10' Drake Solid info?

[phlatwound]

10' "Drake" Solid info?

I posted these pics a while back (maybe in one of the "Dish Hunting" threads?) and don't remember getting much feedback, but now I have found one of these and wondered if anyone has any knowledge or info on this brand/model of dish?

I was told it was sold as a "Drake", there was an old Curtis-Mathes tv dealer in town that sold them back in the 80s-90s.

 

[whatchel1]

Receivers

I posted these pics a while back (maybe in one of the "Dish Hunting" threads?) and don't remember getting much feedback, but now I have found one of these and wondered if anyone has any knowledge or info on this brand/model of dish?

I was told it was sold as a "Drake", there was an old Curtis-Mathes tv dealer in town that sold them back in the 80s-90s.

As far as I know Drake never made dishes just the receivers. I looked at the LNB cover and it says Winegard but it doesn't look like any Winegard that I ever saw. I just can't tell you who made that dish.

 

[phlatwound]

As far as I know Drake never made dishes just the receivers. I looked at the LNB cover and it says Winegard but it doesn't look like any Winegard that I ever saw. I just can't tell you who made that dish.

thanks whatchel1, that is what I thought also.

The pics I posted are of a different (but basically identical to the one I looked at today, as far as I can tell) dish, when I spoke to those people they also told me it was a "Drake", and they bought it from the same dealer.

They look to be very well made and, to my eye at least, have a nice parabolic shape. The mount looks a little wacky but I bet I can figure it out.

 

[linuxman]

Take a look on this page and see if there are any similarities.

Then see ACRadio's post a little further down on the page.

 

[phlatwound]

Take a look on this page and see if there are any similarities.

Then see ACRadio's post a little further down on the page.

Thanks linuxman, I had forgotten about that one, must have slept since then.

The only similarity I see between that one, and the one I saw today is the superlong actuator, but everything else (reflector, mount, LNB supports) is different.

The dish I saw today was not on a pole, it was standing up in a barn, leaning against a wall, need to give it the string test, but it looked to be in pristine condition.

It is odd that the one I saw today had the long actuator, while the one I have in the pics is more of a standard length/mounting style...and the guy told me today that the actuator was attached to a ground mount (like your picture).

Maybe this is another model of ADM that is a hybrid of the 2 that are pictured?

One odd thing I noticed about todays (and the one I posted the pics of) is the "petals" are riveted to each other, not bolted together like the one you found. Unless there is a way that I couldn't see to take it apart, I am going to have to haul it in one piece.

Pretty sure it was delivered to the site in one piece and mounted......or it was hand-assembled and riveted together on-site!

 

[Tron]

Looks like a commercial dish, maybe Scientific Atlanta? Might be a Drake also...

 

[stogie5150]

THAT is one cool-assed dish, J. What is it about you up there, you in the middle of cool-dish central! I'd have that one in my backyard in a second. It'd go with my beast of a Paraclipse quite nicely.

NEVER seen anything like that down here, no way.

VERY cool!

 

[phlatwound]

Looks like a commercial dish, maybe Scientific Atlanta? Might be a Drake also...

It does have that "commercial" look to it, Tron, although the feed supports look pretty flimsy to me, they appear to be 1/2"-3/4" EMT?

THAT is one cool-assed dish, J. What is it about you up there, you in the middle of cool-dish central! I'd have that one in my backyard in a second. It'd go with my beast of a Paraclipse quite nicely.

NEVER seen anything like that down here, no way.

VERY cool!

stogie, I know where 3 more of that exact model dish are, but this is the first one I've located that is not "in use".

I'm guessing that the old Curtis-Mathes guy sold several of these systems back in the C-band heyday. If it's got good shape and is setup properly, it should be a super-signal-sucker.

There is a good chance that it will be traveling to my little shack in the woods soon.......still have to decide if it's worth $25 though.

 

[billyboy_1]

Niether of the dishes are ADM's. I worked for Jamie from the time he started in 1979 and you can believe me when I say that those are not ADM's. We did at one time sell 11 footers to Drake, But those are not ADM's. Hope this helps.

 

[Anole]

billyboy -

Thanks for your input.
Would you like to elaborate?
And if you have any pictures we could see , just for reference, I know I would sure like to see 'em! - :up

Identifying old dishes is a challenge, especially when the maker may have had a limited production, distributed over a limited area, or sold 'em OEM under other names.
(see AMCI dish in my signature, as an example...oh, and Zenith-labeled BUDs, too!)

I've mistaken a lot of solid aluminum dishes for DH Satellite, when they probably were made elsewhere.

 

[phlatwound]

billyboy -

Thanks for your input.
Would you like to elaborate?
And if you have any pictures we could see , just for reference, I know I would sure like to see 'em! - :up

Identifying old dishes is a challenge, especially when the maker may have had a limited production, distributed over a limited area, or sold 'em OEM under other names.
(see AMCI dish in my signature, as an example...oh, and Zenith-labeled BUDs, too!)

I've mistaken a lot of solid aluminum dishes for DH Satellite, when they probably were made elsewhere.

Yes, billyboy, definitely post any pics/info on the ADM dishes that you have, in this thread or start a new one. I would also like to see them.

 

[The Danger Zone]

I remember seeing one of those along time ago at the junk yard, and for a second I thought it was someting from a space station.

What slays me is how shiny the metal is, they must have put some sorta coating on it

 

[phlatwound]

They say a fool and his money ($25) are soon parted...........

Got the "Drake" 10 footer home today. Still don't know what brand of dish this is but it says Drake on the LNB cover.

I'm sure that's why the 2 people I have spoken with that have these called them Drakes....and maybe they got a Drake receiver when they first bought them?

Anyway, this dish is in excellent condition, passed the string test with flying colors, and is very well built.

That being said, at this point I don't have a good feel for how this mount works yet. I can see where that main pivot that runs through the center of the back of the dish, sits on top of a 3 1/2" OD ground-mounted pipe.

Then I am guessing that the main pivot pipe is set for my elevation, but dont know what carries the top end of the pipe, maybe those telescoping aluminum arms that you can see laying against the trailer?

You can see a stack of shims on the "top" end of that main pivot bracket, I am assuming those accomplish the declination offset, and since this dish was set up not too far from here, should be fairly close, if not I can add/remove shims to dial it in.

Then there is that monster actuator, which I am pretty sure attached to a pivot point on the ground.

You can see this exact same dish in the first post in this thread, but it has a different mount and actuator setup. I know where there are 2-3 more of these dishes but I don't think any of them have the same mount/actuator as mine.

This one is going to be a challenge, but should be well worth it if I can figure it out. If anyone has any thoughts, pics or info on this setup please post them here.

 

[whatchel1]

How far away?

They say a fool and his money ($25) are soon parted...........

Got the "Drake" 10 footer home today. Still don't know what brand of dish this is but it says Drake on the LNB cover.

I'm sure that's why the 2 people I have spoken with that have these called them Drakes....and maybe they got a Drake receiver when they first bought them?

Anyway, this dish is in excellent condition, passed the string test with flying colors, and is very well built.

That being said, at this point I don't have a good feel for how this mount works yet. I can see where that main pivot that runs through the center of the back of the dish, sits on top of a 3 1/2" OD ground-mounted pipe.

Then I am guessing that the main pivot pipe is set for my elevation, but dont know what carries the top end of the pipe, maybe those telescoping aluminum arms that you can see laying against the trailer?

You can see a stack of shims on the "top" end of that main pivot bracket, I am assuming those accomplish the declination offset, and since this dish was set up not too far from here, should be fairly close, if not I can add/remove shims to dial it in.

Then there is that monster actuator, which I am pretty sure attached to a pivot point on the ground.

You can see this exact same dish in the first post in this thread, but it has a different mount and actuator setup. I know where there are 2-3 more of these dishes but I don't think any of them have the same mount/actuator as mine.

This one is going to be a challenge, but should be well worth it if I can figure it out. If anyone has any thoughts, pics or info on this setup please post them here.

How far away from you was it? Unless it was over 75 miles to the N or S of you don't need to mess with the shims; it will be close enough. The actuator is a 52 " Thompson Saginaw arm those were rare. The pipe you are referring to is a 3 " schedule 40 pipe. Bought so many of those I will never forget what they are called.

 

[phlatwound]

How far away from you was it? Unless it was over 75 miles to the N or S of you don't need to mess with the shims; it will be close enough. The actuator is a 52 " Thompson Saginaw arm those were rare. The pipe you are referring to is a 3 " schedule 40 pipe. Bought so many of those I will never forget what they are called.

The last time it was set up it was about 20 miles north of me. Will have to see how it tracks (if I ever figure out how to mount it), shimming that was "good enough" for analog C-band back in the day, may not be accurate enough for digital C/Ku now.

And that actuator is a Venture brand, not sure what the length is, but I just cleaned it up a little and hooked it to 12V, it purrs like a kitten.

 

[turbosat]

PHlat that is a puzzle! But I like that "motor for a dish next door" LOL

 

[14karat]

PHLAT, I'm curious to see how well it performs... I may have to make a drive to Springfield to see about those other "2-3" you spoke about...

 

[whatchel1]

Commercial

The last time it was set up it was about 20 miles north of me. Will have to see how it tracks (if I ever figure out how to mount it), shimming that was "good enough" for analog C-band back in the day, may not be accurate enough for digital C/Ku now.

And that actuator is a Venture brand, not sure what the length is, but I just cleaned it up a little and hooked it to 12V, it purrs like a kitten.

I did commercial C/Ku and the commercial stuff already digital back then. But if it was just for C only which is possible there may be a small diff but that will only be found out after you have it up and tracking.