What to do with old satellite gear?

[UncleMissoula]

Greetings from Missoula, Montana.
My uncle started installing big ugly dishes across western Montana in the ‘80s. He’s also a hoarder. Lately, his health has been deteriorating and I’ve been helping clean up his property. I thought this was all junk and taking it to the scrap yard until someone came by our yard sale last week and said, no, there’s actually people interested in this…

And here I am!

First, I don’t know the technical terms, so bear with me. I have probably a dozen dishes, dozens of motors, as well as the steel structures to hold stuff up. I also have… things? Round stuff? Boxes? Bolts. Lots of bolts. Wires. And some of the tuners and consoles and stuff.

What can I do with this stuff, aside from the scrap yard? Is anything worth money, or just someone who’ll spare me the trip to the scrap yard?

(I don’t have a lot of photos of this stuff yet, but if you’re on instagram, check out #UncleMissoula for an idea).

Any ideas or suggestions appreciated!

Thank you!

Chris
aka UncleMissoula

 

[FTA4PA]

Greetings from Missoula, Montana.
My uncle started installing big ugly dishes across western Montana in the ‘80s. He’s also a hoarder. Lately, his health has been deteriorating and I’ve been helping clean up his property. I thought this was all junk and taking it to the scrap yard until someone came by our yard sale last week and said, no, there’s actually people interested in this…

And here I am!

First, I don’t know the technical terms, so bear with me. I have probably a dozen dishes, dozens of motors, as well as the steel structures to hold stuff up. I also have… things? Round stuff? Boxes? Bolts. Lots of bolts. Wires. And some of the tuners and consoles and stuff.

What can I do with this stuff, aside from the scrap yard? Is anything worth money, or just someone who’ll spare me the trip to the scrap yard?

(I don’t have a lot of photos of this stuff yet, but if you’re on instagram, check out #UncleMissoula for an idea).

Any ideas or suggestions appreciated!

Thank you!

Chris
aka UncleMissoula

Welcome to Satellite Guys Chris! Thank you for offering the members here the possibility of saving some of your Uncle's items and putting them to good use instead of scrapping them. His 'hoard' is definitely not junk to members of this forum, especially the dishes and motors, which have become more difficult to find. Most of the older items were of good quality and do survive well over the years.

I am not on Instagram but was able to see a few photos, until they asked for a login, and saw a Von Weise actuator that looked to be in nice condition. I am sure there are members here who will be interested in at least the actuators (motors) and the dishes, perhaps more. If you can compile some type of list, pictures are even better, of the satellite related items you have it would be very helpful for members to determine what they may be interested in.

The biggest stumbling block will be distance. Members near you will simply be able to come and pick up items directly at your location. Smaller items are usually not an issue either if you are willing to box them up and ship them out. Dishes, on the other hand, especially the larger c band type, can be quite bulky and difficult to get from point A to point B. Are the larger dishes in one piece? Are you willing to disassemble, pack up and ship dishes if members are interested but are not near you?

Thanks again for thinking of the members here and, again, welcome!

P.S. I believe the forum software requires and minimum number of posts before you are allowed to attach pictures. This is to prevent spamming. If you have pictures and have problems attaching them this is likely the reason. Just post a few more text only posts and you should be fine. Any issues, PM a mod.

 

[Magic Static]

Chris, I've been giving your uncle Don's satellite stuff away for years. I posted a lot of pictures on the forum. There are some good pieces out at the horse pasture too. I should go out there and grab one of those 1.8M Channel Masters in the stock truck. There are several 1.2M CMs in a shed out there too.

 

[Magic Static]

Some of the pics I have.

 

[kittyhas1000legs]

Chris's stuff is what I posted in the Craigslist/Kijiji/etc thread. A lot of C-band stuff, a lot of it still good, some parts probably best left in the 80's. Lots of Chaparral feedhorns/LNBs, a good collection of actuators, a mix of metal and fiberglass dishes. If I had a cool landlord, I would have brought home a dish or two.

Kijiji, eBay, and Craigslist dishes for you to take a look at

Free Large Satellite Dish in Cumberland, Nova Scotia: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/896056970942466/?ref=facebook_story_share Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

www.satelliteguys.us

 

[UncleMissoula]

Some of the pics I have.

I knew someone here would know my uncle! Thanks for chiming in and sharing some photos. Alas the photos are a little out of date, we’ve been cleaning a lot up at his house this year, and that row of dishes under the tree is no longer there. (He actually took them out last fall I believe to be recycled).

That said, the priority is clearing out stuff from the house. There’s still lots of stuff -dishes, etc- plus he no longer uses the satellites to watch stuff. We’d love it if someone could come out and haul stuff away.

As for the pasture, that’s less of a priority but yes that’s pretty much stayed untouched and everything in that photo is still there.

I’ll try sending you a PM or something and maybe we can talk about this more. In the meantime, anyone else here from western MT?

 

[UncleMissoula]

Chris's stuff is what I posted in the Craigslist/Kijiji/etc thread. A lot of C-band stuff, a lot of it still good, some parts probably best left in the 80's. Lots of Chaparral feedhorns/LNBs, a good collection of actuators, a mix of metal and fiberglass dishes. If I had a cool landlord, I would have brought home a dish or two.

Kijiji, eBay, and Craigslist dishes for you to take a look at

Free Large Satellite Dish in Cumberland, Nova Scotia: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/896056970942466/?ref=facebook_story_share Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

www.satelliteguys.us

Thanks for telling me about this forum!