Future dish project

[armadillo_115]

Went to the salvage yard looking for steel cable to make trellis wires, but no luck so far. I did come home with these though:

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Primestar dish is 40" wide x 30" high. Other dish is 30" wide x 33" high. Both have the mounts, but no feed holder on the Primestar. Don't know when I'll get around to fooling with them. Will probably shoot for 30W. (If the neighbors trees allow it) More Spanish channels would make the better half happy.

Also got the metal table frame. Just need to make a new top for it and it will be a good outdoor table..

$5 for the lot.

Will a standard ku lnb work ok on the 'other' dish? It's taller than wide.

EDIT: Don't know why pics posted sideways. Just cock your head to the side when viewing. lmao

[el bandido]

FTA consumer lnbs will illuminate pretty much in a perfect circle with either a standard or universal lnb. Looks like both of your dishes will illuminate 30 inches or 76cm. This is small for liner ku signals but you should be able to find some channels that they will work on. Not having the feed arms will be somewhat of a challenge, and the general consensus on some forums used to be to leave a dish like that where it was laying if the feed was not included.

Anyway, Congratulations on the find for 5 bucks. You will have learned something once you get these two dishes operational. It is always good to see a project like this!

[armadillo_115]

One dish came with a feed arm and lnb. I have no idea what kind of lnb or even what type of service it was for.
I have a feedarm from another Primestar dish that suffered from fiberglass damage. Also have the old primestar lnb, but probable bad. IDK.

Wonder if the old feedhorn parts could be mounted to a 'modern' style lnb to make use of the complete elliptical shape of the dishes?

I have an old car rim/tire with a 4ft pipe welded in the center that was previously mounted a large fan. It works as a portable stand to mount small dishes on. So I won't be spending money just to experiment.

[el bandido]

The feedhorn is what illuminates the dish. Consumer FTA lnbs are usually designed to illuminate in a perfect circle. You will need a ku lnb with a customized feedhorn if you want to illuminate something else besides a perfect circle. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

[Terryl]

One dish came with a feed arm and lnb. I have no idea what kind of lnb or even what type of service it was for.
I have a feedarm from another Primestar dish that suffered from fiberglass damage. Also have the old primestar lnb, but probable bad. IDK.

Wonder if the old feedhorn parts could be mounted to a 'modern' style lnb to make use of the complete elliptical shape of the dishes?

I have an old car rim/tire with a 4ft pipe welded in the center that was previously mounted a large fan. It works as a portable stand to mount small dishes on. So I won't be spending money just to experiment.

An elliptical shaped dish is normally used to receive more then one satellite, here state side we have elliptical dishes used to receive 3 satellites,(DISH 1000) used with the propper LNB you can get more then a 20 degree spread between satellites. (110W, 119W and 129W)

[armadillo_115]

I found these on the 'bay in case anyone needs one. I believe that's what is needed for the old Primestar dish? I'm not buying anything now though. No telling when I will ever get around to playing with it.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/182681653669?_trkparms=ni_actn%3Anav%7Cni_nt%3AWATCHITM_GTC%7Cni_apos%3A1%7Cni_sg%3A1%7Cni_pos%3A1%7Cni_st%3ANEW%7Cni_wh%3A1%7Cni_nid%3A672959609366%7Cni_nsid%3A182681653669%7Cni_bn%3A1&_trksid=p2380424.m570.l5997

[MikeB]

Yep, that'll work for the Primestar elliptical dishes.

[Fearless]

One thing to remember about offset ku dishes: The LNBs don't look squarely at the dish. They are offset so when mounted on that 33 X 30 inch dish they see a "perfect 30" circle"

[armadillo_115]

One thing to remember about offset ku dishes: The LNBs don't look squarely at the dish. They are offset so when mounted on that 33 X 30 inch dish they see a "perfect 30" circle"

Understood, Fearless. Thanks.
Any ideas what that 33x30 dish was used for? I'm curious: What was the advantage for a dish that is taller than wide? Dual sats with one inclined higher than the other? (If there is such a thing) So far I have found no identification on the dish or lnb. The paper sticker on the lnb is faded/worn off.

I've been reading a bit about what ku is available. So far, I'm thinking a dual lnb setup for 30W and 34.5W on the Primestar dish would be great for the wife.
I see scant ku programing that interests me. I'd like to find Grit or Movies somewhere.

[Fearless]

Understood, Fearless. Thanks.

What was the advantage for a dish that is taller than wide?

.

That's what I was trying to explain. When you tip the 33" dish the offset 24° back it looks 30" tall to the LNB. The LNB sees it as a round dish, not one taller than wide. That's a normal 76cm (30") FTA dish.