Another found treasure! 10.5 ft BUDdy

[McGuyver]

Thanks, that's very thoughtful to offer help but we're not so conveniently close. I'm in northern Kern county Calif very close to the China Lakes Naval Weapons Center and too close to their bomb testing grounds...

BOOMMmmm!!!!

I estimate that I have about 50 to 60 ft of trench to dig as well. The soil isn't too bad right now cuz it's still wet from the last rain some days ago but my back isn't up to it right now, it's really BAD this morning after wrestling with the monster BUD yesterday.

Do you have any photos posted here in the member's photos area? I can't imagine all the BUD's you have, lol... Have you picked up any alien intellegence from another galaxy? You can always tell your neighbor that you ARE communicating with Galaxy 19 and see what he says.

My new (old) BUD will help the scenary a little so I won't have to look at all the neighbor's junk piled up along the property line, it's better to look out the window and see a beautiful BUD than the junk next door

 

[Phottoman]

HA, China Lake, eh? Well, here's a good one for you. I was living behind Willow Springs Raceway in the desert for 14 years, just outside Rosamond. I still own property there, so we weren't as far apart as you may have thought.

I have pictures, as a matter of fact, I just sent three to "someone" at Patriot of some of my dishes, particularly the 1.2m that I am trying to locate the Feed Holder for so I can use that for a mini-bud.

I know my count is getting up there, but I have posted tons of pictures of my grove here, so if you search my postings, you'll find plenty.

Our ground turns into instant concrete after a rain, and what I dug my trench with is the back of a pick. There is a flat scoop like thing on it that I used once the top layer of ground had been broken, it made the work go pretty fast. And it really looks good, about 8 to 10 inches deep, looks sort of like I used a trench shovel to dig it, but they were too expensive, so I made do.

Here's one you may like. It's on the south side of the house taken several months ago, before I started "cleaning up" the grounds, but shows several dishes in several sizes. I've added a couple since this picture was taken, and removed the pipe you see beside the motor driven dish. Yesterday I removed the 110/119 dish, no reason for it to even be there any more, but I left that pipe for another dish I just got last week.

I have one more 1.2m that needs to go up, plus one 10' that needs to be connected, got that up last week, so ... total four 10', two 1.2m, two hughsnet (one up and one to add soon) plus a few scattered dishes AND the motor driven. Nice to have room, right?

Photto

 

[McGuyver]

HA, China Lake, eh? Well, here's a good one for you. I was living behind Willow Springs Raceway in the desert for 14 years, just outside Rosamond. I still own property there, so we weren't as far apart as you may have thought.

I have pictures, as a matter of fact, I just sent three to "someone" at Patriot of some of my dishes, particularly the 1.2m that I am trying to locate the Feed Holder for so I can use that for a mini-bud.

I know my count is getting up there, but I have posted tons of pictures of my grove here, so if you search my postings, you'll find plenty.

Our ground turns into instant concrete after a rain, and what I dug my trench with is the back of a pick. There is a flat scoop like thing on it that I used once the top layer of ground had been broken, it made the work go pretty fast. And it really looks good, about 8 to 10 inches deep, looks sort of like I used a trench shovel to dig it, but they were too expensive, so I made do.

Here's one you may like. It's on the south side of the house taken several months ago, before I started "cleaning up" the grounds, but shows several dishes in several sizes. I've added a couple since this picture was taken, and removed the pipe you see beside the motor driven dish. Yesterday I removed the 110/119 dish, no reason for it to even be there any more, but I left that pipe for another dish I just got last week.

I have one more 1.2m that needs to go up, plus one 10' that needs to be connected, got that up last week, so ... total four 10', two 1.2m, two hughsnet (one up and one to add soon) plus a few scattered dishes AND the motor driven. Nice to have room, right?

Photto

I've been to Rosamond a few times in the past when I was into building street rods, you might know of Gene Winfield's Hot Rod shop in Rosamond. I'm no longer into the car stuff after selling my '57 Chevy street machine back in 2002.

Your dishes look great and looks like you have plenty room for more. I have a 36" Ku motorized dish on a pole that you can see in my last photo, the post is planted 2 ft deep in dirt alone (no concrete) and hasn't budged a hair. The post was a scrap of 2 3/8" O.D. water pipe I found here when I bought the property, it has an elbow fitting on the bottom end with a short piece of pipe at a 90° angle so it worked perfectly without having to cut any pipe. The soil is inconsistant here, some spots are good for planting trees and other spots good for dishes.

