I started playing with my new 5' mesh last night

[Shawn95GT]

I shortened the arms 2" and got 'em on the dish

This looks MUCH more like what I had intended. I'm sure there is room for optimization but I'm pretty happy with how the numbers and the physical dimensions actually turned out.

I was gunning for 22.6 - 22.8 on the Focal length.

Still waiting on the actuator - UPS says it's in Georgia, delayed by Katrina. It's probably sitting in the back of truck waiting to be re-sorted.

I flipped through the manual on the VBOX (DP-710) and it looks pretty cool. It's very basic but looks like it'll do the trick. Since no-one else has, I'll probably write up a review for it in the FTA section.

 

[shinnery]

Looks good. Does the scalar ring seem solid in position? No movement? Looks a little strange with the arms all the way out to the edge of the dish but then its only a 60" dish. Bryce

 

[Shawn95GT]

Yeah - it's solid as can be. I can't wait to get this thing up in the air!

I'll be pole digging tonight...

 

[Shawn95GT]

I did a whole lot of digging last night, and ended up filling up the moat I dug around the cement base with water and calling it a night.

Tonight I went out and dug where I had soaked the night before. I was discouraged when I dug out the East side of the pole and it still wouldn't budge (I needed to lean it East). I kept on going around the pole and once I came full circle I gave the pole a tug and found that I could wobble it about 2° in any direction... PAYDIRT!

I looked at my new HUGE hole I had dug and I thought of you guys scoffing at my meager cement offering for this pole. Off to Home Depot I went.

I had 2 80# bags + a little left over from filling up the pole. I picked up 6 more bags, a wheel barrow, and some cull lumber.

Yes, you read that right, 6 more bags - bringing the grand total to 12 80# bags anchoring this stinking pole into the ground. I dare it to shift this time! I'm just shy of half a ton of concrete anchoring this pole in the ground now . The pole is now plumb as can be. The cull lumber was to act as supports / braces for the pole to keep it true. I ended up using a 4x6 section to compact the disrt around the base of the pole when fixing it plumb. A single 2x4 held everything in the carefull balance of perfectly plumb.

The cement is setting up now. I might just hang the dish up tomorrow.

I still don't have an actuator and UPS has no clue where it's at. In light of Katrina they aren't quick to call anything lost. It's looking like I'll be ordering another .

I also sold my CoolSat and an waiting for the Pansat 3500s to arrive.

If I get hard up to play with it I'll have to drag the analog reciever out there

 

[bigOleB]

I also sold my CoolSat and an waiting for the Pansat 3500s to arrive.

 

[Shawn95GT]

Pole looks good - so I mounted it up!

The title says it all - I put the dish on the pole tonight. My satellite ribbon cable came Saturday so I've got some labor ahead trenching that in.

My PanSat is slated to ship out on Friday (the 16th!) so hopefully I'll have it before the end of the month . Gotta love ebay sellers . At least he admitted not having the item when asked.

In the mean time I've got another vendor deciding what to do about my actuator which seems to be lost in UPS's system. Hopefully I'll have this by the end of next week.

It's looking good so far. I put the ASC421 on the dish for now. When I get the Norsats I'll put the dual C/Ku feedhorn on . The only bad thing i saw today is that this pole is definately not quite as sturdy as I would have liked. When it gets windy I'm sure it'll sway a little in the wind . I'm sure it'll work out ok - I swung the dish from stop to stop and the pole still show true on the angle finder.

In the pics, the dish is resting on the Western travel stop on the polar mount... and it's pointing right into a tree - lol.

 

[Shawn95GT]

Well, the good news for the day is.... UPS seems to have found my Actuator! It's slated for Friday delivery. I'm stoked . If it does make it, I'll be watching some C-band analog until the Pansat arrives.

Speaking of the Pansat, the vendor says it'll ship out on Friday. This means I get to figure out how the heck to get satellite ribbon cable in the house this weekend .

 

[drhydro]

Shawn, do you have a vc-2 module in your analog reciever? If so i would be very interested in what the vc-2 module shows for signal strenths on the vc-2 sub channels on g12.

 

[Shawn95GT]

Shawn, do you have a vc-2 module in your analog reciever? If so i would be very interested in what the vc-2 module shows for signal strenths on the vc-2 sub channels on g12.

