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6-foot dish I'm checking out

2K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  seekir 
#1 ·
I attempted to post a query about an old 6' RadioShack dish that's been offered on Craigslist here in Hawaii. That post seems to have vanished, I included a hot link and may have violated some DH forum protocols or just posted the thread incorrectly or in the wrong place.

Anyway the owner of this dish says via email that it's quite heavy (300 pounds) but doesn't seem to know what the model is. I'm planning to have a look at it to try and determine what sort of shape it's in. I believe I'm at about 158 degrees W. longitude and about 19 degrees N. latitude here on the Big Island. Some of the "birds" on the Dr. Sat site seem to be between about 121-131 degrees W. (AMC's 10, 11, 21, Galaxies 13, 14, 15, 18, 23) and I'm wondering if I could conceivably receive their signals here, whether they might broadcast interesting programming (I'm interested in sports, network, science, PBS, foreign and U.S. news programming, music etc. Not interested too much in religion or non-English language programming). I already get great land-based digital signals with a DBGH I built, but I'm interested in what FTA might offer, and how much it might cost for the appropriate receiver, cables, LBN, aiming hardware that I may need to replace etc. The owner of the dish says that he once received about four satellites but that his receiver broke.

If anyone can enlighten me I'd be grateful, I haven't seen the dish up close yet, it's clearly been neglected and has kudzu or banana poka vines clinging to it. I suppose it might be salvageable but don't know if it's suited for my intended purposes. Thanks,

Mike
 
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#2 ·
Sounds interesting. Depends on which side of the arc you decided to track. On the east side of the arc, you should be able to track from 79W (depending on local obstructions along eastern horizon) to 137W for North American Birds, plus 177W which is an Asia/Pacific Sat I think. There's plenty available to watch in that range of the arc. As long as the footprint covers Hawaii, you'd be OK. You could also mount the ARM on the other side of the mount to track the Western ARC, which for you would be Asian Satellites. Checking Lyngsat looks like you might find some interesting stuff from Australia, etc there. In either case you'd have to check the coverage patterns on Lyngsat to see which satellites cover Hawaii. Will take some research. Other than that you could also look around the island for anyone else that might have a dish up and still using it. If they're friendly ask what they are doing, etc.

A couple useful resources:

www.lyngsat.com
www.dishpointer.com

PS- if ya decide to grab it and need some help, be happy to bring some parts and help ya install it.
Preferably around Nov. or Dec. timeframe, when the snow starts flyin here:)
 
#3 ·
Thanks so much for the links, I hadn't really thought about looking westward, I am on the east side of the Big Isle, so the trees and mountains that way may present a problem for this location, the eastern exposure may be more practical.

Might be awhile before I can actually mount the dish, it sounds pretty bulky. I've been brainstorming thinking of a way to get it hoisted up on a roof mount (gin pole?). Maybe I can help SETI look for our celestial cousins out in Alpha Centauri. I've got other projects that will have to take priority over mounting it if it turns out that I can actually get this thing, so it could be fall/winter before I start if you want to show up then with your tool bag and surf gear.
 
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