High tricky removal DONE! :-)

[delta_charlie]

Hi all, we got it down safely with no major problems. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

Going up.

Hard at work, yours truly on the left.

Don't look down

Free 18 foot mast- could not leave it behind.

3 1/2 inch SCH 40 tail pipe

All in a days work.

Chaparral LNB. Anybody know anything about this? What is the little blue box - change polarity? It has three small wires - a red, black and white.

Need new bearing - Source?

Glad I went to effort of taking it down and glad the high wire act is over. Now I can take my time and fix some rust and paint it.

BTW - I think it was made by Omega Systems. Anybody know anything about this company.

Thanks, DC

 

[stogie5150]

Outstanding effort! I think you have the record for 'Highest BUD Removal"!

I don't know anything about the dish, but your feed/lnb is the standard c-band-servo-controlled setup that was used during the analog days, still useful with a receiver that will change the servo. yes, that little blue box is the servo, to change the polarity.

Whoever put that dish there originally spent a pretty penny. Installs that high cost BIG bucks.

Congrats Again!

 

[phlatwound]

Nice job, DC!

Is the thing you are calling a "bearing" just a piece of pipe, inside of another pipe? Couldn't tell what I was looking at there.

Liked your "tailpipe" rigging, I've hauled some pretty crazy long stuff underneath trucks before too.

 

[delta_charlie]

---cut---

I don't know anything about the dish, but your feed/lnb is the standard c-band-servo-controlled setup that was used during the analog days, still useful with a receiver that will change the servo. yes, that little blue box is the servo, to change the polarity. ---cut---

Hi Stogie, phlatwound and the group.

Stogie, what dish is that in your avatar? It looks just like the one I just pulled down.

Question on the polarity servo. Might it default to V or H with no power? What I'm thinking is I might be able to pick up half of the transponders as is. Or does the unit adjust the polarity until it peaks. I seem to remember something like that on my Dad's old BUD. The receiver would fine tune the skew for best signal, was it really fine tuning or was it simply switching between V and H?

phlatwound, come to think of it, it might be a PVC pipe - not SCH 40 but maybe the thinner light duty irrigation stuff. I will have to check the size and see.

In any case it is the white part sticking out of the hub that I need.

Thanks, Dale

 

[stogie5150]

Hi Stogie, phlatwound and the group.

Stogie, what dish is that in your avatar? It looks just like the one I just pulled down.

Question on the polarity servo. Might it default to V or H with no power? What I'm thinking is I might be able to pick up half of the transponders as is. Or does the unit adjust the polarity until it peaks. I seem to remember something like that on my Dad's old BUD. The receiver would fine tune the skew for best signal, was it really fine tuning or was it simply switching between V and H?

phlatwound, come to think of it, it might be a PVC pipe - not SCH 40 but maybe the thinner light duty irrigation stuff. I will have to check the size and see.

In any case it is the white part sticking out of the hub that I need.

Thanks, Dale

My dish is a Paraclipse. My guess is that the dish you have is a copy of the Paraclipse, because they were copied. The Paraclipse is built a LOT heavier than your dish.

As far as the polarity, chances are it will be on either H or V polarity, but it will be skewed for the satellite it was parked on when you took it down. So when you re assemble it, if you aim the dish back to the satellte it was on (or close), yes, you will have one half of the TP's on that particular satellite. Some receivers will and did indeed fine tune the skew automatically.

 

[linuxman]

Hi Stogie, phlatwound and the group.

Stogie, what dish is that in your avatar? It looks just like the one I just pulled down.

Stogies dish is a 12 foot Paraclipse.

Question on the polarity servo. Might it default to V or H with no power? What I'm thinking is I might be able to pick up half of the transponders as is. Or does the unit adjust the polarity until it peaks. I seem to remember something like that on my Dad's old BUD. The receiver would fine tune the skew for best signal, was it really fine tuning or was it simply switching between V and H?

The probe will be where the last receiver left it when it was shut down.

Depending on where you install it on your dish with the way the LNBS are lined up with C-Band at the 4:30 position like you were looking at the face of the dish at it's zenith or True South Satellite position. The polarity could be on H or V, and the skew could be off by a little or a lot.

You can manually move the probe inside the mouth of the feed-horn, but be very gentle and not recommended with your bare hands because of acid.

