

So how did you break the dish down in halves?
One half of the frames attached to the inner center plate & the others attached to the outer plate?

 

[toucan-man]

...I'll probably gets some annoyed looks from some of the neighbors, but they just don't get it about having hobbies & that's on them....

Hopefully the 7.5 footer has prepared them for this nicer dish. Also, being on such a tall pole, the 12 footer may look a bit smaller than it really is. What diameter is the pole, will it be freestanding?

 

[brex2001]

Hopefully the 7.5 footer has prepared them for this nicer dish. Also, being on such a tall pole, the 12 footer may look a bit smaller than it really is. What diameter is the pole, will it be freestanding?

The pole is 16ft tall, 3.5" OD oil field pipe sleeved up to 4" OD with four 1 1/2 angle iron braces welded to a 22" sq. plate of 1/2" hot rolled steel. This is secured with eight 1/2"studs & nuts to the footing which is another 22" sq. plate welded to 6"OD pipe 4 ft in length with 4" holes in the sides to allow the concrete to connect in the footing. Seventeen(17) 90 LB sacks of concrete were poured in the footing, which is between a 500LB boulder & the house footing. The pole is braced with 1" diameter turnbuckles to a 8 ft long 3"x4" angle iron secured to the wall plate at ceiling level with eight 3/8x4 1/2" lag bolts that alternate in the doubled up 2x4s of the wall, 9+ ft above ground level.
I tilted the pole up with a come-a-long & chains between the mounted 8 ft angle & the pole. At about 5* from vertical the pole moved the remainder to upright. Then, with the pole loosely chained near the top, lifted the whole thing with a cherry picker & dropped it on the studs, truing it with a 2x4 block + chains bolted down to the footing, then mounting the dish after 10 days curing. It wasn't very far out of plumb so it took very little to trim it with the turnbuckles.
Lots of torch & grinder work. Lots of welding & painting work. Lots of planning.
It doesn't flex in the wind much at all, but the springiness of the oil field pipe helps in that respect.

 

[toucan-man]

I love it, that looks awesome. I thought maybe you had a beefy large diameter pole or something.

Did you have to get city approval for the plan? There is a similar installation for a 10 foot mesh dish at a residence in my city, but it doesn't look as well braced and tornado-proof as yours. Bravo!

 

[stogie5150]

Yes it is a relatively flat roof-just a little crown to it with parapet walls.

I didn't want to show too much of the building because some scrap metal guy might take advantage of the pics to locate the dish. The property owner did assure me that I would have first claim on this dish but then again some 'salvage' guys saw the feet off the bronze statues in the parks to steal metal around here.:rant:

So how did you break the dish down in halves?
One half of the frames attached to the inner center plate & the others attached to the outer plate?

I'd have to take some pics on my dish for you to really explain it.....remove HALF the bolts in the hub, then remove JUST the bolts needed to break it in two. There's no need to remove them all, just the ones you need to take 'er apart. The buttonhook might interfere, I don't know. Lemme go take some pics...

EDIT:

OK here we go. First pic is the bottom. Each rib has four bolts holding it to the hubs, remove two bolts on the bottom plate and two on the top hub plate for EACH rib you want to remove. I think I removed three or four ribs . You can remove however many ya want, really. Second pic is the back side of the BOTTOM plate, to show the back. Third pic is the TOP plate, disassembly is the same as the bottom. Fourth pic is the bolts that hold the slices together. You ONLY need to remove them on each side to break it in two, in other words, like in the forth pic, straight across where the mesh panels meet. I hope that made sense. You going to need to remove the pieces that hold the mesh in place, depending on your dish, some of them used a screwed on piece, some have the groove like mine does, to allow the dish to come in two. If you need more clarification post back...

 

[brex2001]

I love it, that looks awesome. I thought maybe you had a beefy large diameter pole or something.

Did you have to get city approval for the plan? There is a similar installation for a 10 foot mesh dish at a residence in my city, but it doesn't look as well braced and tornado-proof as yours. Bravo!

I talked to one of the code enforcement people I see frequently in the neighborhood beforehand. He did not seem too concerned. Some things are best left unsaid.
When I was tilting the pole up I could hear my neighbors the next house over chattering away. I ignored them. As the song says:"Mind your own business and you won't be minding mine..." LOL
Notably for the first time in 12 years my insurance agent called for structural inspection of my home. He's local & may pay him a visit to see what or who brought that about to be.
Admittedly I do tend to over-engineer things.

 

[brex2001]

Stogie5150,
Thanks for the insight.
Anything that helps keep the costs down is greatly appreciated.
Maybe a BUD tips & tricks sticky ought to be started for the more complicated vintage dishes? Sure would help some of the inexperienced BUD hunters to rescue these beauties. And help perpetuate the hobby.

 

[stogie5150]

Stogie5150,
Thanks for the insight.
Anything that helps keep the costs down is greatly appreciated.
Maybe a BUD tips & tricks sticky ought to be started for the more complicated vintage dishes? Sure would help some of the inexperienced BUD hunters to rescue these beauties. And help perpetuate the hobby.

Ya welcome. Keep in mind, you may break those bolts when you disassemble it, I broke about half of mine....although out there in the land of fruits&nuts, they just may disassemble without issue.

Paraclipse owners are a pretty exclusive crowd. Weren't that many to begin with because they were so damned expensive, and even fewer are still used, because, while they are a great dish, they aren't the best in the world, gain-wise. And yes, they are big, and brawny, and cantankerous. Which is exactly why I love mine, it matches my personality!

 

[arcticracer]

Paraclipse 12'

I see you have one of the later models here. The original model had a piece of steel tubing as the center hub, with the ribs bolted around the outside of it. This, the later model uses the 2 plates for mounting the ribs.

When the home Satellite market got it's start, Paraclipse was about the only thing available. Others soon jumped on the bandwagon, but none ever equaled Paraclipse. They were all 12 footers too, the equipment that was available would not work on anything smaller, not until LNA and receiver improvements.

The receivers were analog, no block conversion only 70 mhz IF (if I recall correctly) the best was the Drake ESR24. You mounted the downconverter in a box at the dish and ran a cable to the LNA. Heat/Cold tended to cause the VCO in the converter to drift requiring fine tuning of the receiver. The only LNA available was 120 degrees and they cost $400 or so. For polarity changing there was a manual Polarotor with a switch, you held down the switch until the meter on the Drake peaked on the Polarity you wanted.

Nothing was scrambled, guys were selling a complete system for about $3000 installed. This was almost 30 years ago. Good dish. Wears out your fingers putting all those darn clips on the antenna!