My New (to me) C-Band dish

CKD 8.5/ViewSat Ultra-lite/VBox7 (I think it is a modified Polar Mount, correct me if I'm wrong)
I wanted to send everyone my picks of the project from Before to After, and tried not to send every pic of every procedure, but I wanted to share a few tips I've learned along the way. From information that I learned from this forum, I have plugged the very center hole of the LNB cover to avoid bees and wasps from nesting, but I also wanted to share an idea I had for my mesh panels. I noticed that the previous owner tried to slip the panels into the grooves without removing the holding clips, and suffered kinks, bends, and tearing of the mesh. The easiest and least damaging way to get the panels to fit properly is to simply slide the panels out as careful as you can, and reinstall them from the outside in. Trying to stuff them back into their respective grooves stresses the brittle mesh material, and can tear on you, and you will either need to sew them together with wire, or replace them, and I've noticed that they are proud of these things. After removing the clips, I gently slid the panels out, took each panel one at a time, and took a steel pipe about 2" long, and layed each panel out on a firm surface, and smoothed out all of the bumps and bends out of them on both sides, then I applied a thin edge around each panel with hot glue to reinforce the outside edges to not only keep them from tearing as easily, but they are not so jagged to cut yourself from them. And best of all, if you keep the hot glue around the edges thin, it will keep the panels tighter in their grooves, and I'm not needing any clips anymore, cause the panels are snug, and do not even flap in the grooves. They are a little tighter to put back in, so moving the panels on the top and bottom with your hands is the way I did it. The dish had 2 panels with tears, so my wife stitched them together with thin copper wire, and I just painted the panels to cover up the stitches. You won't hardly notice them, and the integredy of the panels is in tact. The concrete might not look like it is enough, but the round concrete top you see is only to allow for weed eating around the pole. The meat is underground with a 1 foot round, and 3 foot tall circular base under the one on the surface. Road gravel was packed around the base, then some chat, then the rest of the dirt that was initially dug. I don't have a wide open space to choose from, so I am seeing from about 65W to 139W anyway, so I'll do with what I have. I will be doing some art work on the pole, and the theme will be camo, so look for some new pics when it stops raining here in the Ozark mountains. We are not in a low water zone, but the rain as of late is keeping everyone here hopping.
there were days where I couldn't stay outside for long periods of time, cause it was so humid, that between the humidity, and the mosquitos, it was everything you could do to keep moving forward. I need a shirt that says "KEEP REFRIGERATED". I guess it was all those years growing up in Iowa. I can take cold better than heat. My wife is from
Arizona, so you can imagine the Thermostat wars we have. She stayed in the house where it was comfortably cool for her, but when I came in the house, I needed to turn it down for a bit to get down to temp. She has been a Trooper through it all, and has been really patient. Other than humidity and rain to deal with, it has been an interesting little journey in this new hobby, and trying to explain something that is a bit new to me to my wife, and breaking the news that we CAN NOT get everything that is available, it is still not an overly expensive endeavor, and it is still better than paying out $100 a month to the Dish people, and between the 26 OTA Channels we are getting on my homemade DB2 Antenna, it has certainly been a relief cutting the chord. We have our internet with the local phone co. that is a better system than dish, and is $20 cheaper. So between the "BUD", local OTA, and Internet, we'll be set. But it is really fun to just "MacGuyver out" and have fun getting it going. But it is such a rush when it all starts working, and getting dialed in. And to my amazement, after I got everything cleaned, repaired or replaced parts, getting them all looking good, and then dialing in the numbers to set the elevation to where we live, getting the declination set, the focal distance, focal length, and getting the azimuth lined up right, and getting the receiver to see a good quality, and to start loading channels to watch, it is an absolute feeling of accomplishment. Cause as a good friend reminded me. It's a dance with the devil to get everything working, but what a kick it is to see it all come together. But I think I might have gotten lucky, as I had the system up and running in 2 days. I had a little help from our friend from Titanium Satellite to guide me with the installation of the C1 PLL LNB. (The one with Wifi filter) It works great, and I have yet to get my ViewSat Ultra-Lite all fixed up with the correct Sat info. I am not sure where to find the LATEST Sat info, so I'll just edit the info as I go. It's a long laborious process. I've seen some info from Satbeam, and other places, but who's the best? Anyway, it's nice to meet you all, and look forward to learning from you and sharing with you as we go. Best Regards Tom (KC5ZVT) P.S. I don't like real long posts either, so my future posts will not be this long. It was needed as my first post to explain things at first the best way I could, so thanks for your patience! Take care folks!!!