If you want to do that, it can be done, but better to get even an old analog receiver to control it until you decide what you are going to do.

phlatwound, come to think of it, it might be a PVC pipe - not SCH 40 but maybe the thinner light duty irrigation stuff. I will have to check the size and see.

In any case it is the white part sticking out of the hub that I need.

Thanks, Dale

BTW, Nice dish and good job getting it down.

 

[phlatwound]

...........As far as the polarity, chances are it will be on either H or V polarity, but it will be skewed for the satellite it was parked on when you took it down. So when you re assemble it, if you aim the dish back to the satellte it was on (or close), yes, you will have one half of the TP's on that particular satellite. Some receivers will and did indeed fine tune the skew automatically.

This something I have wondered for quite a while, and hopefully will also help DC with his question:

Am I correct in thinking a polar mount does not skew the dish as it travels the arc?

So, assuming the probe is exactly horizontal/vertical when the dish is at true south, when you go through and save satellite positions/adjust skew, you are adjusting the skew for each individual sat location as if it was a fixed dish viewing that sat?

 

[stogie5150]

This something I have wondered for quite a while, and hopefully will also help DC with his question:

Am I correct in thinking a polar mount does not skew the dish as it travels the arc?

So, assuming the probe is exactly horizontal/vertical when the dish is at true south, when you go through and save satellite positions/adjust skew, you are adjusting the skew for each individual sat location as if it was a fixed dish viewing that sat?

No a polar mount DOES skew the LNB. If it didn't, my voltage controlled LNB would never work. However, using a voltage contolled, or for that matter a dual LNB (orthomode I believe they are called) , REQUIRES that it be set up correctly so that the skew changes correctly as it tracks the arc.

NOW, having said that, I am of the BELIEF (opinion coming, here, pay attention, YMMV ) , that an adjustable skew assembly is the BEST option, just in case for some reason the skew of a particlular satellite is wonky, or a particlular channel. Yes, its a PIA with our current DVB equipment, but the upcoming Gbox with the skew/polarity control might relieve some of the BS that goes on with having to have an old analog receiver in your equipment stack to handle skew/polarity.

 

[phlatwound]

No a polar mount DOES skew the LNB. If it didn't, my voltage controlled LNB would never work. However, using a voltage contolled, or for that matter a dual LNB (orthomode I believe they are called) , REQUIRES that it be set up correctly so that the skew changes correctly as it tracks the arc.

NOW, having said that, I am of the BELIEF (opinion coming, here, pay attention, YMMV ) , that an adjustable skew assembly is the BEST option, just in case for some reason the skew of a particlular satellite is wonky, or a particlular channel. Yes, its a PIA with our current DVB equipment, but the upcoming Gbox with the skew/polarity control might relieve some of the BS that goes on with having to have an old analog receiver in your equipment stack to handle skew/polarity.

I thought about how a voltage-controlled LNBF would work after I asked that....duh.

Thanks for the explanation, stogie, I understand it perfectly now.

One of the biggest reasons for my confusion is the big "autopeaking" routine that my Toshiba analog box goes through when you save a satellite position....I figured if the probe is aligned at true south, and the dish skews...why does the skew have to be peaked as the mount moves through the arc?

Answer: In case of wonky skew.

DC, sorry for the thread mugging, hope this helped you as much as it helped me.

 

[delta_charlie]

---cut---


The probe will be where the last receiver left it when it was shut down.

Depending on where you install it on your dish with the way the LNBS are lined up with C-Band at the 4:30 position like you were looking at the face of the dish at it's zenith or True South Satellite position. The polarity could be on H or V, and the skew could be off by a little or a lot.

You can manually move the probe inside the mouth of the feed-horn, but be very gentle and not recommended with your bare hands because of acid.

If you want to do that, it can be done, but better to get even an old analog receiver to control it until you decide what you are going to do.


BTW, Nice dish and good job getting it down.

Hi Linuxman and the group, Thanks for the replies - sure learn a lot. I went out and looked at the LNB last night after work and see the little element that rotates.

Providing I understand this correctly it sure seems like I could jumper the wires on the servo and use a small battery to move the element. What I'm thinking is I should be able to rotate the element to vertical or horizontal when the dish is due south and then let the polar mount set the skew for the east or west satellites. This should get me close enough to lock onto something.

