Just scored a C-band dish

[netbuilder]

I was driving through the countryside yesterday and noticed that someone had a BUD and a small dish. I figured this might be a perfect candidate to see if this person still wanted their BUD and to my surprise they were going to trash it. So today I'm heading over there to pick it up for FREE.

My question is: what is best way to get this thing going (ie. strongest channels to find first, best way to get my feet wet)?

I've been doing FTA (Ku on small dishes) for a few months now and I already have a Pansat 3500SD fed from a SG2100 motor, to an Ecoda 22khz, into two 4X1 diseqc switches (1 for linear LNBFs and 1 for circular LNBFs) with 2 dishes (dish 1 motorized - 1 circular and 1 linear LNBF, dish 2 fixed - 3 circular and 1 linear LNBFs).

I was thinking about putting the Ecoda in front of BOTH dish motors (C and Ku) and use 1 switch for linear LNBFs and the other switch for circular LNBFs and the new/old BUD LNBF.

Any suggestions?

Also, I went to a flea market and found several .74m DirecWay dishes with skew with all the trimmings if anyone is interested I can get details in purchasing one (brand new in box) as I am thinking about buying one myself.

 

[Anole]

Congrats on finding the big dish. - :up
That is certainly the right price!

That Pansat 3500 you have, should run the corotor on the LNB just dandy.
How were you going to move the motor? Get a Vbox?
Or did the guy give you a C-band receiver to go with the dish?
(they usually have motor power and controller built-in)

If the LNB is missing, dead, or otherwise incapacitated, you might catch an LNBF from SatAV.
He's got a dual-band unit in his Black Friday sale thread , good through the 3rd.
To see info on installing one and giving it a serious tuneup, there's a thread in the BUD section by Linuxman.

You might update on the User CP (control panel) to show your location.
I'm sure members near you would like some of those DirectWay dishes (if they're cheap, who knows?).

I'll defer to others on the best way to hook up your switches, et al.
It kind of depends on how you plan to move the BUD.

 

[netbuilder]

I thought that the Pansat 3500SD would move the new dish like it is already moving my Ku dish, will that not work on the C-Band dish or is it too much power drain on the inline coax cable? This new one has a motor on it already. The Pansat 3500SD also has a 5V output on the receiver, maybe I could use this to move the motor on the BUD? It does have an LNBF already on it and he said it was working the day they turned it down...

 

[qwert1515]

The Pansat will only move diseqc motors, most likely the big dish has an actuator.

The 5 volts on the back is to control the polarizer on the big dish, but it will not move a big dish.

 

[netbuilder]

Thanks for the responses - I'm learning as we type...

So what will I need to make this work...What should I look for when I go to pick this thing up?

I know I saw a motor attached to the dish (probably an actuator like you say). So I guess I'll need something to move this dish and the Pansat won't move it - right? Will the C-Band receiver move it for me? Can I rig-up some kind of switch to move it manually? Any other pointers?

 

[qwert1515]

A C-Band receiver should be able to move it, here's another option if you don't have a C-Band receiver: Moteck Digipower V-Box II DisEqC 1.2 POSITIONER VBOX VBOXII

 

[netbuilder]

That looks interesting...

So that box goes inline to all my dishes and the other connectors are control signals to the actuator iteself? I'm assuming the actuator also has it's own power cables as well?

 

[lumpkin666]

I'm interested in info about this fleamarket .. never seen anything like that around here carrrying satellite stuff.. I have a couple of the 75cm dishes, so don't really need another.. but would be interested just the same (just to know where to keep my eye out for other potential equipment).

BTW - I know where there are at least 2 of the 75cm units sitting unused on houses near my place. If those new ones are going to cost very much, might consider cruising the neighborhood and pick up one for free.

 

[netbuilder]

So I got it home now. It is 6 feet fiberglass in diameter. It has an "Augustin Model 700 Satellite Feed" LNBF. The LNBF thing also seems to have some box thing attached to it with 3 wires coming out of it and I'm assuming this is the polarizer quert speaks of? Is this polarizer similar to what a skew would do since you really can't skew this dish? Also, if this is the polarizer do I hook this up to the 5V connectors on my Pansat and are the wires mapped to: red (+), black (-), and white (/\)?

The actuator is a "SuperJack II+ HQ, Pro Brand International". Does this hook up to a separate connection on a C-Band receiver (which he didn't have - threw it out already)? Any help greatly appreciated...

The flea market is a huge place here in Missouri mostly for crafts, furniture, and general electronics, BUT it the back corner there was 1 booth with lots of FTA gear in it. I called the guy and he does FTA stuff on demand and has resources to FTA equipment.

 

[turbosat]

Roger on the 5Volt hookup for the polarizer motor. And you got a reg linear actuator motor, if it works, you can find an old analog receiver someplace, they go for 15-20bucks on ebay, or search around the second hand stores for one. Be sure it has motor connections on back, some of the older ones either didnt control a motor, or had a 2nd box that connected to the rec for actuator power. Or buy the Vbox 2 thing. (used analog rec would prob be cheaper if you can find one)
6' is prob marginal for some signals, but should work ok for most of what's avail on c-band now.

 

[woodheat/nooil]

A friend of mine got a 10 foot dish off a bar for free too. He brought a receiver off ebay for thirty bucks and it worked fine to move the dish. I found this one today.
StarTrak 600 C Band Satellite Receiver - (eBay item 150188259599 end time Dec-03-07 11:05:49 PST)
When I first set my dish I got some good advise look for the north star and put a small brass pipe as a sight and it will give your polar mount elevation angle and north in one shot. Mine is a bit to high in the air for the brass pipe, but I thought it sounded like a good idea.

 

[Anole]

first post

Welcome aboard, WoodHeat/NoOil.
From your avatar picture, we can see you are a person of class. -

 

[woodheat/nooil]

Anole, Thanks, I do not like to spend money on a cable bill. I have some old ideas to a new problem that I will post soon. I have tried to ask the FCC to help but they could not.

 

[hantu]

I have some old ideas to a new problem that I will post soon

FCC, eh? Looking forward to what you have to share.