Worse C-Band job I ever was asked to fix, you can't unseen these pics

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(((Garyd)))

Retired C-Band dealer
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Sep 4, 2007
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So one day I get a call if I could get a home done Bud system working, OK so I show up, and this guy had a dish bolted to a tree stump NOT ON A POLE NO WAY TO TURN THE DISH i said look you have to many trees here the only way it could work if it was on the top of one of those trees and I could turn it, and I left thinking he's never going to call me back.
A month later this rich crazy guy called me and says he has it ready for me to adjust it I said to myself I better bring a camera this is going to to odd, well no way was I going up that ladder and as far as I could make out there was no way to turn the dish on a level pole, so I took these pics and never came back, told him find someone else bye
 

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Last edited:
WHO did the original install?
No one, he found a dish and thought he could do it himself I assume LOL he lived off a dirt road so far in the cable CO. would lose money this had to before DTV came out but if he did buy from them it must have be put on the top of that tree, I did DTV and Dish and got screwed like most of us small dealers sh*t count how many 10 foot sections of ladder he had up that tree
 
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Okay, I'm sorry to admit, but that dish way up there on the stump is WAY COOL looking. It looks like a Robinson Crusoe install. Not sure i would climb up there and try and align the dish, but it ignites inner child in me.
well you could not align it, he had the mount missing and bolted it to the tree like he thought maybe i would turn the tree LOL for sure i saw other bad jobs none done by me, but that was the worse one
 
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Gary, it was good talking with you yesterday!

There are several things that come to mind... First, the ladder. Seriously, that ladder looks like something out of a Roadrunner cartoon! Then, installing a large dish at a normal height is already not an easy task. Now try doing this at the top of a tree!
Seriously, the guy deserves some credit for imagination. Now, bolting the dish on the tree, that's definitely a problem, and even if you could align the dish properly, I guess wind would be a big problem.
 
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What I can't get over, is apparently at one time it WORKED! Wow. Done by an idiot, but a CRAFTY idiot.

I'll stick to my pizza dish and Roku.
 
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What I can't get over, is apparently at one time it WORKED! Wow. Done by an idiot, but a CRAFTY idiot.

I'll stick to my pizza dish and Roku.
No it never worked, never!!!!!!!!! he got a dish nailed it to a tree stump and called me when he could not make it work i said its missing the base and its too low the dam trees are to high and i left
 
Gary, it was good talking with you yesterday!

There are several things that come to mind... First, the ladder. Seriously, that ladder looks like something out of a Roadrunner cartoon! Then, installing a large dish at a normal height is already not an easy task. Now try doing this at the top of a tree!
Seriously, the guy deserves some credit for imagination. Now, bolting the dish on the tree, that's definitely a problem, and even if you could align the dish properly, I guess wind would be a big problem.
my guess it was about 75 feet up
 
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This is the most bizarre install I've ever seen. I wouldn't climb that tree on a bet, and I worked for two major tree trimming companies in the 70's. However, I ran into a similar install when I saw dish at a camp along a river. The guy neglected to tell me that someone had installed his Dish Network 70 feet up on a huge oak tree that overhung the river. It had several dead limbs, a huge hole in the trunk and it was leaning about 20 degrees, with the roots exposed by the river.

I politely declined the job explaining all what was wrong with the situation. At 6'6 and 270lbs, I was not about to take a chance on toppling that tree with me in it. I learned a year or so later, the tree fell during a wind storm falling into the river, which was less than 6 feet deep. I turned down a lot of installs due to the insane places some customers wanted them. I would have laughed this guy out of the country. I wouldn't even considers taking on that job. Interesting story though. Thanks for posting it.
 
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This is the most bizarre install I've ever seen. I wouldn't climb that tree on a bet, and I worked for two major tree trimming companies in the 70's. However, I ran into a similar install when I saw dish at a camp along a river. The guy neglected to tell me that someone had installed his Dish Network 70 feet up on a huge oak tree that overhung the river. It had several dead limbs, a huge hole in the trunk and it was leaning about 20 degrees, with the roots exposed by the river.

I politely declined the job explaining all what was wrong with the situation. At 6'6 and 270lbs, I was not about to take a chance on toppling that tree with me in it. I learned a year or so later, the tree fell during a wind storm falling into the river, which was less than 6 feet deep. I turned down a lot of installs due to the insane places some customers wanted them. I would have laughed this guy out of the country. I wouldn't even considers taking on that job. Interesting story though. Thanks for posting it.

