More dish fun

[Dee_Ann]

With many thanks to a very kind and generous SG-US member, I have some new stuff to work with..

I was given some assorted dishes today.

There seems to be

two 1.2m dishes of unknown make/model

two .9m dishes - one Andrew, one Channel master

two Directway dishes

one small unknown dish, seems to be about 2' but no markings. Seems likely to be an old primestar.

four misc. pole mounting hardware things

a double handful of assorted tubing for the lnb arms


Now the fun part will be figuring out what goes to what and getting these things actually put up and working.

I think I need to wait until they spray the mosquitoes, they ate me alive just laying these things out to photograph them. Sitting down on the patio and playing jigsaw puzzle with them just isn't a good idea right now.

I thing my first step is to start with google and try to figure out just what it is I have here so I can get an idea of how they go together.

I imagine there may be some parts missing here as there are 7 dishes but only four mounting things. So once I figure out which mounts go to what then I need to find a place to get replacements for what is missing.

I 100% for sure want to get the two 1.2 meter dishes going and probably also the .9m dishes. I predict a big shakeup and redo of all my ku dishes in the very near future!

I wonder if I put one of those 1.2m dishes on the mounting that currently holds my 6' WSI dish? That way I could have a motorized 1.2m ku dish...

Hmmmmm.....

This is getting fun!

 

[Anole]

You're already well experienced with the elliptical DirecWay dishes.
They are a known quantity, so I'm sure you'll use them where needed.
I didn't see mounts for them (at least none that looks like mine) but you can use those 18-22" dish mounts you didn't throw away last week, and we can make up something. - :up

Get us better pictures of the front 'n rear of the 1.2m dishes you are so anxious to get on line.
You may have mounts for 'em, even if you don't have the LNB arms.
You've fabricated arms before, so again, nothing that challenging here. - :up

On the 0.9m dishes, that's a standard 36" which is a delightful size.
Andrew is the new name for Channel Master, who at one time made dishes for (and labeled as) Primestar.
So, these should be no problem for you to get running, if you like.
Should you need mounts or other parts, there's always Impakt Products, but...
... your fabricating talent should serve you well. - :up

As for the 2 foot dishes, I don't see a bright future for them.
I'd think about 'em last... maybe bird baths...?
edit: no, no, no... in the tropical south, they'd be known as: mosquito pools.

Just as an idea, you might be able to fit a motor 'n 1.2m dish midway up the BUD pole.
Then, perhaps top the pole with another (fixed?) dish.
Double duty, that way.

 

[ParaclipseCKu]

Nice find with all those dishes. You have a good size project to look forward too!

 

[Dee_Ann]

Like a fool, or a moth drawn to the flame, I went back outside in the mosquitoes to try to get a better idea of what I have.

You're already well experienced with the elliptical DirecWay dishes.
They are a known quantity, so I'm sure you'll use them where needed.
I didn't see mounts for them (at least none that looks like mine) but you can use those 18-22" dish mounts you didn't throw away last week, and we can make up something. - :up

I have one complete Directway dish there and spare parts for another. If I don't put it to use I can set it up for my guy friend. It won't go to waste.. :up

Get us better pictures of the front 'n rear of the 1.2m dishes you are so anxious to get on line.
You may have mounts for 'em, even if you don't have the LNB arms.
You've fabricated arms before, so again, nothing that challenging here. - :up

I will do that this evening. I'm having severe pc problems so it's very difficult to get anything done online.

As for making arms, yep. I have my "Lawnchair dish" as I call it, a 1m Channel Master that was missing an arm, I made a replacement out of an old lawnchair and am using it now for PBS on 125.

On the 0.9m dishes, that's a standard 36" which is a delightful size.
Andrew is the new name for Channel Master, who at one time made dishes for (and labeled as) Primestar.
So, these should be no problem for you to get running, if you like.

These two dishes seem to be missing stuff. I'm not sure yet but I'll try to guess them together later on. I think the big problem is that they are missing the mounts. And maybe other stuff.

