"Beer" BUD

[ftageekyyc]

So, I picked up a solid 8.5 foot spun aluminum BUD yesterday for the price of a case of Miller Genuine Draft. ?This is the first of the 3 I picked up this summer where I have had to pay anything other than my time, travel and gas for the vehicle.

The unit was located at a house that is going to be demolished in a couple of weeks. The demo contractor has promised to dig out the pole for me when they have a backhoe on site. Keeping my fingers crossed...

Is there a prize for finding the most rare BUD equipment that no one else has ever seen before? What you have here is your world famous solid dish supplied by Jack Williamson Enterprises of Red Deer, Alberta. I'd be surprised if it was actually manufactured there, but you never know.

I was not planning to pick up another dish, but figured I should grab a solid one when I had the chance. Of course, my big ladder, angle grinder and sawzall were 3 hours away, so I spent more time than I should have taking things apart.

Mount and pole

Actuator

Back view with TV antenna pole

Nice feedhorn cover will a clamp you could throw a lock on

Dish after removing feed and arms

Back view of dish showing bracing arms

Norsat LNB with a very faded label

And an Omni Spectra motor where a Google search brings I can only find a single hit on this site, with no replies.

Dish survived the 300 km trailer journey from Calgary to the cabin, and does well on the string test. I know this is a top down photo, but there is less than a string width when running through the holes for mounting the feed support arms.

Dish does not pass the wife test though, she is not too excited about a big white golf ball in the middle of the yard. I'll be studying up on the best way to camouflage this puppy with a cool paint job, then maybe it will end up waaayyy out in the back corner of the lot.

So, if the weather holds, and I can scrounge the promised pole, and the Titanium LNBF and actuator controller ship in November... maybe I'll have the 10 foot mesh up and running before it gets too frozen. Otherwise, the BUD goes on the next year project list.

 

[toucan-man]

I like it, Jack Williamson is smiling. There is a J Williamson in the Red Deer phone book. Maybe you should give J a call see if it's him !

 

[ftageekyyc]

I got a few hits on the company name, maybe Jack is still around.

 

[beavs2112]

Nice Dish! What would you estimate the weight of.... the dish only? the mount?
The Omni Spectra motor is for skew control of the probe in the feedhorn. funny how they "borrowed" Andrew Corps. copyrighted red lightning bolt logo to turn it into a W.

 

[turbosat]

Good find, like that actuator too, though it has a little rust I bet it still works. Not sure about driving 3 hours for a piece of pipe though, lol.

 

[KE4EST]

Agreed that is a long drive for a piece of pipe unless, you have to go that way again anyway for something else.

 

[ftageekyyc]

I travel back and forth between the two locations regularly. The pole from this BUD is a half hour from home in the same city where we currently live. If I can scrounge it I will grab it just cuz its available for free, but there is lots of other pipe around here in the vicinity of the cabin.

A BUD (or maybe 2) will be planted at the cabin, where we will be moving to live permanently in the coming months. That is, if I ever get done renovating the house so we can sell it, and finish renovating the cabin enough so we can use it.

For weights - two people can lift the dish easily, guessing 80 to 100 lbs. I was able to manoeuvre it around on the trailer while strapping it down, then ease it off the back onto the ground no problem. The steel spider frame that cradles the dish with the pole mount hardware, guessing ~40 lbs.

I also thought that the stylized lightning bolt W looked kind of like the Andrews logo when I saw the ad. I spent some time wandering through Google image searches trying to find it before I first went out to look at the dish without having any success.

I now have 3 actuators, so I guess my next BUD related project is to make sure at least one of them works while I decide on an LNBF and dish positioner.

 

[Kraven]

Sweet find mate

 

[ftageekyyc]

Totally unexpected find.

The dish was on one of the last undeveloped properties near what was the west edge of the city now surrounded by new housing.

Twenty years ago there was nothing but acreages and small ranches.

 

[ftageekyyc]

Well, the house demolition finally happened, but the hoe operator was unable to pull the dish pole without bending it.

Just another data point on BUD poles. An 8.5 inch aluminum dish was securely mounted on an ~8 foot pole set into ~2 feet of concrete.

While at the site I was able to scavenge a 12 foot long chunk of thin wall 3 inch OD pipe which I think I will try for mounting my 1.2 Metre fibreglass CM.

So, my outdoor BUD install work is now on the back burner for the winter. I will be watching the feedback on the new Titanium gear with great interest over the next few months. In the meantime, I will see if I can get one of the 3 scavenged actuators working then hopefully be ready to plant a pole when the ground thaws in the spring.

 

[tdti1]

Nice find. It could have been made there, I do know AMS (American Metal Spinning) dishes were made here in Montreal, the guy basically did a Andrews clone lol, I know they shipped bulk orders across Canada and custom labelled dishes for many company’s.

If you do get a hold of the guy, or that company it would be nice to know, maybe you can even get a tip on where to find some more

 

[ftageekyyc]

That could be the source. I think I've only seen 1 other metal big dish in Alberta since I started tracking Kijiji ads. And all I seem to see when I'm driving around is mesh.

Maybe I will give Jack a call and see what he has to say.