pics of the dish farm...post yours too :)

[classicsat]

Here is mine, as promised.

Bottom, 75CM Horizon dish with Eagle Aspen LNBF.
That dish and LNBF system was what Expressvu used before they went to Nimiq. Currently it is pointed at G19. I am going to try mounting another Ku LNBF beside it and see what I get.

Top. Channemaster 60CM elliptical made for Starchoice, with stock dual stacked LNBF, aimed at Anik F1/F2/E1 to get that service. The extra LNBF strapped to it is an Echostar DBS LNBF which gets Echostar 7 rather well.

Between the 2 hanging, is a 2x2 Starchoice tone switch (borrowed from my Starchoice setup), to switch between the Echostar and G19 Ku LNBF.

 

[DirectDishNet]

Here is mine, as promised.

Very Nice!
How do you like your starchoice dish?

 

[classicsat]

Starchoce is fine. Its dish and stock LNBFs is used only for Starchoice/Shaw Direct (new name for Starchoice), for now, there is no FTA interesting to me on it. Of couse, the design of the dish (supposedly for a triple Anik setup), allows easy Echostar 7 reception, with no ill effect on Star Choice.

 

[Mr Tony]

Starchoice dishes work pretty good if you have 2 sats 4 degrees apart you want. I use to have a 119 LNB bolted to the side of my SC dish

 

[classicsat]

I know. If I can get another cheap or free, I'll set up a Glorystar system (maybe the lady will like that).

 

[toucan-man]

I'm still farming on a smaller scale than some of you real farmers. From early this morning, here is my 7.5' KTI, and its companion Primestars. I recently took down a 4th Primestar, the one pointing to G18; may as well give it a rest in the basement dish supply depot. For those worried about the visual impact of a BUD, I think they can be less obtrusive than a herd of smaller dishes. My UNIMESH 5' BUD will go almost directly behind the KTI, to snag 58 W.

 

[Tron]

Dishes have a visual impact; They are beautiful! Add one or more to any yard to brighten up the landscape. The more, the merrier...

 

[Bill_KY]

I have been doing some dish realigning, here is the latest set up.

First dish is the WS7630 this is now aimed at 74W for ONN it has a dual LNB on it but only one LNB is currently hooked up. (You can't see it but I have to aim over the next house to get a almost clear shot for 74W. I get a 46% Quality as a result. I think the Q should be be much higher. The ONN Channel is a pretty good channel, well worth dedicating a dish for. I did notice some "feeds" on 74W.)

Second Dish is the Orion 76cm with dual LNB for 97W, this is fed into two rooms.


The World Direct dish with a single LNB (on the right) is now set up at 123W for The Research Channel. ( I had it on 125W, but moved it to 123 because it was only one usable PBS channel since I don't have AC3 capability and also since WSEE is gone).

The WS7630 (on the left) with a single LNB is aimed at 103W for the Pentagon channel and for those "feeds".

The four dishes are fed into a 4x1 DiSeqC switch which are fed into the living room. Next step...get some brackets, some more LNB's, a 22khz switch and a ton of coax...lol

The WS7630 dishes I bought from our sponsor, Sadoun ...he is still selling them for $35 a pop. The World Direct Dish I got off of E-bay which is also a outstanding performer as are the WS7630 dishes.


The OTA antenna is a Radio Shack UHF with 30 db preamp aimed at Dayton Ohio so I get a fair portion of some of the Dayton channels as well as close in Cincinnati. When I want to watch low powered Channel 25 from Cincinnati which carries RTN, I have to "armstrong the antenna" some.

Not seen is the Direct TV Dish that has been up on top of the roof since 2001.

 

[mikelib]

Bill_Ky,
Is that a Ham Radio vertical antenna in the first picture??

 

[Bill_KY]

Bill_Ky,
Is that a Ham Radio vertical antenna in the first picture??

Yes .. it is a Hustler 5BTV

 

[Blindowl1234]

Bill, You need to motorize one of those dishes lol. I too had to dedicate a dish for 72W/74W as a tree in the front yard is an issue. Kinda shoots over my only visible neighbors house as well. Are you able to get Lexington OTA? I was curious since you're getting some of the Dayton stuff at 50 plus miles, the opposite direction. Thanks Blind

 

[Bill_KY]

Bill, You need to motorize one of those dishes lol. I too had to dedicate a dish for 72W/74W as a tree in the front yard is an issue. Kinda shoots over my only visible neighbors house as well. Are you able to get Lexington OTA? I was curious since you're getting some of the Dayton stuff at 50 plus miles, the opposite direction. Thanks Blind

OTA

I used to get Louisville WAVE 3 almost like a local all the time. I would even pick it up on the portable TV and watch it in my truck on my lunch break. I don't know why, but the Louisville stations were always stronger than the Lexington stations.

I used to get 27 and then 36 Lexington just barely watchable. But I was able to get Louisville 32 and 41 pretty much watchable all the time with the antenna aimed at them. WHAS 11 was difficult then due to the strength of local Channel 12 from Cincinnati.

Channel 4 from Central Indiana was always fringe and fady, I guess they were never full strength...I should have got a consistent signal from them.



AFTER THE DIGITAL CHANGEOVER

That all pretty much came to the end since the switchover to Digital. Since the changeover , I have seen 32 and Fox 41 and WAVE 3 and Lexington 27 few times in the morning in the spring and summer during morning inversions
( minor localized tropo due to warm air over ridding cool tamps).

However since the changeover to digital, on those "local inversions" I have seen 4 and 10 from Columbus OH, Huntington 3 WV, and 6 from Indianapolis. The best digital reception was 17 from Nashville TN. Those receptions are far and few between occurring a few times a year.

Locally

I noticed that 2 Dayton isn't as strong as it used be but 7 is better. 16 comes in OK, 22 and 45 are not reliable but 26 is sometimes consistent.

It seems 25 Cincinnati got stronger here (maybe because the leaves on the trees are off) but I don't have to "armstrong" the antenna very often to get 25 (which carries RTN).

A mast mounted preamp right at the antenna is a must to get further away distant channels. When it comes to TV reception, digital can't hold a candle to analog.

I'm thinking of another project for the future with a large OTA antenna with a 30 or 40 db amp aimed at Louisville or Lexington and see if I can get consistent reception again. I have a rotator in the box, for that project I never got to yet.

The KET PBS station from Owenton on 52 come in like a local here especially if the antenna is aimed at them. BTW I never subbed to my locals from Direct TV, It never made sense to pay for something that I can get for free OTA and in better quality too.



>>>> I highly encourage everyone to supplement their FTA installations and upgrade their OTA capabilities and get a fringe/deep fringe outdoor antenna ( with a rotator..if possible) and definitely use at least a 30 db MAST MOUNTED amp. It is worth the added expense and adds a new dimension to the meaning of "FTA".

 

[crackt]

so i almost have version 4 of my dishfarm complete. i didnt quite finish before old man winter showed up. i only need to cable my 1.2m/dg380 to finish and i have a cable close to it already. hopefully 1 hour to finish, then i can hibernate. haha. details in my sig.

crackt out,.

 

[arcticracer]

Dish Farm in Barrow, Alaska 71+ Degrees North

This is a group of cable TV and Telecom dishes in Barrow, Alaska. Some are obviously not in use. Also shown are dishes belonging to AT&T and GCI.

The dead critter is a small Caribou.

 

[updatelee]

i like the upside down ofset. you can tell they are way up north cause even upside down the dish actually looks on a normal angle hehe

 

[arcticracer]

Offset dishes

There are a lot of Dish Network systems up north, next time I am around Barrow I'll take some pics. Most of the offset antennas are upside down, I think it is because the geometry of the mounts doesn't allow them to be mounted with the LNB on the bottom.

 

[Mr Tony]

very cool pics

Thanks for sharing

 

[meinename]

Latest addition:
Brand new SG2100
mounted the Geosatpro 90cm from the Grandparents (dish was aimed for 123W)
added a DBS/Circular from the Starband kit to compliment the Geosatpro Universal bullet LNBF
Pictured at 83W

Direcway dish got re-aimed to 103W and gets all but the weakest signals.

Starband dish is going to make a trip to the Grandparents for 101W once a pipe mount is figured out.

 

[sanjap]

This is a group of cable TV and Telecom dishes in Barrow, Alaska. Some are obviously not in use. Also shown are dishes belonging to AT&T and GCI.

The dead critter is a small Caribou.

I love Alaska. I worked for GCI some 4 years ago and we had to setup some antennas in Prudhoe Bay. Nice pictures.

 

[Hindu55]

My Mini Farm

Finally got pics of my mini dish farm. The 90cm is my main toy right now.
Had two of the DS2077's up for my DishNet sub but when they upgraded
me to HD the installer said he could not use them so I told him just remove
one of them and use it's mount. The one they had installed years back for
the D500 was not lagged to anything solid I found out on removing it.
After the installer left I tied the other DS2077 into the 1000.2 and swung
it over to 61.5 for the fun of it. Did gain a couple channels. The one he
took down, I slapped a SL2-dual on (mated well with the D-channel) and
put it on a motor mounted off my tower. It needs a fine tune but is working
well with the CS5000 helping out for feed hunting.