Adventures in dish hunting and what we find

[gabshere]

well i scouted out two more dishes today and i don't have a lot of time while i'm working to scout them .... but found another birdview and like freds its mounted up in the air a good ways and the other dish is a small metal one i would say 6footer with a buttonhook feedhorn hopefully i will be able to take a few pictures tomorrow.

 

[linuxman]

That's great George,

We got to stay out there and keep hunting them.

I think I forgot whose thread was whose, and just remembered this thread when I saw you post to it.

Fred

 

[gabshere]

they are both good almost the same

 

[linuxman]

You're right!

A lot of good information in both.

Fred

 

[linuxman]

Here is a pic of the three Primestar dishes I picked up this week including the 1 Meter round one. I picked up one Tuesday morning off a roof, the 1 Meter yesterday, and I had to work for the one today. I had to dig out the pipe and concrete and haul it off for getting the dish.



Does anyone know off the top of their head what size diameter mast the 1 Meter takes?

My kids and I ran two non-pen mounts and 8 concrete blocks to the roof today just to set the dishes on in between thunder storms. When I set the 1 Meter on, I thought ooops! It is too big for the 2-3/8 mast that is there.

Had to wire it down just to hold it on during the storm.

Now I am tired, and don't want to run up there just to measure the clamp.

So if you know the size, please post it.


Edit: I forgot to ask. The dish on the right didn't have the feed cover on, nor did it have a coax hooked up to it. The LNB has been out in the elements for the last two years with nothing covering the connector.

Do you think the LNB might still be OK? Might still work, or is it probably ruined?

Thanks,

Fred

 

[gabshere]

can't remember , i mounted one but also redone the pole mount think its 3 inches
i can measure it tomorrow ..... the lnb should be fine but with all the replacements around that shouldn't be a problem....

 

[linuxman]

Thanks George,

I'll feel less tired tomorrow, and can run up and measure it myself. I was just really tuckered after digging out the one P* and carrying eight blocks up two ladders. My kids were a big help. One would hand it up, and I would climb the ladder and hand it off to the other one. They carried them over to the next ladder, and did the same. Then they carried them to the mount sites.

I sure am glad I have been getting all this exercise the past nine months, or today would have done me in.

Yeah, if the LNB doesn't work, I can always try out that Hughes you sent me.

Thanks again!!

Fred

 

[gabshere]

yes the hughes lnb would be a perfect fit

we all need to get exercise lol i know i do

 

[swampman]

Does anyone know off the top of their head what size diameter mast the 1 Meter takes?

Fred on my 1 meter round the mast is 3". Although there was a smaller 2 3/8 mast used for the same dish.

 

[linuxman]

Hey Swampman,

Thanks!!

I think mine is the 3" variety because it wouldn't tighten down on my non-penetrating mount mast which is 2-3/8".

I picked up a Primestar 75e on the way home from Church. I know I have driven past that house lots of times, but there happened to be the father and two teen-age boys out washing their cars. I had my 16 year old daughter with me, and she begged me not to stop, but I said that I needed to stop because there was someone at home.

Pulled in, and asked about it, and the father said go ahead and take it. I jumped out and walked around to get my tools out, and realized I had taken them out yesterday.

I told him I would be back for it a little later and mentioned that all that held it onto the pole was a 13 mm socket. He said to hang on, and walked into the garage and walked back out with a ratchet and socket and a pair of snips for the coax.

Five minutes later, I was on my way with the dish in the back. It has a piece of the side flange broken off on one side where he said he had hit it with the lawnmower. I just picked it up for a spare, and a spare LNB. He said just leave the pole.

I am going to see about adapting the mount from the back of the 75e to the 1 M dish. That would make life easier.

Fred

 

[voomvoom]

Hi Fred, after reading what's new (to me) in this thread, I stepped out back and measured the post (laying on the ground) from the P* (3' wide 1m tall) that I picked up a month or so ago. This post is 2-3/8"od, so if yours wouldn't fit, they must have made different size mounts, as sugested?

Al

Edit: maybe you could put a sleeve on the non-penitrating roof mount, to make it fit?

 

[linuxman]

Hey Al,

Thanks for taking the time to measure. Mine was definitely a 3" mast, but I couldn't cut the old one off. The original installer filled it with concrete.

So I did the next best thing. I adapted the mount from the 75e I picked up yesterday and made it fit. It will probably work out fine because I am a long way towards a retro-fit for putting it on the SG2100 one day maybe.

Here is what the retrofit looks like.



It fits snug as a bug in a rug and is solid as steel.

Fred

 

[gabshere]

well i took the camera with me this time and took a few shots

first is a small dish i thought was a metal but turns out its a fiberglas and about 4ft
it is slightly damaged where it bolts to the mount (fiberglass is weak from movement) but other than that its in good shape and its a crank type

second one is a birdview and its mounted high 14-16 ft up in the air (at a funeral home)

 

[gabshere]

a dish destroyed
i need to check with the owner, looks like a feedhorn and maybe a mounting pole can be recovered. mesh is totally gone.

 

[Steveo]

Looks a bit sad but if passes the string test (not warped) and you get it for nothing might be a nice project.

 

[linuxman]

Hey George!!

That Birdview is higher up than the solid I found.

It would be tough to get down, but well worth the effort. Hope you can get it.

The dish that has been damaged looks sad. I have seen some like that. Sometimes the only thing you can do is salvage what is still good from them.

Fred

 

[gabshere]

here are some more from a local radio station
they have two birdviews both have been retrofitted with button hook feeds
and both are stationary dishes. ( no motors)

a couple of 16 ft fiberglas dishes both without motors

and three 12 ft mesh dishes (some in need of repair

more pictures soon

 

[gabshere]

here's some more shots from today

one is a birdview data plate
one is a picture of a 12 ft mesh
one is of a mesh dish in bad shape on top of a building in downtown Pine Bluff
one is of the 16 ft fiberglas mount

 

[linuxman]

Wow George!!

I'd say you hit the jackpot!!

Nice pictures!!

How many can you get to take home?

Fred

 

[gabshere]

well it was like a dish graveyard there was only one with a motor and and it didn't have a feedhorn. if i could locate the owner i would like the birdviews . they have been modified and their orignal feedhorns cut off and button hooks replacing the older Birdview ones. the fiberglas ones will be too heavy but any of the mesh ones would be good for recovery. just have to locate a owner
thats 7 dishes at one site it was a place for 4 radio stations.
well more hunting ... just add these to my list