Should you need mounts or other parts, there's always Impakt Products, but...
... your fabricating talent should serve you well. - :up

Awesome! I've bookmarked it, thank you!

As for the 2 foot dishes, I don't see a bright future for them.
I'd think about 'em last... maybe bird baths...?
edit: no, no, no... in the tropical south, they'd be known as: mosquito pools.

There is one 2' dish with a very strange mount and it seems to be missing all the arms. Maybe someone else might need its parts, if so, then I have them.

Just as an idea, you might be able to fit a motor 'n 1.2m dish midway up the BUD pole.
Then, perhaps top the pole with another (fixed?) dish.
Double duty, that way.

The big dish poles are too short now after we sawed them down, they are only 4' tall so with the overhang of the big dishes it would block anything under them so that's out.

One of the 1.2m dishes seems to be nearly complete, short of an lnb and I have one in the junk box for it. I'm going to aim it at 123 because I want to get that one weak channel on 11830. :up

I'm going to keep the lawnchair dish aimed at 125 for PBS and the other 1.2 meter dish, it has no markings on it and there is no mounting hardware for it either. The bolt hole for the mount are spread quite a bit apart, like a foot apart or more, a lot larger than anything I've seen before.

I'm thinking of taking down the 6' WSI dish and put that 1.2m on the WSI mount so that it can be motorized. I think that the arms are present for it.
Unlike the other Andrew/CM/Primestar dishes, the arms attach to the edges and do not go through holes in the edges like I've seen before.

I'm hoping in that pile of arm parts that I'll find the ones that belong to that dish.
but if I have to start from absolute scratch, I don't know what to do. Not having a pattern to go by would be pretty difficult.

That one dish may be the hardest one to deal with. It's the biggest challenge, that's for sure.

I sure wish they would do something about the mosquitoes though so I can get back outside and do stuff, the dog and I are both getting cabin fever!

 

[Anole]

You were talking about removing the 6' dish anyway.
Can't you use that 4' pole and put a Ku motorized dish half way up it?
Then another fixed Ku on top?
Or maybe reverse the two Ku dishes?

...I'm hoping in that pile of arm parts that I'll find the ones that belong to that dish...

I know you have a lot of parts, but as you remove the obvious pieces, and mate them with dishes, the pile gets smaller.
So, eventually, you'll get down to a few odd pieces, and then it's up to you to figure out how they go together. -

Oh, and one last thing to think about...
On the forum, I've seen where a lot of clever members have used a flat aluminum plate, and drilled holes in it to fit the dish, AND to fit some odd mount they had.
So, worst case, you might use one of the more substantial junk mounts to hold up your DirecWay, 1.2m, 90cm, or pretty much any dish you have that's missing its mount.

Below are a few select pictures to give you some ideas:

 

[starwatch]

Dee
The arms that have the black plastic ring fits the 1.2 meter...the other metal arms ( 2 long for sides, 1 short for middle) attach to the
smaller diamater lnb ring for the .9 dishes...The other 1.2 meter that has side arm mounts did not have any arms or mount...the white mount fits
on the directway dish...the 1.2 meter without arms might be fitted with one of the square mounts..I will look for more mounts and arms when he brings this stuff in from the jobs...They have about 2-3 more weeks in town before they finish the sets...Good luck and give me a call
if you need something...I can always ask if they have it...

 

[Anole]

Speaking of your short BUD poles...
If you needed 'em to be higher for a Ku dish,...
... or for two Ku dishes....
... you might slide the next size pipe down one and stick a bolt through the lot.
So long as it's a snug fit, you should be good to go.
They're already cemented in the ground, so I'd make maximum use of them. - :up

 

[Dee_Ann]

You were talking about removing the 6' dish anyway.
Can't you use that 4' pole and put a Ku motorized dish half way up it?
Then another fixed Ku on top?
Or maybe reverse the two Ku dishes?

