Free C-band system worth the hassle?

[iammike]

I need some expert opinions. A friend of a friend has offered me his old C-band system for free. He has an 8ft. solid dish, lnbf, receiver, pole, all the wiring, and I believe a motor. If I had a really good spot to put it, I'd probably jump on it. The problem is I don't. I've got an 80cm ku-band dish mounted on my roof and can see everything from PAS9 (58 degrees) to G13/H1 at 127. (Could probably get signals from farther east with a bigger dish) Where I'd have to put the C-band dish I can probably go as far east as I want, but probably can't go much farther west than G4 (99 degrees) or so. Is there enough programming that's C-band only in the portion of the sky I can see to make it worth my while to put up the C-band dish?

Oh yeah, interestingly enough I just bought a Toshiba analog receiver on Ebay yesterday for my KU system. Less than 24 hours later I'm offered a free system including a Uniden receiver. Great timing huh? Incidentally, I've noticed some 120cm and 150cm Fortec dishes on Ebay that indicate they can pick up C-band. Has anybody tried these? I'm wondering if they'd be safe to roof mount and if I'd actually be able to get a strong enough signal.

 

[tdti1]

If his dish is a solid steel It should be good for c/ku a 8.5' dish is good for C-band but 8 may get some interference from adjacent birds. You would need a c/ku dual band feedhorn and lnbs on the dish for c/ku I recommend lnbs not lnbfs. Big dish is the best satellite system for over 25 years now, you can also add a 4dtv to your system with a slaved dvb box and get many more free feeds on both c/ku analog and DCII. I would grab the free dish if its in good shape asap good luck, you may want to try to put it in a way to get way passed G4 for more programming...

 

[Mr Tony]

Its FREE!!! You cant go wrong

 

[iammike]

Tdti1,

Okay, I'm going to show some ignorance now, I'm pretty new to this hobby. The dish is made out of spun aluminum, not steel. That should be as good as solid steel shouldn't it? I guess aluminum might deflect more in the wind than steel. As for ku, I'd probably just keep using my existing dish. It would be nice to get some of the weaker signals though. I never have been able to get Fox news or the virgin islands NBC station with my 80cm dish.

 

[ken2400]

If you have a place to store it grab it. Worse case if you have to dump it you can always try http://www.freecycle.org if you don't know anyone who wants it. Al dishs are fine just make sure it is good shape and it not too bent up. It should be find as long as it was not hit by a tree or some large object.

8.5' is a little on the large side to play with without a poll BUT if you have a place and the wind is low then you can stand it by a tree or swing set and see what you get. Even a car will do if you have enought padding to protect the car.

I bet you will get a receiver with it too. There are still some analog stuff up there to play with.

Good luck if you get it.

Ken

If his dish is a solid steel It should be good for c/ku a 8.5' dish is good for C-band but 8 may get some interference from adjacent birds. You would need a c/ku dual band feedhorn and lnbs on the dish for c/ku I recommend lnbs not lnbfs. Big dish is the best satellite system for over 25 years now, you can also add a 4dtv to your system with a slaved dvb box and get many more free feeds on both c/ku analog and DCII. I would grab the free dish if its in good shape asap good luck, you may want to try to put it in a way to get way passed G4 for more programming...

 

[Mr Tony]

8.5' is a little on the large side to play with without a poll BUT if you have a place and the wind is low then you can stand it by a tree or swing set and see what you get. Even a car will do if you have enought padding to protect the car.

Thats a great idea Ken!

I'm going to pick up a 10' dish tonight and my HOA wont let me put it up, but I have a fairly large deck so I can play with it there

 

[tdti1]

If you don't want to get a 4d there is great feeds you can pick up with any old analog IRD. On IA-5 and 6 also G4 well there everywhere but you will find many feeds on these birds. For dvb there are many feeds up there, have fun

 

[Diamond Jim]

8 foot is just the right size, jump on it. I am willing to bet that it's aluminum,
if that baby was solid steel it would weigh a few tons. And you can't beat the price.

 

[Mr Tony]

I have no clue what the 10' is made of

mine cant be steel....the thing is in 4 pieces and the guy had it on a piece of PVC pipe

 

[Diamond Jim]

My frame is made of angel iron and I thing the sections of the mesh dishes could be made of angel iron, which is pretty heavy. I am pretty sure that all solid dishes are made of aluminum or fiberglass.

 

[Mr Tony]

Well I went and picked up my free 10' dish last night

The dish is 4 pieces that are mesh and they don't weight that much (maybe 20 pounds a piece

The unit that the dish attaches to move it weighs about 200 pounds though

so once I can figure out how to jerry rig it temporarily until I can actually plant it in the ground I'll be in the new club...the C-Band club

 

[drhydro]

congrats iceberg, have fun with your new toy

 

[Mr Tony]

until I move, I'm limited on what I can do with it (since the HOA wont let me put it up). I can however put the mesh pieces together and hook the LNB up (that thing is sooooo weird compared to KU) and see if I can get a couple analog stations (and maybe some digital)

 

[ken2400]

Congrats also Iceberg. Hope it works out for you. I too have a 10' I need to pick up sometime. It's mesh and I need to take some pics to figure out how it comes appart since I don't have a place to store it in one piece. I wish I had a site that I could see the sats from the ground. I have to use the second store porch to do that and the 10' is too big. I hope to play with my 5' soon.

Ken

QUOTE=drhydro]congrats iceberg, have fun with your new toy [/QUOTE]

 

[drhydro]

im thinking of hooking up the motor on my BUD this sunday long enough to motor it over to g11, that bird seems to have the most cband DVB on it. I cant wait till spring when i can run permanent cables to that dish.......

 

[Mr Tony]

Ken
I'm going to just sit it on my deck (where the rest of the dish farm is) and see if I can get some analog on it with the old c-band dish

Otherwise, I might have to set it in the driveway

 

[drhydro]

of course you could always mount it to a trailer, and park the trailer in the driveway........

 

[Mr Tony]

of course you could always mount it to a trailer, and park the trailer in the driveway........

good idea

I'll try the deck idea first. Probably do that over the x-mas holiday

 

[Diamond Jim]

Ice,
Welcome to the 20th century of C band, it's old, but it's the best.

 

[tdti1]

Ice,
Welcome to the 20th century of C band, it's old, but it's the best.

Yes it is