Hello. Does anyone know how to determine if hail has damaged a dish beyond repair? Will the hail dents eventually "work themselves out" if left unaddressed? Some of the dishes are 4.5m Patriots with Aluminum petals, and some of the dishes are 4.5m DH's made of spun Aluminum.
Hail Damage to Patriot and DH Dishes
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to SatelliteGuys!!!!!
Have to be some size hail dents to ruin a 4.5m dish I would think. Someone with experience will answer you.
Oh wow, they are all trashed. Where can I pick them up to dispose of them? Just kidding of course.
If the hail was golf ball sized or smaller, the dents can probable be worked out on the petals dishes fairly easily. The spun dishes will probably take some work with an anvil and a mallet.
Most of the time hail damage is cosmetic, but if the hail is larger than golf ball, it gets serious.
Do you have any pictures of the damage?
Sent from my Timex Sinclair using SatelliteGuys
If the hail was golf ball sized or smaller, the dents can probable be worked out on the petals dishes fairly easily. The spun dishes will probably take some work with an anvil and a mallet.
Most of the time hail damage is cosmetic, but if the hail is larger than golf ball, it gets serious.
Do you have any pictures of the damage?
Sent from my Timex Sinclair using SatelliteGuys
I have a 10' channel master that looks like somebody opened fire with an automatic frozen paintball riffle. It works fine.
Thank you for the help and responses! It was fairly decent-sized hail. The dishes still seem to work now, but there hasn't been much rainy weather since. I was wondering if there is a way to determine if there has been any signal degradation, aside from waiting to see if it works next time it rains.
Thanks again!!
Thanks again!!
I would hazard a guess that this a C-band Receive Only setup by the dish sizes. What you can do will depend on the level of your budget. If you are have a commercial installation that relies upon the performance of these dishes, then you could use the first choice. If you are a hobbyist and have a budget like mine(Abe Lincoln's likeness on a penny can squeal if you pinch him hard enough), you can probably use the second choice.
Choice 1:
You could probably use a spectrum analyzer to check the signal levels of what the LNB(s) can see with the dish in it's current condition. If this is a commercial setup that was performed by a professional installer, check your file cabinets for documentation on the installation. This documentation will usually include some signal performance documentation and most likely a spectrum analyser plot of some sort. If the original installer is still around, check with them for any documentation and see if they can evaluate the current condition of the installation.
Choice 2:
If your setup is a C-Band only setup, the weather should not have much effect on the signal. If your setup is a C/Ku or a Ku only setup, on a nice day find the weakest Ku transponder that you can tune(easier if it is a fixed dish) and record your current signal and quality readings. If you have a receiver that has BER levels, record this also as it is the true Quality. Wait for a very inclement day(shouldn't matter here if it is a c-band setup) and record the same information you previously recorded. Compare the readings to determine if there is measurable deterioration of the signal. You would want to use a Ku transponder here as they are more susceptible to flaws in the reflector's surface and much harder to pull in.
If you know how to use a spectrum analyzer and you know the frequency of the desired signal, you can hook it up and see if your desired signal is at an acceptable level.
There are others that can explain in a lot more detail. For some reason the name Pendragon pops into my head.......
Choice 1:
You could probably use a spectrum analyzer to check the signal levels of what the LNB(s) can see with the dish in it's current condition. If this is a commercial setup that was performed by a professional installer, check your file cabinets for documentation on the installation. This documentation will usually include some signal performance documentation and most likely a spectrum analyser plot of some sort. If the original installer is still around, check with them for any documentation and see if they can evaluate the current condition of the installation.
Choice 2:
If your setup is a C-Band only setup, the weather should not have much effect on the signal. If your setup is a C/Ku or a Ku only setup, on a nice day find the weakest Ku transponder that you can tune(easier if it is a fixed dish) and record your current signal and quality readings. If you have a receiver that has BER levels, record this also as it is the true Quality. Wait for a very inclement day(shouldn't matter here if it is a c-band setup) and record the same information you previously recorded. Compare the readings to determine if there is measurable deterioration of the signal. You would want to use a Ku transponder here as they are more susceptible to flaws in the reflector's surface and much harder to pull in.
If you know how to use a spectrum analyzer and you know the frequency of the desired signal, you can hook it up and see if your desired signal is at an acceptable level.
There are others that can explain in a lot more detail. For some reason the name Pendragon pops into my head.......
I've got two large dishes that are listed in my signature. Back last spring we had a "killer" hail storm that did a fair amount of damage to both dishes. I was curious as to how that would affect performance also so I looked for and found some data that I had recorded on specific satellites about a year ago when I switched over from the Corotors to a DMX LNBFs. This info was gotten from 3 different satellites, ie, west then south then east on TPs that were encrypted with commercial programming so one would "assume" that they would stay the same. So after that hail storm I went back to those sats/TPs and rechecked Q and they all were where they were before that hail storm?
So having said all that, the marble sized hail did some damage but it didn't appear to have any effect on Q reception.
I've found that you can use your thumb or finger on the back side of the dents and "gently" push on them and most of them can be gotten out. For larger dents that have stretched the mesh I found that if you can take the mesh off the face of the dish and use a large RUBBER mallet on the back side while it's laying on a FLAT concrete floor you can do a really good job of straightening them. I've also found that if you flip them over, ie, back side toward the front when you reinstall them and they "may" fit better.
Ennywho, that's my 2 cents worth, for what it's worth!
But as usual, Your Mileage May Vary!
So having said all that, the marble sized hail did some damage but it didn't appear to have any effect on Q reception.
I've found that you can use your thumb or finger on the back side of the dents and "gently" push on them and most of them can be gotten out. For larger dents that have stretched the mesh I found that if you can take the mesh off the face of the dish and use a large RUBBER mallet on the back side while it's laying on a FLAT concrete floor you can do a really good job of straightening them. I've also found that if you flip them over, ie, back side toward the front when you reinstall them and they "may" fit better.
Ennywho, that's my 2 cents worth, for what it's worth!
But as usual, Your Mileage May Vary!
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