Ok, Don't kill me for asking. Is there a mod where you can use a Dish network dish for OTA?

[norman]

Ok, Don't kill me for asking. Is there a mod where you can use a Dish network dish for OTA? I know it may sound stupid but I am about to give it a try to make a mod to make it one mean directional OTA antenna.
Any idea's that are not calling me stupid I would like to hear.
Sir Norman

 

[primestar31]

Well, you COULD try mounting a very small uhf antenna in place of the LNBF, and aim the dish at tv stations, but it's just too small to even be worth the trouble. So, not stupid, just not worth it.

You need something on the order of at least 6 FEET to make a good parabolic antenna for OTA that's worth fooling with.

Now, if you mounted a usb wireless dongle in place of the lnbf, you might pick up some free internet from a long distance away... Don't forget these dishes "see" 22 or so degrees higher than what they appear to be aimed at, so if you are aiming parallel to the ground, it needs to be pointed much lower than you normally would.

 

[bigg t]

Got an old dtv dish parked on 30 degrees for Cubavision. I think it does pretty good.

 

[toucan-man]

http://www.rocketroberts.com/cm4251/cm4251.htm

 

[Wescopc]

Got an old dtv dish parked on 30 degrees for Cubavision. I think it does pretty good.

I think the question is not for aming at a satellite - but using the dish for Over The Air (OTA) TV stations.
Bob

 

[Anole]

The small dish is just too small to do anything, as noted above.

At first I thought you were asking if a decommissioned Dish receiver could be used for OTA, and that sounded interesting.
But the 30" dish itself? Nope. Sorry.

 

[Tron]

Best bet is repurposing it for WiFi.

 

[Cham]

Wifi, especially 5.7GHz, works great with a DBS size dish. There are some good instructions on-line.

You could use the dish for OTA reception on UHF channels if you build a simple bowtie antenna (one dipole antenna) and mount it in front of the dish (but not at the offset focal point) close to the dish surface maybe 5-6" or so (1/4 wave length at center band maybe 550MHz). At these frequencies the parabolic reflector acts more as director to keep the signal gain maybe 45 degrees horizontal plane at -3dB or so. It won't be that directional but it should have as much gain as a 2 dipole array in the open, but a bit more noise cancelling from the back which might bring up the signal to noise ratio for a desired station where there might be an interfereing station in the opposite direction. By varying the distance between the reflector and the dipole you should be able to maximize the signal for the particular station of interest.
If you are already using an outdoor phased array/grid antenna or a yagi antenna for UHF and you don't have any interfereing stations, you likely will not see an advantage of using your parabolic reflector as an OTA antenna component.
It's always fun and interesting to experiment, and we all learn something from a project wether it works or not!

 

[FaT Air]

You'll get better results with something here: http://www.diytvantennas.com/
The Gray-Hoverman or the 4 bay bowtie will outperform a simple single bowtie on a pizza dish.
For an omni you could try https://sites.google.com/site/maycreates/ota-setup/my-stealth-hawk

 

[freezy]

I suppose you could use it in a reflector grid array but the sweet spot is focused in too small of an area to be of use. Hang a preamped indoor uhf antenna about 8" from the dish and the bottom of the antenna even with the center ...move it around. You should get some db gain...

 

[Cham]

I've made several grey-hoverman antennae for friends & reletives since the digital/analog convertion up here. We have stations from the north and south, so I omit the reflector rods so the antenna is bi-directional. Gets all the locals plus a few US stations. Saves them a lot of $$ when they don't have to subscribe to local cable or DBS when all they are interested in is the local programming. I made a jig for bending the wire... havn't used it for a while now I am wondering where I left it...

 

[Peter Parker]

Shouldn't this be in the OTA forum instead of the FTA?