I'll have to search your posts for pics, I'd like to see more, I collect alot of member's photos for ideas which has really helped to stir the imagination. I currently have six vacant small posts still on my patio roof after removing the small dishes and cables. The roof needs new covering and someday I'll have to remove the other 4 dishes that are currently in use to get it reroofed. It's a lot easier to work on dishes on the ground so I might just plant more ground posts for them and fill the back yard.

 

[Phottoman]

Well, I haven't been to Rosamond in many many years. I left there in '97 when Mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and never went back. After Mom died, I staying in Southern Calif to care for Dad (as IF he would let me "care" for him), but he died in March of '92. I have no idea what kept me there till '07, but I moved here then and haven't regretted that move.

I was talking to someone from Lancaster a few weeks ago and they tell me that Rosamond has really grown in the time I have been gone. Probably a good thing that I didn't go back, eh?

My girlfriend had often worried that if I DID go back I would still be there, but life is good here and I have a really nice little business that is growing.

Retire? Me? Retread maybe, but retire? NEVER.

Photto

 

[McGuyver]

Phottoman, I don't think you're missing much really, it's like any other town around, over populated IMO. My little town has a population of around 1000 and I hope it stays this way.

I've been working on the lite stuff of the dish and checking it for square, etc and it looks good except for the homemade feedhorn support poles, I layed them side by side and they're all different lengths, lol One pole is about 2 inches shorter than the longest. The longest one is very close to what I calculate they should be. I'll be double checking my calculations and then get started on fabricating 4 new ones from EMT.

 

[McGuyver]

Center Feed LNB setup

Today I set up a center feed pole on the dish with the scalar ring and LNB. I just used some misc. brackets I had in my parts. The dish was originally a center feed model so I thought to utilize it for determining the best position for for the scalar ring. This arrangment will provide adjustability in many positions and to assist in calculating the lengths of the four poles if I decide to add them. At this point I'm thinking it might be best to just use the center feed pole design and secure it with guy wires, it would be a lot less work if it works indeed.

I would like to know if one method is better than the other, should I fabricate four poles to support the scalar ring or use what I'm made thus far? Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[turbosat]

McGuyver, just caught up on your entire thread , looks good so far. Could use a little black paint though, haha. But not familiar with living in the desert, paint might not last for long with the blowing sand rubbing it off the metal. I like your center feed innovation-looks like you will have even great control over the focal length adjustment than you would have with the original button-hook pole, I'd leave it on there if you have it centered. I have the formula somewhere here for figuring out the f/d, if you need it, never could remember it.
Careful with the back strain, unless you live near a chiropractor! I do envy your hole-digging, if I could get a hole that big around here in less than 2 days it'd be amazing.

 

[McGuyver]

McGuyver, just caught up on your entire thread , looks good so far. Could use a little black paint though, haha. But not familiar with living in the desert, paint might not last for long with the blowing sand rubbing it off the metal. I like your center feed innovation-looks like you will have even great control over the focal length adjustment than you would have with the original button-hook pole, I'd leave it on there if you have it centered. I have the formula somewhere here for figuring out the f/d, if you need it, never could remember it.
Careful with the back strain, unless you live near a chiropractor! I do envy your hole-digging, if I could get a hole that big around here in less than 2 days it'd be amazing.

Hi Turbosat, if I decide to paint it, that will come later after the construction, good quality paint will last a long while out here. I have used a F/D calculator and the results indicated a f/d of 47.8" so just to be safe I came up with this design for adjustability. It's somewhat a temporary setup for experimentation and to determine some needed factors in order to accomplish my goal of mounting two scalar rings/C-lnb's. My idea is to have this as a fixed dish aimed primarily at the 91W and have the accompanying C-lnb aimed at the 99W. At this point it's just theory and a dream but I'll soon determine if it's doable.

I will first align the dish to true south, lock it down, then to the 91W with the single lnb, then with that position documented I will then navigate the dish to the 99W and measure the travel distance between the two sats, this will give me the approximate figures for adjoining the two scalar rings if they overlap a space. I'm primarily after the stronger TP (4000 H 26400) WHTV on 99W which should be no problem on a "bank shot" lnb position. The 91W (3820 V 30000) FOX Movie channel TP is weaker here so the "bore shot" lnb will be on the 91W to get full quality signal. These two sats are a 8° spread and with the deep c-band reflector it should bring the two close enough... hopefully!

