Got the 7.6 Ft Unimesh Today - Some Surprises have Pics

[jsattv]

Nobody Said It Was Going To Be Easy:
It wasn't as easy as we thought it would be to pick up the 7.6 Ft. Unimesh Dish 2 Blocks away from my house. When we got there the snow had almost all melted and the Dish was up about 2 feet higher than when I saw it in Feb.

After loosening the Pole Cap Bolts, the two of us just couldn't reach high enough to pull up the Dish off the pole, but it was also too heavy with the Actuator and Ring on it so we decided to disassemble it rather than leave it for another day. Took off the Actuator, then the Poles and FeedHorn, removed the 4 screws holding the Dish to the Ring, and dropped the 7.6 Footer down slowly. After that it was easy, took 4 trips back and forth to my house with a wagon.

The Dish is now lying flat in my backyard see pic # 1. The Pole is a type of Quad Pole which is different than the Tripod that my 12 Footer is on. The LNB's are Gardiner Plus LNB's Performance on what looks like a Corotor II FeedHorn, see pics 3 and 4. Does anyone know if those Gardiner LNB's as good as my Norsats?

The Actuator is a Fasco / Von Weise, see pics 5 and 6. Wonder if I can use it on my 12 Footer?? The 7.5 Ft Dish Ring has 4 Nuts welded to it to secure it to the Dish Pole which is much more stable than the only 1 welded nut on my shaky 12 Footer, see pics 7 and 8. The wind is STILL greatly affecting the 12 Footers' performance and It seems that unless I get more nuts welded on its Pole Cap it will continue to have problems.

Not sure just what I'll do with this new / old 7.6 Footer Unimesh Dish but I guess if I have more trouble with my 12 Footer I may consider replacing it with the 7.6 Footer. Any comments / advise would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DK_Sat]

Looking at the polar mount that does not look like a Unimesh Dish

I have 2 Unimash dishes a 7.5 amd 10"

 

[jsattv]

Looking at the polar mount that does not look like a Unimesh Dish

I have 2 Unimash dishes a 7.5 amd 10"

DK_Sat the ribs on the back of the Dish, the Plate in the middle, & the FeedHorn Cover are all stamped "UNIMESH" & the guy I got it from said it was a 7.6 ft Unimesh Dish. See pics.

 

[tvropro]

Gardiner LNB's were pretty good back in the day. If they work for your setup your ahead of the game. I would try them before getting new ones.

 

[jsattv]

Gardiner LNB's were pretty good back in the day. If they work for your setup your ahead of the game. I would try them before getting new ones.

Thanks a lot for the reply Tvropro. Do you know if those Gardiner LNB's (if they still work) are as good as the two Norsat LNB's : the 4506A for KU Band & 8515 for C Band I just purchased in December?

 

[thomas34461usa]

Unimesh Dish

Thanks a lot for the reply Tvropro. Do you know if those Gardiner LNB's (if they still work) are as good as the two Norsat LNB's : the 4506A for KU Band & 8515 for C Band I just purchased in December?

Hi jsattv,
I have the same setup as you do for your dish. Mine's a 10 footer. It's not up and running yet. Getting close to when it will. What I think is that Unimesh must of sold their satellite dishes with Gardiner Plus LNB's Performance on Corotor II FeedHorns, with Von Weise's actuators. I have found others having the same setup. What I have been told is that they are all good products. Mine is setup for only C/band and not with KU/band.

Good luck on yours!

Tom

 

[truckracer]

I see a lot of Gardiner lnb's on old dishes around here too. Mostly on old fiberglass dishes.
Von Weiss actuators were pretty popular too I guess.

I always wanted to try one of those old 30-40 degree lnb and see how much signal is lost on digital. I would use HBO on G1 as a test mule since these are 7/8 fec.

 

[DK_Sat]

Jsattv with the new photos i see that is a Unimash dish

The polar mount that came with the Unimash dsh is not the original mount

The 7.6 ft Unimash dishes are very good on KU

 

[thomas34461usa]

Its says Unimesh

Jsattv with the new photos i see that is a Unimash dish

The polar mount that came with the Unimash dsh is not the original mount

The 7.6 ft Unimash dishes are very good on KU

Sorry DK_Sat, the labels say "UNIMESH".

