I have an old primestar dish from back in the day, and was wondering if I could use it as a directional antenna for my local stations. On the back of it it says "Channel Master Part number: 3040642-02 Mold: no.1. om-02" Please be gentle with the acronyms as I know absolutely nothing. Thank you for any responses.
Noobie help
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There's another section on satellite guys for over the air tv, I think, maybe you should post there too....but sorry I have no clue how you might use a satellite dish for directional OTA. Should buy yourself a free-to-air receiver and get in the hobby here with all of us! The lnbf on the dish is possibly still good, all you need is to plant a pole and aim , get some RG6 cable and wire it up!
Not A Great Idea, but a number of people on this forum would be willing to buy this dish from you so that you can buy a proper antenna.
You can reverse mount a 2 bow tie cm antenna, in place of the lnbf, with the proper focal point from the dish.
Similar to the old 7ft cm paradyne antenna.
Similar to the old 7ft cm paradyne antenna.
Or you can get a FTA (Free-To-Air) digital satellite receiver and pick up more satellite programming from that dish than you ever could from an OTA (Over-The-Air) antenna 
If you are handy, Google Hoverman........the Canadians are doing a lot of interesting things with DIY antenna's. Also check out TVfool to see what and where your area transmitters are to give you an idea of how much antenna you need.
I actually tried that with a $3 clip-on bowtie; didn't get good results. Probably need a set-top bowtie with a reflector screen on the back. I have to wonder how hard it is to mount a Primestar dish upside down...
It's not too hard to mount many dishes upside down.
That trick is used when a satellite is very low on the horizon, to extend the elevation range of the dish downward.
I didn't catch the size of that dish, but say a 1 meter parabola isn't really big enough for much use on the OTA TV bands.
Dishes that small do have some use in beaming wi-fi over some distance, but there you are dealing with 2.4 ghz.
The [ame="http://www.google.com/search?q=hoverman+antenna&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a"]DIY Gray-Hoverman[/ame] antenna design mentioned by Cadsulfide, or similar coat-hanger based OTA antenna would do better.
There are youtube videos on building your own. And more discussion in our HDTV OTA Forum.
Any of the members who might live near you would probably offer you some help.
Or maybe even build you an antenna in trade for the dish.
As an alternative, do as Tron suggested, and join us watching FTA satellite TV.
Here is a beginner's list of some of the satellites we watch.
And this is the forum department to learn all about it. - :up
That trick is used when a satellite is very low on the horizon, to extend the elevation range of the dish downward.
I didn't catch the size of that dish, but say a 1 meter parabola isn't really big enough for much use on the OTA TV bands.
Dishes that small do have some use in beaming wi-fi over some distance, but there you are dealing with 2.4 ghz.
The [ame="http://www.google.com/search?q=hoverman+antenna&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US
fficial&client=firefox-a"]DIY Gray-Hoverman[/ame] antenna design mentioned by Cadsulfide, or similar coat-hanger based OTA antenna would do better.There are youtube videos on building your own. And more discussion in our HDTV OTA Forum.
Any of the members who might live near you would probably offer you some help.
Or maybe even build you an antenna in trade for the dish.
As an alternative, do as Tron suggested, and join us watching FTA satellite TV.
Here is a beginner's list of some of the satellites we watch.
And this is the forum department to learn all about it. - :up
ctravis:
Just read around the FTA forums here..There is a wealth of information on any aspect of FTA..Also, check out the site sponsors for equipment..Some of them also have step by step instructions on aiming a dish, using a motor, etc..You'll find this group of guys is real friendly and no question is too dumb to ask..good luck..
I personally like the Visionsat IV-200, it includes most features you would want (blind scan, component video output, AC-3, or Dolby Digital, passthrough, and PVR functionality using an attached USB drive)... They're getting a little hard to find these days, but Fleabay still has them.
As far as motorizing a Primestar dish, it can be done, but it requires a bit of modification... Specifically, the mount usually has to be replaced with something lighter, since most motors can't handle the weight. Do a search for Primestar + motor to find more info than you'll ever need Personally, I'd keep the dish stationary on either 123w (G-18) for more than 30 local stations from around the country, 125w (AMC-21) for PBS-HD, 97w (G-19) for tons of foreign channels, or 83w (AMC-9) for RTN (like TVLand, but better )...
As far as motorizing a Primestar dish, it can be done, but it requires a bit of modification... Specifically, the mount usually has to be replaced with something lighter, since most motors can't handle the weight. Do a search for Primestar + motor to find more info than you'll ever need
Personally, I'd keep the dish stationary on either 123w (G-18) for more than 30 local stations from around the country, 125w (AMC-21) for PBS-HD, 97w (G-19) for tons of foreign channels, or 83w (AMC-9) for RTN (like TVLand, but better )...- Status
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