If I knew what voltage the little servo uses and what the three wires do I should be able to move the element and peak the signal. The black should be the common ground, the red the power and the white? Maybe a control wire? Perhaps the servo would move one way with the red and black wires hooked up one way and back the other way if I reverse the + and - ?

Anybody have any ideas on what voltage the servo might use?

I love the idea and the challenge of trying to get the old LNB to work and I'm sure I will learn a lot trying to figure it out.

Thanks, DC

 

[linuxman]

The servo uses a burst of 5V to move the probe.

A servo controlling receiver sends out pulses through the skew wire every so often to make sure it stays put. The skew control is what adjusts it with .5V bursts to move it incrementally.

The three wires are Black - Ground, Red - 5V+/-, and White - Skew.

A 12V battery might burn it up.

Analog boxes can be had for ususally $10.00 plus shipping. Sometimes less.

If you look in the FTA section, Sadoun is running a poll to see how many of us are interested in the new GBox V4000 which will move the dish and control the servo at the same time for modern DVB receivers.

 

[delta_charlie]

---cut---

Analog boxes can be had for ususally $10.00 plus shipping. Sometimes less.

If you look in the FTA section, Sadoun is running a poll to see how many of us are interested in the new GBox V4000 which will move the dish and control the servo at the same time for modern DVB receivers.

Hi Linuxman and the group, thanks for the info. I will start looking on ebay for an old analog receiver. That might make the most sense for now and let me move the dish too.

Looking forward to setting it up, might try and put the mast up this weekend.

Later, DC

 

[Inno]

delta_charlie, let me take a look in my "inventory" of old satellite stuff. I might just have what you need. It's time to clean out some old stuff and I likely don't need 6-8 analog receivers. I'll post a list and perhaps some pics later if you're interested.

Nice find and damn.........that's probably the most scaffolding I've ever seen stacked in one place. So good work, that's more than I might have done but it does look like a very nice dish.

 

[Inno]

So I found a couple that might fit your needs. There's a Uniden UST-4400 with remote that I believe (it's been awhile) had some video issues but the actuator and skew portions worked perfectly.
There is also the older analog Uniden UST-6000 and positioner UST-710 which I have not tested. That'd probably be a good bet if you wanted something very very simple to use. It has 3 remotes (two for receiver, one for positioner) which haven't been tested either. You can't set individual satellites but it could be used to bump east and west with.
Then there's a Uniden UST-7700at, just a positioner no remote but very straight forward to use and very easy to store satellites with.

There's also 2 Uniden Supras, one of which I'm going to keep for my setup and the other one I believe had video problems.........I'll really have to look it over. Only thing is I only have one remote for both.
I also have a Star Trac 400 which doesn't have a power supply for an actuator, it was optional. This one would probably be good just to control skew and get the occasional analog feed.

If you (or anyone else) is interested or thinks they can use any of these I'll let them go for nothing, just pay me the shipping costs. If you want more pics let me know.

 

[eurosport]

I'd like to get the UST-7700at. I sent you a PM...thanks!

 

[delta_charlie]

So I found a couple that might fit your needs. There's a Uniden UST-4400 with remote that I believe (it's been awhile) had some video issues but the actuator and skew portions worked perfectly.
---cut---

Hi Inno, thanks for the offer. After thinking about it a bit I think my plan will be to try and get the BUD to work on just one satellite for now using my Mercury II. As it turns out my actuator is in bad shape and will need replacing soon. Think I will get a new one and a DiSEqC positioner sometime in the future.

Most likely I will be updating the LNB/feedhorn with a C/KU LNBF sometime in the future.

So for now I think I will hold off on the analog receiver and see if I can get anything to work.

Take care, DC

 

[Inno]

No problem just thought I'd throw that out there. If you need anything in the future I don't imagine I'll be throwing any of it away any time soon. I had one taker for the Uniden 7700 positioner so that's good.

 

[elam budmore]

Ok ... not to be rude here, but you do know that both you dudes up on that scafolding are nuts right? lol..but good job just the same!

 

[eurosport]

Yeah, that thing was WAY up there! Like Stogie said, I think that's "highest BUD removal" for sure!

 

[Techfizzle]

...and I thought climbing a 100 year old house 18 foot up for a primestar was insane