Reviving a 1985 Uniden 8.5 footer

  • WELCOME TO THE NEW SERVER!

    If you are seeing this you are on our new server WELCOME HOME!

    While the new server is online Scott is still working on the backend including the cachine. But the site is usable while the work is being completes!

    Thank you for your patience and again WELCOME HOME!

    CLICK THE X IN THE TOP RIGHT CORNER OF THE BOX TO DISMISS THIS MESSAGE
Status
Please reply by conversation.

meinename

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Dec 9, 2008
584
0
Portland, OR
I asked a similar question here, but I think here in the C-band forum my Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt can be assuaged by those of you more experienced here.

Well back just before HBO and alot of G1 went scrambled via Videocipher, my Daddy bought a 8.5 foot solid aluminum dish with a (he believes) an 18-inch actuator and a Chapparal polorotar feedhorn with a 65k LNA. (Holy run-on-sentences, Batman!):eek:
It came with a Uniden UST-6000 analog receiver and a programmable motor controller.

Fast forward to present day.
I replaced the Chapparal with a BSC621 for voltage-switching polarity control.
Several DVB receivers were procured in the last year, but no 4DTV or VCII units.

As we started setting the dish back up for Grandma and Grandpa, the power supply for the motor controller was set aside and now is lost.:mad:
Because of that I focused my efforts on fixed dishes to keep the problems from coming up.

As the system has gotten more complicated, the more pressure has been put on me to find a way to make the 8.5 footer the main, or more preferably the only dish. :confused:
The big problem is that I have to support and troubleshoot, and live in another part of town. So the simpler things are the better. :eek: :(

Right now I am on the edge of buying a GBox to have run the dish via DiSEqC 1.2
What has bothered me is the actuator.
1. It is an "East-coast" style mount while the dish is located on the West-coast.
2. It looks like the "rotation counter disc" has a magnetic strip around the edge and is clipped at every 90 degrees for a total of 4 notches.

So far, the channels they like to watch are on 123°W-Ku, 121°W-C, 97°W-C/Ku, 89°W-Ku, 83°W-Ku
LOS so far is 83°W to 125°W with DVB-S. I have gotten sparkly C-SPAN (Analog) on 131°W

I'm wondering should Grandma and Grandpa be given a GBox and I shouldn't worry to much or do I need more than what I have and a Gbox for decent C and Ku reception
 

Attachments

  • uniden-actuator-clickwheel.png
    uniden-actuator-clickwheel.png
    6.8 KB · Views: 169
Last edited:
Status
Please reply by conversation.

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 0, Members: 0, Guests: 0)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)