Buying & Moving a 12 Foot Dish - Need Advice re NEW Back Yard Installation

[jsattv]

Bought the 12 Footer Today:
Decided to take the Plunge for more C Band and hopefully KU when I went with my friend George half way across town, and purchased the 12 Foot Dish today. This is what I ended up with for the $100.00 that I paid:

12 Foot Aluminum Spun (I think) Dish, see original setup in pic 1,
6 Foot Steel Heavy Duty Ground Mount Tripod Post / Stand - pic 2,
Dish Ring with Von Weiss Actuator - pic 3,
Uniden 9900 Receiver with Remote,
Uniden UST 9900 Power Supply - with 01HG Power Cord,
T-Com 5500 LNB.

The owner wanted $200.00,- I offered $50.00 - we settled on $100.00. I think its a fair deal since 12 Foot Dishes and the Equipment provided do not seem to come along every day. Also the owner phoned me tonight saying he had located the Uniden 9900 Manual which I will pick up next week.

Taking Everything Apart and Transporting across Town:
Since the owner had already taken the system down - (said he needed to redo the flat roof on his house where the dish was), we removed the Actuator / Motor from the Ring, took the braces off the steel Stand which allowed us to fold up the feet on the Dish Stand, then we dissassembled and split the 12 Foot Dish in two after carefully marking what connects to what with masking tape.

The hard part was lowering the Dish off the 15 foot flat roof, I held it over the side of the house and George went down and took each of the 2 Dish Sections. Loaded up the Dish Stand and Feedhorn Rods in my car, and the Dish Ring in his trunk, and 2 piece Dish went onto Georges' Car Top Carrier which we secured with ropes - see pic. George uses this home made carrier to transport canoes all the time, so he said that a Dish should also work. We drove across town and reached my driveway with no problems - 2 more pics. Resting place of the 12 Footer for now is against my garage - see pic.

Bent FeedHorn Rod - How to Fix?
One of the aluminum rods that holds the feedhorn is bent - see pic. Can this be bent back? It's aluminum so if I put it in a vise could it be further damaged? What's the best way straighten it out?

Dish Hole Size - is it okay for KU Band??
Took a closeup pic of the Mesh Size holes by putting a pencil in one of them. See pic - they measured slightly over 2/16 inch but under 3/16 inch. Would a Corotor II or BSC621 LNB allow for C/KU? If so which one is recommended?

What is the Best most Secure way to install the Dish Steel Tripod Stand in My Backyard?
Lastly, does anyone know the best way to securily install the 3 foot heavy duty stand in my backyard? Should I use 3 concrete cardboard tubes from Home Depot (8 feet long and 6 inches wide), fill them with concrete and push carrige Bolts in the curing concrete to secure then level the Tripod Stand? What is the best way to do this? The 12 footer Dish needs to be at the back right hand corner of my yard to get a clear East to West shot, but I'm not sure how many feet to leave Behind the Dish up to the Fence to allow for Actuator adjustments.
Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jsattv]

Bought the 12 Footer Today:
Decided to take the Plunge for more C Band and hopefully KU when I went with my friend George half way across town, and purchased the 12 Foot Dish today. This is what I ended up with for the $100.00 that I paid:

12 Foot Aluminum Spun (I think) Dish, see original setup in pic 1,
6 Foot Steel Heavy Duty Ground Mount Tripod Post / Stand - pic 2,
Dish Ring with Von Weiss Actuator - pic 3,
Uniden 9900 Receiver with Remote,
Uniden UST 9900 Power Supply - with 01HG Power Cord,
T-Com 5500 LNB.

The owner wanted $200.00,- I offered $50.00 - we settled on $100.00. I think its a fair deal since 12 Foot Dishes and the Equipment provided do not seem to come along every day. Also the owner phoned me tonight saying he had located the Uniden 9900 Manual which I will pick up next week.

