New find!

[Shicks4]

So I get a call the other day from Caseys General store corperate to look at a closed location for bid on summer lawncare and upkeep. So i go to the location today and im looking around and the first thing i notice is the 2 dishes on the roof. Second thing i notice is that one dish, the larger of the 2, has the coax cut that was run to it. So i email my contact with the bid information and ask about the dish on the roof. She says sure go ahead, so long as you can get it without poking a hole in the roof. Its a really nice fiberglass 1m dish. Only issue it has is the plastic brace on the top for fine elevation adjustment is broken, and it looks to be easily replaced. Got it to the shop, yanked the 1.2m dish popped it on the stand, measured focal distance, pulled the lnbf and transmitter assembly and stuck a universal lnbf in the mount. It was already set at 45* so i moved it up to 48* pointed it at 97 west and picture came in right away! this will be power washed and installed on my roof tomorrow! cant beat a free dish! one thing that struck me odd though is its not oval its perfectly round and measures just over 39" so id assume that is a 1m dish.

 

[KE4EST]

If you decide to keep the logo, change it to HicksNet.

 

[Shicks4]

Nice! good thinking! I knew i was gonna paint it and put something on it but i just might do that. Its a pretty durable fiberglass dish too, and way lighter then its big brother the 1.2m dish i got last fall at the hardware store.

 

[Shicks4]

You know i was thinking, and those of you that know more about this then i do, that since this dish is round could i make this a prime focus dish? If i did would the focal length which measures about 30" to the cover on the ku lnbf be the same? If its theoretically possible might be a fun project to play with to burn some time.

 

[Cham]

Shouldn't work as prime focus, the reflector isn't a parabola, but part of a parabola. Imagine cutting a circle in the side of a prime focus dish between the center and edge... That would be equal to an offset reflector. The main advantage of the offset dish is that the feedhorn is outside of the antenna's aperture so there is nothing blocking the signal. This is a big help in smaller antennae like in our small Ku dishes etc.
Hope that makes sense...

 

[Shicks4]

Shouldn't work as prime focus, the reflector isn't a parabola, but part of a parabola. Imagine cutting a circle in the side of a prime focus dish between the center and edge... That would be equal to an offset reflector. The main advantage of the offset dish is that the feedhorn is outside of the antenna's aperture so there is nothing blocking the signal. This is a big help in smaller antennae like in our small Ku dishes etc.
Hope that makes sense...

was just a thought. Actually after playing around with it I dont think i want to mess it up cause it works really well. Almost as good as the 1.2m dish i have and probably weighs half what it does. Im gonna park it on 125w and run it to the 4-1 switch.