My Mini Bud

[GreatFTA]

For several weeks I have been working on my first mini bud using my 5 foot Wilson dish, the mount that use to hold a 7.5 mesh dish that was damaged, and BSC 621-2 LNBF. The Wilson dish was one of those dish that use to set on the ground supported by a O ring that held it up.
I worked on this project between rainy weather during October. I adapted the mount onto the Wilson dish, planted the pole, and mounted the dish to it. I spent a few days setting the elevation\declination angles and finding the true south. It was successful. I used my US Electronics ORB5000 to track the Clark Belt arc with great results.
I used my Traxis 3500 receiver to blindscan the C Band TPs and as you can see in one of my pictures I got great signal and quality signals. I tracked a coupla other sats and got good results.
At this point, I am only on G16. I will watch these channels until I can buy a cable that has the motor/sensor wires to move my dish. I had a section of the all in one ribbon cable but it has places on it that makes me uneasy to use.
No body around here sell any cable that has the motor/sensor wires so I am hoping to find some somewhere. I just got a RG-6 cable from the dish to my recei er.
I am hoping to use my Coolsat 8000 to run the V-Box and have the Quali piggy backed. I want both HD and 4:2:2 signals. I have been reading about the negative reviews about the V-Box. If that is the case, I have to depend on either the ORB 5000 or 4DTV receiver to move the dish.
I sure hope all this work...
Any suggestions will be welcomed...

 

[GreatFTA]

More pictures on my setup:

 

[1ADAM12]

Nice setup!

Great pictures

 

[putney]

Great stuff!

 

[Mr Tony]

very cool

a 5 footer I wouldnt consider a "mini-bud"....its on the small side but should still work for most signals up there

 

[Corrado]

Excellent project, interesting dish, I've never seen one like it.

Is that the original arm for the feed?

For the cable you could use lawn sprinkler cable, available in various conductor gauges and numbers of wires. Available by the foot at home centers.

 

[tvropro]

The fun part is when you receive signal Good Job!

 

[Anole]

A very unusual and attractive looking dish.
Where would one find such a dish... where were they used and when?
Is it aluminum or steel?

You did an excellent job of mating the mount & dish - looks factory! -
I did a double-take upon seeing that LNB support arm.

Perhaps you would like to post signal readings for some of the satellites.
Probably give the 6' guys a run for their money.

 

[pro96]

Really cool.. I used to have a Ring mount 5ft Prime focus dish back in the 90's when I lived with parents. Moved out to a condo and could not bring it with me. And of course parents disposed of that dish thinking it was trash, placed it outside their house for "junkers" to pickup and they even mentioned how fast it was grabbed. I was mad but at the time I had no place to put that 5ft ringmount dish. O well.

 

[GreatFTA]

Thanks guys! Yes, that is the original LNB arm on that dish. I bought this dish from a lady who moved to a home in town and that dish was lending against the back of the shed. I never seen a dish setup like this before. It has been under my carport for nearly two years so I had been racking my brains out all that time on using this thing.
As soon I find the cable for the motor drive I will post the readings of each satellite. Thanks Corrado for suggesting the kind of cables. I will go to Ace Hardware tomorrow to see if they have them.
This show what may pop up whenever we search for anything relating to satellite and FTA.
Iceberg, this dish measures 4 1/2 foot!
Last night I got both C Band AND Ku Band Tps (wasn't much on Ku on G16, tho.). Wish I can use the 621-2 LNB on my 4DTV...
I will keep you guys posted..........

 

[GreatFTA]

Note:
I didn't want the RG-6 cable hanging outside the arm so I drilled a hole thru the bottom of the dish so it can be routed inside the arm.
Yes, Anole, the dish is aluminum! It still has a ring still attached to the outer diameter edge, I guess for strength. Also on the very edge is a rubber trim. It is a impressive dish.

