Found an awesome dish

[Jagged Raven]

Stupid question

How do you post a question to ge help

 

[Dee_Ann]

How do you post a question to ge help

Help with what? This forum covers a LOT of different things.

There is Free To Air stuff, and Pay TV stuff. Either way, lots of peeps here that are super smart that can help you with everything except world peace..

 

[rv1pop]

How do you post a question to ge help

At the top of each index page the is a button +POST NEW THREAD

 

[Bill_KY]

Now, getting them down, moved and put up here, ZOMG...... Yeah, that's going to be some hard work! I'll be documenting it all.

Take pictures of everything before, during and after taking the dish (es) apart, but try to video the process as that will also give better and easier reference. Label the panels with numbers, write down dis-assembling of the dish (es) , separate the bolts and put them in plastic baggies and label them, photograph and video each step and where each bolt goes where.

You might want to get new stainless steel nuts and bolts if you can find them for those dishes. Look to see if old assembly instructions are available on the web or on E-Bay. Good luck with the project, can't wait to see the pictures after everything is up.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Take pictures of everything before, during and after taking the dish (es) apart, but try to video the process as that will also give better and easier reference. Label the panels with numbers, write down dis-assembling of the dish (es) , separate the bolts and put them in plastic baggies and label them, photograph and video each step and where each bolt goes where.

You might want to get new stainless steel nuts and bolts if you can find them for those dishes. Look to see if old assembly instructions are available on the web or on E-Bay. Good luck with the project, can't wait to see the pictures after everything is up.

Oh believe me, I intended to take a LOT of photos. Video, not so much. My camera has a limit of 12 minutes of video recording built in. Because my camera can record video far better than any commercial grade camera, the people that make professional video cameras forced a restriction by legislation on the amount of time that DSLR cameras can record because they were afraid these cameras would destroy them.

Anyway.. I'll be taking tons and tons of pictures..

I plan to take a sharpie and write on every single piece I take apart so I can match everything back when the time comes to reassemble. I'll also be using zip locks. Heavy duty freezer type so they will be tough enough to not get ripped and lose parts!

Once I get these things down and moved to my place I plan to take the time to restore them to Like New condition.

I'm going to strip them down and repaint them, I'm going to do as good a job, if not better, than American Restoration would do.
No compromise, LIKE NEW...

As for info, there is NONE.. These things are sooooo pre-internet that there's nothing at all about them, anywhere.
I even went to archive.org and tried to go back through the Way Back Machine and pull up OLD Scientific Atlanta stuff and there's nothing at all.
These things are early 80's and fell off the radar years before the internet.

So I'm on my own when it comes to anything about them.

I restored that 10' Odom dish to very near like new. It took me over a year to do it and I had to have the help of my dad (plus I had to pay someone to plant the poles) but I got it done and I use that dish every single day.

I talked to my dad yesterday about the dishes and he said that late next week (weather permitting) he would ride out there with me to take a look at them so we can begin to figure out a way to get them down and transported to my place.

We've also talked about getting the trees here taken down before I get the big dishes put up. The trees cause other problems besides interfere with the dishes and there's the very serious concern that a hurricane could blow them over and destroy my house. So sometime this spring I'm having ALL the trees taken down. That's going to help a lot. Bamboo will be going up around the yard to hide everything but that's going to take years for it to grow enough to hide the biggest dishes. I'm planting bamboo that tops out at 12' tall. I could also maybe plant some that tops out at 20' tall, I'm looking into that. I'm even planting some to hide the dishes from MY view. I'm working towards having a secret garden and a Zen garden and I want all man made things hidden from my view. Eventually the dishes will be a hidden island in a sea of bamboo..

 

[KE4EST]

Oh believe me, I intended to take a LOT of photos. Video, not so much. My camera has a limit of 12 minutes of video recording built in. Because my camera can record video far better than any commercial grade camera, the people that make professional video cameras forced a restriction by legislation on the amount of time that DSLR cameras can record because they were afraid these cameras would destroy them.

View attachment 75793

Hey Dee which DSLR Camera did you end up going with? I know you said you were getting one awhile back. You may have said, but I figured it would be easier to ask instead of searching your posts trying to find it.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Hey Dee which DSLR Camera did you end up going with? I know you said you were getting one awhile back. You may have said, but I figured it would be easier to ask instead of searching your posts trying to find it.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II...

