Quote:
Originally Posted by rainman
the best tool you can take when removing a c band dish is extra hands the big dishes are not that heavy but very bulky so extra hands can keep it from being damage.  |
True. Unless you are lucky, and can take the thing apart (which might be impossible if all the bolts are rusty), a dish can be pretty hard to handle. I once helped move a dish from one pole to another, about 3' away, and it took about 4 or 5 of us. We backed up a utility trailer, a pickup truck and a Van, and had 2 or 3 ladders, and it was still hard.
When I replaced my first dish, and tried to take it down myself, trying not to damage it, because I was giving it to someone, I made a home-made gyn-pole (?sp?). Ie I bolted a pulley near the top of the pole, and attached a metal cable to the mount. I then backed my van up next to the dish, and lifted the mount off the pole, allowing it to be supported by the cable. I then got down, and was able to slowly lower the thing with the cable/pulley. I suspect the thing got bent up a bit though, because it came down with the weight on the edge of the dish, and I had to lower it a little bit then pull it out to get it off the edge, then lower some more. If I had had just one or two helpers (can't remember what my wife was doing at the time), I think it would have worked. Ie one person letting out the cable, and one or two guiding how the dish came down.
No matter how careful though, there is a good chance that the thing is going to get a bit out of shape, but hopefully you can straighten it out.
Speaking of picking up used equipment. Yesterday, I was serving as the monitor for our town's bulky waste pickup (ie keeping people from discarding hazardous waste), and someone dropped off a virtually new, still wrapped in plastic, Uniden sat receiver, VCII and all, and also a standalone dish mover. It took a LOT of restraint to resist taking them home, but didn't. Even though they looked to be in perfect shape, there were no remotes, and I know how hard it is to get some of these things to work without a remote. If I had more time, I would have written down the model numbers, run home, got on the net, and see if there were JP1 remote codes published for the things, but the trash guy was waiting there with his crusher truck, so I had to watch as the things were thrown in and crushed.
Linear Mode
