Adventures while dish hunting....

[gabshere]

ok just an update the guy told me he had another receiver when i picked up the system but it was up at work and i could pick it up anytime , at the time he was telling me this he said it was an older receiver and he was holding an old Houston Tracker manual something like 4..... i told him ok well yesterday i called him and today i stopped by and picked it up ......... want to guess what it was?????

 

[linuxman]

Let me guess!!

Another 4DTV receiver of some kind.

Fred

 

[gabshere]

Bingo would you beleive an older one

a DSR-920 its also in mint condition with two remotes and manuals

hiere's some photos

now just got to get a birdview

 

[linuxman]

Holy Cow George!!!

I think that puts you in the running for being the luckiest.

WooHoo!!!!

Fred

 

[dfergie]

Split thread...

 

[linuxman]

While I was finishing up on a little project posted in another thread, a lady drove through the bank drive-up window across the North side of the building. She saw me up on the roof working, and drove by and got my number off the front window. Called the office, my daughter gave her my cell phone, and she called me on the roof.
She said she had a dish she wanted me to take.

A storm was coming, and I was trying to gather up my tools and get off the roof, and I said I would call her back in a few minutes.

Got everything down, and called her. I asked her what kind of dish she had, and she said it was a big one. She said she would be home in about 15 minutes and wanted to know if I could come and look at it.

I drove out and found the address. She came out and took me around back. The dish turned out to be a 7'-3" Unimesh. The mesh was in good shape, and it has a co-rotor on it with an 18" actuator.

I told her I would pick it up in a couple of weeks. If nothing else, I can use the parts for other things. Or just give it away as is.

It would make a nice stationary C-Band or Ku dish. Hmmm, I wonder if a combo stationary C-Ku dish might be in order for some satellite surfing kids.

Wish I had another two or three non-pen C-Band mounts.

Here is a pic. Pretty dark as the storm was just starting to rain.

View attachment 16515

Fred

 

[linuxman]

Hi Fred, see you've found another nice dish. I finally came across a Birdview today, the first one I've seen in these parts (or anywhere). You told me I'd find one, and You are right! I was with a friend so we didn't stop. I actually passed by this dish while with some other friends a couple of weeks ago, while going out for a Retirement Supper. I noticed the HH mount on the dish at that time, out of the corner of my eye. It's at an old Motel in a part of town I rarely travel. Today my friend was close by and I got him to drive by. Boy did I light up when I read Birdview from the top of the dish. It's a solid and it's white, and looks about the size of an 8 1/2'er. My friend said he didn't have time to stop for me, so I'll be going back soon to find out if it's available. I'm just so happy to know that there are some Birdviews in the area (at least one). Up till now, I've only seen pictures of them. Back in the day, in Magazines, and now on the Internet. Today is a Great Day! At least for me....

Al

Congratulations Al!!!

I knew you would find one. Now all you have to do is talk them into letting you have it. Should be easy to do. The main thing is to be confident that you own that dish already, and you are just getting their permission to take it home.

Good Luck and keep us posted!

Fred

 

[linuxman]

I got the name and phone number of an old satellite dealer a few miles away.

I called and the dealer had passed away, but his wife had helped him in the business, and was pretty knowledgeable. I asked if she had anything left from her husbands old business. She said she had a few things, so I asked if I could come over and see what she had.

Went over, and he had a ton of really old stuff. Six or eight of Intersat Baby Q's new, a bunch of old LNA's and downconverters, and electronics parts that I wouldn't even know what to do with.

I asked what she wanted for the stuff, and explained that most of it wasn't of any use or value to me and modern Big Dish stuff. She said she understood, and I think she really did.

I proposed two offers. I offered her $20.00 for me to go through and pick and choose what I wanted, or I would take it all and clean it out for free.

I am glad she took the $20.00 offer. I would have been there all day cleaning out the old stuff.

Here are some pics of what I got.

First a complete hardware and mount for a Perfect 10 7.5 foot dish including a complete actuator with an extra inside bar, and another motor/head for a Burr actuator. Everything but the reflector.



Next are feed-horns, LNBs, gold rings, and misc. stuff.

New still in the box LNBs:



Used LNBs:



Gold rings, and etc.:



Some mast pieces and support arms in the boxes:



Finally an brand new GI-201 remote if anyone needs one:



Just like Christmas.

On a side note, do you really think I can improve the signal on the Pinnacle using the "Gold Ring"? I have a whole box full

I have read somewhere, maybe even here that they would improve signal a good bit.

Thanks,

Fred

 

[caddata]

..."Gold Ring"...improve signal...

Hey Fred:

The "Gold Rings" were supposed to extend the range of a Corotor or similar feedhorn to work better with .375 F/D and deeper dishes. Not sure if it'll help you or what the bottom limit was on the "Gold Ring". There were some very deep FRP dishes around my area that they helped to improve. They were .3 F/D, and the feedhorn looked like it was just above the dish rim. The scale on the side of the waveguide is linear, you could measure the ring thickness and get a rough idea of the limit of it by continuing the scale.

Harold

 

[linuxman]

Hey Harold,

The Pinnacle is supposed to have a .278 F/D ratio and of course the wave guide only goes to .30.