N6BY said:

First of all, welcome to Satellite Guys!

I like your idea of using a steel pipe to work out the bends in the panels. My Unimesh panels have some bends from close encounters with trees and could benefit from a roller session with some heavy pipe.

It's great that you've got your BUD tracking the arc from 65 to 139. There is a lot of good TV to be found in that satellite range. As to your question about getting the latest sat info -- I would suggest requesting access to the 'What's Up There' section. But you have to be a regular poster from what I understand. You probably already know about lyngsat.com and sathint.com. However, I have seen a lot of stuff on lyngsat that is way out of date. There is also a motorsports website which has a lot of temporary feed listings.

If you get a chance it would be great to see a photo or two of your home-made OTA antenna. Did you base yours off of an existing plan or design it yourself? I've got lots of left-over aluminum rods that I'd like to put to good use.

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Actually, it is 2 stacked DB2's. I just don't use reflectors.

N6BY said:

First of all, welcome to Satellite Guys!

I like your idea of using a steel pipe to work out the bends in the panels. My Unimesh panels have some bends from close encounters with trees and could benefit from a roller session with some heavy pipe.

It's great that you've got your BUD tracking the arc from 65 to 139. There is a lot of good TV to be found in that satellite range. As to your question about getting the latest sat info -- I would suggest requesting access to the 'What's Up There' section. But you have to be a regular poster from what I understand. You probably already know about lyngsat.com and sathint.com. However, I have seen a lot of stuff on lyngsat that is way out of date. There is also a motorsports website which has a lot of temporary feed listings.

If you get a chance it would be great to see a photo or two of your home-made OTA antenna. Did you base yours off of an existing plan or design it yourself? I've got lots of left-over aluminum rods that I'd like to put to good use.

