Adventures in dish hunting and what we find

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linuxman

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Jul 16, 2006
3,903
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North West of St. Louis, MO
This is the thread that George asked for so everyone can post about what they found, and pictures if they have them. Others can help identify them if there are no markings on them.

I had to make a house call this morning out in the country, so I thought I would wander the back roads for a while and do a little dish hunting. This is what I found in about 3 hours.

The first dish is a Janiel 9.5 footer mesh that has a gear driven mount. The frame work was fiberglass, or plastic, and didn't seem too stable except for the mount which was steel. The most interesting part about this dish again is the truly H-H gear driven mount. The owner said I could have it, so it's a maybe if for nothing else than the mount. As you can see there is a panel missing, and several hail dents.

janiel-front-view.jpg janiel-back-view.jpg janiel-gear-drive.jpg

janiel-gear-drive-close.jpg

If I could adapt that mount to another dish, it would be worth getting just for the mount. Heck, I just thought of something. It might be the same motor and gear box as the Birdview.

The second dish I found was my very first up close and personal encounter with a Primestar Oval (round) 40" wide x 43" tall. I actually touched it for real. :D I got that rush you get when you have been looking for something so long, and finally find it. Of course, the house is for sale and vacant. I called the realtor, and it has a contract and is supposed to close in May sometime. She said she would pass my name and phone number to the new owners, but nothing could be done until the house closes. :mad:

pstar-oval-front.jpg pstar-oval-rear.jpg

The third dish was an old fiberglass I think. The people weren't home, so I couldn't get real close, but here are some distance shots from next door who was home.

fglass-closer-front.jpg fglass-closer-rear.jpg

The next dish was in the neighbor's yard to the fiberglass. He had a 7.5' Perfect 10 dish just like the one I already have. It is fairly good shape with just a few hail dents, and a 24" actuator. He said I could have it too. :D I have it parked in memory for friends and relatives. :D

pten-front.jpg pten-rear-act.jpg

Did you see the fiberglass in the background in the first picture? :D

The final dish from my expedition today, may be a keeper. I am going to have to think real hard about it.

It is a 10 foot Winegard perforated aluminum dish. The first thing I thought of was drhydro's dish. Well Doc, here is another one. It has a pretty interesting mount too. Don't know if it is a true H-H or not. Maybe Doc or someone can chime in who has seen one like it.

wgard-perf-front.jpg wgard-perf-front-2.jpg wgard-perf-rear.jpg

wgard-perf-mount-close.jpg wgard-perf-alum-holes.jpg

The people weren't home on this one, but it was out in the open where the neighbors could see I wasn't messing around the house any. I have the name and address of the owner.

One other thing about the Winegard above. If the owner will turn loose of it, and I decide to take it, the dish feels like it is very heavy. It has a 4.5" heavy steel pipe holding it up. It will have to be dis-assembled to move it.

I saw three other dishes today, one was abandoned in the middle of a valley about 250 yards from the road. Might have had a mobile home parked by it at one time. One was about a 4 foot mesh up high on a pole. The other had been destroyed by a tree falling on it and ice from this winter. Too sad to take a picture.

All the rest of you dish hunters out there, this is the place to tell the tale, and post the pics. :D

If it gets big, full of pictures and descriptions and the mods want to make it a permanent thread, that's ok by me. :D
 
Fred:

Never seen a Primestar Oval (round) 40" wide x 43" tall in person, but everything about it looks like a 1M Andrew that I have in mothballs. Mount, exact same dimensions, feed cover, and ribs on the back look like exact matches. Of we were closer, map wise, I'd give it to you. I also have a 1.2M that I'm saving for a rainy day. Both dishes came from my workplace. Both were on non-penetrating roof mounts. I was able to convince the boss that they were a safety hazard. You know they could have easily FALLEN on someone's head, given the right situation

Harold
 
Hey Harold,

You got me laughing out loud!!! Or as George would say lol. :D

I had never seen one of those in person until today either. It is probably the same as your Andrews dish. These were made by Channel Master which is now Andrew, so I am pretty sure they are the same dish.

I appreciate the offer for the dish, but distance is a great hindrance to many things. I'll end up with this dish once the deal goes through. :D It isn't far from me, and I have been known bug people if there is something I really want. :D
 
aye mates but i got the real treasure map with all the booty marked
and its all locked away not even Davy Jones can get at it. lol

i have to get a few days off to go hunting . i actually prefer the winter cause all the green is down and i can see em from far away. those are nice finds. I have two of the rounds and like em.
 
Dang!!!

Just got back from going to see the man about the Winegard.

It is definitely a Pinnacle. It also has the Ajak 180 degree H-H mount.

The guy said I could have it for taking it down and cutting off the pole. The ding on the one side was caused by his wife mowing the grass and she cut a little too close and dinged the side. Course she is in her 70's driving a Kubota mini-tractor with a roll bar. :D

The son who lives next door came over, and I asked if he had a problem with his Dad giving it away, and he was thrilled that somebody was going to take it down.

So I have to get my guys lined up to pick it up in a week or so. I took a couple more pics. You can just barely make out the Pinnacle in the name tag in the center. I wanted a better shot of the mount with the name, and a better pic of the holes.

Here are the pics:

pinnacle-name-tag.jpg ajak-hh-mount.jpg p-perfed-alum-holes.jpg

Research here and elsewhere says this is a pretty good dish and mount. Maybe even up there with the Birdviews. :D
 
with the feedhorn removed i bet the dent would pop back out, its a great looking dish , probably doesn't hurt reception much like it is....
 
The ding on the one side was caused by his wife mowing the grass:D

Hey Fred:

Now this is experience talking here. When you run into that Birdview on the mower - it won't ding - but your head sure will. Saw stars. Didn't remember mowing the rest of the yard. I thought I could hear the Birdview laughing at me. Serious!!!

Harold
 
You're killing me Harold!

You are right about the Birdview being solid. The Birdview probably got a good chuckle out of it. But with the lady it was the roll bar that hit the dish.

I also think George is right. I think I can carefully pull the rim out, and the ding will pop right back. Either way, it is right at the outer part, and if it doesn't pop back, I'll just move the feed in a little and cut that part out of the feed sight if that is possible. :D

Fred
 
Hi Fred, nice pics. I need to make a trip to Mid-America, seems like all the H-H mounted dishes are out your way. I haven't seen any around here, I know there's got to be some, I just haven't seen them.
And I want to see pics of you riding your lawnmower on your roof? If you do, you need to get your head hit like Harold. Ouch!

Al
 
Both you guys are killing me!

I hope no grass starts growing up there! I hate mowing grass. :D

There seems to be more of the 180 degree H-H dishes than I thought there might be when I first started looking for them.

I think the Janiel mount above could be adapted to another dish pretty easily.

Fred
 
Went over to where the Pinnacle is today.

Wanted to vacate any wasps etc, spray some penetrating oil on the bolts, and move the dish to the far west to be able to get to the feed-horn and take the dish off the mount easier.

Because of the cool weather we have had recently, there was only one live wasp in all the condominiums in both the mount cover, and the feed-horn cover.

Hooked up my old Drake receiver, and the old Ajak chain and gear driven mount worked like a champ.

After reading here that these dishes are a bear to put together, I have opted to take the dish off the mount, but leave the dish intact with feed-horn arms in place.

I took a few pics of the mount and the dish all the way to the west. I looked the one panel over pretty well and I believe I can take the hump out of it very easily. The sheet in that panel never creased, it is just raised up. I think I can pull the rim back out, and the panel will lay back down. I will take care of that as soon as it is home.

If you can identify the old C-Band LNB, that would be helpful. The sticker must have come off years ago.

ajak-chain-gear-mount.jpg ajak-chain-gear-mount2.jpg

all-west.jpg c-band-lnb.jpg

My buddies and I are scheduled to go get it Saturday. :D

Fred
 
i like that dish that your getting your taking them off from me lol im just kidding im glad your getting them the scrap yard does
 
Me too!

I hate the thought of them going to the scrap yard!! I know that some have to, just because they have been damaged over the years, but people who want them should be out there looking for the good ones. The owners don't know the difference between what is good or bad, and are starting to let them go to scrappers.
 
i had a buddy of mine wanting to buy one of mine from me for 20$ i told him he was crazy he said he wanted to get some money from scrapping it. i told him he wouldnt get much anyway ;)
 
I just looked at scrap aluminum pricing.

I think the best you can get for painted aluminum is around $0.50 per lb. Even a 10 foot solid aluminum, dish after you clean all the steel bolts etc. from it will weigh less than 100 lbs. Even if it is 100 lbs, that's $50.00 for a lot of work. I'll tell you that the scrap yards will try everything they can to reduce the amount per pound they pay too. It has to be aluminum only to get that price. :D

The mesh dishes weigh even less.

I don't know why anyone would try and make money on scrapping satellite dishes. The only reason I would spend so much time and energy would be to re-use them. :D At least re-use some parts of them if the dish itself was damaged.
 
Hey Fred, so sorry to be late in answering this :-D I would grab that perf BUD in an instant, it looks to be made of the same material my 10' channel master is made of which is great for KU. NICE find! you might find that "ding" comes out just by pushing on with your hand, if it is made from the same type of perf aluminum my dish is it is very resiliant. I have had a couple of big dents show up in mine (i think bird strikes) that light pressure have taken out.
 
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