Taking Everything Apart and Transporting across Town:
Since the owner had already taken the system down - (said he needed to redo the flat roof on his house where the dish was), we removed the Actuator / Motor from the Ring, took the braces off the steel Stand which allowed us to fold up the feet on the Dish Stand, then we dissassembled and split the 12 Foot Dish in two after carefully marking what connects to what with masking tape.

The hard part was lowering the Dish off the 15 foot flat roof, I held it over the side of the house and George went down and took each of the 2 Dish Sections. Loaded up the Dish Stand and Feedhorn Rods in my car, and the Dish Ring in his trunk, and 2 piece Dish went onto Georges' Car Top Carrier which we secured with ropes - see pic. George uses this home made carrier to transport canoes all the time, so he said that a Dish should also work. We drove across town and reached my driveway with no problems - 2 more pics. Resting place of the 12 Footer for now is against my garage - see pic.

Bent FeedHorn Rod - How to Fix?
One of the aluminum rods that holds the feedhorn is bent - see pic. Can this be bent back? It's aluminum so if I put it in a vise could it be further damaged? What's the best way straighten it out?

Dish Hole Size - is it okay for KU Band??
Took a closeup pic of the Mesh Size holes by putting a pencil in one of them. See pic - they measured slightly over 2/16 inch but under 3/16 inch. Would a Corotor II or BSC621 LNB allow for C/KU? If so which one is recommended?

What is the Best most Secure way to install the Dish Steel Tripod Stand in My Backyard?
Lastly, does anyone know the best way to securily install the 3 foot heavy duty stand in my backyard? Should I use 3 concrete cardboard tubes from Home Depot (8 feet long and 6 inches wide), fill them with concrete and push carrige Bolts in the curing concrete to secure then level the Tripod Stand? What is the best way to do this? The 12 footer Dish needs to be at the back right hand corner of my yard to get a clear East to West shot, but I'm not sure how many feet to leave Behind the Dish up to the Fence to allow for Actuator adjustments.
Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

I don't quite understand but 3 of the original installation pics got deleted so here they are again - hope it works this time.

 

[wildboys]

Man that looks like a sweet dish.
That was a great deal.
I think you will really enjoy that dish.

 

[chefwan]

looks good the Support arm for the lnb wont be hard to bend back in place just get it as good as straight as u can it should be fine

 

[voomvoom]

Congratulations jsattv! The bent rod could be "Hit and miss", but you're in a position to try and straighten it and if it gets worse, then try and replace it with the best rig you can get out of your imagination. The Mesh holes look typical to me. I think with the 12' size you shouldn't have to worry none about the ku, just remember with a big dish, ku is a tighter beam and the dish will need to park in a smaller/tighter hole. By the way, that's not a "Spun Aluminum" dish, if it was it would be one solid piece. Looking at the tri-pod mount, I think I would dig out about a foot of earth and set it in it and get it level/plum and then fill the hole with concrete? Thanks for the pictures. Good Luck!

Al

 

[turbosat]

Nice moving project

That's a good dish, for the price I think it was a pretty fair deal. I have one of those 9900 in storage, had great picture quality (they had a problem with the capacitors drying out and failing though, at least some did.)
Should be able to straighten that piece out good enough, if not, go buy yourself a stick of conduit the same size and fashion it to replace.
I'd prefer a concrete pad to sit that mount on, or just do it the usual way-find a regular pipe, dig hole and pour concrete. Tripod should work ok too.
That dish should really bring in the weak signals!

 

[jsattv]

Thanks a lot for the comments guys. What about the LNB? What would you recommend, as I am looking to replace the T-Com - C Band LNB this system came with?

 

[qualitynice]

What do you access with a dish like that? DirecTV, Dish, all of them, or something entirely different? What's the advantage over the small dishes?

 

[qwert1515]

You get C-Band and Ku band FTA, feeds.

 

[qualitynice]

You get C-Band and Ku band FTA, feeds.