If they do overlap, I've sketched out an idea of joining the two scalar rings which is only theory at this time. I've attached a sketch of what I guess I might have to deal with, it's only a guess as I research and develop. The two lnb's may not even come this close, therefore the sketch will be amended accordingly. The mounting configuration to the center feed pole will be then determined.

 

[Anole]

Kudos on the fine thread!
I've always enjoyed your work and pictures.
The thought of rebuilding a button hook feed was never something have considered.
You've shown how to make an amazing LNB mount!
Looks like it'd be quite easily adjustable, while a 4-pole would take a lot of work, and likely be less adjustable.

I'd give it a couple of coats of flat gray primer.

As for your dual LNB layout, both Iceberg and Pendragon have shown creative ways to handle the problem.
I'll dig out liinks to the threads, if you haven't already read them.


On and on another matter . . .
F = Focal length
D = Depth of the dish
So, F/D really does mean focal length divided by dish depth, and it's what you set when you slide the feedhorn in and out of the scalar on a BUD.
ref: Footprints by Dish Size - Adjusting the Polar Mount for Prime Focus Antenna - C/Ku-Band Satellite Systems - Tuning, Tracking, Azimuth, Elevation, Declination Angles, F/D Ratio, Focal Distance, Inclinometer, LNB/Feedhorn Assembly, Actuator Assembly, C

 

[McGuyver]

Kudos on the fine thread!
I've always enjoyed your work and pictures.
The thought of rebuilding a button hook feed was never something have considered.
You've shown how to make an amazing LNB mount!
Looks like it'd be quite easily adjustable, while a 4-pole would take a lot of work, and likely be less adjustable.

I'd give it a couple of coats of flat gray primer.

As for your dual LNB layout, both Iceberg and Pendragon have shown creative ways to handle the problem.
I'll dig out liinks to the threads, if you haven't already read them.


On and on another matter . . .
F = Focal length
D = Depth of the dish
So, F/D really does mean focal length divided by dish depth, and it's what you set when you slide the feedhorn in and out of the scalar on a BUD.
ref: Footprints by Dish Size - Adjusting the Polar Mount for Prime Focus Antenna - C/Ku-Band Satellite Systems - Tuning, Tracking, Azimuth, Elevation, Declination Angles, F/D Ratio, Focal Distance, Inclinometer, LNB/Feedhorn Assembly, Actuator Assembly, C

Thanks Anole, you're right, a 4 pole rig doesn't offer any adjustability other than what the scalar ring offers, this is why I'm taking this approach. The current bracketry is temporary until all is considered, then I'll get creative.

And please do post the links you mentioned cuz I could use all the info right now. I love to see other people's work and their accomplishments. On Sunday I'll most likely be ready to align the dish and setup the 'ol TV & stb by the dish and see what it does. I have yet to secure the feed pole with guy wires, right now it's okay for testing but it may shake a bit if the winds pick up. I have noticed that these mesh dishes resist the winds quite a bit and this one whistles, lol

Gray paint on this BUD??? I'll have to think about it, lol

 

[Anole]

Thanks Anole, you're right, a 4 pole rig doesn't offer any adjustability other than what the scalar ring offers, this is why I'm taking this approach.

You might look at Stogie's Pinnacle dish.
It's got four legs, and the scalar is sub-mounted to a plate, and adjustable on some strange hollow nylon bolts.
Might be kinda hard to emulate, but I have confidence that if it attracts you, ya'll come up with an interesting variation!

And please do post the links you mentioned cuz I could use all the info right now. I love to see other people's work and their accomplishments.

Okay, see below. - * -
Yea, I keep my own picture library of interesting things I've found on this forum and others.
Got quite the dossier on you, too! -

Gray paint on this BUD??? I'll have to think about it, lol

Yea, what WAS I thinking??
Actually, I only meant on your button-hook.
By all means make the dish yellow and the mount red, or any other color scheme! -

* - links:
Ignore all the circular, and the orthomode, etc. . . thread by Pendragon:
C-band Linear/Circular Orthomode Feed Modification

Two cool threads by Iceberg, with nearly the same title:
2 C-Band LNB's on one 6' dish
2 C-Band LNB's on a 6 foot dish

Stogie and his Paraclipse odyssey.
Link takes you part way in, hopefully near the feedhorn mounting plate.

