Adventures in dish hunting and what we find

[gabshere]

more dishes today
found 2 more birdviews ( with motors) bringing the total to 5 ( 3 with motors 2 without) now just got to talk the owners out of them lol.....

also a couple of dishing in bad shape were found one on a building and the other was laying in front of one of the birdviews.

 

[linuxman]

Nice find!!!

I wish I could find another Birdview!!

Hope you can talk the owners out of them!

Fred

 

[linuxman]

A friend of mine has been on the lookout for dishes for me, and called yesterday to tell me he had found a big dish near his house. So I went dish hunting today.

The dish he found was a 7 foot 10 inch fiberglass that was in real nice shape, but I wasn't really interested because for one, it was a fiberglass, and the other was the size. Just a little too small for my taste as a dedicated C-Band dish.

Stopped at another place on the way home, and checked out a 10 footer that I had seen from the highway. It turned out to be a fiberglass dish too, but in good shape and nice 24" actuator on it. The lady begged me to take it, but I told her I would have to do some research on it. It is a Beach Craft Electronics dish. I took a few pictures, and took one that I guess didn't actually get on the memory stick. It was of one of the writings on the face that said "Coda High Performance", I think.

Here's a couple of pics:



I am still a little cautious about these old fiberglass dishes. The lady was going to call her dad when he returns from vacation and see if he remembers if they were able to get C and Ku with their receiver.

Speaking of size, I ran across this dish a while back, and finally caught the owner at home today. It measures 5'2" diameter, and is on a standard polar mount. It had a cover on it so everything looks like it is brand new. I was shaking in my boots removing the cover for fear of wasps etc. This dish has a C-Band LNB, and regular adjustable scalar ring.

So what was this guy doing getting analog C-Band on this dinky dish?

Another thing, what is that band all the way around the outside for? I assume it was to block Terrestrial Interference, but could it have enhanced the C-Band signal and performance?

It looks like spun aluminum, and there isn't any rust on the dish itself. It will make a great motorized Ku only dish with the help of a VBox II, but will it have any value for C-Band?

There are no identifying marks anywhere on the dish, front or back.

BTW, I can get this dish too. They want it out as soon as possible.

Here are the pics:





Tell me what you think about both of these. Pros and Cons!

Fred

 

[voomvoom]

Hi Fred, never seen a dish with sides on it before, I too am interested in knowing what it's purpose is? The dish looks to be in great shape though, you should get it, even if it is small for C-band. You could play around with it, and like you said, it would make a good ku dish.
The other dish looks like it's really Weather Worn. I believe I would pass on it, unless there are receivers or other parts you could use for spares in the future. Spare parts are a good thing to have.

Al

 

[linuxman]

Hey Al!

You're right about the spare parts. Did you read where lightning got (EDIT) fortyfives' equipment? That's a shame, and I feel for him. That is when spare parts come in handy to fill in while the new stuff arrives.

I want to hear from some other people about these fiberglass dishes. There seems to be a lot of them out there.

On the other dish, the cover kept it very nice. Do you think he was actually getting signal through the cover? It was made out of the same material that you see covering spare tires on the back of jeeps.

Fred

 

[voomvoom]

I'm sure if you get it, the cover will come with it and you can test it and see? Now you've got me wondering if those sides aren't maybe there for the cover? To keep the cover from bending the legs and getting the lnb out of alignment?

Al

 

[caddata]

...what is that band all the way around the outside for? ...

Won't enhance the signal but will stop terrestrial interference in it's tracks.

Harold

 

[linuxman]

Thanks Al,

I have seen dishes on the sides of towers with bands on the sides and covers on them before, but I don't think the covers were made of the same material. It is obvious that the cover has been on the dish since it was new because of the condition of the LNBF and surface of the dish. Hardly any dirt or even tree resin. The dish hasn't been used in forever, because all the trees around it have grown completely over the LOS.

Hey Harold,

I figured that was what it was for. If you can kill all TI, and can eliminate side lobe interference, you could conceivably get C-Band signals that were lower in strength and quality and still watch them because they would come in above the "noise" barrier, because the barrier is lower.

Tell me if I am wrong about that?

Either way it will be interesting. The former owner must have been successful watching C-Band with this dish somehow.

Fred

 

[gabshere]

there are several 4 & 5 ft mesh dishes around here Fred that was mainly for what was called a G5 package that satellite at one time had 22 tp beaming subscription and one in the clear and i think one adult. i was thinking your smaller dish might be one of these but i see it does have a motor so it could be like you suspect with most of the ti cut out you have a better signal. we can only speculate untill you get it and test it lol .....

 

[linuxman]

Hey George,

Yeah it has my mind wondering as to why such a small dish with a C-Band only LNB and a motor.

Like you, I could understand if it was a stationary dish for one satellite, but with the motor, it more than likely been intended for all in the LOS.

The experimenting side of me is starting to get curious, and I am anxious to get it home.

We'll hopefully know soon.

Fred

 

[tvropro]

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.

