Buying a 90cm sat dish - The Odyssey

[vicdiaz]

Hi,

For the last 3 weeks I've been trying to buy a 90cm Ku dish from one of the many online satellite dish stores without any luck (will not mention vendors). Issues are either availability, shipping rates to Puerto Rico or that they won't ship it at all, and last but not least, promise a shipping quote and 4 days later and after many follow-ups, have not responded at all. One even took my online order (item supposedly in stock), kept my money for a week, and after I followed up on the order status he cancelled the order and refunded my money without any explanation at all. I supposed he did not liked being followed-up!

Any recommendations besides the usual suspects?? I prefer shipping via USPS Priority mail.

Vic

 

[Mr Tony]

Have you tried SatelliteAV? I'm sure he ships to Puerto Rico

edit: his Ebay auctions say only CONUS states.....maybe sending him a PM?

 

[Stevemo]

I would go door to door asking people where they got theirs from. These things usually get shipped by the pallet and distributed locally.
Cheers, Steve

 

[Mr Tony]

I know we've got some folks from Puerto Rico (Bayamon area if I remember correctly)...maybe they will know

 

[vicdiaz]

Hi

 

[Anole]

my short list

First, I would call up SateliteAV and twist the owners arm: Brian.
Next, the owner at Sadoun (now in Texas): Jamal
Then WSI / Galaxy Marketing, southern California
lastly, a member recently mentioned a deal on a 1m dish, I think at Solid Signal.

 

[vicdiaz]

I would go door to door asking people where they got theirs from. These things usually get shipped by the pallet and distributed locally.
Cheers, Steve

Hi Stevemo,

Locally I have not seen any 90cm/36in dishes around. Local satellite deales mostly carry DirecTV and DN stuff and very few, if none FTA gear. The reason I'm looking for one is that my 100x110cm dish is too heavy for my SG2100 motor and won't move it back to zero once I'm past -45/+45 degrees of zero. I thought it was the varistor issue reported way back on the Openbox receivers but after replacing the offending component the issue still lingers on.

Hi Ice,

Will PM SatAV as recommended.

Regards,

 

[vicdiaz]

First, I would call up SateliteAV and twist the owners arm: Brian.
Next, the owner at Sadoun (now in Texas): Jamal
Then WSI / Galaxy Marketing, southern California
lastly, a member recently mentioned a deal on a 1m dish, I think at Solid Signal.

Hi Anole,

1. Will PM Brian.
2. Almost had a heart attack when quoted shipping cost from Sadoun's online store!
3. No email response received either from WSI or Galaxy Marketing.
4. My dish is a 1m, too heavy for the SG 2100 even though is advertised as being able to manage a 1.2m dish.

Regards,

 

[rv1pop]

Only a thought.. There are orphanages in Haiti and possibly in PR that get shipments frequently from churches / ministries in Florida. Perhaps one of those could get you a dish into their shipment if you were to have them get a Glorystar setup from Brian (They get someone to pay for it) and you install it for them in trade for your shipping.

Adding a second dish to a shipment should not be too expensive. Don't tell Paul Crouch or Rich Wilkerson I mentioned their names.

 

[Anole]

all kinds of ideas

A bigger motor might be cheaper. Take a look at DG-380 @ Sadoun.
OR ... There are mods you can make to your existing motor, to run it on higher voltage all the time.
18 v is a no-brainer, but I would go up to 24 v if necessary.
Problem is, will the bearings last, if you get the motor to swing the heavy dish?

 

[vicdiaz]

Update:

After sending e-mails to a few sat dealers and making a dozen local calls I found a sat dealer right next to my office building!!! No fancy advertisements and the guy carries lots of well know brands. Visited him today and got my new 90cm (36x41in) dish for $37.00 USD after taxes!!!

Spent most of late afternoon on the roof drilling and installing the sat dish, but got really dark early (autumn) and decided to finish the alignment tomorrow.

Something I discovered today is that the suppossedly 40x44in dish (never measured it before) in truth is a 48x52in dish. No wonder the poor SG2100 was strugling!

Now my setup is a 30x36in (Dish Network dish with linear LNB) pointing to TELSAT12 (15W), a 48x52 pointing to AMC21 (125W) and the 36x41 will scan the rest of the belt!

 

[Anole]

Congratulations on your success!
So, instead of a 1.0 m dish, you actually had a 1.2 m!
l
Let us know how well the little dish works out for you.

 

[turbosat]

Great way to finish a search, Vic, that was super luck. What kind of dish did you get for $37?? Metal or composite? If those little motors won't do-you could build one of those c-band polar mount rigs like I did for my first moveable ku dish. Of course you need a big pole and a c-band polar mount, and a place to put all that!

 

[vicdiaz]

Hi Turbosat,

Metal dish. The base is a little bit flimsy and I'm having issues with USALS since the pole tends to bend depending on where the dish leans to. I can get a very sturdy new metal stand for less than $15.00.