 

[KE4EST]

Ok thanks was just curious. Been wanting me one, just haven't decided which one.

 

[Pixl]

Dee,

At the radio station I engineer for we have several of these S.A. 9000 dishes in service since 1983. I have re-located them a few times, the base column is hollow and not all that heavy. The whole dish can be lowered down by three people on it's back and transported in one piece. Lay it down in a rental trailer that has side rails. The base sits on the floor, and the back of the reflector rests on the side rails. Then tie the whole thing down. It is well built and will not fall apart from the move. Better than taking it apart and disturbing everything. Be careful lnb struts and the back support struts are made of aluminum and will bend easy, don't grab these. Everything else is steel. Nice find!

 

[Dee_Ann]

Ok thanks was just curious. Been wanting me one, just haven't decided which one.

My Canon EOS 5D Mark II - Minus

If you want to see what a rank amateur can do with one feel free to browse through the other photos I've taken there.
Buddhist Hippie Chick (buddhisthippiechick) - Minus.com

Here's one I took yesterday that I really like.. (it's reduced in size like a zillion times to fit here.)

 

[Dee_Ann]

Dee,

At the radio station I engineer for we have several of these S.A. 9000 dishes in service since 1983. I have re-located them a few times, the base column is hollow and not all that heavy. The whole dish can be lowered down by three people on it's back and transported in one piece. Lay it down in a rental trailer that has side rails. The base sits on the floor, and the back of the reflector rests on the side rails. Then tie the whole thing down. It is well built and will not fall apart from the move. Better than taking it apart and disturbing everything. Be careful lnb struts and the back support struts are made of aluminum and will bend easy, don't grab these. Everything else is steel. Nice find!

Thank you! This is very good to know!

I was strongly suspecting that the mounting tube was hollow and had no other poles inside of it.
I'll have to hire a couple of guys I suppose, My dad is like 76yro and I'm pretty useless, strength wise. I can only lift about 40lbs.
A bag of dog food or potting soil pretty much whips my b*tt.. Anything more than that, nope....

But I can tell my dad this and see what he thinks. We don't have a trailer so we would have to rent one but that's not a big deal. Dad has a van than is more than capable of towing it.
Getting it into my backyard though, I would have to drop the thing in my driveway and take it apart to get it to the back yard. It's fenced in and I have a 6' wide gate it would have to go through. It's impossible to drive a vehicle from my front yard to my back yard. That's not an option. It will have to be hand carried in pieces to the back. I keep saying it. I should be saying THEM because I'm getting one of the 11' SA dishes and the giant aluminum dish, I'm not sure of the brand and size but it's HUGE... Much bigger than the 11' SA..

Say, is there any chance you might have some old printed materials on the SA dishes laying around? Manuals, photos, ads, fliers, specs?? I've been trying to find anything on them and I'm drawing a total blank..

Thanks!

 

[Pixl]

Dee Ann,
I have extras of the assembly and operating manual. PM your address I'll mail it to you. If you can get 3-4 helpers, you can carry it fully assembled upright to your back yard. Maybe take just the lnb struts off. We hand walked one of these from one roof to another adjoining roof when moving one day.

 

[KE4EST]

Nice photography, I'll have to take time to look at more later.....but back to your dish find, don't want to skew the thread too much.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Dee Ann,
I have extras of the assembly and operating manual. PM your address I'll mail it to you. If you can get 3-4 helpers, you can carry it fully assembled upright to your back yard. Maybe take just the lnb struts off. We hand walked one of these from one roof to another adjoining roof when moving one day.

OMG!! That would be awesome! I'll PM you now.


It sounds like this thing is a lot lighter than it looks. But despite it's huge size and light weight, it must be ultra strong because these things have been through more hurricanes and tropical storms than I can count and they are all undamaged. ONE of them has minor damage to one of the LNB legs but I suspect that's because a tree limb probably fell on it. Oh, and some of them have the mandatory bullet holes. Other than that, they all look really good. Just a good strip down and repainting is all they really need.

