Pismire's BUD No. 2

[Pismire]

Well it's been a few years since I planted a bud, 1998 to be exact. And remember putting in about 3 yards of cement in that thing. Even got the new wife to help back then. She was all excited to get some good tv through Netlink so she pitched in on a dark Friday night after work..... Ahh the good ol' days. A few years later the pizza guys were pitching their crap while I was at work and she talked me into a sub with them. Ahhhh the bad ol' days. Now we have been pizza free for a few years since I had the itch to get back into FTA and recently upgraded to a hot computer and S2 card to go along with our 46" 1080p LCD tv. We all are enjoying the network feeds and such with the new setup but doomsday arrived recently with the new growth of the neighbors fir trees so I thought 2 dish farms are in order. After passing it through the wife and getting complete approval I planted BUD pole number 2 today. This will allow me to get over to the eastern part of the arc (amc3 on c band) with this one and the western part of the arc (amc8) on the first dish. So I think 2 dish farms will work out just fine here. Just have to get around all the trees on my small 1/4 acre plus 90 foot land. Here's the pictures of the progress so far. Will post updates when they arrive.

 

[Cadsulfide]

Cool!

 

[phlatwound]

Wow, actual topsoil and very few rocks! Wish I had digging like that around here.

Keep on planting those BUDs! :up

 

[Pismire]

It is nice. Digging the hole was the easy work. I have often thought of putting a well point in to use to water the garden and the kids swimming pool. Wouldn't be to hard to hit water here.

 

[guapoharry]

Where's the BUD? I don't see it.

 

[Pismire]

It's still leaned up against the shed. Need to put it together yet, just need to decide which one to use. I have 2 more spares they are both 8' but I may move my 10' onto this pole. Might just give the 8' a try and see how it does on S2. Anyway I am getting there.

 

[Pismire]

Looking good.

Went out this afternoon and took off the support wood from the pole. Won't have any problems tracking the arc with this one....

 

[eurosport]

Good job, Pismire! :up

 

[Pismire]

Where's the BUD? I don't see it.

Ok, made a little progress today. Checked the stockpile and I have 2 8 footers one is a SAMI and I was wanting to put it up but this one is in much better shape so will go with it and save the SAMI for the slim picking days. Got the polar mount hoisted up there and it is the exact same mount that is on my 10 footer so if I am not happy with the performace of the 8' for the S2 stuff then I will put the 10' here. Fixed the bad mesh panel and brushed it off, looking pretty good. Ran out of bolts so quit for the evening while I still had some blood left in me (the mosquitos are wicked right now).

Here's some pics...the installed dish is my 10 footer. Appears to be made by the same company as the 8' as the construction style is pretty much the same. Sitting next to my 10' stacked against the neighbors shed that is right on my property line is the SAMI.

 

[Pismire]

Just got news that my Dad found 70-80' of satellite cable....2 coax and 2 wire bundles...for my acuator and lnb that I can have. He will drop it by tomorrow. It's all coming together.

 

[meinename]

Do you know what brand the one your putting up is?
I just pulled one of those 10 foot dishes on Friday.
Mount is the same and the way the mesh lays on the next.
4-panel dish right?
Had a Zenith Bucket cover and Zenith LNBC
Supposedly a Winegard

 

[Pismire]

I really don't have a clue. I know my 10' looks similar to a Winegard. But it seems like I remember seeing Homecable written on the center disc which I lost while loading it in the truck. Who knows though maybe they were made by Winegard. Maybe someone will chime in here.

Oh and yes, they both are 4 panel dishes.

 

[WSInternational]

Love projects like this with photos! :up

 

[Pismire]

Thanks Robby. I am having fun with it in my (supposed to be) spare time. Self employed here so work on it when I can and when I want. The other fun part is documenting it.

So today I made some more progress. Started out by whacking some of the vine maple out of the way. Chainsaw was out of gas and I didn't want to mix any right now so used a bow saw. Will come back with the chainsaw at a later date and make it look better. Dad stopped by with the cable. I measured it and there is 75' there so along with another 20' (95' for you math challenged folk ) I already had there should be plenty for this project. After clearing the brush I dumped the kids off at the library and made a trip to the hardware store to get more bolts. They actually had what I needed for a change. Got the kids then headed back home. After putting the remaining part together I got my wife to help me lift it up on the polar mount. Turns out after measuring it this dish is actually 7.5' put together so it was fairly light. We will see how it does for S2. Got the lnb support arms installed and the scaler ring. All for today....bugs were still biting today. !sadroll

 

[eurosport]

Lookin' good Pismire! :up

 

[turbosat]

Looks like my 7.5 Winegard, or very very close match. You'll be surprised at how it does on c-band if thats what it is. Provided nothings bad out of kilter. Looks like a good job. Wish I could find one of those 1.2primestars like yours!

 

[Pismire]

I hope it works well turbosat. If not I will move the 10' there. I also know where there is a 10' winegard I could probably get. Stopped by one day and no one was home, just my luck. Also have my eye on another 1.2 primestar. The current 1.2 is coming in better tonight....maybe it was lonely.

 

[Corrado]

Excellent work Pismire. :up

Thanks for posting the pics. Keep up the good work.

 

[Pismire]

Had to work today so didn't get to work on it as much as I wanted. But I did manage to dig around the acuator pile and found a small one (an HTS) that I know was working when it was taken down. I tore it completely down as it was stored out in the weather. The bearing was froze up so was able to free it with PB Blaster and soaked it in paint thinner. Clean and free now. Repacked it and greased the threads and all should be good. The brushes looked fine too. Under the 'Elk Call' it was shiny like new. Wasn't able to test it as a thunderstorm rolled in and rained me out. Still going on as I write this. So tomorrow I will test it. Bugs weren't quite as bad this evening. Must be the storm.

 

[guapoharry]

That's some workplace. Hope you don't have small parts to keep track of...