6' Bud

[jself1982]

What is a 6' mesh BUD good for? It is a fixed dish at this point, how would you make it go on the e-w axis and is it worth it for any digital channels?

How hard is it for someone w/ intelligence to program a 6' c/ku dish on lets say an analog receiver or a 4dtv receiver?

 

[PSB]

I use a 6' Mesh dish and it works GREAT for about 95% of the C-Band channels up there (MN.) If its a Mesh dish the holes have to be small enough to catch Ku signals (As long as a pencil does not fit through the holes you are good)

I use a 24" actuator to move across the Clarke Belt, have a look at the below link for prices.........

www.skyvision.com

They are not too hard to line up same principles as a smaller dish only everything is BIGGER.


Some good reading here............

http://www.geo-orbit.org/

 

[tdti1]

What is a 6' mesh BUD good for? It is a fixed dish at this point, how would you make it go on the e-w axis and is it worth it for any digital channels?

How hard is it for someone w/ intelligence to program a 6' c/ku dish on lets say an analog receiver or a 4dtv receiver?

'

I would go for a bigger dish, say 8.5' and up, you can get 8' and 9' dishes for good prices, and they are solids, you can get channels on a 6' I use to have a 5' mesh and picked up many feeds.

If you look around you most likely will be able to find a bigger dish free.

 

[Mr Tony]

I use a solid 6 foot dish and LOVE it (I cant go any bigger)

Takes some tweaking but I can get most everything

 

[rene0228]

Are you able to recv PAS 1R satellite with you 6' dish?

 

[jerryphx]

I use a solid 6 foot dish and LOVE it (I cant go any bigger)

Sure you could. Here's what you do:

In the dark of night, take down that 6 and put up a 7. Make sure it is painted to EXACTLY match the previous one. Do the same thing every three months or so, each time incrementing the size.

Before you know it, you'll have a 10 footer and no one will ever know. :up

 

[tdti1]

Sure you could. Here's what you do:

In the dark of night, take down that 6 and put up a 7. Make sure it is painted to EXACTLY match the previous one. Do the same thing every three months or so, each time incrementing the size.

Before you know it, you'll have a 10 footer and no one will ever know. :up

Hmm to much work, maybe he could feed it miracle growth haha!

 

[jself1982]

But can you use a 4dtv w/ a 6' mesh c/ku dish and still get a good picture quality on all the channels both analog and digital?

 

[Shawn95GT]

But can you use a 4dtv w/ a 6' mesh c/ku dish and still get a good picture quality on all the channels both analog and digital?

No...

I first setup my 4DTV with a 5' dish. G1-3 (need DC lock to get the guide) was marginal and for the most part downright flakey. I often had to manually retrieve the guide after fine tuning G1-3. Analog was watchable with varying degrees of sparklies. The TI filter masked it pretty good on the better channels, but turning that on brings on some strage picture distortion. The digital stuff looked great but I'd get occational macroblocking. The 'hard to get' channels such as the HBOs of G1 wouldn't even register quality.

This is where that whole 2 degree spacing issue comes into play. Even with my 8' dish I have now, HBO is marginal and usually doesn't work.

I enjoyed my 4DTV with the 5' dish but after upgrading my dish I just enjoy it that much more since I can now receive all the channels I'm paying for.

For reliable 4DTV on 'all channels' and to get absolutely beautiful picture on analog, do a 10' or bigger dish if you can.

 

[Mr Tony]

Sure you could. Here's what you do:

In the dark of night, take down that 6 and put up a 7. Make sure it is painted to EXACTLY match the previous one. Do the same thing every three months or so, each time incrementing the size.

Before you know it, you'll have a 10 footer and no one will ever know. :up

jerry...sounds like you havent read my "unique" situation

I live in a townhouse so I can't bury a dish. I have the Fortec 6 foot dish on my deck on top of a 30" high round table. The deck is on the north side and the 30" lift allows me to overshoot the roof (I'm in Minnesota where true south is only 38 degrees). I can get G11 over to AnikF1 and that's about it. The FCC OTARD document protects me for dishes up to a meter but this one doesn't. The Home Owner's Ass'n president doesn't really say anything and my one neighbor is cool with it. The other neighbor (previous HOA head) was kind of a dink about my other dishes but now he really doesn't have a say because the new HOA head thought my dish farm looked "professional"

so I can't go any bigger

 

[Mr Tony]

jself
were you looking to subscribe to something (like an analog subscription or 4DTV) or use it just for free stuff?

the 6 foot dish will work really good for free stuff but as Shawn mentioned, subscription stuff not so good. I know when I move my 6 foot solid around and find a VCII channel (analog subscription) the signal is much lower (60-61) than a free one (72-73)

 

[jerryphx]

jerry...sounds like you havent read my "unique" situation

I have,actually, but it was a friday and I was in a wierd mood and thought I'd make a ridiculous suggestion. That is awesome that you're able to keep what you have. I would have all the villagers at my door with anything bigger than a 1 meter.:down

Which, in part, explains why I just bought a place with no HOA :clap

Sorry for the off topic... Good luck jself1982.

 

[MikeI]

jself
were you looking to subscribe to something (like an analog subscription or 4DTV) or use it just for free stuff?

the 6 foot dish will work really good for free stuff but as Shawn mentioned, subscription stuff not so good. I know when I move my 6 foot solid around and find a VCII channel (analog subscription) the signal is much lower (60-61) than a free one (72-73)

The videocypher channels here in So Cal w/ the same 6 ft type dish Tony has works good on G11 and IA 6, but when you get to G5 and other birds to the West, there's major static with the signals during the sound. TNT is about the best one. I get analog feeds except for PBS are crystal clear and much better than I used to get on a 10 ft dish with a 100 degree lnb.

 

[Mr Tony]

I have,actually, but it was a friday and I was in a wierd mood and thought I'd make a ridiculous suggestion. That is awesome that you're able to keep what you have. I would have all the villagers at my door with anything bigger than a 1 meter.:down

Which, in part, explains why I just bought a place with no HOA :clap

Sorry for the off topic... Good luck jself1982.

when I originally bought the house all I had was Dish. Never really knew about FTA until 6 months later

The new HOA guy is pretty cool. Much better than the old one

 

[truckracer]

I have a 7.5'

I have a SAMI black mesh 7.5' dish with c/ku capability. I use it for 4DTV and FTA.
I have an ORB-7500 analog reciever, DSR-905, Fortec ultra lifetime running from splitters (one from c band cable and one from ku cable).

My 7.5' works great on all 4dtv channels including HBO/Max on G-1

Channels 112-below i get 70-72% quality on a clear day.
Channels 113-up i get 64-68% quality on clear day

with my DSR-905.

That's also through about 250 ft of cheap RG-6.

I had to fine tune my dish to get this.

Free to air and analog is great except.....

On amc-3 and G3-C during the day i get a lot of adjacent satellite interference making some channels un watchable. At night it seems to subside.

everything else is great.

I would recommend an 8.5' if you can do it (space allowing)

I got a 7.5' because of the extremely low price i paid for it new. I figured what the heck, if it won't work on 4dtv, i can use for fta in another room with a positioner. I have no HOA here and a lot of property to place the dish so space is not a problem.

I had an offset prodelin fixed position dish i used for c-band on G0 or G10R, and it got acceptable signals but not near what the 7.5' pulls in.

 

[jself1982]

Thanks, the whole reason for me asking is that I have a relative that was giving me a 10yr old non warped black mesh dish, with c only, and the receiver, just when I call my satellite guy to move it, just 40 miles away, he went up to 800 on his labor, to me thats too much, and not even counting the new 4dtv box, acuator, c/ku feedhorn, kulnb, pole, ribbon cable, and any extra supplies he may need...that would cost me more than I was planning to spend and could possibly buy a new one off skyvision and just do it myself, however I don't know how to. So I came across someone with a fairly new 6' mesh dish, I thought we could throw that thing in the back of a truck to move it and I could buy a pole myself, then possibly get it setup ya know?

Total charge if I went and got my aunt's 10ft dish w/ upgrades for Ku, actuator, etc., after moving and installation would run estimate of $1900/$2000--this is w/o the 4dtv box! (which I would have to pay for myself)

Skyvision, same setup but with 8.5' dish, w/ all new equip was estimate of $1500-$1600

Going to my grandma's, getting her 6' mesh dish, adding acuator, new feedhorn, lnb, and 4dtv could poss run me under 1k...

So out of these 3 which would be the best option if I wanted good C/Ku 4dtv and FTA?


Keep in mind, I could probably throw a 6' dish in the back of a truck ya know?

 

[tdti1]

I would try to get the 10' if you can find a way to take it down with a few buddys, take it home, set the pole slap it on, and just call the tech to aim it you will save.

this link can help you with setup if you want to try and aim it yourself:
http://www.geo-orbit.org/sizepgs/tuningp2.html

This will help with pole setup: (first link on the page)
http://boresight.ripco.com/

If you do take it apart, try to mark what panel goes where, and when putting it back together make sure not to warp it.

I have slapped up a few buds in my time, it is not as hard as you may think.
Good luck.

 

[drhydro]

How much of the installation are you willing to do yourself?

My 10' dish cost me approx $450 to set up, I did the installation myself with help from multiple friends. That cost is including:

1) the price of having two 50 gallon drums welded together for a pole mount (approx $50)
2) a framework made to hold my mounting bolts and the bolts themselves ($50)
3)17 80 lb bags of cement (~$120)
4)100' of ribbon cable (~$50)
5) a c/ku corotor (~$80 used with lnb's)
6) a backhoe rental of $150 (you can't dig a 5' x 30" hole in the ground here with a shovel, WAY to many big rocks)
7) a few cases of beer for my friends help.

The hard part is getting the pole planted and level. Once that is done the actual setup is not hard at all, it just takes some time and patience. With the help of all the knowledgeable folks on this forum you will find the setup / aiming fairly easy.

 

[jself1982]

So if I order a dish from skyvision, what comes w/ it? Just the mesh panels and thats it or if I was ordering a dish from scratch minus the 4dtv or analog receiver, what should I get? (acuator, feedhorn, lnb), and is there directions on how to put this stuff together and make it work???




Furthermore, How in the heck could I get a 10' already put together off of a pole and onto a truck to travel 50 miles with it not blowing off or warping the dish, probably wouldn't be nice to take it apart right? Any suggestions?


And onto the 6' mesh cband, 4dtv and analog cband is out of the question w/ those correct?

 

[cablewithaview]

I have moved quite a few 10's in my time still together. When you work for small rural cable systems like I have, you get what you can to make it work. I had too can two dishes because one was on the ground and it was picked up by the wind and slammed into the other. damn hurricanes even this far inland.