I know you have a lot of parts, but as you remove the obvious pieces, and mate them with dishes, the pile gets smaller.
So, eventually, you'll get down to a few odd pieces, and then it's up to you to figure out how they go together. -

Oh, and one last thing to think about...
On the forum, I've seen where a lot of clever members have used a flat aluminum plate, and drilled holes in it to fit the dish, AND to fit some odd mount they had.
So, worst case, you might use one of the more substantial junk mounts to hold up your DirecWay, 1.2m, 90cm, or pretty much any dish you have that's missing its mount.

Below are a few select pictures to give you some ideas:

Perfect! That does give me ideas for sure!

I went outside and braved the blood suckers for a few minutes (got tore up BAD anyway) and guessed some of the puzzle pieces into place. See the new pictures below.

Dee
The arms that have the black plastic ring fits the 1.2 meter...the other metal arms ( 2 long for sides, 1 short for middle) attach to the
smaller diamater lnb ring for the .9 dishes...The other 1.2 meter that has side arm mounts did not have any arms or mount...the white mount fits
on the directway dish...the 1.2 meter without arms might be fitted with one of the square mounts..I will look for more mounts and arms when he brings this stuff in from the jobs...They have about 2-3 more weeks in town before they finish the sets...Good luck and give me a call
if you need something...I can always ask if they have it...

Thank you very much kind sir! Nothing will go to waste, I'll find use for everything, one way or another. As I mentioned just above, I went out side and made progress on guessing things together. I'll take another look tomorrow with your info in hand and I'm sure that I can get it all figured out.

I really, really appreciate the goodies and I sincerely thank you very much!

Speaking of your short BUD poles...
If you needed 'em to be higher for a Ku dish,...
... or for two Ku dishes....
... you might slide the next size pipe down one and stick a bolt through the lot.
So long as it's a snug fit, you should be good to go.
They're already cemented in the ground, so I'd make maximum use of them. - :up

This, is something to think about. I saw a few weeks ago a new member posted pics of a "dish tree" he made by attaching several dishes to a single pole. It is something to keep in mind.


So far, what I see happening is that the 1.2m dish that is complete, will go up on and be aimed at 123 for the channel on 11830. There is no reason in the world why I can't do that tomorrow.

The 1m dish I have now aimed at 125 will stay as is.

The other 1.2m dish that is incomplete, is going to be an interesting project.
I'll have to make new arms for it and some kind of mount. I am pretty sure I'm going to motorize it with the WSI C-band parts. I hope!

One of the .9m dishes is going to get pointed to Cuba.

The other one, I'm not yet sure, I need to research what's up there. Maybe point it to 99 Galaxy 16. There's some interesting stuff that pops in and out at random.

I can aim one of the Directway dishes at 89 Galaxy 28 for the ABC stuff.

And of course there is always the option to play with "mini-bud" for when I just can't get enough insanity in my life. I can play with that and go totally bonkers.

There's a lot of options now that I can explore. And I have seen how you guys mismatch parts all the time so I shouldn't be afraid to try some of that myself.

I think I'm starting to catch on now. I like it. It makes me use my brain. It hasn't been use much for a long time.

Oh. And I learned something else today. Firberglass, S**KS......... I got that stuff all in my arms from handling the dishes, some of them are a little rough and that stuff is like the worst, most horrible stuff to get into you skin. You can't get it out, it's miserable and I don't know what to do to get relief from it! I sure could use some advice about getting fiberglass out of your skin!

Thanks so much guys! Y'all are the best!

 

[Anole]

I wear cheap cotton gardening gloves for all dish work.

Those molded plastic + fiberglass dishes are probably the best there are.
But, if the fiberglass is shedding, give it two coats of paint.
Sand lightly between applications, if lots of fibers are sticking up.
And keep it out of your eyes!

McGuyver restored an 8' Channel Master BUD that had been sandblasted in the desert.
It was in much worse shape, and when he was done, it was like new!
How I Painted my BUD

As for the odd 1.2m dish, I think it's a Prodelin.
Find members who have 'em (kinda rare) and read up on what they have to say.
Maybe you can get one of 'em to give you measurements for the LNB arms.
I think ACradio has one, and I know a couple other members do.

