Re: [amsat-bb] Looking for an AO-40 dish

[Bruce Nolte N3LSY <brucenol@xxxxxxx>]

Gary Gonnella wrote:

>What do you consider suitable?
>7 foot to 12 foot are available for the asking, just knock on a few doors
>and must people will give them to you for taking them down.
>
>Gary Gonnella W6RYO
>gary@w6ryo.com
>http://www.w6ryo.com
>
>
>  
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: owner-AMSAT-BB@AMSAT.Org [mailto:owner-AMSAT-BB@AMSAT.Org]On
>>Behalf Of n6gr
>>Sent: Friday, August 23, 2002 7:45 AM
>>To: amsat-bb@AMSAT.Org
>>Subject: [amsat-bb] Looking for an AO-40 dish
>>
>>
>>and any auggestions where to find a suitbale dish.
>>
>>Brad
>>N6GR
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>
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>  
>
The big TVRO dishes can indeed be had for free,  and can yield excellent 
results if a good pointing system can be devised. That being said, they 
can be a handful to point and can be obtrusive in your yard (you might 
not care, but what about the YL and the neighbors?)  I got one for the 
asking off of somebody's front lawn who was getting ready to haul it away.

 If the big dish isn't practical, there are many dishes available in the 
1 meter range that can work well, and are much easier to point and mount 
than the big C band dishes. Think Primestar!!   Primestar a few years 
ago had a satellite TV service that used dishes that were about 36 
inches across, and varied in shape from oval to round. To make a long 
story short were out competed by and eventually sold out to DSS,  IIRC 
and they replaced all of the old Primestar dishes with smaller DSS 
dishes, leaving all of the old Primestar dishes to spend their final 
days as lawn ornaments.  Many of these lawn ornaments are still in 
place, and their owners can frequently be talked into parting with them. 
You may also want to check with a satellite TV dealer, he may have a few 
or a few dozen on his back lot he might be willing to sell for a song. 
If you are truly desperate, you can always try E-Bay. I have seen 
Primestar dishes going there for less than $20, but it might cost more 
to ship than the purchase price.

 Don't ignore commerical dishes of this size either, that often sprout 
on the rooftops of many communications intensive businesses, they are 
rugged and often have shapes more suited for simple homemade feeds than 
the Primestar dishes.


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