Well one of the last C-band jobs i did was a winner too I put up on a flat black tar roof a one KU dish, one steerable KU dish and one 12 foot H-H dish with C and KU with circular feed on the C-band side nice job one huge issue it got to hot, so I told the guy will be back as soon as the heat wave is over had about a day's work left and he still owed me $700 two weeks later I come back to find the bar with a sign closed by the police for being a illegal bar, they never had a liquor permit i got screwed on that one it was also the final thing that caused me to get a hip replacement, worked my butt off here's a pic of the 12 footer from that job
IMG_2511.JPG
 
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Bet you would love to have that dish back, I know I would.

Honestly no, you guys must understand i'm burned out, i have a FREE ONE OF THESE i'm 99.9% sure no one here owns one of these dishes it's 4 feet wide but can pull in a signal as good as a 8 footer back in 1984 with a 140 degree LNB
here is info on that type read it if you guys what info on mine i will post it, yes it's free you come and get it, or pay a local shipper here to crate it up and ship to you i would even bring it to the shipper i never fired it up, it was missing the feed, then i burned out on it and a few years later found one off a dealer here is a pic of it behind me in this pic I took of me getting rid of my bamboo issue
http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/antennas/parabolic/parabolic-reflector-dish-feed-systems.php

EGG DISH.JPEG
 
View attachment 125942

Honestly no, you guys must understand i'm burned out, i have a FREE ONE OF THESE i'm 99.9% sure no one here owns one of these dishes it's 4 feet wide but can pull in a signal as good as a 8 footer back in 1984 with a 140 degree LNB
here is info on that type read it if you guys what info on mine i will post it, yes it's free you come and get it, or pay a local shipper here to crate it up and ship to you i would even bring it to the shipper i never fired it up, it was missing the feed, then i burned out on it and a few years later found one off a dealer here is a pic of it behind me in this pic I took of me getting rid of my bamboo issue
http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/antennas/parabolic/parabolic-reflector-dish-feed-systems.php

View attachment 125941

Actually, I saw a dish very similar to that one. However, this one picked up the signal and it was reflected twice before entering the feed horn. The reflector surface came around past the point most dishes would have stopped. I can't think of the name of it to save my life, and I thought of buying one because it was so odd, but somehow never got around to it. The picture you posted from the roof of the bar looked spooky to me. The background was darn near the same background from on top of a bar where I live.

The dish was a heavy beast made from 1 inch square steel tubing with alternating ribs between each of the main ribs. The ones in between the others were shorter than the main ribs. It had steel mesh with holes a lot smaller than necessary even for Ku Band. It was 12 foot in diameter, but it had a regular 1500lb ball drive, Thompson Saginaw motor arm on it. It was so heavy, it had to be lifted up there with a crane. I never did know what brand it was, but there were two of them in town, and both were on top of a theater that had been turned into a bar.
 
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How would that do on a minibud setup
HERE IT IS.JPG
HAND DRAWN EGG DISH PRINT.jpg
THE EGG DISH PIC.jpg
Gary? I might be interested in that dish? Its very nice dish.
I just not sure, but that is why i got it, you can have it will post more pics what I have on it, check here for the info got so much medical crap between me and my wife, that I can't even focus on things tomorrow i may have two basal cell carcinoma on on my ear, and one my my shoulder cut or burned off, and dealing with crap for my wife who having inner ear issues we just did tests today but i promise to post the info, it will make some good read, that I promise you AND YES ITS FREE, but shipping it is not, hell it came in by a truck in a wooden box i put some $$$ into it, and would like to see it get a real home, since the mesh is in the fiberglass i don't know if it can do KU too here is one pic I got with it, and i have hand drawn diagrams from who invented it as well, perhaps one day it could be worth the same as owing a model T ford time makes somethings worth more like my virgin 12Ax7 tubes that were made to take a 80 G shock test I DON'T HAVE THE BASE MOTOR BUT I DO HAVE A base that could be usable and it comes with a free new acc i can find here i have way to much crap around will take pics of my bases first chance i get it would make me cry to take it to the dump
 
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Dude the story is great.

That Egg kicks ass!

Are you out of CA?
Cheapest way of shipping my be by fastenal
 
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