Finding enough guys to carry these things though.. Hmmm.. That's going to be a problem. I only know one guy, the one I paid to set the pole for my C-band dishes and he's a flake. He ripped me off on something unrelated so I won't ever ask for his help again. That narrows it down to zero.. My son lives in Oklahoma so that's a no go..

Well, I've got time to figure something out..

Thanks!

 

[Tron]

Bullet holes? In all of them? I know it wouldn't affect the signal much (unless the dishes look like Swiss cheese), but bullet holes would annoy me in such a beautiful dish.

You might want to grab one or two of those open racks in the headend if they're not already spoken for. One can never have too many equipment racks ...

 

[cyberham]

...Finding enough guys to carry these things though.. Hmmm.. That's going to be a problem.

Throw a party inviting satelliteguy members. They'll fly in from everywhere to assist, get free beer & pizza in exchange for getting the job done in record time. When done, a satelliteguy convention in the local town. Sponsored by...satelliteAV...door prizes...carry away microHDs for sale...satellite coverage of event...

 

[Dee_Ann]

Bullet holes? In all of them? I know it wouldn't affect the signal much (unless the dishes look like Swiss cheese), but bullet holes would annoy me in such a beautiful dish.

You might want to grab one or two of those open racks in the headend if they're not already spoken for. One can never have too many equipment racks ...

There aren't bullet holes in all of them, thankfully.

One thing I learned from my dad is how to use two hammers to repair bent metal. You put one hammer behind then use another hammer to gently tap and flatten the damaged metal back to near it's original state.
It won't be perfect but close enough to suit the purpose. I've seen Dad do that on cars to fix dings. If you work at it long enough you can make it almost perfect then just put some goo on it, sand it down and paint over it so you can't tell. So the bullet holes don't worry me too much.

What does worry me, is that when I went out there to look at the dishes and take photos, I could hear gunfire in the woods. Rednecks entertaining themselves perhaps. One would think that maybe they are trying to get something for dinner rather than just randomly killing animals for fun or shootings trees while drunk. Who knows? But stray bullets out there are a very real concern.


Those racks. Yes, I think I will grab a few of those too. Something like that could be handy. I think it would be cool to have all the tuners and other junk in a nice, neat little rack. Right now it's all in an old, large entertainment center.. I would have to think it through but it wouldn't hurt to have a few just for fun.. I'll of course need to give the owner a few more dollars, to be fair.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Finding enough guys to carry these things though.. Hmmm.. That's going to be a problem.

Look in the phone book for Temporary Agencies and look for an agency that offers temporary labor help.

Or place an add in Craigslist looking for help. I would go with the Temporary agency though as they are insured and screen their workers.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Look in the phone book for Temporary Agencies and look for an agency that offers temporary labor help.

Or place an add in Craigslist looking for help. I would go with the Temporary agency though as they are insured and screen their workers.

Um, yeah..

Being out in the woods with a bunch of strange men from craigslist? Not so good an idea...

Temp agency, slightly saner idea..

 

[Tron]

What does worry me, is that when I went out there to look at the dishes and take photos, I could hear gunfire in the woods. Rednecks entertaining themselves perhaps. One would think that maybe they are trying to get something for dinner rather than just randomly killing animals for fun or shootings trees while drunk. Who knows? But stray bullets out there are a very real concern.

I'm a city boy, but whenever I've visited friends or relatives who live in the country, I've been warned to wear bright orange whenever walking around in the woods ... That way, I've been told, I should avoid being strapped onto the hood of someone's car or mounted on a wall...

Those racks. Yes, I think I will grab a few of those too. Something like that could be handy. I think it would be cool to have all the tuners and other junk in a nice, neat little rack. Right now it's all in an old, large entertainment center.. I would have to think it through but it wouldn't hurt to have a few just for fun.. I'll of course need to give the owner a few more dollars, to be fair.

Racks are a great way to organize equipment. The ones in the pictures look like rack frames, so I'm not sure how well they'd work free-standing. All sorts of rack accessories are available to mount equipment in racks, cool the equipment, and organize cables. There are even mobile rack cases that are available, which are generally used by traveling musicians and DJs to mount their gear. I will be using such a case to mount the microHDs ...