Retrofit My Radioshack Dish Onto My KTI Mount

[JFOK]

Hi All,

Thought I'd throw this question out to the experts.
I have a Radio Shack 9 Foot mesh dish in my garage attic just gathering dust and I'd like to put it to good use.
This dish is in great condition. I bought it new in 1991 and used for 11 years prior to my move to Cape Cod.
As some of you may know, my current dish a KTI 7.5 was slightly damaged in its transition (about 3 years ago), from its 20 foot perch to a more reasonable height of 8 feet. One of the ribs was slightly bent and my efforts to return it to a reasonable parabolic shape haven't been too successful. Until the accident it was a great performer receiving all the C and Ku I threw at it.
Unfortunately the R.S. dish mount didn't age too well thanks to my poor storage efforts and so I would like to find a way to mount the R.S.dish onto the KTI mount. I need some good ideas from my fellow FTA enthusiasts.
I must tell you first and foremost I'm not a welder and so this would have to be most likely done using other means, if at all possible.
Thanks in advance.

John

 

[Magic Static]

Sounds like a fun project. But I'll bet nobody has done that particular conversion before. So we will need lots of pictures of the dish and mount. Then we can start brainstorming.

 

[JFOK]

Hi Magic,

Thanks for responding
I'm enclosing 2 pics...one for the mount from the back and one from the front.
I welcome any and all brainstorming.

John

 

[wvman]

Hi Magic,

Thanks for responding
I'm enclosing 2 pics...one for the mount from the back and one from the front.
I welcome any and all brainstorming.

John


View attachment 135372 View attachment 135373

The damage is pretty obvious, but I did notice on thing. The dish in the picture has what I call "saddle" mounts positioned at 90 degree intervals. I had a 10 foot Unimesh that had a bent mount, and to remedy the problem, I used a mount off a 7.5 foot dish. With the saddles, the dish is pretty much self-centering, so I decided to give it a try. The 10 foot reflector dropped right in, but we did have to drill new holes for the bolts. That project was for a friend.

We used his old pole, tuned the dish and he's still using it. With the mounting ring being slightly smaller, it cuts down on the wind load capabilities due to the larger reflector surface, but so far, no problems. Maybe this solution would work for you, but not seeing the mount for both dishes, it's hard to tell. I don't know who made the RS dishes. If memory serves me, they didn't manufacture their own dishes.

The one you have pictured looks similar to an older Unimesh, but some others did as well. Magic Static has more experience than I do when it comes to reinventing the wheel.

 

[Magic Static]

Hi Magic,

Thanks for responding
I'm enclosing 2 pics...one for the mount from the back and one from the front.
I welcome any and all brainstorming.

John


View attachment 135372 View attachment 135373

Good pics. I have one of those mounts laying around too. What I don't have is an idea what the RS dish looks like. We'll need some pictures of that.

 

[JFOK]

Magic and All,

Here are some pics of the Radio Shack dish mount (courtesy of fta4life) and a RS 9 foot dish (courtesy of .Raine).
My current dish the KTI 7.5, pulls in an acceptable signal, but not great, on most satellites in spite of its less than parabolic shape. I miss out on many DVB-S2 signals because of the damage.
However, there is more to be achieved with not only a "truer" dish but a larger one which is my reason for trying to get this RS dish up and running.
Thanks again for all your suggestions.

John

 

[Magic Static]

Perfect. Both dishes can be divided into 4 sections. Assemble the RS dish and use the center plate from the Uni-Mesh. Lay the ribs from The RS dish into the UM mount centered up. Mark and drill the holes and use washers for spacers as the UM ribs appear thicker than the RS dish.

 

[Magic Static]

Then you can make some quad leg supports from metal electrical conduit. Cut to length, flatten the ends and drill bolt holes to attach to the dish and scalar. You can measure the button hook to get a focal depth. The legs can be attached from the edge down the ribs halfway to center to adjust the focal depth if needed.

 

[JFOK]

Magic,

So what you're saying is that I should be able to drop the assembled R.S. dish right into the center of the KTI mount and then attach it, bolting the "saddle mounts" to the R.S. ribs ? Almost sounds too easy.

John

 

[JFOK]

Magic,

Two questions...
1) Do you think I could re-purpose the current quad leg supports I have on the KTI ?
If so, could you be more specific as to how I would attach them to the dish after I got the proper focal length ?
Thanks,

John

 

[Magic Static]

I think the smaller dish has shorter legs so you wouldn't attach them the same on the rim of the dish but they might work bolted to the ribs at a certain point. You may have to bend the flattened end over the other direction or something like that. We can guide you down the path but you need to see the little steps too. The legs on my pinnacle use short sheet metal screws and small holes to attach to the ribs.

 

[JFOK]

Magic,

Thanks again for all your assistance. I'm glad to read that I can put my RS 9 foot dish to work once again.
Unfortunately this work will have to wait until spring as I am now scheduled to have major back surgery in November.