Tom

 

[jsattv]

Thanks a lot for the comments Thomas34461USA, Truckracer, and DK_SAT. I may store the 7.6 Footer for now, try out the Gardiner LNB's, while I try to get my 12 Foot Mesh up and running.

 

[thomas34461usa]

You're welcome

Thanks a lot for the comments Thomas34461USA, Truckracer, and DK_SAT. I may store the 7.6 Footer for now, try out the Gardiner LNB's, while I try to get my 12 Foot Mesh up and running.

Hi jsattv,You're welcome. If your Unimesh dish is anything like mine was, and from looking at yours I would say yes that you will need to replace all or most of your bolts on the dish because of rust problems. Replace them Stainless Steel ones. Do only one setion at a time. I also think you can get replacement mesh from "Skyvision" too. You may want to take care of that before you store it.

Why don't post some photo's of your 12 footer so that all of us can see it.

Take care,
Tom

 

[jsattv]

Hi jsattv,You're welcome. If your Unimesh dish is anything like mine was, and from looking at yours I would say yes that you will need to replace all or most of your bolts on the dish because of rust problems. Replace them Stainless Steel ones. Do only one setion at a time. I also think you can get replacement mesh from "Skyvision" too. You may want to take care of that before you store it.

Why don't post some photo's of your 12 footer so that all of us can see it.

Take care,
Tom

Thomas, here is a pic of my current 12 Footer, which it looks like is going to need more welded Nuts on it, see 2nd pic. It is quite shaky in the wind - actually had to tie it down with rope the other day, and the LNB is only working for the Vertical TP's on G25 / 97.0W, I need to take it off and check it re Linuxman's previous advice. I have no idea how we are going to lift up this 12 Footer without dismantling it again.... maybe I need that crane that you spoke about!!

 

[thomas34461usa]

shaky in the wind

Thomas, here is a pic of my current 12 Footer, which it looks like is going to need more welded Nuts on it, see 2nd pic. It is quite shaky in the wind - actually had to tie it down with rope the other day, and the LNB is only working for the Vertical TP's on G25 / 97.0W, I need to take it off and check it re Linuxman's previous advice. I have no idea how we are going to lift up this 12 Footer without dismantling it again.... maybe I need that crane that you spoke about!!

Hi Jsattv,
Looks like a nice one that be fixed again so it won't be so shaky. Good luck in finding that advise given to you by Linuxman. He would know for sure. If you can't find it, ask again. Fix it so you don't need to ask again. lol How are the brackets and all the bolts? Do you need to replace any of them. Some may be bad that are so badly rusted on the inside that could cause a problem.

As far as lifting it, have you seen my thread about Dish Cranes?

Dish Crane in action thread



http://www.satelliteguys.us/c-band-satellite-discussion/130885-satellite-dish-crane-action.html

Thanks,

Tom

 

[truckracer]

That is sweet looking 12'. Looks like you need to call a couple of buddies over and get that thing tuned up a bit. Looks like a great restore project. Heck, If I lived close enough to you I wouldn't mind helping out.

 

[jsattv]

Thomas almost all of the nuts and bolts were replaced - especially those on the Ring that holds up the Dish. And used Jig a Lube Lubricant on other parts. But 3 of us had a heck of a time attaching the Dish to the Ring so I'm not too crazy about doing that again!! Have to wonder why this Dish was only supplied / engineered with only 1 Welded Nut for the Pole Cap?? Maybe they were trying to save work or money?

TruckRacer, thanks for the offer re taking off the Dish. Need to also look into a new or reconditioned Actuator as the one I have only works with a 12VDC Battery charger but will NOT work with my V Box III or my old Uniden 9900 Rx that came with the Dish.

 

[gpat]

try this
drill a small hole thru the mount and the pole when you get it aimed.
Then insert a drill bit thru the hole so it will act like a shear pin.
Ive got my 10 ft mesh set that way so that if it really needs to move
due to the hurricanes we get it will shear the drill bit and move where it needs to.
I learned the hard way about this as after 20 years of having my old dish on the same pole
it was starting to move alittle on the mount even with the 4 1/2"set screws tight.
The indentation made it impossible to return to the same place it was 20 yrs ago.
I used an 1/8 drill bit for a shear pin on the replacement dish mount.

