12 ft or 15?

[lemme]

I know someone in the headend for years and has some dishes to rid. He has solid dishes 12, 15, 25, and larger. Since I live in a rural area I think I can get away with a 15.
My question is, is it really worth the extra 1.5 ft radius?

[Terryl]

Yes, but are you going to have to move it between satellites??

Most of the head end dishes are fixed in place.

You will need a good strong motor.

[Terryl]

And anything bigger then the 15 footer may be optimized for "C" band, it may work OK for "kU" band but the gain will not be as high.

[lemme]

I heard the bigger is not better for ku, therefore I will use my 10ft for ku. Im sure your right, the 15 is alum im guessing an old comtech. I plan on building a counterweight so the motor isnt taxed to death. Thanks for your input. I plan on going there this week, maybe I should take some pics.
What I forgot to mention is I hope the 15 will work for higher demods on cband.

[Terryl]

Got the room and don't have any size restrictions then go for the 25 footer, then your set for life.

Remember that the base needs to be 5 times the weight of the dish,motor AND counter weight.

And with that big a dish you need to also include a soil cap of at least 4 inches of concrete, and it should be as large length and width wise as 1/2 the dish size. Unless your mounting in solid rock.

This keeps it from tilting and wobbling too much in a strong wind.

[Costactc]

I would suggest 12' with a 36" jack. The bigger you go the stronger the motor you will need unless you plan on it being stationary. i am using an 8' solid right now for the circular eastern sats with excellent results, even the tough s2 tp.

[lemme]

After going there I think it will be too much work to resurrect one of these old dishes if I do try one it wont be larger than a 12.

[jvvh5897]

Photos have a surreal quality though.

[lemme]

yea the place is a cband graveyard. There are dishes everywhere of all kinds.

[Terryl]

Grab the black mesh dish in the second photo, it looks like a Channel Master, I have one and it works fine for both bands.

Hopefully it has the linear motor with it, and the LNB mounting booms.

You can take it apart in 4 sections for transport, or a truck with a lumber rake wold do, but it is heavy it's a two man job to move.

[Terryl]

They should have a yard sale, but all the rest look to be fixed dishes, they would be a nightmare to motorize.

[lemme]

i think that mesh dish is 10ft, i already have one going was trying to get a 12. I run a machine shop so making moving mounts for normally fixed isnt a big deal, but for the time involved I might be better to buy tvro 13.5 dish if its not a piece of garbage. My other option is to buy a 12ft patriot new, but not spending money right now things are slow.

[Costactc]

I have to agree with Terryl. A mesh dish is by far superior to a solid for c band especially if it has the slightly larger holes. Solid dishes weigh a ton and may require a heavy duty motor to move them.