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:

View attachment 15754 View attachment 15756 View attachment 15755

Research here and elsewhere says this is a pretty good dish and mount. Maybe even up there with the Birdviews.

In it's heyday the Winegard Pinnacle was a very solid performer. I still have a contact that used to put these up back in the late 80's and early 90's. He 's in the commercial game now. Back then he used to mod them to use a quad leg feed support, which was better for a C-Ku feedhorn setup (more stable).

When I was looking at my upgrading to my 12 footer in 1989 I thought long and hard about getting the Pinnacle. I finally decided on my 12 foot Unimesh since the db gain was higher and back then you needed every bit you could get. The Ajax 180 H- H mount was the one I was going to get for my Unimesh, but ended up getting a Thompson Saginaw 24" linear actuator because at the time I had a Uniden 9900 IRD and it wanted an optical or read sensor and we weren't sure the Ajax high counts would be compatible with my Uniden.

Great Dish and Drive your getting

 

[linuxman]

Hey tvropro,

Great Dish and Drive your getting

Thanks! I have had it up a couple of months now, and it is quite a dish. I have it tuned to about 90% efficiency. I need to get up there soon, and try Mike Kohl's method of using stove bolts to finish the fine tuning job, but it is doing a great job just like it is.

Fred

 

[linuxman]

Things have changed on the little dish. What a difference 24 hours makes in people's minds.

They want it out as soon as possible.

That was what the wife said when I talked to her yesterday. Just called the number to make arrangements to get it this afternoon, and the husband answered the phone, and now they want some money for it.

I explained that most people have to pay to have these things removed, but he thinks it is worth some money. I offered scrap price of $0.40 per pound for the aluminum only, but he wants to ask around and see what it is worth. He said to call back in about 30 days and he would have a price in mind.

HeHe!

I'll call back like he asked, but am not holding my breath about getting this dish now. It's not like I need it, just thought it would be fun to play with.

Fred

 

[gabshere]

well i bought one years ago , so i know when you pay a couple of grand for a dish its hard to part with... but in todays market. i wouldn't even pay for it as scrap unless it was a dish i wanted or liked . so there are just a few i would pay for. so probably best to caulk it up to a good picture and conversation.... and move on ... i love tinkering with dishes but it tends to be an expensive hobby and sure suck up some time lol one day i might have as many dishes as you fred or hermitman ....

 

[linuxman]

I agree with you George!

He may come to his senses in another 30 days.

Fred

 

[gabshere]

well after working 7 days straight i drove home a different way and located about 10 dishes, i didn't have my camera so maybe tomorrow i will go back and take a few shots.... fred i found one like yours... which do you think would be better?? the solid or perferated birdview.. i suspect that both get close to the same readings......also found a couple of bigger dishes at someones house which i suspect is doing FTA so i will try to catch them at home tomorrow and invite them here to satguys.

 

[linuxman]

Hey George,

That's fantastic!!

fred i found one like yours... which do you think would be better?? the solid or perferated birdview.. i suspect that both get close to the same readings

I agree. I think they will both get about the same readings. I love my perforated dish, and think maybe it would have a little less wind resistance than the solid, and I like the darker color.

Either one will be a great addition to your farm.

Fred

 

[tvropro]

Hey tvropro,



Thanks! I have had it up a couple of months now, and it is quite a dish. I have it tuned to about 90% efficiency. I need to get up there soon, and try Mike Kohl's method of using stove bolts to finish the fine tuning job, but it is doing a great job just like it is.

Fred

Try using the method I did a couple of months back on my Unimesh 12XL. I tweaked my azmuth (head) using HBO on G1 (G-15) and then messed with my elevation on G3/C on the Equity mux, both are 7/8 FEC and a great way to squeeze that last bit out of the dish. My Hbo's have a 99 Quality on my DSR 922

 

[Mr Tony]

there are several 4 & 5 ft mesh dishes around here Fred that was mainly for what was called a G5 package that satellite at one time had 22 tp beaming subscription and one in the clear and i think one adult. i was thinking your smaller dish might be one of these but i see it does have a motor so it could be like you suspect with most of the ti cut out you have a better signal. we can only speculate untill you get it and test it lol .....

I use to sell those in 92-93 before a thing called DSS started

Radio Shack had a 5 foot mesh dish and a receiver that was designed just for G5. Was designed to get the cable type channels (CNN, WGN, TBS, ESPN, etc) had HBO, Cinemax, TBN (the free channel) and Playboy)...was a neat package and setup.

Had one at our lake house (was there before we bouoght the cabin)...this was around 97/98....too bad they put the dish near the lake (LOS) and one day we heard a BOOM and the dish had fallen in the lake (erosion of shoreline).....got pizza dish the next weekend

 

[linuxman]

Try using the method I did a couple of months back on my Unimesh 12XL. I tweaked my azmuth (head) using HBO on G1 (G-15) and then messed with my elevation on G3/C on the Equity mux, both are 7/8 FEC and a great way to squeeze that last bit out of the dish.

Hey tvropro,

I'll give that a shot too.