What stations are on those feeds? HD? Any links for me to research this?

 

[qwert1515]

We don't talk about feeds in public since that can cause broadcasters to do things so we can't watch them anymore.

There is some HD but it requires you to have a HD receiver or DVB PC tuner card.

Here's a little bit more information, take a look at the links "1 - 4": Satellite Lists

Iceberg the FTA Moderator will probably give you a better explanation than I did .

 

[SATworks]

UST9900, 12' motorized BUD

I have roughly the same setup as you do, jsattv. I have a motorized 12' Unimesh Dish w/ Chaparral Corotor II Norsat 35K C-Band LNB and an Echostar .7db KU LNB on a 20' steel post, and a Uniden UST9900.

Bent FeedHorn Rod - How to Fix?
One of the aluminum rods that holds the feedhorn is bent - see pic. Can this be bent back? It's aluminum so if I put it in a vise could it be further damaged? What's the best way straighten it out?

Since the pipe is not creased, straightening it is easy and safe. If it is cold out, warm the pipe with a propane (or similar torch) and straighten. Sight "down the barrel" of the pipe to check for true and continue to adjust as necessary. Avoid a bench vice as this will likely dent the soft aluminum.

Dish Hole Size - is it okay for KU Band??
Took a closeup pic of the Mesh Size holes by putting a pencil in one of them. See pic - they measured slightly over 2/16 inch but under 3/16 inch. Would a Corotor II or BSC621 LNB allow for C/KU? If so which one is recommended?

I use a Chaparral Corotor II, which works fine. Your mesh size is good. No worries there.

What is the Best most Secure way to install the Dish Steel Tripod Stand in My Backyard?
Lastly, does anyone know the best way to securily install the 3 foot heavy duty stand in my backyard? Should I use 3 concrete cardboard tubes from Home Depot (8 feet long and 6 inches wide), fill them with concrete and push carrige Bolts in the curing concrete to secure then level the Tripod Stand? What is the best way to do this? The 12 footer Dish needs to be at the back right hand corner of my yard to get a clear East to West shot, but I'm not sure how many feet to leave Behind the Dish up to the Fence to allow for Actuator adjustments.
Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

As turbosat mentioned, a single (perfectly plumb) straight steel post would be preferable to the tripod. Unless your tripod is bolted to a concrete pad large enough to support a 12' dish, there will always be some movement. (it would require a large amount of concrete to remain stable)

Your steel post should be in the groung deep enough to reach below the frost line in your area, secured with sufficient concrete (far less than a pad), and tall enough to clear your fence to avoid clearence issues (you'll need a new, taller post).

 

[jsattv]

I have roughly the same setup as you do, jsattv. I have a motorized 12' Unimesh Dish w/ Chaparral Corotor II Norsat 35K C-Band LNB and an Echostar .7db KU LNB on a 20' steel post, and a Uniden UST9900.



Since the pipe is not creased, straightening it is easy and safe. If it is cold out, warm the pipe with a propane (or similar torch) and straighten. Sight "down the barrel" of the pipe to check for true and continue to adjust as necessary. Avoid a bench vice as this will likely dent the soft aluminum.



I use a Chaparral Corotor II, which works fine. Your mesh size is good. No worries there.



As turbosat mentioned, a single (perfectly plumb) straight steel post would be preferable to the tripod. Unless your tripod is bolted to a concrete pad large enough to support a 12' dish, there will always be some movement. (it would require a large amount of concrete to remain stable)

Your steel post should be in the groung deep enough to reach below the frost line in your area, secured with sufficient concrete (far less than a pad), and tall enough to clear your fence to avoid clearence issues (you'll need a new, taller post).

Re your 3 LNB's
Thanks a lot for the reply SATworks. Re your 3 LNB's - how do you use them? That is, do you have to swap or replace the Corotor II for the Norsat 35K C-Band LNB, and then again for the Echostar .7db KU LNB? It would be great if there was a way to switch between each one without having to individually replace each of them?

