DIY C-band dish

[primestar31]

I stopped by today and took more pictures and talked them down. They originally wanted $300 but after negotiating they let it go for free. I wanna take it down now but my wife refused to help me until spring. So, unfortunately I’ll have to wait.I think it’s in pretty good condition, a bit rusty though. Does anyone know when these KTI dishes were made? View attachment 130443View attachment 130444View attachment 130445View attachment 130446View attachment 130447

That's probably mid to late 1990's. Made by "Kaul-Tronics"

 

[Phalaenopsis]

It looks pretty good to me! and it seems that the feed is a corotor (a bit hard to see in the picture). watch out for some dings in the mesh where those branches landed, but that looks like a great find! I agree with Greg, that rust should not be a problem. It appears to be just superficial. Congratulations!

Sorry for my ignorance but what’s a corotor feed? Also, after I get it sometime in May should I swap out the LNB for a titanium one?

 

[Phalaenopsis]

It looks pretty good to me! and it seems that the feed is a corotor (a bit hard to see in the picture). watch out for some dings in the mesh where those branches landed, but that looks like a great find! I agree with Greg, that rust should not be a problem. It appears to be just superficial. Congratulations!

Excuse me for my ignorance but what’s a cortotor feed? After I get it sometime in May, should I put a new titanium LNB?

 

[Phalaenopsis]

Is there anyway to test if the actuator works?

 

[dl76]

Is there anyway to test if the actuator works?

Use a car battery to test. Thats way i test them.

 

[SatPhreak]

A corotor feed has a small motor that turns the probe in the feed horn to switch to horizontal or vertical polarity. If you decide to switch to a titanium lnbf you replace the feedhorn and corotor and lnb with the lnbf. It will then use voltage to switch between horizontal and vertical polarity.

 

[Titanium]

A Corotor is a feedhorn with a LNB attached. A small servo motor rotates a probe inside of the feed to select horizontal or vertical polarity.

This type of feed provides the user with the ability to optimize the skew for each polarity, which is useful when attenuating adjacent satellite interference or other signal issues. The interchangeable LNB options permit the user to select an appropriate model that fits their budget and requirements matching the type of signals they receive and to upgrade only the electronics.

To use the Corotor, you will need a servo controller that interfaces with your receiver. The controller senses the 13 or 18 Vdc polarity voltage provided by the receiver and positions the servo probe at a saved position. An example of a dish positioner with servo control is the ASC1.

Some hobbyists manually control the polarity servo with a legacy IRD. While possible, it is a PITA to manually select the polarity on a separate controller each time you change the channel or perform a scan. Also, each polarity must be separately scanned and the polarity manually changed between the scan.

Options to using the Corotor are a LNBF or an Orthomode (fixed horizontal and a fix vertical polarity LNB without servo skew adjustment).

 

[bpalone]

First off, congratulations.

A week or so before you are going to pick it up, start stopping by every day (or thereabouts) and squirt some PB Blaster on all the nuts and bolts. That will hopefully keep the twisted off hardware and scraped knuckles to a minimum.

 

[Greg Mueller]

Good idea

 

[Phalaenopsis]

First off, congratulations.

A week or so before you are going to pick it up, start stopping by every day (or thereabouts) and squirt some PB Blaster on all the nuts and bolts. That will hopefully keep the twisted off hardware and scraped knuckles to a minimum.

Thanks for the idea.. I sooooo badly wanna get it now but my wife wants me to wait until spring.

 

[Brct203]

Thanks for the idea.. I sooooo badly wanna get it now but my wife wants me to wait until spring.

Can you ask a friend to help you? I can understand your wife not wanting to help take apart a dish in cold weather, but I can also very much understand your impatience

 

[primestar31]

Thanks for the idea.. I sooooo badly wanna get it now but my wife wants me to wait until spring.

Oh, oh... You know why she's probably doing that? She figures if she can stop you from getting it right now, as time passes you'll give up the idea and not get it at all in Spring... Good luck, because if SWMBO are against it from the start and you allow it, it'll likely never stop.

 

[Phalaenopsis]

Yah... she’s very against it. She said that there’s NOTHING worth watching on C-Band. She was against me putting up a small Ku dish. Surprisingly my 13 year old likes the idea and even realigned my Ku dish to 95w. He has a passion for it.

 

[Greg Mueller]

Haven't you got a buddy that might help you?

 

[Phalaenopsis]

I don’t think he’s capable of it

 

[FTA4PA]

Yah... she’s very against it. She said that there’s NOTHING worth watching on C-Band. She was against me putting up a small Ku dish. Surprisingly my 13 year old likes the idea and even realigned my Ku dish to 95w. He has a passion for it.

Maybe your 13 year old could help. My daughter helped me with my dishes when she was about 14-15 years old. Might be a good experience for you two to work together on it.

 

[primestar31]

Yah... she’s very against it. She said that there’s NOTHING worth watching on C-Band. She was against me putting up a small Ku dish. Surprisingly my 13 year old likes the idea and even realigned my Ku dish to 95w. He has a passion for it.

Once you set one up and prove her WRONG, I'll bet she'll want a dish of her own.

 

[wvman]

Once you set one up and prove her WRONG, I'll bet she'll want a dish of her own.

My wife kinda balked about buying new equipment to put on our old dish until she saw what was on it. Then she hounded me until I changed all the LNB's and put dual output units on all the dishes so she could have her own receiver. We rarely agree on what to watch.

 

[armadillo_115]

Once you set one up and prove her WRONG, I'll bet she'll want a dish of her own.

"The two bud family"

My wife didn't want a bud. No way, no how, not needed. Period!

So I got one that much sooner. I showed her who is boss!

Before I knew it... I could not longer watch tv when she was at home.

So I mentioned a second bud for her in the bedroom.

She didn't want it. No way, no how, not needed.Period!

So I got the second bud that much sooner.I showed her who is boss!

Told her to go to the bedroom if she wants to watch tv.

After a few days... she returned to watching tv on the dish in the den.

And hides/loses the dang remote when she isn't watching it.

I'm re-thinking the whole 'boss' thing.

 

[Magic Static]

I have a set of "His & Her" C/Ku Buds. Perfect