hello everybody i'm new here and got a couple questions about a dish my friend has a i believe an 8 ft mesh dish guessing c-band i don't know how to check but it has a small tear in the mesh in the shape of and L aprox.6in by 6in can this be repaired and is it worth picking up for free it has a new actuator on it but has not been used in i guess 10 years how can i check out the dish mover to see if it is all good and one last question is how far from trees can this be installed i did the dish pointer and i don't know how accurate it is i live in WA. state about 70 miles south of Seattle my trees are roughly 60 feet tall and i'm thinking the dish should be on a 10 foot pole thank you for your advice in advance
dish damaged
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A 10ft dish would be better, but, YES, the mesh can be "sewn" back together with picture hanging wire.
If the rip is bent, just hold a block of wood or something hard behind it, and pound it flat together as best you can with a light weight hammer first, then stitch it with the picture hanging wire.
If the rip is bent, just hold a block of wood or something hard behind it, and pound it flat together as best you can with a light weight hammer first, then stitch it with the picture hanging wire.
If that 8foot dish is in fairly good shape and is your best bet on getting a c-band dish up and running quickly, it's well worth getting. I myself at present am using a SAMI 7.5ft dish due to space on my smaller lot.
IF it's put together properly (check EVERYTHING, do NOT assume it was originally put together correctly!) and tuned well, it should get you nearly everything you'd likely want to watch.
IF it's put together properly (check EVERYTHING, do NOT assume it was originally put together correctly!) and tuned well, it should get you nearly everything you'd likely want to watch.
Dishpointer is as accurate as your smartphone or tablet compass hardware is accurate.
Take a reading for the satellite arc then rotate the phone several times and look at the satellite arc again. Repeat several times to confirm the smart device is providing repeated results.
A 10' pole isnt going to provide much long term line of sight improvement when dealing with fir trees that can grow 10' each season. I would favor keeping the dish lower, so it is easier to install and maintain.
BTW... grew up in Auburn, WA.
Take a reading for the satellite arc then rotate the phone several times and look at the satellite arc again. Repeat several times to confirm the smart device is providing repeated results.
A 10' pole isnt going to provide much long term line of sight improvement when dealing with fir trees that can grow 10' each season. I would favor keeping the dish lower, so it is easier to install and maintain.
BTW... grew up in Auburn, WA.
IF you are planning a 10ft pole, with 10ft being ABOVE ground (meaning 4ft below ground), you should really consider using Schedule 80 pipe. OR, use at least a 6" or so diameter Schedule 40, with a 1or 2 ft or so stub length of 3.5 inch pipe or whatever that dish needs for it's polar mount sticking out of the top. You can take it to a welders, and get it properly TIG welded together.
You need a lot of strength the taller the pole is, and the higher your average local wind load speed is. Seriously consider that you'll need a minimum of 600 - 800lbs of concrete to hold it in place.
My 7.5ft SAMI dish has 980lbs of cement! But I have frequent East prevailing winds of 20+ miles and hour and higher in my area, and soft loamy soil. It's MUCH cheaper to use too MUCH cement, than it is to try to correct for it later, if your pole starts leaning due to wind and/or not enough cement or proper hole preparation.
You need a lot of strength the taller the pole is, and the higher your average local wind load speed is. Seriously consider that you'll need a minimum of 600 - 800lbs of concrete to hold it in place.
My 7.5ft SAMI dish has 980lbs of cement! But I have frequent East prevailing winds of 20+ miles and hour and higher in my area, and soft loamy soil. It's MUCH cheaper to use too MUCH cement, than it is to try to correct for it later, if your pole starts leaning due to wind and/or not enough cement or proper hole preparation.
thanks again for the input I don't have a smart phone but can borrow one from a friend and check it on the phone i was using dish pointer on the computer so will have to see the phone version my next idea is to put it out behind my house on the other side from the trees i would have to cut down about 10 trees for that spot to work i think but it puts the dish 150 to 200 feet from my house is that to far of a run for the cable and wires?
The closer, the better. But 150 - 200 feet is doable, IF you use really good rg-6 coax (I'm partial to solid copper quad-shield coax myself) AND a higher gauge shielded wire for your positioner sensor. You'll also need at least a 12 gauge wire for your motor.