 

[Dee_Ann]

I wear cheap cotton gardening gloves for all dish work.

Those molded plastic + fiberglass dishes are probably the best there are.
But, if the fiberglass is shedding, give it two coats of paint.
Sand lightly between applications, if lots of fibers are sticking up.
And keep it out of your eyes!

McGuyver restored an 8' Channel Master BUD that had been sandblasted in the desert.
It was in much worse shape, and when he was done, it was like new!
How I Painted my BUD

As for the odd 1.2m dish, I think it's a Prodelin.
Find members who have 'em (kinda rare) and read up on what they have to say.
Maybe you can get one of 'em to give you measurements for the LNB arms.
I think ACradio has one, and I know a couple other members do.

Cool! Thank you for the fiberglass repair tips! Apparently they have seen some rough times over the years.
But that's ok, First Aid is on the way!

The odd 1.2 that I can't identify, the fellow that gave it to me, Starwatch, if I remember right, I think he said that it was the best one of out the lot, the highest quality or something to that effect.

I got a few pictures of what remains of the two labels that were on it at one time. Almost nothing is readable. Nothing is molded in it like the Primestar/Andrew dishes. Just two stickers that are badly weathered. But maybe they were all done that way and someone might recognize it.

 

[Tron]

Dee, if one of your 1.2s is a Prodelin, I have the same dish. The LNB support arms are as follows:

- Lower (main) arm is approximately 26.5" from the surface of the dish to the feedhorn face.

- Side support arms are approximately 37" from the surface of the dish to where the feedhorn mounts.

As is the case on the Prodelin 1.8 meter dishes, the lower arm is strangely shaped (there is a platform design at the end) where the feedhorn and LNB are mounted so as to accommodate the transmitter that was originally used on these dishes. However, these measurements should get you in the ballpark regarding feedhorn face location ...

 

[Dee_Ann]

Dee, if one of your 1.2s is a Prodelin, I have the same dish. The LNB support arms are as follows:

- Lower (main) arm is approximately 26.5" from the surface of the dish to the feedhorn face.

- Side support arms are approximately 37" from the surface of the dish to where the feedhorn mounts.

As is the case on the Prodelin 1.8 meter dishes, the lower arm is strangely shaped (there is a platform design at the end) where the feedhorn and LNB are mounted so as to accommodate the transmitter that was originally used on these dishes. However, these measurements should get you in the ballpark regarding feedhorn face location ...

Thank you kind sir!

The dish that is missing all the parts, I can see that the arms attached in three spots to the sides of the dish in a manner similar to the smaller .9m dishes. The gentleman that gave them to me said that it used like electric conduit tubes that the ends were smashed flat and had holes drilled through, just like the smaller ones. He said it shouldn't be too hard to make some replacements.

But what I'm wondering about now is the lower arm is going to play out. I googled "prodelin" and I see some strange critters but I can't see enough photos of them from all angles enough that I can say for certain that that's what this thing is.

I'm thinking that this dish is going to be pretty much starting from scratch. This will be a Frankendish in the truest form.
I have some ideas about what I might like to do with it but I'm in no hurry and I'll be taking my time researching this before I commit to anything. And there's always the very remote chance that the missing parts for this thing could be found somewhere. So this one will be put to the back burner to simmer slowly while I focus on what I know I can make work right now, today.

The 1.2 that is complete, I'm putting it up today. Then the lawnchair dish is coming down for awhile while I rethink things. I need to start trying to locate 3 inch poles as some of these bigger dishes require it. I also need to go out back, photograph all the dishes that are up, the ones that are sitting on the ground and try to figure out a new layout for planting them in a logical order rather than the jumbled up, random mess they are in now.

