Adventures in dish hunting and what we find

[linuxman]

Thanks for your thread. If I didn't see it I may have never paided much attention to what was out there!!! THANK YOU!

You are more than welcome!

The next few weeks will prime Dish Hunting season. After it warms up a little bit and before the leaves come back on, you can really see them and don't mind taking them down when it is a little warmer.

I love hunting dishes, even if I don't need them. You never know what you might find.

 

[thomas34461usa]

I have a Big Dish now and one on the way!

Hello linuxman Fred,
Remember my letter to you about finding all of thesr Satellite Dishes and finding that out of business Satelite store?

"I found a Satellite Shop that was out of business. He had about 6 dishes' there. I got a hold of him and he told me that he would have to think of it for a few days if he was willing to let go of them."

He called me last night and said if I could be there today (Saturday 2/16/2008) at 8:30am he would give me one.

I have it now!!! Looks pretty good too. Needs a little Rust-Oleum on the rusted parts and a new coat of paint to make it look new again. Has a few (not much) dings in it most likely from hail.

It says on the feedhorn (very faded) Unidish and on the arm it says "Von Weise" Linear Actuators. Are you or anybody else familar with Unidish and Von Weise? I have enclosed some photos of "MY" Big Dish!! :clap

How does this one "Unidish" compare to the "Uniden UST-705" with the name of "RADAR" on the arm?

I still can get the Uniden UST-705 too. So going from wanting one to having two in a very short time is fantastic! I was talking to somebody else and they have two dish for the purpose if someone is watching TV in another room they can see what they want even if it is on a differnt satellite.

I guess the photo's never made it on this post. Will send in next post.






Thanks,
Tom

 

[linuxman]

I have enclosed some photos of "MY" Big Dish!!

I guess the photos didn't come through.

The Unidish is more than likely Unimesh, and the Von Weise actuator is a good dish mover.

Congrats on the good find.

 

[thomas34461usa]

10' Unimesh with Von Weise actuator

I guess the photos didn't come through.

Fred,
You're right they didn't make it! Will send in this post.

The Unidish is more than likely Unimesh,

You're right again!!! It wasn't till late afternoon that I could see the feedhorn without any clare. It reads Unimesh.

and the Von Weise actuator is a good dish mover.

Congrats on the good find.

The Von Weise actuator is not has rusted as the Uniden actuator. It does look a lot smaller then the Uniden actuator. I have read several pro and cons when it came to talking about the Von Weise actuator brand. Do you think I may have to replace that one too? If its a 10' Unimesh Dish... What size should I get for a actuator? Any Name Brands I should look for?

On the feedhorn, how do I tell if it's setup for KU-Band? The main dish looks great a few minor dent in the mesh but not too bad. A little surface rust on the brackets that could be repainted. Should I repaint the dish or would that cause some problems with reception? Speaking of brackets... In the post where I sent photo's of the Uniden the back brace (if I'm calling that right?) seems to be bigger then the Unimesh. Should I beef up that too?

The deal with me getting the Uniden fell through
It's going to her Father instead. Oh well it's not all bad, at least I got a Big Dish now!
And you are right again, I think it was a good find!

I live on a acre of land, how far should I put the Support Pole and Dish from the home? About 200' more or less?

Thanks for all of your advice. I'm just trying to make sure I do it right the first time around.

Tom

P.S. I'm going back over there today so I will take some photos of the satellite shop and the dishes.

 

[linuxman]

Do you think I may have to replace that one too? If its a 10' Unimesh Dish... What size should I get for a actuator? Any Name Brands I should look for?

The Von Weise that you have is a great dish mover. It doesn't matter if it is 18" or 24", the shaft will only come out about 12.5" travelling from 139W to 143W, so 18" is plenty. That is the length of travel on my 10' Unimesh.

Should I repaint the dish or would that cause some problems with reception?

Painting is usually a good idea if anything needs it. As long as you avoid metallic containing paints, you won't hurt the receptiom.

Speaking of brackets... In the post where I sent photo's of the Uniden the back brace (if I'm calling that right?) seems to be bigger then the Unimesh. Should I beef up that too?

It is called a mounting ring and polar mount.

Whatever was manufactured for the dish should be sufficient to handle the job.

If your Unimesh is properly tuned it will provide you with great signal strength for C and Ku.

The only way to tell if it is C and Ku is to take the feed-horn cover off and see if it has a C and a Ku LNB on it.

I live on a acre of land, how far should I put the Support Pole and Dish from the home? About 200' more or less?

The closer the better. If you can avoid it, I wouldn't go further than 100 - 125 feet. Remember whatever coax is inside the house counts as distance for the signal and voltage to travel.

Nice Dish!!

 

[savoy9020]

Picked up a Channel Master 10' this week. It's got a fair amount of hail damage, but no punctures or tears.