I believe that I had read on another thread here where "Some people buy a so-called "gold ring" and attach it to the waveguide tube and then set the F/D ratio at .36, but the theoretical performance difference between doing that and just setting it a .30 is so small I doubt it can be measured."

I am getting pretty good signal now on all accounts, but if I thought I could do a little better I might try it. Especially since all these "Gold Rings" sort of dropped in my lap.

Like you, I think that measuring the ring and the distance between the numbered lines would be the more logical thing to do.

Thanks for the thoughts,

Fred

 

[Likvid]

On a side note, do you really think I can improve the signal on the Pinnacle using the "Gold Ring"? I have a whole box full

I have read somewhere, maybe even here that they would improve signal a good bit.

Thanks,

Fred

On C-band? yes i saw some improvement.

For Ku-band? no as the golden ring is for C-band.

It's 20 years since i owned my Pinnacle Winegard dish and i used a Seavey feed for it, ESR-120 for KU-band which was designed for f/d of 0.28

It was a major difference using a Seavey feed designed for deep dishes and the plain old Chaparral Ku-band feed.

 

[linuxman]

Thanks Likvid!!

Maybe I'll give it a shot and see. What can it hurt? And it might just help.

I get great Ku performance just like it is. I think I could use a little improvement on C-Band though. Most of the strong TP's on various satellites have 90%, and on the Birdview they show 99% on the Pansat 3500.

So if I can raise the C-Band side without disturbing the Ku, that would be great.

Fred

 

[linuxman]

Hey All,

I just got off the phone with Brian Zimmerman at Winegard asking about the "Gold Ring" install. Hans is out of town until next Tuesday, and Brian is trying to answer all the questions.

He said,

After installing the "Gold Ring" to move the F/d ratio to .28 from the .278 factory spec, and if the Co-Rotor didn't have .28, to move it .30. Then change the Focal Distance to 33-1/16" instead of using the factory spec of 33-5/16."

Just thought I would let everyone know, and I will probably try that out tomorrow morning early while it is cool.

The "Gold Ring" that I will use, will extend the wave guide out just a hair over 1/4" more than the stock wave guide.

Once I have it installed, I can adjust for best signal.

I will let you know whether the signal is improved or not.

Fred

 

[linuxman]

I picked up a Primestar 84e this morning and I decided I would drive around a few blocks and saw this guy.

I think this is a Paraclipse. Here are the pics:



I didn't go into the back yard and get a closer look. I left my card in the door saying I was interested and asked them to call me.

Are these supposed to be pretty good dishes?

It looks like it has a button-hook feed-horn.

Fred

 

[linuxman]

Well I tried for the life of me to get the "Gold Ring" onto my Co-Rotor on the Pinnacle a little while ago.

I followed the instructions and did what they said to do. I just couldn't get it to go in.

I either am going to have to take the entire co-rotor out and have the end machined out to be perfectly round, or forget it.

I really don't know if it is worth all that.

I get excellent Ku performance, and C-Band isn't too shabby, so I think I will not attempt it any further. Maybe a Seavey Feed-horn will drop in my lap.

Who knows?

Fred

 

[caddata]

Well I tried.....

Put the "Gold Ring" in the freezer for about an hour or spray it with freon and try to install it again. Be careful, you'll have to get it cold enough to stick to body parts. That's how I got mine installed. Make sure it's burr and nick free.

Harold

 

[linuxman]

Hey Harold,

I never even thought of that.

I should have known to try that too. We used to do that with cylinder sleeves in engines that had been bored out.

I might have to give that a try a little later this evening.

Thanks for reminding me!!

Fred

 

[caddata]

...We used to do that with cylinder sleeves in engines ...

Hey Fred:

Used to be an old mechanic in the shop that had the biggest light bulb I'd ever seen (Lord only knows what wattage it was). He would replace inner bearing races by heating them on the bulb to expand them. Likewise, he froze outer races to contract them. Everyone thought he was magic, because it seemed after he replaced a bearing it lasted for ever. Works for bronze bushings also.

Harold

 

[linuxman]

I seen lots of old-timers that had all kinds of tricks up their sleeves, just like your guy.

Problem is that after a few years ( say 40 ) you tend to forget them until someone reminds you that you did that or saw that done once upon a time.

Fred

 

[linuxman]

Following Harold's advice, I froze two of the "Gold Rings" I had in my box. The one I had tried earlier, and a new one. The one I had tried earlier had a Chaparral paper in the bag with it, the other one did not have any paper in it.

I first tried the one with no paper in the bag (I assume it was a knock off), and it fell into place, and wouldn't even stay in after it warmed up.

I put the one with the Chaparral paper I had worked with earlier today, and after some gentle taps with a hammer, it was in place nice and snug.

I have the F/d ratio at .30 like Brian said to do, and the Focal Distance of 33-1/16" is just about 3/16" inside the mouth of the wave-guide.

I see no improvement on C-Band. I do however see a little improvement in Ku which is strange because it was already pretty good.

Likvid, do you remember how you had yours set? Or Harold do you remember how you had yours?

Thanks,

Fred