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Originally Posted by Mitchell
I have a 12' C-band dish made by Paraclipse back in the late 80's..  While the mesh will not pass a standard #2 pencil the expanded metal holes are rather large.
I have used the Uniden receiver until this past summer when a storm finally took it out. The positioner has quit about a year earlier than that,,,,
Saying all that to ask is it feasible to buy new positioner, receiver and start over OR should I just "let it go" and become a FTA Ku man now....
I will say this..that ole C band was installed in 1984 and has been a part of the front yard ever since...and we were the first to see a station other than locals in the neighborhood...
If nothing else, let me hear your suggestions..
Thanks Mitch
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If it were me, whether it was Ku compatable or not, I'd pick up a used IRD on EBAY. I haven't checked recently, but I'd guess that you can get one quite cheap, certainly not more than $100, and probably less that $50. Most IRDs will do both C and Ku, and include a built in positioner, and provision for a VCII+. And you can easily slave a FTA receiver to it.
With the trends going toward little
DTV and DN dishes, and Ku FTA, there are less and less hobbiests on C-band. Because of this, to uplinkers, there is less need to scramble stuff on C-band. This is just the opposite of what was happening back in the late 80's, when hobbiests had C-band, but not Ku, and the uplinkers were hiding stuff on Ku. Anyway, I find more interesting stuff now on C-band, and I think it is definately worth getting a used IRD to drive it.
After you get it working again on C-band, I would suggest getting a cheap ku LNBF and try strapping it on the side of your C-band feed, to experiment to see if the dish can function on Ku, and if so, you can upgrade to a C/Ku corotor or a C/Ku lnbf.
I usually think that dishes made prior to 1990 are suspect with respect to being able to pick up Ku, not just because of the hole size in the mesh, but also because the shape of the dishes made then might not have been made to tolerances required for Ku. However Paraclipse dishes are generally thought to be pretty good dishes, so your dish may well work on Ku. I think it's worth a try.
If you don't want to invest in a used IRD, you can always replace your existing feed with something like
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Products/S...-C-KU-LNBF.htm , and move your dish either with a car battery or using something like a
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Products/M...II-control.htm
Of course you'd lose analog capability, but that's steadily going away anyway.