C Band 6 Foot

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

I like that white square shaped skew tool you have on the pallet!

Yep-just pull it out for quick adjustments!

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

Update:

I have been having issues with IA6 analog. Just can't seem to get a picture without static-a couple times I had a good picture but no clean sound. My concern is about line of sight-there are some trees around my yard. The weather was perfect today-low humidity and no chance of rain. So, I loaded my six-footer into my truck and made the short trip up the road to my little piece of land. My mother in law lives there now but I hope to move there someday if I outlive her.

Anyway, I ruled out LOS issues! I am getting the same quality on G4 nets as always-59 spiking to 66 occasionally. Found G11-70 % + on EWTN and analog picture and sound perfect (ABC soap opera). IA6-same thing as before-can't get a consistent analog station. I saw a slate too so I know I was on it. I also hit AMC3 analog (saw slate).

Any ideas if this is normal?

BTW, how do you like the LOS on my property?

 

[john green]

Wow! Would kill for LOS like that.Lucky you.

 

[MikeI]

IA 6 analog has gotten weaker for me too. It started last week and was real noticable during the Astros game. I used to get all vertical channels better than horizontal except for Tr 24 which is the strongest of them all. I get Trans 7 good on the old videcypher on vertical and Tr 24 comes in real strong still on horizontal. Tr 1 videocypher, Tr 5 lotteries, Tr 9 Tigers, Tr 11 and 17 are much weaker than before. I'm worried with the nfl preseason here. Tr 17 was okay for the Packers last week. I thought it was the placement of the ASClnbf thingamajig like it had moved. I played with that all weekend to get a better signal for IA 6. Nothing happened to improve it. I'm going to be putting the dish back on IA 6 later tonight from G4 for the games tomorrow. I'll see if the picture has improved at all.

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

Thanks Mike, it's good to know I am not the only one. Maybe that bird is weaker for some reason and with our six-footers it makes a difference.

 

[BKP]

No wonder you wanna move there, Hahaha...

Are you only using an analog receiver with that dish..

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

Analog slaved off a Fortec. It's back home now and pointed at G4 again.

 

[kymics]

Any creative ideas on moving the dish around to a handful of sats? I think it's common to screw this baby down to a palette but I'm thinking in terms of some sort of swivel.

For example:

• Create a circular wood base slightly larger than the base of the dish mount and insert a ball bearing track.
• Place that wood base on a raised plywood base or modified palette.
• Insert a pin through the middle of the circular base and through the plywood base to create a pivot point.
• Manually rotate the dish and at each satellite location secure the circular base and drill a decent hole through both.
• Label the hole using a marker with the satellite name. Find a long bolt for the size of your drilled hole and drop it in the hole.

At the end of the day, you'd be able to lift the bolt, spin the dish and then drop the bolt in the appropriate hole. Might come in handy on 'Wild Feed Sundays" when you want to jump around a bit. From what Iceberg indicated, you can get at least a few different satellites without playing with the elevation.

You'd have to figure a way to quickly secure the dish from blowing away though. Perhaps have the plywood base elevated slightly so you could reach underneath and tighten up the bolt with a wingnut.

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

Those are some great ideas, but they all sound beyond my expertise. I am using the "magic marker" method-marks on the cement blocks I have around the pallate. BTW, elevation is easy to adjust and can be marked with different color markers so that is not an issue. A system like you describe would be all that you would need.

 

[kymics]

Ah... good ol' magic marker.

Actually, I just thought of a way to simplify my previous suggestion.

• Create a flat base (e.g. plywood attached to palette)
• Get another sheet of plywood but thicker and cut your circular base out of it using a jigsaw.
• Sand the circular base so that the edge is smoothed out a bit and also slightly smaller than the hole you cut it out of.
• Get a scrap piece of linoleum and glue it to the bottom of the circle
• Screw the thick plywood to the palette
• Attach the dish to the circular base and then drop it in the plywood hole

From there, everything else would be the same. The linoleum would replace the need for ball bearings while still reducing friction enough to rotate the dish. The other benefit would be that the circular base would be flush with the plywood it was cut out of originally, so you could easily lay some concrete blocks over the crack to weigh down the dish.

 

[BKP]

The only thing I'd really worry about is getting it tight enough so there isn't any play.. It could be a Bummer when the wind is blowing..

 

[kymics]

Just drill the holes slightly smaller than the size of the bolt and bore them out with a wrasp until the point where it take a bit of pressure to drop the holding bolt into the hole. That would keep things plenty firm.

You could also do offsetting bolts on either side of the circular platter so that there's resistance in more than one place.