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Good lorde, I remember them, but that was 35+ years ago. Little plastic "twist" fasteners. Either those or a plastic feed cover having survived until now would be hard to fathom. Even back then I ended up just dispensing with the big covers and leaving the LNB exposed, just coax-sealing its connector and using a little slipcover over the feed motor, if that. They did fine without it. I believe those were more for the "look" of the dish than anything else.

telstar_1 said:

Good lorde, I remember them, but that was 35+ years ago. Little plastic "twist" fasteners. Either those or a plastic feed cover having survived until now would be hard to fathom. Even back then I ended up just dispensing with the big covers and leaving the LNB exposed, just coax-sealing its connector and using a little slipcover over the feed motor, if that. They did fine without it. I believe those were more for the "look" of the dish than anything else.

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It is a lot easier to change cable ties every time you need to get inside those buckets.
Would suggest buying a bag with a few dozen or more black ties, 8 inch length.
The 8 inch length because they have more gripping power than smaller ties, and the black color because light colors are much quicker affected by breakdown from being out in the sun, and
simply break at some point. I used darker colored ties all of my time working in Las Vegas and in southern California, because the solar exposure is much higher than in the northern states. White ties were more common during the years I spent in Alaska, and they often lasted for years with little deterioration, compared to months in California. Covering C-band hardware is a good idea, simply to keep the sun and the rain from affecting your components (weatherproofing is still common sense practice).

mikekohl said:

It is a lot easier to change cable ties every time you need to get inside those buckets.
Would suggest buying a bag with a few dozen or more black ties, 8 inch length.
The 8 inch length because they have more gripping power than smaller ties, and the black color because light colors are much quicker affected by breakdown from being out in the sun, and
simply break at some point. I used darker colored ties all of my time working in Las Vegas and in southern California, because the solar exposure is much higher than in the northern states. White ties were more common during the years I spent in Alaska, and they often lasted for years with little deterioration, compared to months in California. Covering C-band hardware is a good idea, simply to keep the sun and the rain from affecting your components (weatherproofing is still common sense practice).

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The packaging for the highest-quality nylon cable ties - regardless of color - will likely be marked as "UV Resistant" or "UV Stabilized". In most cases, the best tie options will be UL-listed, but a UL listing does not necessarily mean it will be rated for UV or extreme high or low temperatures. These will also be more expensive, say, in the line-up of products available at the orange hardware store.

I use the cheapest reusable cable ties from places like Dollarama or the Dollar stores. A great invention. You can undo them and re-use as you wish. If the UV gets them, so be it.

one_db_compression said:

The packaging for the highest-quality nylon cable ties - regardless of color - will likely be marked as "UV Resistant" or "UV Stabilized". In most cases, the best tie options will be UL-listed, but a UL listing does not necessarily mean it will be rated for UV or extreme high or low temperatures. These will also be more expensive, say, in the line-up of products available at the orange hardware store.

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Some suppliers to the cable and satellite industry do not always mention a Underwriter's Laboratory listing. I was just reporting my personal experience between Alaska and hot climates such as those in California and Nevada. Black plastic stands up much better than a lighter color such as white. 30 and 40 years ago, during the boom of C Band as well as the start of DBS installations, those were usually the only colors offered by cable suppliers, usually in packages of 100. These can be found at suppliers which include Pico, Holland Electronics, Pace, Anixter, and others. I rarely ever saw the smaller cheap multi-colored typical 4 inch ties found in hardware stores, and imported from China, until recent years. They are to be avoided in outdoor installations by the simple fact that they have close to zero UV resistance, and will often fall apart within a few months outside.

mikekohl said:

It is a lot easier to change cable ties every time you need to get inside those buckets.
Would suggest buying a bag with a few dozen or more black ties, 8 inch length.
The 8 inch length because they have more gripping power than smaller ties, and the black color because light colors are much quicker affected by breakdown from being out in the sun, and
simply break at some point. I used darker colored ties all of my time working in Las Vegas and in southern California, because the solar exposure is much higher than in the northern states. White ties were more common during the years I spent in Alaska, and they often lasted for years with little deterioration, compared to months in California. Covering C-band hardware is a good idea, simply to keep the sun and the rain from affecting your components (weatherproofing is still common sense practice).

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cyberham said:

I use the cheapest reusable cable ties from places like Dollarama or the Dollar stores. A great invention. You can undo them and re-use as you wish. If the UV gets them, so be it.

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I found out way back. Other dealers used a lot of the white ties on big dish installs and I'd do system upgrades and find them just falling off. So brittle just touch them and they're gone. Within a year or 2, and black ones were holding up. But I have since found that simply being black is no guarantee- there are some of those that get brittle before too long.

Actually the little twist fasteners for the feed covers were faster than ziptying, at least if the holes lined up well, but they weren't all that good at really holding the cover on long term. It was just so it could look more like a "finished" product rather than "cobbled" with zipties.

I never ran into any trouble from ditching feed covers. I sealed the LNB input with coax-seal (and e-tape over that) and later was using radial taper F fittings with o-ring, and just used that and didn't bother with the sticky stuff (there was always a rectangular waveguide gasket regardless). Also the polarotor motors had an o-ring seal, and by time I was done with big dish I had switched over to LNBFs that used 13/18v. H/V switching over the coax, meaning no mechanical polarizer.

Also ran into a lot of failed buried cabling splicing, from moisture getting in. My method never failed; after splicing I would wrap the spliced areas (wires & coaxes) with coax-seal and then a good run of e-tape over that, keeping each leg (of ribbon cable) separate. Often guys would try to just wrap over the whole works which would actually be worse than no sealing at all as it would allow in and trap in moisture. The worst I saw was where somebody got the bright idea to slip a split silicone caulking tube over the splices and then pump it with the silicone caulk. That stuff's a sponge for water, drawing it in and keeping it right there on the splices even after the ground would go dry again. Everything turned green with corrosion. There were some real idiots in satellite.

telstar_1 said:

There were some real idiots in satellite.

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I engineer a lot of terrestrial microwave, along with narrowband VHF and UHF. All comms-related outdoor splices, fittings, and flanges get the same mandatory treatment:

3M 130C linerless rubber splice tape, followed by yards and yards and yards of 3M Super 88 vinyl electrical tape

If it's good enough for utilities and carriers down to -40 C, it is good enough for commercial and home use. There are still idiots everywhere, hence why I am very prescriptive down to the level of specific part numbers for ground lugs and duct seal compound. There is a small list of approved substitutions. You really don't want your critical infrastructure failing for saving a few pennies. Quote the job as specified otherwise expect to not to be considered for another and to be back-charged for any fixes. And don't even try to get me to sign off on the use of kinked waveguide.

Everyone else's mileage may vary.

Around here the red wasps LOVE nesting in these covers. I even found bumblebees in one once. Trust me, you do not want even a single sting from a bumblebee.
I finally gave up and left mine off permanently.
Properly stretched during wrapping, 130c fuses to the layer beneath it, making a great watertight seal. An liberal outer wrapping of 88 completes the task.
To keep the fused 130C from being a PITA to remove when necessary, a "back-wrap" of 88 (applying with the sticky side out) over the target area before applying the 130C (slightly passed the back-wrapped area to insure the ends are fused and sealed) makes for easier splitting and folding open to remove.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, if it is truly necessary to replicate the OEM installation, what about 3d printing a suitable replacement?