I think that I'm going to plan on pulling them all up (except the C bands) and replanting them all this fall once it starts to cool off. It's just too darn hot for that sort of work. I planted a few smaller dishes myself (not fun!) so I know I can do it again. Now that I have the John Deere and a little trailer I have a way to haul heavy things around like cement. The guy that I paid to plant the big C band dishes and cut my tree, I'm mad at him over something unrelated and I won't do business with him ever again. That means with all future dish planting, I'm on my own.


Now I get to have fun putting up that 1.2m dish today. Oh the joy of fiberglass in the skin! Long sleeve shirt in the summer, omg.....

 

[Anole]

if you want to search for pix...

I archived pictures of the Prodelin 1.2m dish by the following members.
You might want to search for posts by them to take a look.

As Tron mentioned, there seem to be two kinds of LNB support arm designs.
The one you don't want, is the one with a big coffee can canister transmitter/receiver.
These members have that version:
- lonewolf
- ACradio
- Phlatwound

There is another version of the dish (mount) meant for receive only.
It has three small support arms, much more like you'd expect:
- gremlin
- dreamfox

 

[Dee_Ann]

I archived pictures of the Prodelin 1.2m dish by the following members.
You might want to search for posts by them to take a look.

As Tron mentioned, there seem to be two kinds of LNB support arm designs.
The one you don't want, is the one with a big coffee can canister transmitter/receiver.
These members have that version:
- lonewolf
- ACradio
- Phlatwound

There is another version of the dish (mount) meant for receive only.
It has three small support arms, much more like you'd expect:
- gremlin
- dreamfox

Thank you very much!

I will burrow through that info and see what I can figure out.
I spoke with the gentleman that gave me these gems in the rough and he told me that they were all two way systems in the beginning. So I have to consider that there were once transmitter dishes but now they will be used for receive only.

Between what you have provided, google and ebay, I should be able to resurrect all of these dishes for many more years of very useful service. Let's just hope that what's up there stays in the clear for a long time!

Thank you again!

 

[Dee_Ann]

Whew!

I just spent 3 hours out in the heat and mosquitoes playing musical dishes!

I put up the 1.2m and aimed it at 123w.
I took down the lawnchair dish and changed the 1m dish I got from my dad from 123 to 125.

In the process I learned a few things. First off, I figured out if I put that little magnetic tilt meter onto the mounting head I can get set the angle of the dish very precisely, vs the hard to read marks on the side of the mount. This tool will henceforth always go out to the farm with me when I have a dish chore to attend to.

Secondly, I was trying to get PBS back on 125 since I switched dishes out. While I was doing it I noticed that display on the bottom of the screen on my meter that says BER and a bunch of numbers.

I watched the numbers AND the actual video as I moved the dish. As the video broke up, they BER numbers changed, a LOT.
So the little bell started to go off in my head of what was going on there. I saw that when the picture was breaking up real bad the BER would be something like 2345234/23425634562 but as I moved the dish and the picture improved, the number on the left would decrease, like 344/23425634562 (I just made those numbers up at random but you get the idea)

I read that BER means Bit Error Rate though I'm still not fully understanding the true meaning of it however I am assuming that what you want is a low number on the left vs the number on the right. Right?

The other problem I'm having at the moment, and it's probably because my brain is cooked from the heat, but adjusting the skew on those primestar/Andrew dishes. I'm not sure which way to rotate the lnb, I have so many different things going on, different type of lnb's, etc, that I'm kinda swimming in a big puddle of IDUNNO..

I took several pictures of the two lnb's that are confusing me with the hopes that one of you guys might spot the error of my ways and point me in the right direction.

The two dishes are the new 1.2m and the 1m I got from my dad a few weeks back. The 1.2 is pointed at 123w and the 1m is pointed at 125w.

I got info from one of the websites that the skew is supposed to be about +40.x for both sats, the .x being a minor difference between the two, so small that the marks on the lnb don't really help there.

So do I have these things skewed right?

I can't get doodly on 123, I do get:
Peace tv
KBS world
Level 3 Teleport
Teleport Denver
Channel One, Two, Three, Four VBA

and that's it. I'm searching for either of the two FSTV channels on 123 but can not find them at all. One is standard and one is S2 8psk which I am 1000% certain that my pc can tune in.