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Thank you so much, I kind of used the basic design of an actual DB-2 , and I'd seen several made on youtube, but couldn't stand the cheezy designs, and simplified the process with PVC, and simple house wiring. I always try to use the most practical but inexpensive resources. Actually it is 2- stacked DB2's. I just don't use reflectors. Every time I tried to use reflectors, it blocked one direction, and would make you have to keep turning it. I just want to set it and forget it. I have found that I like it to be Bi-directoinal instead of Directional. I still bring in stations from Springfield, Mo. and the towers are about 65 miles or so. If I turn it just right, it can pick up everything within reason from us. We are in an interesting place with a bit of a mountain to one side of us, so 26 channels are ok considering all the main Networks are available. I will send ya a picture of it here soon. It's a snap to make, and it looks great. PVC makes it much lighter, and virtually a non issue in weather, and believe me, it has been through some major weather lately, and it's doing just fine up on a 30 ft. pole. And as crazy as it sounds, when we have problems with signal, it is usually happening from the transmitters downlink. It's quite reliable, and no matter what dimensions everyone uses, I know these work, because I have made 4 of these for our friends, and they are loving them. I use a 3-1/2" space between sections. Reflector-Balun-Reflector-Spacer-Reflector-Balun-Reflector. Make bowties and not whiskers. Bowties are stronger, and may very well add signal strength, and most important... Bowties won't poke the livin' !@#$ out of anything. The whiskers are very dangerous to people, children, and or pets. I hate to see the potential they have for a serious problem. They can poke an eye out VERY EASILY. We have pets, and as soon as I started to make one, and cut my first whisker, I said UMMM NO! I use the same dimensions as a standard Bowtie that is on a pair of rabbit ears, since it is still all HELLO... UHF/VHF. HD is the sell on any TV antenna nowadays, and the old roof style antennas can still be used, so what I would do with your aluminum rods, to make use of them, would be to make some Yagis tuned to UHF/VHF. Trim your rods to length(There is an app for that), and space them accordingly, and use some old cable ends that have been cut off. Attach your cut coax end to the rods arrays, and you could make your antennas out of that until it's gone. PVC makes a good structure to use for your rod holder. I would use at least 1-1/2" for stability. If you want to make the one I'm making, I can send ya a pic of my bowtie jig, that makes each one to specs every time. Start with 18" wire lengths of whatever you are going to use, and the jig will shape it perfect. If ya get a chance to pick up some scrap ends of house wiring, it works fine. Heavy stuff is a booger to strip, and it probably doesn't add much to signal anyway. If you find a standard bowtie, lay it down on a flat peice of wood, and put a small nail at each bend, and you will have your jig. Find the center of your 18" wire and make a small bend at the center. Use that bend to attach to the inside nail of the bowtie shape on your jig, and bend your wire around the others until they come together at the the narrow sections. Bend the ends 1/4" to center and solder them. Mount each component to a small 3/4" PVC 4-way, attach your runners like the DB2's to each section, and away you go. I made my washers out of some little round copper like things I had in the bottom of my pocket and drilled holes through them. It only took 6 of them for each stack. 12 in all. That sure beat going to the store for washers. I use them to hold the runners down to the connectors of each section all at the same time. Lay the whole thing down and line it up on a flat surface surface before glueing or screwing. Remember to keep your spacing at 3-1/2" Make 2-2-1/2" spacers between sections. Keep your elements 1" apart, 1/2" from center and your cool. I buy the baluns that have the weather boot on it, and it's great. If you are going to use it outdoors, I would suggest putting one more short spacer on the top to attach a T connector and 2 more 6" pieces inserted into it for a bird to land on instead of your bowties. The bird will certainly appreciate you giving him a nice little place to stand on, but you will appreciate it when you don't have to take the antenna down to fix your bowties that he just wigged out. You might also cap them or fill the ends with hot glue if water drainage would be an issue.
I'll get a pic to ya here soon. Take care, and great to meet ya. Tom KC5ZVT

KE4EST said:

to SatelliteGuys!!!

Sounds like you did your homework. Glad to see the rewards from that. You did a good job and love the fact that you posted the pics for everyone to see.
Don't be a stranger and hang around here.
I would also like to see pictures and hear about you building your own homemade OTA antenna.

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Hey Thanks! It feels good to be of any help. I started going down the list of responses, and this a new thing to me, and nice to share ideas and learn new stuff. Check out the post to N6BY, as it explains the design I have, and will post a pic ASAP. Thanks again for the Welcome, and look forward to sharing ideas! 3's.. P.S. We saw Big Bang on the Big Dish tonite...CTV My wife saw a commercial from Canada for a Subway and they were having a special on Canadian Atlantic Lobster... She is P.O'd..LOL. I love it...

bobvick said:

Nice looking dish, who made it, do you know. Good job on the restoration.

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It's a CKD 8.5. Original owner bought it from Skyvision. I believe it's a Modified Polar Mount. It was in Dire need of love, and it was all out of adjustment. Maybe someone tried to adjust it, and got frustrated, and just said heck with it, and subscribed to the new gen dish, and there she was, left to the elements for years. Now it's all set to go with a nice coat of paint, and ready for her next journey through the sky. I went ahead and used the old LNB bracket since it is a little heavier duty. I painted the LNB bracket with some automotive color (Dk.Green) in the photo. It has metal flake in it, and then wondered if the flake would give me fits with signal after reading a few posts afterwards, but it seems to be just fine. The thing that really makes me wonder, is the 4 support arms were not even close to being right at the LNB. The arms were out of square as if they tried to adjust to polarity by turning the whole dome and everything. Maybe the motorized polarity motor went out in the LNB, and that was the beginning of the end for her. You can tell by the photos that she was left alone for a longggggggggggg time. The moldy stuff on the dome was practically barnicals. LOL.
Give us your rusty, your moldy, your worn out parts. It was a total mess, but it was in tact, not damaged, and it passed the fish line test, so I rolled up my sleeves, and got out the pressure sprayer, and low and behold, there was a nice, pretty dish in there somewhere. She's not done yet, because I'm an airbrush artist, and she's going to get a camo look everywhere but the dish surface. The dish itself will have a Galaxy painted on it, with a matted coat to seal it. The mesh will only show the subtle design due to the mesh structure, but the design with still show through. I can't do anymore artwork until it quits raining here in the Ozarks. IF it ever quits raining... Anyway, I'll keep you all posted as it progresses. Thanks for your shoutout, and it's a pleasure to meet you all. Well, my wife just told me that it's starting to rain again, so I guess I'll start working on updating transponder freqs. in the rcvr. I think I want a new SATPRO thats out...Take care!!! T