What's the best way to repair the fabric? Can you find the mesh panels for this old Channel Master somewhere?

 

[turbosat]

Ive heard of rolling the mesh flat again with a rolling pin, if you take it off the dish, lot of work I suppose. You could prob flatten it back out with a couple of flat pieces of metal, one held against the backside of the ding. Like those auto-body repair tools they use to fix dents, forget what they call 'em now.

 

[savoy9020]

Ive heard of rolling the mesh flat again with a rolling pin, if you take it off the dish, lot of work I suppose. You could prob flatten it back out with a couple of flat pieces of metal, one held against the backside of the ding. Like those auto-body repair tools they use to fix dents, forget what they call 'em now.

I had thought about doing that. Maybe using a ball-pene hammer and something heavy to backup to the dents. There's a lot of them, and I'm sure that can't help signal quality.

Thanks

 

[thomas34461usa]

Fred,
Thanks you very much for your answers!!!!

The Von Weise that you have is a great dish mover. It doesn't matter if it is 18" or 24", the shaft will only come out about 12.5" travelling from 139W to 143W, so 18" is plenty. That is the length of travel on my 10' Unimesh.

I'll stick to the Von Weise first just to see if it works.

Painting is usually a good idea if anything needs it. As long as you avoid metallic containing paints, you won't hurt the receptiom.

Thank you, I was wondering about that I will look for the right paint. I will take off take the feed-horn cover off and see if it has a C and a Ku LNB on it as soon as I have it connected to the pole.

The closer the better. If you can avoid it, I wouldn't go further than 100 - 125 feet. Remember whatever coax is inside the house counts as distance for the signal and voltage to travel. Nice Dish!!

I started digging a hole 96 feet from the house, 5' deep x 20" wide for a pole that is 15' tall. 5' in the hole. Also putting cement on the inside of the pole. Thanks again for your help. I get the steel pole tommorow.

Here are some shots of the former Doug's Satellite Shop.

Tom

 

[linuxman]

Looks like there are multiple LNBs on both of the dishes at the shop. You might luck out and get C/Ku.

 

[thomas34461usa]

Another question, when will it end!

Looks like there are multiple LNBs on both of the dishes at the shop. You might luck out and get C/Ku.

Hello Fred,
I thought my now I had all my questions answered by you, Thank you very much. Will here I'am again. As I said in an earlier post here: "I started digging a hole 96 feet from the house, 5' deep x 20" wide for a pole that is 15' tall. 5' in the hole. Also putting cement on the inside of the pole. Thanks again for your help. I get the steel pole tommorow.
I went to Home Depot and got 6 bags of 80lb. quickcrete mix. I thought that would be enough. That was until I found a thread in C-BAND Satellite Discussion>Big CBand Help>
Big CBand Help
A thread from vista-pro Junior Member.
He says in his post and I quote:

"

i've got the poled moved now finally. i used 25 bags of quickcrete 1st tomorrow im hoping it will be dry enough to mount the dish on with. i have to find out where the dish is located now not sure what satellite it is on i put the old arm back on.. How do i tell what satellite its on by looking at it .or is it away? please let me know thank you.

:shocked

Now my question and I hope my final question for a while is that I thought I was safe in getting only 6 bags of 80lb quickcrete.
Should I go out and get more quickcrete and dig a deeper hole???
Going to get pole and was going to set it in today with quickrete but will hold off till I hear from you or anybody else.
Thanks again,
Tom

 

[turbosat]

Get lost! - sometimes pays off

While trying to find a job early Sat, I took a wrong turn and ended up about 10miles out of place. Once I was awake enough to figure that out, I turned around and took a right, trying to head west in the country. First county road I found, I swung right, and there right on the corner was a Primestar 1M looking to be in very good shape. Not wanting to knock on doors at 8am Saturday I noted it and kept trucking.
Now I will have to make a return trip soon to see about grabbing this one,hehe. Can never have too many primestars lying around.

 

[thomas34461usa]

12' dish

Hello everybody,
Well I think you all know that I got a 10' Unimesh Dish then went out to get a support pole for it and it turned out to be too big. So I went back and got another pole, a 3" pole which had to be ordered. I'm still waiting for the pole to come. In the mean time I had this 4" pole that I didn't think I would be able to use. Until I saw this other satellite Dish at the dead end of my block hidden in some Pine trees. I talk to the guy and inquired if he would like to get rid of it. He told me he still had all the recievers and manuals for it. It turns out that it is a 12' dish. He's asking $200.00 for it and the equipment. I have enclosed some pictures of it. He tells me it still works?!? Looks like the feedhorn is broken and the actuator is rusted. I think I can make it look and perform new again. From looking at the photo's please advise me if I should get it and how much. I do not know who the maker of it is. Any answers would be appreciated.