I don't. I'll be watching for another reciever with remote and maybe I'll get a module in the process. I found a universal remote that lets me do almost everything on the HTS. Unfortunately left-right arrows are not one of the functions I can do so. I can't set skew / change the 22k / voltage settings etc. For now, it's slaved to the DVB reciever.

 

[Van]

I came across these dish's on ebay and I remember someone saying they were looking for a dish like this. They dont look as good as the one you have but I think they could fit the bill.

 

[drhydro]

I came across these dish's on ebay and I remember someone saying they were looking for a dish like this. They dont look as good as the one you have but I think they could fit the bill.

Anyone want to pick these up for me and deliver them to vermont?

 

[Shawn95GT]

I've got good news and bad news.

The Good news is that I have my actuator in hand as of today and it is a reed type!

The bad news:

The ebay seller I got my Pansat from seems to have had his ebay account revoked. I called him earlier today and I was promised a tracking number. I have yet to receive a tracking number. I call back and the phone rings off the hook and the voicemailbox is full. I filed against him with PayPal tonight .

 

[pro96]

I've got good news and bad news.

The Good news is that I have my actuator in hand as of today and it is a reed type!

The bad news:

The ebay seller I got my Pansat from seems to have had his ebay account revoked. I called him earlier today and I was promised a tracking number. I have yet to receive a tracking number. I call back and the phone rings off the hook and the voicemailbox is full. I filed against him with PayPal tonight .

Would that be that seller on ebay from Michigan? I almost bought my 3500s from him.. but i was fortunate to find a local one instead

 

[Shawn95GT]

Would that be that seller on ebay from Michigan? I almost bought my 3500s from him.. but i was fortunate to find a local one instead

That's him. When I talked to him he sounded like a good guy. I wish he'd have come through on his promises .

I'm looking for another now. We'll have to see where the Paypal dispute goes.

 

[pro96]

That's him. When I talked to him he sounded like a good guy. I wish he'd have come through on his promises .

I'm looking for another now. We'll have to see where the Paypal dispute goes.

I noticed his feedback in the last 2 weeks were 90% Negative with nothing but complaints. Even his remarks were sarcastic, one in particular was that " He was too busy to ship or respond to emails "

Do u want me to check with someone locally, and send it ground to you?

 

[Shawn95GT]

I noticed his feedback in the last 2 weeks were 90% Negative with nothing but complaints. Even his remarks were sarcastic, one in particular was that " He was too busy to ship or respond to emails "

Do u want me to check with someone locally, and send it ground to you?

That'd be awesome - shoot me a PM if you can get a price. If it helps I could e-mail you a pre-paid FedEx label.

 

[pro96]

That'd be awesome - shoot me a PM if you can get a price. If it helps I could e-mail you a pre-paid FedEx label.

Waiting on cofirmation from the local source.

 

[pro96]

Shawn, read your PM bud

 

[Shawn95GT]

Hehe - I had the neighbor from behind my house come by and respectfully ask if I can do something about making the dish less of an eye-sore (mount it lower). We don't have an HOA so I'm well within my rights to tell him to take a hike but I respect him for just telling me vs complaining by other means.

I was actually concidering doing this anyways because the pole wasn't as sturdy as I would have liked at 7' above ground.

I'm looking at trimming 3' off of the top of the pole. I'll probably get it cut down this weekend. Even with the cropped pole, I'l still be peeking a good 2' over the rear fence. I think I'll still have room to squeek the Primestar underneith of it. It only needs about 1' under the top of the pole to clear the Winegard.

I think I can put up a trellace or something behind the dish to camoflauge it a little better.

 

[Shawn95GT]

If anyone else is waiitng on a Pansat from 'free-to-air-dish' on ebay, it looks like he is shipping them. I got a tracking number which shows a history matching what he had told me was going on. He entered the shipping information on the 15th and it's in the UPS system today.

My only problems with the transaction now are:

#1 he had my money two weeks before the receiver shipped. I called after a week and he gave me the option of a refund or wait. I chose to wait.

#2 I paid $25 for 'expedited shipping' which was most definately not expeditied by any stretch of the word. It took two weeks to ship out, and when it finally did ship he sent it via regular UPS ground.

Because of #2, I'm going to leave the dispute open. He could have at least sprung for 3 day select.