John

 

[Magic Static]

Hope the surgery goes well. I've been working hard trying to catch up on home repairs after major surgery last year. I also put off the dish work for another day. But that's like saving some fun for later

 

[JFOK]

Magic,

That's how I will pass the winter months here on the Cape...looking forward to the dish upgrade in the spring.
I'm sure I'll have more questions to ask you and others FTA-ers then.
Thanks for the well wishes. From the looks of it, I'll have a "bionic" back when all is said and done.

John

 

[wvman]

Magic,

That's how I will pass the winter months here on the Cape...looking forward to the dish upgrade in the spring.
I'm sure I'll have more questions to ask you and others FTA-ers then.
Thanks for the well wishes. From the looks of it, I'll have a "bionic" back when all is said and done.

John

Wow, you'll be able to lift the dish up with one hand and put it on the pole. Maybe you will be able to hand tighten the bolts too. I keep hearing good things about the Laser Spine Institute. Are you going there by any chance or is your back too bad for that?

 

[JFOK]

wvman,

I believe I'll be able to hold the dish in place with one arm and tighten the bolts with the other, after the surgery.
This operation is more extensive than whats done at the L.S. I.
Instead of the 1-2 day recovery time they tout on TV, I'll be recovering for 4-6 weeks.
I just received the list of what my operation entails...wow what a list.
However, this surgeon is the best at this type of procedure and so while I'm apprehensive to do this, its a long time in coming and I want to get it done before I'm too much older....I'm 62 now. My operation date is rapidly approaching...Nov. 14th.

John

 

[Magic Static]

I had a vertebra removed from my neck and the surrounding ones fused together. 5-6 weeks recovery didn't happen for me. After that I retired. I was 58.

 

[wvman]

wvman,

I believe I'll be able to hold the dish in place with one arm and tighten the bolts with the other, after the surgery.
This operation is more extensive than whats done at the L.S. I.
Instead of the 1-2 day recovery time they tout on TV, I'll be recovering for 4-6 weeks.
I just received the list of what my operation entails...wow what a list.
However, this surgeon is the best at this type of procedure and so while I'm apprehensive to do this, its a long time in coming and I want to get it done before I'm too much older....I'm 62 now. My operation date is rapidly approaching...Nov. 14th.

John

I hope you come through it with flying colors. Several years ago, I injured my back. My back doctor didn't want to do surgery due to my age at the time (29) and he said if I could stand the pain, it would eventually go away. He was right, but I sure went through hell until it stopped. I was down 5 1/2 months before I could even walk. I had a satellite TV business at the time and my wife and best friend ran it for me until I got back on my feet.

So far, I haven't had any more trouble with my back and I'm 63 now. I know what you're going through. An injured back is no fun at all. Anyway, best of luck with your back surgery. Keep in touch and let us know how you're doing.

 

[JFOK]

Magic and wvman,

My back problem goes back to 1999. I was working in a group home of behavioral individuals with special needs (mentally handicapped).
I did many take downs and restraints in those 15 years and liken it to a 15 year career in football. I left that profession after injuring my back and going out on workers comp, but the problems persisted and just grew worse as time went on. This summer starting in June, I was unable to walk more than 50 feet without pain. Needless to say it put a crimp in my summer plans, which also included work on my dish.This was my first summer off from work in 48 years...it sucked.
So after further MRIs and consultation with a specialist this summer, I was told its time to correct this damage with an extensive operation
Thanks for your well wishes and I'm hopeful for the best.

John

 

[wvman]

Magic and wvman,

My back problem goes back to 1999. I was working in a group home of behavioral individuals with special needs (mentally handicapped).
I did many take downs and restraints in those 15 years and liken it to a 15 year career in football. I left that profession after injuring my back and going out on workers comp, but the problems persisted and just grew worse as time went on. This summer starting in June, I was unable to walk more than 50 feet without pain. Needless to say it put a crimp in my summer plans, which also included work on my dish.This was my first summer off from work in 48 years...it sucked.
So after further MRIs and consultation with a specialist this summer, I was told its time to correct this damage with an extensive operation
Thanks for your well wishes and I'm hopeful for the best.

John

I thank God every day that I haven't had any more issues with mine. As of this Friday, I'm retiring and I have a couple dish projects of my own. I located 2 10 foot wire mesh dishes, one within 10 miles of my house, and the other is about 35 miles east of where I live. It looks as if this was going to be a good weekend to go get the one the furthest away, so I unloaded my flatbed pickup so I could haul it. Well, wouldn't you know, that darn thing is giving me problems and doesn't want to run.

It's been sitting most of the summer and I'm going to check this evening to see if the mice and chipmonks didn't fill the breather with crap. I hope that's all it is because we won't have many good weekends left this year. The dish sits out in a field about 75 yards from the guys house, and it's been too wet to drive through his yard to get to it even with a 4-WD truck. Hopefully I can get ironed out tomorrow so I can go get it.