on 06/05/06 a car ran off the road and bounced and rolled into my front yard, bumping into the bottom left hand quarter of my 10 ft unimesh, polar mount dish, bending it upwards somewhat. did not hit the pole, just the bottom (left hand quarter) of the dish, breaking the connections to the 2 adjoining quarter sections as well as pulling the mesh of 3 of the 4 panels in that quarter away from the screws. also, the feedhorn cover flew off, and there are some spritzes of battery acid on the pole.
Overall, at first glance the damage seems to be minimal. My DSR 922 was turned off at the time and when I turned it back on I was able to activate the dishmover without any problem, but all I get for a picture is snowy screen. It acts like it's trying to come in but it's just snow. I have moved it to other satellites, left and right of the one it was sitting on, but ---- nothing. No sound, no picture.
It could have been knocked out of alignment.
I had bought the original setup (with a Uniden 7700) and separate dishmover box, 10 years ago. Had it installed by a professional (he really knew what he was doing), and had perfect reception. Despite storms and hurricanes no adjustment was ever necessary. Even now the mount seems undamaged, no scratches, no skid. 2-1/2 years ago, thanks to the brown-outs during hurricanes, we bought the DSR from Skyvision. I set it up myself. Then bought a Fortec to try and get the Outdoor Channel back, set it up according to instructions and got the Sportsman Channel instead as the other had moved to KU. Had also bought a new LNB for "digital" although the 10 + year old LNB worked fine.
I called the only local sat repair person left in this county and asked him to come out and for an estimate to repair the dish. He told me right then that I need a new dish, and that a 7-1/2 footer will do for my location, about 60 miles north of Tampa, Florida. He finally showed up almost 3 weeks later, barely looked at the dish and said an estimate would cost me $75.00, and that I need a new or used dish, cost ranging from $700 - $1,100 with installation.
He also said that the LNB could have been damaged from the impact etc. On the web I read somewhere that the "probe" inside the feedhorn is very sensitive and would be messed up by so much as a fingerprint. Needless to describe how devastated I am.
I can't afford another dish, the insurance company will not pay for a new dish (without depreciation for how long I've had the old one), besides that I may be hardheaded thinking that my old dish is quite usable just needs an adjustment and maybe spot welding in a couple small places where the damaged quarter (brackets) are broken off.
Being at a loss as to how to proceed, what damage to look for and how to get the dish realigned (i.e. angle, degrees and elevation etc), I wonder if some of you on this forum can give me some pointers since everyone around here seems to have gone to the small dish networks and the only other sat guy (my original installer) has gone on to get a better job. I've called another "former" sat guy a week ago and he hasn't shown up yet either.
Any help would be really very much appreciated at this point.
Thanks,
brita.
Overall, at first glance the damage seems to be minimal. My DSR 922 was turned off at the time and when I turned it back on I was able to activate the dishmover without any problem, but all I get for a picture is snowy screen. It acts like it's trying to come in but it's just snow. I have moved it to other satellites, left and right of the one it was sitting on, but ---- nothing. No sound, no picture.
It could have been knocked out of alignment.
I had bought the original setup (with a Uniden 7700) and separate dishmover box, 10 years ago. Had it installed by a professional (he really knew what he was doing), and had perfect reception. Despite storms and hurricanes no adjustment was ever necessary. Even now the mount seems undamaged, no scratches, no skid. 2-1/2 years ago, thanks to the brown-outs during hurricanes, we bought the DSR from Skyvision. I set it up myself. Then bought a Fortec to try and get the Outdoor Channel back, set it up according to instructions and got the Sportsman Channel instead as the other had moved to KU. Had also bought a new LNB for "digital" although the 10 + year old LNB worked fine.
I called the only local sat repair person left in this county and asked him to come out and for an estimate to repair the dish. He told me right then that I need a new dish, and that a 7-1/2 footer will do for my location, about 60 miles north of Tampa, Florida. He finally showed up almost 3 weeks later, barely looked at the dish and said an estimate would cost me $75.00, and that I need a new or used dish, cost ranging from $700 - $1,100 with installation.
He also said that the LNB could have been damaged from the impact etc. On the web I read somewhere that the "probe" inside the feedhorn is very sensitive and would be messed up by so much as a fingerprint. Needless to describe how devastated I am.
I can't afford another dish, the insurance company will not pay for a new dish (without depreciation for how long I've had the old one), besides that I may be hardheaded thinking that my old dish is quite usable just needs an adjustment and maybe spot welding in a couple small places where the damaged quarter (brackets) are broken off.
Being at a loss as to how to proceed, what damage to look for and how to get the dish realigned (i.e. angle, degrees and elevation etc), I wonder if some of you on this forum can give me some pointers since everyone around here seems to have gone to the small dish networks and the only other sat guy (my original installer) has gone on to get a better job. I've called another "former" sat guy a week ago and he hasn't shown up yet either.
Any help would be really very much appreciated at this point.
Thanks,
brita.