There, that should give you food for thought! - :up
Looking forward to what you come up with.

 

[McGuyver]

Thanks Anole, very useful info. I was looking at something like what you mentioned, don't recall where I found it but here's a photo of it.

 

[McGuyver]

I spent most of the day trying to lock a C-band signal with this mesh dish and NO luck whatsoever. I mounted a circular Ku LNBF on it to use the DSS birds for alignment purposes and did lock signals but after remounting this cheap Panorama ER-861 C LNB I still can't get squat. I'm frustrated :rant:, I'll be trying other C LNB's to see how they respond .

 

[Anole]

I was wire-tapping some chatter between ACradio and Stogie this weekend.
They're brain-stormin' up a couple of mounting bracket designs.
Neither has published yet, as the ideas are still flyin'.
Stay tuned.

 

[McGuyver]

I had a little time today and tried different skew angles on the LNB and BINGO! Finally got some signals so I moved the dish across a few sats and checked alignment. It appears to be quite accurate except for the LNB needs more tweaking, it's hard to reach the LNB on this monster so it's taking time. High winds picked up this afternoon so I closed up shop for the day. But for now I'm watching the FOX Movie channel on the 91W

 

[Phottoman]

Feels good, doesn't it? Congrats, NOW yer gonna be hooked.

Photto

 

[McGuyver]

Phottoman, I've been hooked with my 8 footer . We have high winds here that will be with us for the next few days. Last night the winds blew at about 50 mph and during the night I heard a loud crash , at first thought I feared the dish blew over or broke so I turned on the TV and had no signal, I thought it did and it was really dark outside at that time so I went out with my flashlight and it was still standing but I figured the wind beat it up so bad that it was out of focus. The loud noise I heard must have been the neighbor's junk blowing around so I went back to bed and this morning I turned on the TV and still have the FOX movie channel at the same quality signal strength as before. Wheww! FOX must have gone off air for the late hours. So now it looks like this installation will stand the test of high winds... just hope the winds don't get worse. The dish does flex and shake with the high winds causing minor pixelation.

 

[Phottoman]

We are having a slew of winter weather as I type this. In the past half hour, rain, wind and now hail. Small pieces I'll admit, but hail none the less. The poor dog is running around scared to death.

I must have done OK in setting up all my dishes, since everything still seems to be working.

You brought up an interesting memory. I can remember LOTS of times, living both here and behind Willow Springs, when I would hear a crash in the middle of the night and run outside to see what fell, or caused the noise.

Gosh, will I EVER be able to sleep all night through a storm?

Well, at least I finally decided to stay home from work today, nothing going to be happening in town that I have to be there for. Besides, I need to be home to place some orders on line for LNBs and switches, plus I saw an LNB holder that I want to play with.

Photto

 

[Phottoman]

And now it's SNOWING, honest to god, third year in a row that we have had snow here.

For anyone reading this, that doesn't know where I am, I am in the AZ desert, 20 miles East of Laughlin NV, 90 miles South of Las Vegas NV, and about 15 miles West of Kingman AZ.

Phottoette "knows" is snows here every year. Well, at least it HAS snowed each year since we moved here.

(What ever happened to "global Warming?)

Photto

 

[McGuyver]

I'm less than 5 miles east of the Sierra Nevada mtns and it snows up the slope quite often, we've had snow here on the ground twice in the 5 yrs we've been here. It hailed once and the wind blows often, hardly ever rains. Get's really hot here in the summer just like Vegas.

Well I planted two more posts today for two 90cm Ku dishes, I want to relocate my roof mounted dishes on the ground close together so I can get organized. The 2 new posts are on either side of the motorized dish and all 3 Ku dishes are between the BUD's, I'll be adding a 4th post for the old KTI dish too. It'll be a lot easier to work on them once they're all on the ground.

I have my big Primestar dish just outside the east wall of the house pointed at AMC-6 [72W]. I guess I'll leave the P* where it is and just tie it in when I get to that step. Then the older 90cm KTI dish on the roof uses a larger post of 2 3/8" so I'll have to round up a post for it too.

One 90cm dish has 2 LNBF's for the 83W & 89W and another has 2 LNBF's for the 97W & 101W. I'll likely be mounting a linear Ku LNBF on the 8' BUD for yet another sat and possibly do the same for another 90cm dish. I'll have to decide which sat arrangement suites me best. And then there's the conduit issue, digging trenches