9 foot mesh dish - Livingston, Montana

[Magic Static]

OK now there is a box in the ground.

I'll stick the pole in there and then the rebar structure. I ordered all the rebar precut only $17. The foundation wall was drilled for the conduit run from the pole and the conduit in place waiting to be glued to the pole. Then comes the concrete. Trying to avoid some hefty load fees, I'm gettin a couple yards tacked on to a local contractors daily run. Won't be for a week though.

 

[Magic Static]

My brother came by today and helped me set the pole in the hole. It weighs 200 pounds. It turned out easier than I thought to do. We set the pole up against the house on the bracket attached to the rafters. Wrapped a chain loosely around the pole and thru the bracket and used a come-a-long to lift the pole, supported from the bracket and lower it into the hole.

 

[Magic Static]

Getting Closer

After weeks of delays, Labor disputes and weather, I now have concrete in the hole. Time to assemble and hang this dish.
A thought about pouring concrete: Concrete is messy stuff. Splatters all over the place when pouring. I hung plastic sheeting to protect the house when pouring. Very glad I did.

 

[toucan-man]

Nobody will ever call you "average". Inspirational amounts of dedication to this project, Sir!

 

[Magic Static]

Nobody will ever call you "average". Inspirational amounts of dedication to this project, Sir!

I definately have a lot of time in this project. Happens when there are no deadlines. I plan a big finish to the project and a couple of suprises with a good photo layout.
The pole is the most important part of the installation due to its permanant nature and the fact I can use it for almost any dish.

 

[T4Runner]

After weeks of delays, Labor disputes and weather, I now have concrete in the hole. Time to assemble and hang this dish.
A thought about pouring concrete: Concrete is messy stuff. Splatters all over the place when pouring. I hung plastic sheeting to protect the house when pouring. Very glad I did.

Where's the snow?? I thought the snow was always 10ft deep in Montana...:>) That's what we hear in California....

 

[Magic Static]

Where's the snow?? I thought the snow was always 10ft deep in Montana...:>) That's what we hear in California....

Naw that's just a rumor to keep the Californians away. Doesn't work though. To hear some people talk we're 10ft deep in em

 

[Magic Static]

More progress The pole has been filled with concrete. The lawn has been patched. I've been thinking about the clamp on the rafters and decided I didn't like it. An exact fit "UBolt" was more to my liking. And I even found one in town $5. The pole holds 3 bags (80lbs) premix concrete. I went to EKO Compost to get a yard of soil to cover the pole foundation. They guy fires up a big front end loader and with one scoop just about burys my trailer. I drove out with over two yards of stuff on. Well bonus, as I had enough to take care of some other yard defeciencies

 

[Magic Static]

Dish Prep

I've been real busy at work lately and not getting a lot of time to work on the dish. But I've managed to get a few more things done. I'm at the point where I need to get some more hands on the project. I pulled out the pieces and started the cleaning and painting and assembly process. Brought the AJAK home from the shop.

 

[Magic Static]

Observations

Now that I pulled the dish out of the shed the neighbors finally see it. The guy across the alley from me was shaking his head and remarked, "Fred, you have officially lost it".
When my wife saw it she said,"NASA called" "They want their sonar back". Don't know why they are so suprised. I told them it was big! LOL
The perf design produces some wild visual effects when you look thru two panels at once.

 

[Magic Static]

Light at the end of the tunnel

While waiting for troops to arrive for the placement of the reflector I have been wiring the pole. I built a "Busy Board" at the bottom of the pole inside the foundation to mount the switch.

 

[KE4EST]

Just read this thread for the first time....Very interesting and inspiring......now I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happens next..

 

[Magic Static]

Hard part is done

I got the reflector up!! It was hot outside but it was time. Now I'll wait for cooler hours to finish wiring the dish and aim it. Not long before I flip the switch and power on the LNBs .

 

[KE4EST]

Looking good!!

 

[Magic Static]

Between working days and watching T-storms after work I havn't had good opportunity to aim the dish yet. Last night was still windy and I finished up some wiring under the house. I'm moving the OTA antenna off the roof and mounting it to the tall pole as well and there is a coax in the pole for that use. But first I'm using that coax to send the signal from the switch back up the pole to my signal meter. I have a quick disconnect on the AJAK and a spare VBox to take to the dish for aiming. After assembly I parked the dish somewhere to the east and left it. Last night I hooked up the meter to the coax and to my suprise I had a signal and was listening to TV 3789,H,32325 Don't know what sat I was on. Well I take it as a good sign. I'll aim tonight and watch football tomorrow

 

[Magic Static]

The Multi-Band Digital Antenna System

This dish was worth the effort. It gathers signal amazingly well. The Dual Orthomode Feedhorn is just the ticket. I'm watching it all now. (except that Tennesee Vols vs Montana Griz last night=$25PPV) Yes I'm pleased with the turnout on this dish. I thought it might be too high up but when set to west limit to work on the LNBs it's less than a foot off the roof. The OTA antenna is LOS to the moutain the transmitters are on. I can see the towers from my house. It looks good and doesn't make a lot of noise when moving.The GBox and the AJAK work well together.

 

[phlatwound]

Very nice setup, great job.

And yes, the G-Box/AJAK combo is a sweet combo. Do you know how many counts/degree you are getting?

 

[pendragon]

Nice work. Since you are using a dual ortho on a Winegard Pinnacle, it's possible the feed is not quite matched to the f/D of the dish. A couple of years ago I was able to get a further improvement by modifying the scalar. See:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/c-band-...171565-dual-orthomode-feed-deep-dish-mod.html

In answer to phlatwound, all of the Ajaks I've worked with get about 20 counts per degree with a GBOX.

 

[Magic Static]

I have considered the poor matchup with the Chap Ortho. While I hadn't cut the scalar I have spaced out the feed assembly to bring it closer to the dish as you did with the washers. I'm pleased with the performance of this dish. Once I establish what the limitations are, I may go after improvements. I would like to find a Chap "Gold Ring" for deepdishes or make one up for myself.

The AJAK specs itself at 0.13° per count, and the GBox doubles the count. My count 140 @ IS805 55.5W to 1770 @ AMC7 137W on the GBox

 

[pendragon]

Using washers will adjust the focal length, but it won't improve a f/D mismatch. The Pinnacle performs well without tweaking the f/D on a dual ortho, but you're only illuminating around 9' of its 10' diameter.

The advertising Chap did way back when on its Gold Ring was misleading. The real point was to better control terrestrial microwave interference on deep dishes, which was much more an issue 20 years ago than it is now. It will not provide better illumination, gain or improved CNRs. I happened to harvest a Gold Ring on one of my dish rescues and tried it out on the Pinnacle for laughs. It didn't improve anything and in some cases there was a reduction in the CNRs.