 

[jsattv]

try this
drill a small hole thru the mount and the pole when you get it aimed.
Then insert a drill bit thru the hole so it will act like a shear pin.
Ive got my 10 ft mesh set that way so that if it really needs to move
due to the hurricanes we get it will shear the drill bit and move where it needs to.
I learned the hard way about this as after 20 years of having my old dish on the same pole
it was starting to move alittle on the mount even with the 4 1/2"set screws tight.
The indentation made it impossible to return to the same place it was 20 yrs ago.
I used an 1/8 drill bit for a shear pin on the replacement dish mount.

Thanks for the great reply Gpat. With the 65 to 70 mph winds we had all day today the whole 12 footer was shaking like a leaf and was completely unwatchable!!

Not sure I completely understand your instructions.... do you mean drill a hole thru the entire Pole Cap and Dish Pole itself and then insert a drill bit to be used as a Shear Pin?? Would this be better or more stable than having a welder attach 4 or 5 more welded nuts on newly drilled holes with new bolts to attach the dish more securily to the pole cap?? And would it restrict the Dish East and West movement?

 

[gpat]

yes drill thru the mount and the pole on one side.
This is after its aimed.
I would still install the extra nuts and set screws
tho hard to do after the mount is up(maybe a large C clamp and put nuts at 180*
at the same time).
The point Im trying to make about large dishes and high winds are that they are like a big sail and will stress the set screws on the pole to the point of indenting the pole.
Eventually these indentions will be in the wrong spot and dish cant be aimed.
For this reason I leave the set screws snug with the dish plumbed but under a high wind it
can be rotated.
I first had mine marked with majic marker but after a few times of resetting came up with the pilot hole and shear pin. I want my dish to give with the wind if it has to.
My old dish went thru countless hurricanes and even a few tornadoes and oddly enough
never got bent,perhaps in part to me parking it all the way down when inclement weather approached. But as they say here in central Fla..... If you dont like the weather here...wait 10 minutes,it will change.

 

[Lynskyn]

Actually, the second to last picture is a Unimesh mount - the very first ones they made in the late 80s had the flat mounting tabs like that. Later ones had saddles that wrapped around the ribs.

 

[jsattv]

yes drill thru the mount and the pole on one side.
This is after its aimed.
I would still install the extra nuts and set screws
tho hard to do after the mount is up(maybe a large C clamp and put nuts at 180*
at the same time).
The point Im trying to make about large dishes and high winds are that they are like a big sail and will stress the set screws on the pole to the point of indenting the pole.
Eventually these indentions will be in the wrong spot and dish cant be aimed.
For this reason I leave the set screws snug with the dish plumbed but under a high wind it
can be rotated.
I first had mine marked with majic marker but after a few times of resetting came up with the pilot hole and shear pin. I want my dish to give with the wind if it has to.
My old dish went thru countless hurricanes and even a few tornadoes and oddly enough
never got bent,perhaps in part to me parking it all the way down when inclement weather approached. But as they say here in central Fla..... If you dont like the weather here...wait 10 minutes,it will change.

Thanks a lot Gpat. I think your suggestion of putting in a shear pin is a great idea. The 12 Footer is on a Tripod at ground level about 7 feet high now so I am not able able to park it any lower. Right now the with its 1 welded big Bolt and 1 small Bolt that does NOT have a welded Nut, 12 Ft. Dish does always slightly move after a windy day and I have to slightly move it with the Battery Charger (since the Actuator also doesn't work), to get it back to best Signal Levels on G 25 / 97.0W. Unfortunately to add the more - at least 5 required Welded Nuts & 5 Bolts I believe I would need to somehow get the Dish OFF THE POLE to drill the holes in the Pole Cap, which would mean dismantling it again with 3 or 4 helpers, & that's the problem!! Mobile welding companies charge anywhere from $150.00 to $200.00 to weld nuts on steel shafts, but as I see it the Dish would still have to removed off the Pole to do this - unless I'm missing something?? Thanks.