Re Mounting the Dish:
We are considering digging 3 - 5 to 6 Foot holes and using 3 concrete tubes with 3 large rust free Carrige Bolts imbedded in the concrete tubes to secure the Steel Tripod. The Tripod itself is 78 inches high (6 1/2 Ft) with 6 inches needed for the Steel Ring that holds the Dish. If we put the tubes about 18 inches above ground then the 12 ft Dish and Post would be approx 7 1/2 feet above ground which I hope is high enough?? The Tripod would be fastened down to the heavy duty Carriage Bolts with nuts and washers that we would use to Plumb the Dish.

Were you able to use the Uniden 9900 Receiver with its 36 volt Power Supply to drive the dish okay? As I am trying on another Post here to find out if there is a way I can slave my ViewSat FTA Receiver into this setup? But if the Uniden 9900 works okay maybe I do Not need the ViewSat Rx at all.

 

[Tron]

Re your 3 LNB's
Thanks a lot for the reply SATworks. Re your 3 LNB's - how do you use them? That is, do you have to swap or replace the Corotor II for the Norsat 35K C-Band LNB, and then again for the Echostar .7db KU LNB? It would be great if there was a way to switch between each one without having to individually replace each of them?

The way the Corotor II is designed, both LNBs can see the dish at the same time, through the same feedhorn (which is what the Corotor II is, a feedhorn). Both LNBs have a coax connected, which would go to a DiSEqC switch.

 

[Anole]

. . . but what the heck do I know?

Re Mounting the Dish:
We are considering digging 3 - 5 to 6 Foot holes and using 3 concrete tubes with 3 large rust free Carrige Bolts imbedded in the concrete tubes to secure the Steel Tripod. The Tripod itself is 78 inches high (6 1/2 Ft) with 6 inches needed for the Steel Ring that holds the Dish. If we put the tubes about 18 inches above ground . . . .

Good grief!
Do you remember back in the thread where you were first looking at this dish?
You showed a picture of another pole which was missing the dish, but still had the mount.
Let me offer the same suggestion again:
- get that pole (with cement)
- remove and save the mount
- dig a hole for pole and existing concrete
- pour in just enough new cement to fill out the hole
- mount dish, and call it a day.

The above is of course conditional that you can get the other pole (with cement), the pole is long enough, the pole is large enough, etc...
But, I just thought you should reconsider that idea before digging three holes and going to all the trouble you described.

 

[jsattv]

Good grief!
Do you remember back in the thread where you were first looking at this dish?
You showed a picture of another pole which was missing the dish, but still had the mount.
Let me offer the same suggestion again:
- get that pole (with cement)
- remove and save the mount
- dig a hole for pole and existing concrete
- pour in just enough new cement to fill out the hole
- mount dish, and call it a day.

The above is of course conditional that you can get the other pole (with cement), the pole is long enough, the pole is large enough, etc...
But, I just thought you should reconsider that idea before digging three holes and going to all the trouble you described.

Thanks for the comments Anole. Unfortunately that other Pole in Concrete is on property that is City owned, and try as I may I have been routed from dept to city dept without getting any satisfactory answer as to who has the authority to let me know if I can get that Pole.

The 2 houses that were on the property were moved off about 2 months ago. It was around then that the existing Dish (after I had asked the house moving Contractors about the 10 - 12 Foot Dish that was there), was ripped off its Mount - guess for the Aluminum as was mentioned. At some point the City will probably hire a Contractor to level that Pole for the new construction - but that could be months from now in the dead of our 30 degrees below zero winters. I will keep phoning the City, but for now I can't get to first base with these people!! Also I have closely inspected that Pole and it is rock solid encased in what looks like a lot of concrete, so to try to move it could be a major task.

I would like to mount and install the 12 Footer this Fall. This is why I am considering going with the existing 6 1/2 Ft. steel Tripod Mount - its my only other option.