On the 1m dish, I'm having trouble getting things in now after changing the lnb. I had been using the lnb that is now on the 1.2m dish. The lnb I'm using now for 125 is an old school primestar type with separate H and V outputs. I have those run into a combiner switch that I know is good. What I am not sure of is if I have the thing rotate properly. I may have it attached to the horn part turned any one of a few dozen ways wrong.

I can't think right now. I have a really, really bad migraine and it feels like my head is going to explode. I sure could use a little advice right now...

Thanks so much!

 

[Jim S.]

FSTV is a pretty narrow transponder (low symbol rate). Some receivers won't blind-scan that in very reliably, or sometimes at all (the Openbox with older firmware, for example.) If you enter the transponder manually, it should still receive it, but you might have to let it sit on it for a while before it shows up (which means that you have to use a different transponder for aiming and hope that all the frequencies are focusing at the same point [which they should, but sometimes they don't seem to for some reason...])

 

[eurosport]

Cool bunch of dishes there! The one thing I would do is use a 1.2m for 125. Bigger is better for those S2 PBS signals. They can be a bugger to get in good. I use a 1.2m on them and get all but Montana..(it has a good signal, but the picture jumps and stutters constantly)

 

[RT-Cat]

Like a fool, or a moth drawn to the flame, I went back outside in the mosquitoes to try to get a better idea of what I have.

Dee, you need to get a spray can of "off". Does a good job on the monster size I have in my yard.
Nice pile of Dishes.

RT.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Dee, you need to get a spray can of "off". Does a good job on the monster size I have in my yard.
Nice pile of Dishes.

RT.

OFF does work but the DEET in it burns my skin like oven cleaner!
I avoid using that stuff at all costs and only as a last resort.
I typically use Skin So Soft from Avon, it works pretty well, it smells really good and doesn't burn my skin. The problem with it though is it only works for about 30 minutes then you have to wipe it off and apply more. And if you are sweating like a hog at a BBQ, it lasts an even shorter time.

FSTV is a pretty narrow transponder (low symbol rate). Some receivers won't blind-scan that in very reliably, or sometimes at all (the Openbox with older firmware, for example.) If you enter the transponder manually, it should still receive it, but you might have to let it sit on it for a while before it shows up (which means that you have to use a different transponder for aiming and hope that all the frequencies are focusing at the same point [which they should, but sometimes they don't seem to for some reason...])

I noticed that they added (via sathint) 11840 S2. They still list 11830 as the old type signal. My pc just doesn't see them. My handheld meter doesn't recognize S2, nor does the coolsat. I can find the church channels and whatnot on that satellite but that's all.

I'm having no luck with FSTV. I would have thought that the 1.2m dish would have been the ticket. I guess I need to get a 6 foot ku dish. Or convert that 6 foot WSI C band dish to a ku dish.

Something.....

Cool bunch of dishes there! The one thing I would do is use a 1.2m for 125. Bigger is better for those S2 PBS signals. They can be a bugger to get in good. I use a 1.2m on them and get all but Montana..(it has a good signal, but the picture jumps and stutters constantly)

I have been using the 1m primestar dish on 125 for most of this year and it's been working great. I was getting ALL of the PBS channels with the exception of the LPB channels which my folks get with a much smaller dish. I think there is something weird about the LPB signal that the pc doesn't understand.

The Montana channels have been coming in very reliably, well enough that I didn't feel that it was worth the trouble to go out there and twiddle with it anymore.

But after what I did today, I lost almost all the PBS channels and I'm drawing a blank as to why. The only real difference is that I put a different lnb on the dish and I'm totally unsure if I have it positioned correctly. I suspect that I do not.



In other developments I just discovered a new goodie on 118 that I'm going to make every effort to find. The little 6' WSI dish, if I can manage to hit it, is going to sit there for the foreseeable future.

 

[Dee_Ann]

What I have set up at this moment. Subject to change as rapidly as my mind..