Home-Brew Satellite Dish

[linuxman]

Well here is a possibility of a new dish for me to play with.

I am waiting on the guy to call me back, and I might run down and pick it up this evening.

It is a little small for C-Band, but might work out real well for Ku.

Here is the guys description from two different emails:

Thanks for response...I remembered this as 7', however, as best as I can measure I get 78" in diameter. The dish is solid metalized reflecting surface in fiberglass. There is no "manufacturer" I designed the system as well as the tracking mechanism. I am a retired biomedical engineer and extra class amateur radio operator and will attempt to answer any technical questions you may have. The attached picture pretty much says it all.

Second email:

Hello again..

Dish was used as prime focus with LNA at focal point in the weather cover. I used it for C-band and had reasonably good success before things started getting scrambled. I have all of my notes for design as well as numerous articles from that time. Sorry photo did not make it, however, I'm attaching to this note.

Here is the pic:



If it works well with Ku, it might be a nice dish.

What do you guys think?

 

[stogie5150]

So you'll mess with a dish that some guy built in his back yard with paper mache and popsicle sticks....but you won't tackle the zenith of dish engineering, the Paraclipse?

Wacky Missourians. !sadroll

Joking aside though....

Nice dish. It will look good with the rest of your farm...what plans in the grand scheme of things does this fit in the Linuxman dish empire?

 

[linuxman]

You got me rolling in the floor Stogie!!!

Nice dish. It will look good with the rest of your farm...what plans in the grand scheme of things does this fit in the Linuxman dish empire?

Crap, I don't know. I've got more dishes now than I know what to do with.

I had a guy call me yesterday and gave me a 7.5' Unimesh, but it is up on a 12 foot pole. I went over and looked at it, but it wasn't worth me climbing up to take it down. He said he would have his two grown sons take it down after I showed him what needed to be done. He said he will call me when it is down and I can go haul it away.

This dish just intrigued me. I thought what the heck, it might accidentally be a great performer. It looks to be very flat which might work out well. Maybe even turn it into an off-set dish.

Well, we'll see when I go to look at it.

 

[linuxman]

Just got off the phone with the guy and I am going to go pick it up tomorrow morning.

I'll figure out what to do with it later.

The guy said that he didn't make the dish, he only made the mount and tracking mechanism. The dish was commercially made. I asked if it was mesh inside, and he said that it was solid metal encased in fiberglass.

Don't know who would have made a dish like that, but I guess I'll find out.

Well I haven't had any new dish excitement for quite a while, so now I am back into the middle again.

 

[tvropro]

Hey Fred , you may as well open up a retirement home for old dishes

 

[linuxman]

Hey Fred , you may as well open up a retirement home for old dishes

Sometimes I think I already have.

 

[gabshere]

gave me a 7.5' Unimesh

i like my 7 1/2 ft unimesh its a good dish

 

[Anole]

Isn't there another Birdview over there with your name on it?
Most of us read about your exploits, and wish for such luck.
Now you wanna go dabble in some old fart's youthful glory!? -

Besides, where are all those Prodelin 6' dishes I am so anxious to hear about?
They are offset feed! You're not gonna turn a prime into one.
The optics just don't work that way.

I'm beginning to think maybe I'll take Stogie's side.
What you need.... is one of those fine 1985 12 foot aluminum umbrella!
It'll give ya S2 by night, and shade by day! - :up

How many of us would kill for your tree-clear view, with no building restrictions?
The best way to show us you've got what it takes is to put up a few 12's , 14's, and at least one 16 foot dish up there! -
One thing for sure. You wouldn't be complaining about working on the hot roof any more.
Might lower your air conditioner costs too!

For an idea what ya really need, catch a movie that's on HBO right now.
I think it's called The DISH, and is about our moon landing in 1969, and a big dish in Australia.

 

[linuxman]

Well I never!!!

Hey, sometimes you have to mess with some old fart's youthful glory to get the good stuff. I have always taken the approach that sometimes you have to take the bad with the good.

You never know who that guy might have as a close neighbor. I have never passed through a subdivision in all my dish hunting experiences where if there was one, there will probably be at least 3 or 4. There might be one of the 12 foot monsters right around the corner from this guy and if I didn't go over there, I might have missed it.

And George, I didn't mean the 7.5 foot Unimesh wasn't a good dish, I just meant it wasn't worth it for me to crawl up a 12 foot ladder to help take it down. Especially when I have four 7.5 foot Perfect ten dishes in my warehouse.

Besides, I'll still get the dish, just won't have to climb up and take it down.

The Prodelin dishes are still on hold. I just talked to the guy yesterday, and they are waiting for the green light like they have been for over a year now. I would love to get my hands on the one ear-marked for me.

As to you my green friend, it's about time for you to get your hands dirty on a C-Band dish.

Don't tell me there aren't any around, I know better. You just have to get off that nice sunny perch and go find one.