 

[GreatFTA]

For awhile I was using one of those cheap satellite meter to track the arc. I had a Channel Master satellite meter (oldie) that I bought from a friend a few years ago. It can read both signal strength and voltage from the receiver. This meter kick ass!
The cheap meters are ok, but having a meter from Channel Master... PRICELESS.

 

[GreatFTA]

Question: Are any of you guys a V-Box user? I got the first one that came out. I tried to operat the arm using my Traxis 3500 but can't seem to make it work. Can I use the USAL or is it strictly for DiSeQC 1.2?
I really didn't have time to concentrate but do need advice from you guys who use these positioners.
Thanks.

 

[turbosat]

FTAMan, I have one of those-it was my first C-band dish, got it in late 87, hooked it up out in the front yard that same day. Didn't have a small tv I could take outside so I was listening to the big tv in the den, turned up loud lol,while I moved the dish around. First thing I ever heard when I hit that first signal was "THIS IS CBC NORTH". Good old days.
Back then, you could find what they called a universal polar mount, so I bought one of those and attached my little dish to it, motorized it ,etc. Did ok on analog until they crammed all the satellites so close together, in the later days I couldn't get half the channels on 125 because of interference from 123, most of the 'cable' channels were on those two sats then. Dish just isn't big enough to discriminate very well with 2degree spacing. Did alright as a ku-only dish too. But then I found primestar dishes and took my Wilson down, but put it back on the ring on the ground. Back in the spring, a big windstorm blew up while I was gone shopping, flipped the dish upside down on its lnb-support, and bent the bottom lip of the dish outward noticeably. Still works though, somehow, prob not as well though. Good work on that project!

 

[GreatFTA]

Thank you, turbosat.
What kind of service used to have the Wilson dish? Must be one of those fly by night services.
So far I am satisfied with the performance. Right now I am watching one of those PRVDR channels on G16. Also some of the GDMX channels come in great. ABC stuff does good too.
As far as Ku, I only get a live broadcast of the white house. Probably the CBS wildfeed.

 

[turbosat]

It was produced by Wilson Microwave, don't know if they're still around in any capacity or not. Back then, there were lots of dealers for c-band equipment, and plenty of companies making the parts, and importing some of them. I bought mine from a local discount tv-appliance store.
Most of the dishes available at the time were still those big fiberglass monsters, mesh dishes were just coming into play, and this "Little Wil" system was sold as a hobbyist kit, a way to get a taste of satellite tv without a huge investment or giant dish. They really did the trick on me! And it does a pretty good job on c-band, I was amazed at how well it worked once I motorized it.

 

[GreatFTA]

Best hobbyist kit, I say!

 

[GreatFTA]

Damn...
I was doing really great, until trying to find wiring for my motor drive. Since the C Band craze went south, it has gotten hard to locate any cables for what I need.
I ain't given up but it is reallly frustrating. I am anxious to scan the Arc.
I am thinking on going on Ebay and see about buying a roll of all in one ribbon. Hate to, but what else to do?

 

[Windtamer]

I have around 100ft of ribbon cable I can give you for the price of shipping. I bought it new but, I didn't have to use it. I thought my old cable was bad .

PM me and we can talk.

 

[GreatFTA]

I am waiting for the ribbon cable that Windtamer sent me. (Thank you!!!)
In the meantime I have moved my Primestar 1.2 dish about 8 feet from the Wilson dish. What I decided to do is to destinate the Wilson strictly for the C Band Tps for my QualiTv receiver and use the Primestar for all the Ku TPs on my Coolsat 8000 receiver. The reason for moving my Primstar is that the location was bad because of trees and my mobile home interfering with the performance. Today I put the Primestar pole up and will be mounting the dish tomorrow. The UPS suppose to deliver my ribbon cable sometime tomorrow.
There was a huge oak tree that died and had been cleared away, allowing a excellent line of sight for the FTA dishes.
I am hoping to have both systems up and running by the weekend. Will keep you posted...