ALWAYS run some extra runs of coax beyond your immediate need. It's easier to do it at the start. If one goes bad, you can switch to another one. Or if you decide later you want to add multiple lnbf's, extra coax runs come in handy.
p.s. you should also find a way to ground the dish pole to your service entrance ground rod. If that's 200ft away, you'll have to use a larger gauge wire to do so. You should not use a separate ground rod at the dish, unless that's also bonded to your house ground.
ALWAYS run some extra runs of coax beyond your immediate need. It's easier to do it at the start. If one goes bad, you can switch to another one. Or if you decide later you want to add multiple lnbf's, extra coax runs come in handy.
p.s. you should also find a way to ground the dish pole to your service entrance ground rod. If that's 200ft away, you'll have to use a larger gauge wire to do so. You should not use a separate ground rod at the dish, unless that's also bonded to your house ground.
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A 200 foot + run is fine as long as you use excellent quality quad shield, solid copper core RG6 or RG11, heavy gauge motor wire 12g or better, sheilded distribution for both the sensor and if you have a servo on the feedhorn. Also, bond the dish back to the structure ground.
EDIT: posted while Primestar31 was posting.
EDIT: posted while Primestar31 was posting.
I used 8 awg for mine. If you can keep your run to less than 150 feet here is a good deal for 8 awg.
SOFT ANNEALED GROUND WIRE SOLID BARE COPPER 8 AWG 150' FEET | eBay
Ask around, let all your friends know what you need for your dish install. You'd hopefully be amazed at what's possible to scrounge with little or no expense.
I got my 7.5ft SAMI dish with everything for $20, and that's because I was happy to find it. He only wanted $10 for it... If I had bought one brand new from Tek2000, it would have easily cost me over $500+
I got my 7.5ft SAMI dish with everything for $20, and that's because I was happy to find it. He only wanted $10 for it... If I had bought one brand new from Tek2000, it would have easily cost me over $500+
If you want to check if trees might be a problem, and don't know if dishpointer "is accurate" (I don't know to what data of dishpointer you are referring?):
You can find the needed azimuth direction for a certain satellite using the sun, and Satellite Look Angle Calculator
as to determining the hour/minute/second the sun is at the same azimuth as the satellite.
For the elevation angle given by dishpointer (very reliable!), you can make a measuring instrument by making an angle of paper or wood, and put it on a spiritlevel.
Looking along the angle gives you enough indication if the needed elevation would be problematic or not.
I'd first do the line of sight checking, before speculating where you might need to put the dish.
greetz,
A33
thank you all for your inputs the reason i was questioning dish pointer was on the formula of and object in the line of site not the satellite finder part it looks like I will cut down some trees i would try a ku band dish on top of my house if i knew what was on there to pickup and if it was worth throwing money at it i'm on social security and live on a tight budget but would love to get into the hobby i just here there is more on c band worth looking at than on ku i might just be wrong i'm new and would really love to dive into the hobby if there was enough to keep me entertained i could get rid of direct tv i haven't tried over the air but i looked at a site and it told me i could only pick up 4 channels out of Portland Or. in the area i live at
Well, dishpointer writes:
Max Height of Obstacle
Move the marker to find out the maximum height an obstacle can have without blocking the line of sight.
d = the distance to the obstacle (e.g. a tree)
h = the maximum height of obstacle measured from the base of the dish.
So it calculates the maximum allowed hight (above dish bottom level) of a possible obstacle at distance d, so that it just NOT interferes with satellite reception.
That's trivial goniometrics they apply, I would think, fitting the elevation angle of the aimed-to satellite at your location; so I don't think it is likely to be wrong.
It doesn't say anything about the actual hight of an object in sight, you must assess that yourself.
FurthermoreIhavedifficultyreadingstuffwithhardlyanyinterpunctionorcarriagereturnsforlayoutofthetextsoIhumblyaskyoutouseabitofthatsothatIcanfocusmyattentiontounderstandingyourquestioninsteadofhavingdifficultyjustreadingwhatyouwrote.
Greetz,
A33
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