 

[gabshere]

And George, I didn't mean the 7.5 foot Unimesh wasn't a good dish, I just meant it wasn't worth it for me to crawl up a 12 foot ladder to help take it down. Especially when I have four 7.5 foot Perfect ten dishes in my warehouse.

Besides, I'll still get the dish, just won't have to climb up and take it down.

The Prodelin dishes are still on hold. I just talked to the guy yesterday, and they are waiting for the green light like they have been for over a year now. I would love to get my hands on the one ear-marked for me.

yeah i knew that was just saying i like the 7 1/2 right now its the only one up and running for me lol i have the 10 ft up but have to reset the pole again ...... you collect em all up for me and i come pick them up

 

[Anole]

Well, I will say one thing good about the guy with the home-brew dish.
Anybody who has a private telephone pole in his back yard is my kind of guy!
And please tell him I said so, when you visit!
Yep, those are just such fun to scamper right up! -

Mine's a 40', and maybe 8' into the ground.

As for C-band, I'm already rosin'd up, 'n have two C-band LNBs on hand!

 

[linuxman]

Mine's a 40', and maybe 8' into the ground.

That's how he gave me directions to his house. He said you'll know it when you see the 30 foot pole with the 3 tier antenna on it.

As for C-band, I'm already rosin'd up, 'n have two C-band LNBs on hand!

I know you do, now you just got to get out there and find one.

I do my best to collect them George. One of these days you'll have to make a road trip up here. I'll look forward to it!!!

 

[gabshere]

yeah when the waters down

got a vizio and hooking it up going to hook the coolsat 8k up next
so big leap for me

 

[voomvoom]

Wacky Missourians. !sadroll

I think this makes more sense than Pansy...!!!

Either way, it's a nice looking dish. I can't help but wonder how that huge pipe running up the middle will effect the LNB, whether C-Band or Ku-Band. It almost looks like a Cassegrain (spelling?), but I'm sure it's not?

 

[thomas34461usa]

Home - Brew Satellite Dish

Hi Fred,
Speaking of Home - Brew Satellite Dishes one time you made a post on one of your threads," Adventures in dish hunting and what we find" post number #63 with a picture of one of the strangest dishes I've seen. It looked like a part time cement mixer/ part time weird looking satellite dish.

Did you ever find out who made it and the reasons for the sides? Just curious!

Tom

 

[voomvoom]

Hey Tom, my guess would be to help block or keep out Terrestrial Interference... but what do I know? I've thought of getting a roll of aluminum or tin flashing and trying to do something similar...?

 

[Anole]

yeah when the waters down

I don't know about that.
Maybe just float it home on a barge, or ... BYOP (bring your own pontoons)?

I can't help but wonder how that huge pipe running up the middle will effect the LNB, whether C-Band or Ku-Band.

I was thinking about that, too.
You know, a radome on an airplane passes RF just fine.
So, maybe this is some sort of plastic, fiberglass, or other non-metallic tube.
Could we make our own out of a cardboard carpet roll?

 

[linuxman]

Hey Thomas,

That dish is still there where I first saw it. The sides on it were to block TI as Al said, and possibly to block interference from adjacent satellites. The owner wanted $100.00 or something like that for it, and I wouldn't fork it over. It was only a 5 footer if I remember correctly.

I also thought it might be a Cassegrain too, but almost certain it isn't.

I don't know about the tube, but I am sure it passes RF or he couldn't have used it. It seems to me there must be a better way to mount the feed-horn, but who knows.

 

[thomas34461usa]

Different ways of dishes

Hey Guys, here is a way to use a dish for other then TV signals. Interesting, just think of the amount of dishes in our dish farms!

For Heating water and heating your home.
YouTube - Solar furnace test w/basic tracker and new collector

Another example.
YouTube - Solar Steam Turbine with Parabolic Solar Dish Collector

For lighting in your house or business.
YouTube - Solar Lighting

TOM

 

[linuxman]

Well I have the dish home.

The diameter from the tip of the outer edge to the other outer edge is 6 foot 4 inches.

I put the string test on it, and it is perfect as far as not being warped.

What the guy said was true because the paint has peeled off a small area exposing the solid aluminum sheet on the reflector side with fiberglass on the back side for stability.

He only bought the reflector part from some manufacturer, and hand made the mount, the elevation and declination adjustments, the motor drive, and the electronic positioner wired through a calculator with display on the front. Pretty smart guy, but I will probably just hook up his motor drive to a GBox.

The online calculations show it to have a Focal distance of 25.7 inches, and an F/D ration of 0.34, so it is almost average as far as depth. I will have pictures a little later. My wife just got back with the camera, and I'll have to off-load all of their pictures before I can use it.

The Feed-horn support is made out of schedule 40 PVC pipe, and after studying it a while, I think it might not be a bad way to make one. I will need to figure out a way to adjust the height unless he has it right on the money.

I think it is going to be fun to play with, and might be a secondary Ku testing unit on the parking lot out front.

His polar mount is very simplistic in the way he designed it, and the mover design is a hoot.

But hey, if it works, I will not complain.