Finally ordered some goodies

[74Dusted]

I've been wanting to set up my BUD for several years now, but still haven't got around to that.

The BUD that was hiding in storage was missing parts, an 8' Unimesh. I found most of the framework, the mount, actuator, buttonhook & LNB, etc basically everything except the mesh panels. My grandfather knew I was disappointed, so he told me I could have his old BUD if I removed it. He has a 10' or 12' BUD mounted to the roof of his house. Every time I've had a day off, the weather has sucked and I'm not too fond of removing a monster like that in great weather, let alone bad weather, considering it's nearly 25' off the ground. Maybe once the weather breaks and I have a day off that lines up with it, I'll go fetch that monster (probably just set up a boom & block & tackle and use the winch on my truck to lower it down completely assembled and load it in the bed completely assembled)

I've been itching to get some form of FTA set up, so I ordered a Manhattan receiver, a 36" KU Dish, a Switch and an extra KU LNB (I've got another 36" KU Dish here somewhere), figured I could at least get started by bringing in some KU stuff on a couple fixed dishes. If it works out, I'll cut new panels for my 8' Unimesh from a roll I have behind the shop and put it up.

Eventually I'd like to have the big monster BUD (10' or 12') and the 8' BUD (both motorized) set up for C Band, along with a couple fixed KU's and maybe 1 motorized KU to give me a wide range of stuff to browse

 

[74Dusted]

Just wondering, what 2 satellites (KU) would you guys recommend aiming at, until I add a motorized KU and the BUDs?

On another note, I mentioned to a coworker that I was looking for BUDs and he says "Those monster dishes from when we were little kids? My aunt has one in her yard, she was thinking about junking it, but if you want it I'll tell her you'd be interested in it."

 

[Jason S]

Just wondering, what 2 satellites (KU) would you guys recommend aiming at, until I add a motorized KU and the BUDs?

There's a whole lot of channels and some good stuff on 97W. Here, there are fixed Ku dishes on 125W and 30W. The motorized Ku dish has stayed on 103W for a while now. Once I got a BUD setup, it was only that much better.

 

[KE4EST]

If I were to park to Ku dishes, they would be on 125W and 103W. You can always move one or the other to different birds and scan and watch for a few days and then move to another.
This way you can find what you like the best.
If you can see 30W that one is a good one also like Jason S mentioned.

 

[MosFET77]

If you like news 91w Abc live feeds are interesting, If you like Christian channels then deff galaxy 19, you can also get camel racing here! hehe

 

[74Dusted]

I'll check those out as soon as that delivery truck pulls down the driveway. With any luck I'll also have at least 1 BUD to work with, in the next week or so. Motorized, but it'll probably be stationary until I can figure out where to get an affordable/entry level positioner box.

Edit :

Curious. Could I use the outdated analog receiver from my dismantled setup in storage to move the BUD until I get a positioner?

 

[phlatwound]

I am still using an early-90s model Toshiba 1820 (analog receiver) for a dish mover on one BUD, works great.

 

[74Dusted]

Good to know. I'll have to power up my analog receiver to see if the thing still works, I have no idea, I was a little kid the last time I seen that thing in use (it sat beside the Laserdisc and Videodisc players... on my dad's floor model console tv)

On another random note, your name phlatwound? as in flatwound guitar strings used on fretless guitars?

 

[spongella]

Speaking of camel racing does anyone know when you can see it, is there a "season" like other sports? Kinda' like those bejeweled boxes on the camel's posterier.

 

[Keith Brannen]

Speaking of camel racing does anyone know when you can see it, is there a "season" like other sports? Kinda' like those bejeweled boxes on the camel's posterier.

Don't know whether there is a season or not, but it is on right now on Al Kass HD! LOL!

 

[phlatwound]

...On another random note, your name phlatwound? as in flatwound guitar strings used on fretless guitars?

Re the moniker, yeah you're on the right track kinda sorta. I play guitar in rock bands, currently in a group that focuses on power pop from the 70s, 80s and 90s.

You may not have meant it that way but FYI flatwound strings can actually be used on any guitar or bass, they are not exclusive to fretless instruments.

Another thing, if your old analog receiver still works and has the descrambler module plugged into a slot in the back you should remove it.

The module serves no purpose any more, you don't need it for the receiver to perform the functions you want and the batteries in them will eventually start leaking and ruin your receiver.

 

[74Dusted]

Re the moniker, yeah you're on the right track kinda sorta. I play guitar in rock bands, currently in a group that focuses on power pop from the 70s, 80s and 90s.

