Feedhorn Cover

[Dishman Dan]

Mother Nature has been very rough on my BUD this year mostly with the heavy wet sticky snow which knocks out my signal.

Well this time she threw a different punch and took my feedhorn cover away!!!...

Is there any advantage(s) or disadvantage(s) of not having a cover on my BUD??? I have seen other setups without covers on this site but I did not know if they were removed for photographic purposes only.

 

[Lak7]

Mine is "naked" and have had no problems, I just sealed all connections very well.

 

[tdti1]

Mine shows his privates and I have never had any issues, I do not use a C-band elbow.

 

[Corrado]

I have one exposed and one with the cover. I'm thinking about covering the open one for the winter. Seems like the opposite for summer, better not to bake it.

BTW, the cable company dish LNBs are all exposed around here on their commercial BUDs.

 

[Diamond Jim]

I didn't have one for years, then decided to get one. I have had problems with weak signals on my FTA receivers and when I was checking out the dish I decided to remove it. I had the unit set on G28 and I noticed that without the cover I picked up 5 digits on the signal strength. This was enough to get a good lock and maintain the signal. The cover is now laying on the bench in the garage. When I wasn't using one I did discover that a piece of Mama's nylon stockings or drawers stretched across the feed horn with plastic ties will keep the sumertime varmets out and still let a strong signal through. For the record, it was Mama's idea to try the drawers and nylons.

 

[eurosport]

One of each here. My 7.5 footer has a cover and my 10 footer doesn't. Mainly 'cause the 7.5 is for the 4DTV, and the 10 is my "feed hunter" and as such, gets tinkered with regularly! They seem to work fine either way.

 

[Sadoun]

As long as your connectors are waterproofed, I don't see a need for cover. There is a cable company down the street from us and they must have around 20-30 C-band dishes in their yard. None with a cover.

 

[Dishman Dan]

Thanks fot the input!

I guess I will go "naked" for a while and see what I can catch! I am getting mixed reception from my wife about exposing my equipment. I do have some protection with the compression fittings on my connectors.

Is it a good idea to seal up the connections overtop with some kind of putty or silocone???

I know someone who is using the type of coax connectors that are threaded and screwed on by hand! None of his connections are covered and he still receives a signal somehow!!!... !sadroll

 

[zaxxon]

Ya gotta have a feed horn cover, where else can wasp's live.

They just lookin for a home.

 

[truckracer]

My 10' dish is Naked. It likes to flaunt its Chaparall Ortho feedhorn. Too proud to put under the covers LOL.

 

[eurosport]

I know someone who is using the type of coax connectors that are threaded and screwed on by hand! None of his connections are covered and he still receives a signal somehow!!!... !sadroll

...That will soon change. -Gotta have 'em crimped on and sealed up!

 

[eurosport]

Thanks fot the input!
I guess I will go "naked" for a while... I am getting mixed reception from my wife about exposing my equipment.

 

[Skyscanner]

If you decide to get a cover, go to your local bakery and get a 2 gallon bucket with lid. Cut the appropriate size hole in the lid and bolt it to the scalar ring, then reinstall the LNB and snap the bucket to the lid, add a couple of drywall screws if needed. Depending on how long your LNB is, you could use a 5 quard ice cream bucket too. They also make an excellent switch house, screw to wooden post, cut hole in lid, fit all cables and switches through the hole and snap on. I have one and it keeps everything dry, but like was mentioned, the bugs do like to take up residence there.

 

[Dishman Dan]

Ya gotta have a feed horn cover, where else can wasp's live.

They just lookin for a home.

I guess I have a lot to learn about the birds and the bees!!!

The only problem with wasps was last year when they set up camp inside my BSC621. I had great luck with that ole 621 until some of the channels that my wife liked to watch started disappearing. I was not too concerned until my Discovery suite was affected and her channels were back! I took the cover off and saw nothing until I took the cap off of the 621 and there they were! Certain channels would come and go depending on where the bees were!!!

 

[14karat]

How'd they get in with the cap on?

 

[Dishman Dan]

How'd they get in with the cap on?

Them clever little devils :devil::devil::devil: either pried my cap off or the installer ( I am not going to use my name here!) did not have the cap on properly!!!...

 

[=RM=PimP]

lol, this is good reading, made me laugh and i learned something

 

[somery]

I think its an aquired taste. I went to a little trouble to put my cover on. I had to modify the back plate and cover to work on a button hook. I even painted it. I hate it! makes my dish look small and i can definately see it wiggle around now, where as it didn't before, except on a rough stop when changing sats. I'll leave it for now see if i like it better later.

 

[dem0nlord]

Just removed mine so I could take the 90 degree elbow off the c band side. Way better, I'll never go back.