Another one saved-What is it?

[mjac]

A week or so ago I spotted a 10' mesh on a property that was for sale. I called the Realtor and explained my call. He said he would check with the owner and get back to me. Yesterday he returned my call and said the owner asked I submit an offer. The Realtor then said he didn't think that was what I had in mind and went on to say he had one in his back yard I could have for the taking.
Today I made the 40 minute trip to the Realtor's home and discovered what you can see in the pictures. 2.5 hours later all of it was in my truck for the ride home. I was by myself.
It is kind of hard to measure because of the rolled edge but it is somewhere around 10 foot. There are 4 matching panels of what appear to be stamped alum sheet. There was no marking on the weather hood but the center cover says Channel Master.
The only injury to the dish is one of the support arms is bent from a tree branch falling on it I guess. I guess I'll wind up making a new one if I can't find a replacement, which I doubt I can.
I think this one is a keeper.

 

[Beano_face]

yup... its a channelmaster...

very nice find


hmmmm... wonder how the top support arm got bent??, usually its the bottom and side ones that take the damage.

 

[mjac]

A tree branch I guess.............It's a heavily wooded lot.

 

[Anole]

looks like a winner

10' Channel Master perforated.
You'll see the same funny bent support legs on the solid 8' and 10' Channel Master offerings.
If the legs go into the dish near the edge, it's an 8'.
If the legs go into the dish a foot or so away from the edge, it's a 10'.
Learned that from ACradio. Think all his are the solid molded versions.

 

[mjac]

10' Channel Master perforated.
You'll see the same funny bent support legs on the solid 8' and 10' Channel Master offerings.
If the legs go into the dish near the edge, it's an 8'.
If the legs go into the dish a foot or so away from the edge, it's a 10'.
Learned that from ACradio. Think all his are the solid molded versions.

Ah, thanks Anole. Good to know. The legs go into the dish 22" away from the edge of the dish.

 

[Anole]

10' solid on ACradio photobucket site. Note the similarities.
Pair of 8' solids - note the scalar support legs.
Perhaps my distances were off - I have only seen pictures.
Maybe 1' on the 8' dish, and 2' on the 10' dish...?
However much it is, once you've seen both, you can easily spot the difference in a photo.

 

[mjac]

Thanks again Anole.

Here a couple of shots of what I found under the hood. They are identical and I suppose one was for H and the other for V. Are they worth using or a antique relic?

 

[Anole]

I coudn't tell you on the LNBs..
...but that feed looks like a Chaparral C-band only orthomode.
Clean it up and use it with a multiswitch.
(mine came with an infestation of ants) -

 

[ACRadio]

The feed looks like a stock Channel Master ortho because of the color of the metal...the scalar plate is stock. The LNB's are somewhere around 1983 vintage because of the noise temperature....you will want to change them. I've seen many 8 ft CM perfs but not a 10. I would carefully straighten the bent feed support and use it if possible.

 

[mjac]

The feed looks like a stock Channel Master ortho because of the color of the metal...the scalar plate is stock. The LNB's are somewhere around 1983 vintage because of the noise temperature....you will want to change them. I've seen many 8 ft CM perfs but not a 10. I would carefully straighten the bent feed support and use it if possible.

Thanks. Any suggestions for what to replace them with?

 

[ACRadio]

If I wanted to stay with the orthomode feed I would put a set of Cal Amp Pro II's on it (they're getting hard to find), or a set of Norsat 8515's or maybe Dawnco's. Of course you would need a multiswitch and a dual power inserter if you went that route (see below).

Also there are LNBF's that are C/KU capable that should fit right in the CM scalar plate, but on the models I will defer to others as I don't use them.

About power inserters...there are some on this forum that state their LNB's work fine when only sent 13 volts when the stated minimum voltage is 15 volts. This may be the case, but what happens is when an electronic device is under powered it causes it to draw more current, then the device will run hotter, and when it does it adds noise (heat is noise to a signal chain). It may take a while to show up in the quality or BER meter, but eventually it will. More importantly, this added heat causes stress on the electronic parts and can cause the device to fail prematurely. Give both LNB's 18-20 volts of good clean DC from a power inserter and they will live a long and happy life.

 

[mjac]

Thanks Radio,
Upon getting this dish my first thought was to use on C and Ku but as it will replace a 7.5' Odom and a no name 10.5' button hook I have in TN, I decided to go C only. I have a couple of fixed 1M CM's that I can use on Ku.
I spent several hours last night reading about orthomodes in general and specifically the powering them as you mention. I think I'll try to get my hands on a modded multiswitch and go that route.
Btw, this dish's new home apparently won't be to far from you. Its going to Madisonville TN.

 

[ACRadio]

I am now using 3 of the modified Zinwells along with a 3.5 amp medical rated 18 volt power supply. I'm using bias tees to inject power on a couple more. I was using bias tees on everything along with Spaun 5802 multiswitches. The Spauns have to be externally powered, so after seeing Pendragons test results with the Zinwells I thought I would get rid of 3 powered devices to help the power bill. In testing the Zinwells weren't better than the Spauns and tees, but they weren't worse either.

 

[mr.crane]

I remember those Dishes, installed a bunch of them, humm 100deg lna, you guys remember the 120deg ones.
The Channel Master were and still are great dishes. along with Paraclipse 12ft. and others.

 

[gpat]

my first Channelmaster(which I still have in dead storage) used a down converter
same grey paint tho

 

[RT-Cat]

I remember those Dishes, installed a bunch of them, humm 100deg lna, you guys remember the 120deg ones.
The Channel Master were and still are great dishes. along with Paraclipse 12ft. and others.

My first dish from 1984 had one of those.

RT.