phlatwound said:

Nice job Tom, always good to see another Big Useful Dish restored and put back into service. I am about a half hour west of Springfield, MO so practically a neighbor to you, will be glad to see this rain go away for a while...keep up the good work.

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Thank You too for the shoutout! The location that my dish came from was just south of Harrison Ar., and when I used the coordinates of the dishes original location before I brought it home, I assumed that since our coordinates weren't too far from each other, I would have thought that the dish would not need much adjustment, but when I brought it home and got it all cleaned up, painted, and everything ready for it's final adjustments to finish it's installation....... Wow! What was going on? I didn't really make a mental or written note of it's original setup specs, I just noticed that it was enough to make ME wonder if what I was doing was correct, since I'm new to this stuff. I just stood back and went to the original pamphlet that the owner had given me to just make sure that the dish was constructed properly, and am still abit fuzzy between a polar mount, modified polar mount, and H-H mount. When I think polar mount in my head, I remember polar mounting with telescopes and whatnot, so it was all new to me. Then, when I started understanding how the dishes are to track the arc of sats in the sky, it was confusing me that is was still a Horizon to Horizon track, but according to the dishes documentation, it was real vague as to how to construct the Polar mount vs. the HH mount. I didn't know what angles to read and from what location on the mount to set it correctly. I still have questions as to what mount this is. I'm pretty sure it is a Modified Polar Mount which for some reason is even more confusing to me. I believe after it was all said and done, I think it's set to the Modified setting. All I know is that so far it's tracking the arc the best I can see. My biggest challenge is the fact that I'm using a ViewSat Ultra-lite, and I am learning that this is pretty obsolete, and at best will be good for what it's worth until Christmas time hopefully.LOL. I think I'm steering towards the MiniHD. Until then, I will just make due, and get what I can while it's available, and wait to see how technology has changed by then. Ya know how that goes! Take care my friend, and look forward to talkin' again soon. See ya! "Neighbor"

RT-Cat said:

Welcome and good job. Some parts of your dish look like my old Orbitron. Other parts don't.
Another vote for your OTA antenna. Totally going that direction when contract ends this September. Sure happy I have OTA since my local CBS and Dish are into their 6th week off the air fight.

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It is one that apparently SkyVision had years ago. CKD-8.5. Can you see what type of mount it is. From the directions in the documentation, It said that the mount can be a Polar Mount, or a H-H mount, but I've also heard "Modified Polar Mount" also, but I'm not that versed in these yet, so I'm not sure. I don't know if you can tell, but I can take other pics if needed. I think I have set it the way the modified is to be setup, and it seems to be working. I have set the top surface of the mount to my Latitude, and I set my elevation to the center of the arc (for me, it is 93.1). Then I set my declination accordingly, and I seem to be pretty good, but I will have an ASC1 by next week, and will have the sat info already programmed into it, so I will be able to see if I'm set straight on or not. And I've got an AMIKO MiniHD SE coming soon also, so things will be better once we get better equipment to work with, and an up to date database. My ViewSat came to me obsolete, but I didn't have the Forum to know what not to get. But I'm learning more every day. Thanks for the shoutout, and Take Care... T