 

[woodheat/nooil]

12' Orbitron Satellite Dish & Uniden Receiver - eBay (item 230225178765 end time Mar-02-08 06:48:16 PST)
Saw this one on ebay no bids for a 12 footer, but in Connecticut.

 

[gabshere]

It turns out that it is a 12' dish. He's asking $200.00 for it and the equipment. I have enclosed some pictures of it. He tells me it still works?!? Looks like the feedhorn is broken and the actuator is rusted. I think I can make it look and perform new again. From looking at the photo's please advise me if I should get it and how much. I do not know who the maker of it is. Any answers would be appreciated.

I suspect there are a lot more dishes here in arkansas but i don't think i would pay for one unless it was in good shape or a birdview. So unless they are real hard to find i would keep searching. the dish listed above in post 253 is in poor shape EDIT : poor = all bolts are rusted and actuator in poor shape ... and although the owner said it still works i doubt it ( although not good to tell the owner). the feed horn does look bad ( but its just angled differently) and the lnb/lna looks older so i would suspect older equipment ( receiver) the buttonhook design sometimes sags and a few have a unique way the feedhorn is attached to the dish limiting your options on upgrading the scaler / feedhorn.

great photos..... hopefully i will be able to get out and look at a few dishes this week

 

[woodheat/nooil]

12' Orbitron Satellite Dish & Uniden Receiver - eBay (item 230225178765 end time Mar-02-08 06:48:16 PST)
I like seeing a low bid win.

 

[voomvoom]

I do not know who the maker of it is. Any answers would be appreciated.

Tom I don't know the maker, but it looks like a Perforated dish, kind of like some Birdview's and I think Perfect 10 made some, others also made some? Perforated dishes are some of the best reflectors out there...! Not sure if I would give $200 for the dish, cause there is obviously a lot it's lacking (no actuator in perticular), but the reflector looks great to me, and if it is Perforated, it is probably worth it, especially if you can afford it. The receivers he has, if any, could also be a determining factor on the price?

 

[thomas34461usa]

"Perfect 10" dish??? :clap

Tom I don't know the maker, but it looks like a Perforated dish, kind of like some Birdview's and I think Perfect 10 made some, others also made some? Perforated dishes are some of the best reflectors out there...! Not sure if I would give $200 for the dish, cause there is obviously a lot it's lacking (no actuator in perticular), but the reflector looks great to me, and if it is Perforated, it is probably worth it, especially if you can afford it. The receivers he has, if any, could also be a determining factor on the price?

Hello Voomvoom, I didn't know who the maker of it was. I guess I'm still a novice at this, but learning. I did know that it wasn't a birdview because of seeing them here at this site. They have what appears as another circle in the middle of the dish and of course the Bird on top. I also knew from looking at it that it was well built and very sturdy looking. I tried to capture that in the photo's I took.

Also what I found interesting and may be a clue as to who made it. Underneath the dish as part of the framework are angle iron welded together. Two triangles and put together like the Star of David. Does this at all seem to be familiar to anybody here? Maybe I reaching for straws or Pine Needles, there sure is enough of them in the dish. But I thought it may be some sort of a silent signature from the maker??

I'm not familiar with the "Perfect 10" dish. Are they still being made or did they go by the wayside like Birdview? Are there any images of a Perfect 10? Also is Perfect 10 as in Perfect 10 feet" Because this dish is a 12 footer. Maybe that was a silly question. Like I said I'm still learning.

I was concerned in seeing this dish and wondering if I had found a real find! Or a nightmare! The dish looks like its been holding gobbledygook for years, garbage, pop cans and a hornet nest under one of the sections. That's why I wanted to get your opinion before I gave this guy the money. It did look like it had a actuator in the back but it was so badly rusted I figured I would have to get a new one. I really didn't know what to make of the feedhorn. It looked busted to me and it looked like it was missing the cover?

He wants to hold off for two weeks before I get it. Something about that it was tax season and that he needed to find the other parts like the receivers. He also told me that when I come back that the dish needs to be completely dismantled. I was thinking of just lowering it and setting it in the back of a trailer and bring it home, about 2 blocks from me. Wouldn't dismantling it cause it to warp? He told me no as long as we gave it the string test. Then I remembered that being said before about that test. Still I'm concerned about breaking it into several sections. Your thoughts please, anybody?

I looked up for a brand new 12' dish and they go for around $1100.00+ and the thought of $200.00 wasn't bad for all that he says he has. At the same time I don't want to be giving him $200. for rubbish.

Thanks,
Tom

 

[phlatwound]

Thomas, here is a pic of my setup, I'm pretty sure this dish is made by Perfect 10, it's a 10 footer and probably of around 1993 vintage.

 

[phlatwound]

and another view: