Pictures of my 6ft BUD

[OkiMarine]

Everyone loves pictures and this project has taken long than expected due to previously using too small of a dish for cband.

The base was made by a co worker and is 3ft wide x 1.5ft tall, weighs about 40 lbs. I had him add some spikes on the bottom to help stabilize it and wanted it as low to the ground as possible to make the dish less noticeable.


The dish is a 6ft from Sadoun, was on sale.

I cut the center out of the camo tarp and had the wife sew it up to keep it from unraveling. Since the photo's were taken I've added some more elastic straps to tighten the tarp.

I live on a cul de sac and it can't be seen from the front but it is visible from neighbors back yards and a road in the distant.

Although I still get enough signal to view programming, there is a significance loss after running the line to the house (about 100ft) as compared to the 20 ft I was using to align. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't loose signal in bad weather.

What do you think?

 

[SatelliteAV]

Nice innovative solutions!

Would suggest placing paver blocks under the legs to help distribute down force during wind loading. What is used for ballast on top of the legs? You will be surprised how quickly the dish will flip without ballast. The stakes will prevent lateral movement, but minimal protection from flipping.

The camo tarp will quickly become and RF block when water starts streaming across the material. To experiment on the attenuation, spray the fabric with a water hose. The signal will go away pretty fast! You might consider buying 4 or 5 spray cans of flat natural color paints and replicate the camo pattern on the dish structure.

There shouldnt be significant signal loss in 100' of coax. Are you using a good quality coax such as a RG6 quad shield?

 

[KE4EST]

I agree, I would spray paint the dish a camo color. Very cool though what you came up with.

 

[OkiMarine]

I have 6 bricks that I used for a NPRM that I placed over the base of the new mount, maybe need something more . I'm using a roll of 1000ft cable my brother gave me years ago, was able to make out the part number on the label and found a link to the spec's: http://www.commscope.com/catalog/broadband/product_details.aspx?id=46859 He assured me it was good stuff when he gave it to me about 10 yrs ago and I've used it to wire a couple houses but never for satellite. I have some camo paints and will take both your advice and paint instead of the tarp. Thanks for the advice

 

[Anole]

Search the forum. Perhaps one of the WSI 6' bargain dish threads.
I recall at least one member give his dish a camo paint job.
May have been partly to cover rust spots.
?
In another thread, someone found a kit of camo paint spray cans.
Might be something sold at sporting goods stores.
Don't recall details, but something like 5 cans for $25, and instructions.

?Anyway, you're not alone.


Edit: I'm not impressed with your coax specs.

 

[Cham]

I used flat paint like what the army uses on their tanks and whatever. It was just the green to blend in with the spruce trees behind it. Don't think the paint affects the reflectivity much at microwave frequencies we are using.
Guess San Diego doesn't get much snow otherwise I would recommend a taller mount...
One of the dishes I have uses a similar ground mounting system. I buried two railroad ties and bolted the cross-mount to the ties with 1/2" lag screws. It's very solid and hasn't moved at all (so far).
Almost -6dB/100' @ 750MHz... lossy but maybe it will last forever!
-C.

 

[OkiMarine]

Well, I've removed the tarp and painted the top portion of the dish Olive Drab and the SQ / SS has increased. Weird because I tried the tarp before I ran wire to the house and it made zero difference. Tomorrow I will buy a couple more cans of paint and complete the project. New picture's will follow.

 

[Martyn]

Weird because I tried the tarp before I ran wire to the house and it made zero difference.

Were you using a shorter length of coax? Perhaps you didn't notice a difference because of the stronger signal you had.

Looking at the specs of your cable, the attenuation (signal loss) at 1,000MHz and 100ft is -6dB. It climbs higher with the frequency.

Your satellite receiver is getting signals at between 950MHz and 2150MHz, so 1000 MHz is at the low end.

A signal loss of +3dB is a halving of the signal, so -6dB means you're losing 75% of the signal in the cable run. RG6 has a loss of roughly -2dB per 100ft, so you'd be losing about a third. That's at 1000MHz, the losses are greater as the frequency increases.

 

[waylew]

Just a thought,depending on how you attached the tarp and how tight you had it,you may have been warping the dish,thus signal loss.

 

[gpflepsen]

Here's a thought on ballast for stability. Instead of loading the platform with blocks etc., use a ground auger like is sold for large dog chains. Screw it into the ground under the center of the dish. Then use either a small ratchet-strap or turnbuckle to put a couple hundred pounds of down force on the frame.

 

[SatelliteAV]

Following up on gpflepsen's suggestion, for more holding power without ballast... could drill a hole in each leg and ground auger or drive rebar at opposing 45 degree angles.

 

[Joe DC]

Did the camo thing on my 6' dish for WAF (wife acceptance factor)! Now maybe I'll sneak in an 8' dish.

 

[Kraven]

LOL... WAF! Am going to have to use that one. I call mine the Ministry of Zoning.

Am considering painting mine before I mount it... its either going to be green to blent w/ the hedges or the Captain America shield for coolness.

Cheers, K

 

[gpflepsen]

CA Shield, definitely.

 

[wildbill47]

New 6 ft dish



I had a 6' microwave dish mounted on pole and had problems getting enough signal. Purchased a new dish and when it was received would not fit pole as the pipe size was smaller on new mount. Used the old polar mount that had been scrapped off another dish and worked ok. For the moment have it locked on 125 bird for music choice and have plenty of signal now.