Paraclipse Dish ?

[Greg Mueller]

Back in my BUD days I always lusted after the Paraclipse dishes. They looked pretty sturdy and well built, but were out of my price range. There's a pretty good chance I can get one now, I've got several spotted in fields calling to me.
How were they for performance? Any downside to them? Any comments?

Sorry, I thought I was posting in the C-band section. Can a moderator move this?

 

[Change]

Downside: They take forever to take down/put up, thanks to the several hundred metal clips that hold the mesh to the ribs.

 

[voomvoom]

Good to know, I'm not the only one who lusted for a paraclipse. Man I sure would have loved to got my hands on a 16'er. About the price range, I never saw any in my part of the country. Guess we're all poor here, or maybe too cheap. They sure looked good in pictures. Still would like one to play around with.

Al

 

[123tim]

I've got several spotted in fields calling to me.

Greg,

What sets these apart from other dishes? I did an image search on Goggle, but it looks like there are several types ranging from solid to mesh.
Just wondering why you think they are better, and how you would recognize one.

Thanks!
Tim

 

[Greg Mueller]

The ones around here are silver and mesh. They aren't round, but are (probably) octagonal. They have lots of support struts in the arms. They just look to be more braced and therefore sturdier. But since I'm hearing that they are a bugger to disassemble, maybe I'll try for a different kind

 

[sikma]

Years ago, I took a cruise to the Bahamas. Every beachfront estate had a 16-footer in the yard...........pretty cool!

 

[123tim]

The ones around here are silver and mesh. They aren't round, but are (probably) octagonal. They have lots of support struts in the arms. They just look to be more braced and therefore sturdier. But since I'm hearing that they are a bugger to disassemble, maybe I'll try for a different kind

Ah! I've seen those. I was looking at one last week. Would you believe that it's sitting on the very top of the roof of a three story building? It isn't a flat roof either...it has a pretty good slope to it. It's located at our local college, so I'm certain that they invested big bucks to get it properly mounted.

 

[Greg Mueller]

"Years ago, I took a cruise to the Bahamas. Every beachfront estate had a 16-footer in the yard...........pretty cool!"




Those were the days. If you look up Paraclipse now, they just make bug zappers

Those early LNAs were pretty wimpy compared to what is out there now. I think mine was a 120 degree, and it was the latest thing. Bigger dishes were a must to not get "sparklies"

 

[sdoradus]

No kidding, I ended up putting extenders on my 132" sectioned aluminum that took it out to a 170" just to get rid of the sparklies on what was then all in the clear transponders. Had to use an oil driven hydraulic actuator just to push that monster around since the polar shaft was nothing more than 4 1/4 pipe surrounded by 2 split and welded halves of the same pipe. The equipment we have today is an absolute dream in comparison. Not sure what the brand of the current 10 footer my son gave me that I put on the roof deck last fall but it is a black mesh shaped like an octagonal spiders web (polar head had the name of some defunct installer out of Victoria, BC). It was a real bear to put together due to all the clips but I sure appreciated the lack of mass having to drag it up on the roof.

SD

 

[Tron]

There's a Paraclipse dish about half a mile from my house, but it doesn't appear to be any larger than 8 or 10 feet in diameter. It is a beautiful dish to look at though...