You may not have meant it that way but FYI flatwound strings can actually be used on any guitar or bass, they are not exclusive to fretless instruments.

Another thing, if your old analog receiver still works and has the descrambler module plugged into a slot in the back you should remove it.

The module serves no purpose any more, you don't need it for the receiver to perform the functions you want and the batteries in them will eventually start leaking and ruin your receiver.

Nice.

The name stood out to me, I've been building a fretless headstockless 7 string electric neck-thru body guitar that is styled a little after an SG and a Strat, with a longer fretscale.

If the old analog receiver does have a module in it, I'll be sure to remove it.

Edit :

I was also building a double neck 6 string fretless and fretted 7 string as a late wedding present for my best friend, he ended up getting divorced so when the guitar is finally done it's gonna be a "congratulations on dodging the bullet, lets get drunk and wake the neighbors" present instead.

 

[danristheman]

from september to april camel racing overseas.

 

[74Dusted]

I got it set up, kinda...

I've got the 36" locked on to KU 103W, great signal, great quality... It only took me a couple hours and a 6-pack (on the roof...in the words of Austin Powers, I too like to live dangerously) before I finally realized I wasn't even aimed at the correct bird. I kept swearing at the 13" TV from my childhood, which makes a great "Take it and the receiver with you to aim the dish" setup, until I accidentally caught the correct bird while making some WAG adjustments and the colors of the signal/quality meters changed to Blue & Green. After realizing that mistake, it was simple finding 103W and fine tuning to the best signal/quality I could get (High 80's/Low 90's on both, depending on transponder)

I haven't set up the other 36" KU yet, and I picked up a 6' BUD to add to the setup. Looks like I'm gonna have to get another switch soon, because I'm gonna run out of ports on the switch before I even set up the 8' and 10' BUDs.

Quick question though, is it normal for some of the NBC channels on 103 to have Perfect Graphics, Perfect Audio (sound) but no voices?

 

[clucas]

Good luck! NBC has about four audio feeds and they are tricky to say the least. Sometimes you pick one and when the next program comes on you find it Spanish. When you tune the video feed, you should have an option to pick the audio so use trial and error to get the one that works best for you. I'm using one that has no audio on about half the commercials which is fine with me but when my wife watches Law and Order, the audio is fine but is silent at the end of the program when they show the coming attractions for the show next week. As I said, tricky.


Carl

 

[74Dusted]

Good to know. After you mentioned it, I goofed around with the remote and found the audio option to pick languages.

At the moment, I'm getting some 70's British Spy TV Show on Cozi and some kind of Soap Opera on NBC. Couldn't stand the soaps, so I watched a couple episodes of that british spy tv show before turning the Roku on to catch up on the latest episode of Blindspot.

I definitely need to get a few more KU dishes up and get the little BUD up so I can get some C-Band into the mix too.

This is definitely great, considering I don't have Cable and basically rely on Roku/Hulu to keep up to date on the two shows I like (Agents of Shield and Blindspot), having a bunch of extra channels to browse is awesome!

 

[clucas]

Is Blindspot on NBC? You should be able to get that and if you miss it you can watch the Mountain Time Zone feed an hour later or the Pacific two hours later.


Carl

 

[74Dusted]

Is Blindspot on NBC? You should be able to get that and if you miss it you can watch the Mountain Time Zone feed an hour later or the Pacific two hours later.


Carl

Blindspot is an NBC primetime program. It'd be great if I could catch it the night it airs, when I get off work, instead of waiting a day or two for it to pop up on Hulu.

Agents of Shield is an ABC primetime program, so if I can get an ABC feed on another dish, I'd be set. Anything beyond that is just making things even better than they already were. Haven't seen The Walking Dead in about 3 years, is there an AMC feed out there somewhere?

 

[danristheman]

No on AMC with these FTA receivers they have a DVR built in so you can record while you are at work.

 

[74Dusted]

Did a little adjusting to the 36" KU, got an even better signal. Is it normal to pick up 103W and 105W when you're aimed at 103? Because I'm getting channels from 105W too, even though I adjusted for the best possible signal I could get on 103.

Assembled the 6' BUD (currently a Stationary BUD) and tried locking on to 103, just to get the hang of adjusting it. Highest Signal I could get was High 70's, with Quality in the low 40's on one transponder. Picked up one channel during the scan. I'm gonna have to move it to another location and attach it to a Polar Motorized base.