Last week I had a 12' on the line, appeared to be in good shape and I was waiting for the owner to tell me when to grab it. That one fell through and I was heart broke, read about it here: http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads...dishes-for-your-perusal?p=3193163#post3193163
So, like any red blooded male after a bitter breakup, I went out on a rebound binge-er to ease the pain
. I've been driving by a couple dishes for years to/from work, and I decided to just stop by and inquire of their condition and to see if I could find a dish equivalent to the innocent farmer's daughter...
The first dish was mostly overgrown by some canopies from the trees, so I was sure it wasn't being used. It looked OK from the road, about a 10'er composite it seemed. When I got close, this thing looked the equivalent to an oxy-smoking bottom-shelf hooker from the holler on Justified; just scary...
Down between the 6 and 7 o'clock position, the flange between the panels has broke. The dish has an obvious distortion to it. The poor old guy was telling me to just take it and I could have it. His wife told me she wants it gone. It is constructed similar to the CM I have from a molded reinforced composite, but I'm pretty sure it's not CM. It has guy wires added post facto for the button hook. They even have a rope pulling it down at the 5 o'clock. If it were an animal, I'd put a bullet in it. I thanked the guy for his time and drove on...
The next one was at a farm with nobody home, so I quickly walked around it and snapped some pics. It was 10'.
This one was in pretty good shape. The fiberglass seemed in very good condition. The dish rim eyeballed to be flat and all in the same plane. The reflector surface was weathered a bit, but overall looked fine. Around back, the mount looked pretty minimal. No cracks at the bolted interface. Buttonhook mounting looked good. It had no fine tuning mechanism for elevation. The actuator was loooong, attaching out on the dish and down to the pole base. I've never seen this geometry before, and I don't know why they'd go this way. There was a small angle iron bolted (where you'd expect to see the actuator) to hold the azimuth fixed. Maybe the motor burned out and they just fixed it to one position?
Nobody home so I couldn't inquire as to it's availability. I may stop in the future to inquire, but the mount would need some additional mods to bring it up to standards. Also, the pivots are hemispherical joints, just like the ball joints on the actuators. Seems light duty for the application. Definitely light weight compared to my 8' Channelmaster.
Speaking of Channelmaster, I then found an 8' CM, just like mine, but in better shape. It had a different actuator (better) and is a fine dish. It's sitting on a lot in town with a realtors sign, obviously hasn't been used for some time. The realty agent was out when I called, and the office wouldn't give me the owner's name. Tomorrow I'll get back to the agent. I will definitely take the CM if it's free for the taking. Fingers crossed...
So, like any red blooded male after a bitter breakup, I went out on a rebound binge-er to ease the pain
. I've been driving by a couple dishes for years to/from work, and I decided to just stop by and inquire of their condition and to see if I could find a dish equivalent to the innocent farmer's daughter...The first dish was mostly overgrown by some canopies from the trees, so I was sure it wasn't being used. It looked OK from the road, about a 10'er composite it seemed. When I got close, this thing looked the equivalent to an oxy-smoking bottom-shelf hooker from the holler on Justified; just scary...
Down between the 6 and 7 o'clock position, the flange between the panels has broke. The dish has an obvious distortion to it. The poor old guy was telling me to just take it and I could have it. His wife told me she wants it gone. It is constructed similar to the CM I have from a molded reinforced composite, but I'm pretty sure it's not CM. It has guy wires added post facto for the button hook. They even have a rope pulling it down at the 5 o'clock. If it were an animal, I'd put a bullet in it. I thanked the guy for his time and drove on...
The next one was at a farm with nobody home, so I quickly walked around it and snapped some pics. It was 10'.
This one was in pretty good shape. The fiberglass seemed in very good condition. The dish rim eyeballed to be flat and all in the same plane. The reflector surface was weathered a bit, but overall looked fine. Around back, the mount looked pretty minimal. No cracks at the bolted interface. Buttonhook mounting looked good. It had no fine tuning mechanism for elevation. The actuator was loooong, attaching out on the dish and down to the pole base. I've never seen this geometry before, and I don't know why they'd go this way. There was a small angle iron bolted (where you'd expect to see the actuator) to hold the azimuth fixed. Maybe the motor burned out and they just fixed it to one position?
Nobody home so I couldn't inquire as to it's availability. I may stop in the future to inquire, but the mount would need some additional mods to bring it up to standards. Also, the pivots are hemispherical joints, just like the ball joints on the actuators. Seems light duty for the application. Definitely light weight compared to my 8' Channelmaster.
Speaking of Channelmaster, I then found an 8' CM, just like mine, but in better shape. It had a different actuator (better) and is a fine dish. It's sitting on a lot in town with a realtors sign, obviously hasn't been used for some time. The realty agent was out when I called, and the office wouldn't give me the owner's name. Tomorrow I'll get back to the agent. I will definitely take the CM if it's free for the taking. Fingers crossed...
