Please ID this BUD

[KJ6EO]

Hello and thanks for reading my post. Could someone please ID this 10' Bud for me. I think it's a Top Ten. We used the Top Ten Manual to set up the Elevation and Declination angles, but we weren't able to lock on to our True South Sat Anik F3 (118.8)(we're in Socal). To set True South, we were using a Ku Band LNBF. Thanks in advance for any suggestions you might have.

 

[wvman]

Hello and thanks for reading my post. Could someone please ID this 10' Bud for me. I think it's a Top Ten. We used the Top Ten Manual to set up the Elevation and Declination angles, but we weren't able to lock on to our True South Sat Anik F3 (118.8)(we're in Socal). To set True South, we were using a Ku Band LNBF. Thanks in advance for any suggestions you might have.View attachment 127829 View attachment 127830

It kind of resembles a Unimesh in some ways, but I'm not sure. Does the wire mesh slide into channel on each rib? There was a couple dishes that did that. Great idea until they installed the ring around the outside edge of the dish that prevents you from removing the screws on one crossbar and sliding the mesh out of the channel. It makes it very difficult to put the mesh back in the channel when it gets popped out. Nice looking dish though.

 

[KJ6EO]

It kind of resembles a Unimesh in some ways, but I'm not sure. Does the wire mesh slide into channel on each rib? There was a couple dishes that did that. Great idea until they installed the ring around the outside edge of the dish that prevents you from removing the screws on one crossbar and sliding the mesh out of the channel. It makes it very difficult to put the mesh back in the channel when it gets popped out. Nice looking dish though.

Thanks for your reply. Well, the dish isn't at my house so I can't go out and take a look at it. It is a nice dish. We got it for free. I guy down the street had it and he just wanted it out of his yard. A major problem we ran into was with the linear actuator. It wasn't counting the pulses correctly. So every time we moved the dish, it wouldn't repeat and go back to the same place. My friend ordered another actuator for it, so that will resolve that problem. We're not getting anything, so we're way off. I'm gonna take my OLM meter with me the next time we go out. Once we can lock on the true south sat, then we'll be going in the right direction. The dish is located in Littlerock out in the Desert E of Palmdale. We're starting a heatwave right now so we won't work on it again until it cools off. I'll send an answer to your question after we get back from our next visit. Thanks for your reply!

 

[wvman]

Thanks for your reply. Well, the dish isn't at my house so I can't go out and take a look at it. It is a nice dish. We got it for free. I guy down the street had it and he just wanted it out of his yard. A major problem we ran into was with the linear actuator. It wasn't counting the pulses correctly. So every time we moved the dish, it wouldn't repeat and go back to the same place. My friend ordered another actuator for it, so that will resolve that problem. We're not getting anything, so we're way off. I'm gonna take my OLM meter with me the next time we go out. Once we can lock on the true south sat, then we'll be going in the right direction. The dish is located in Littlerock out in the Desert E of Palmdale. We're starting a heatwave right now so we won't work on it again until it cools off. I'll send an answer to your question after we get back from our next visit. Thanks for your reply!

Question: When you moved the dish, did you just loosen the bolts holding it on the pole, or did you disassemble the mount? I never take the mount apart, but I always leave the dish together and transport it on my pickup with a flat bed. If it's a few miles away, the offset and elevation won't change enough to keep you from getting it back on track. It's easier to take a receiver that's already programmed to align the dish. Saves a lot of searching when you're looking for a satellite.

If the motor arm was in good shape other than not counting properly, he may have got by with a new sensor. I have a couple old arms I use to tweak my dishes, just long enough to make a lock down bar and park it on one satellite. I used a double pole, double throw switch hooked to a lawn tractor battery to move the dish up and down until I get it tweaked. You can make a lock down bar out of two pieces of 3 inch angle iron, 4 inches long, drilled to accept a piece of 3/4 inch all thread.

Only one of my dishes move so I can look for new channels. Looking at your pictures, it does look like a nice dish and well worth putting back in service. Good luck getting it up and working.

 

[KJ6EO]

Question: When you moved the dish, did you just loosen the bolts holding it on the pole, or did you disassemble the mount? I never take the mount apart, but I always leave the dish together and transport it on my pickup with a flat bed. If it's a few miles away, the offset and elevation won't change enough to keep you from getting it back on track. It's easier to take a receiver that's already programmed to align the dish. Saves a lot of searching when you're looking for a satellite.

Thanks for the suggestion ... excellent advice. Unfortunately, the mount was disassembled when I first saw the dish. So, we had to put it back together. We worked on it again yesterday (SUN). It has been so hot here in SoCal we gave up on it for several weeks till the weather cooled off. This time, I had a 10' Unimesh Manual with me. I setup the Elevation/Declination angles per the manual, but we only got 4 sats at the top of the curve. Decreasing the Declination angle setting moved the range of sats we could lock down the arc (while loosing those at the top of the arc). I think the Elevation Bar has an offset ... i.e "set to 40 degrees for 34 degrees Latitude". If we set the Elevation Bar to 40 degrees, then the Declination Angle setting has to be decreased. I think as it is, the elevation angle is too low, and the declination angle is too high. Does that make sense? Anyway, that's what we're gonna try next.

 

[wvman]

Thanks for the suggestion ... excellent advice. Unfortunately, the mount was disassembled when I first saw the dish. So, we had to put it back together. We worked on it again yesterday (SUN). It has been so hot here in SoCal we gave up on it for several weeks till the weather cooled off. This time, I had a 10' Unimesh Manual with me. I setup the Elevation/Declination angles per the manual, but we only got 4 sats at the top of the curve. Decreasing the Declination angle setting moved the range of sats we could lock down the arc (while loosing those at the top of the arc). I think the Elevation Bar has an offset ... i.e "set to 40 degrees for 34 degrees Latitude". If we set the Elevation Bar to 40 degrees, then the Declination Angle setting has to be decreased. I think as it is, the elevation angle is too low, and the declination angle is too high. Does that make sense? Anyway, that's what we're gonna try next.

This is the chart I use. According to it, I'm coming up with a different elevation for the 34 degree latitude location. From what I can tell, the latitude at Littlerock is 34.521, which falls half way between the 34-35 chart calculations. The 40 degree elevation is closer to the dish site latitude here in WV. My dishes are set at 39.64 with a 5.51 offset angle and they track perfectly. I've tinkered with those settings several times and always end up back to where I was. Hope this chart works for you. I've used it for years, and have had good success. As you know, the pole has to be perfectly plumb for any of this to work properly.

I have a digital level I use to plumb my poles, but those have to be checked from time to time to make sure their calibrated properly. Digital levels make it a lot easier to set the mounts properly. Back in the day, I gave over $300 for mine, but you can purchase them now for half that.