Quote:
Originally Posted by keebs
okay, ive heard enough to want to go ahead with it. lets say i get a dish and the only thing that works is the dish itself. the acuator/mover and whatever else needs to be replaced. are the replacement parts even available and are they universal? and at what cost? i know i have seen analog receivers several places for cheap, that is what i want right?--- i played with ku band years ago and also just recently got a motorized system but this is a new animal for me. what obstacles should i keep my head up for? |
If you find a used dish, it will probably come with a polar mount of some kind. It should be OK, and you need to get that too, not just the dish parts. It will probably have an
actuator too, which may or may not work, although usually they can be repaired, and if not,
Sadoun and other dealers have them.
You'll probably need some ribbon cable, since big dish motors need some heavy duty wire to run the actuator. The ribbon cable usually has 2 sets of RG6, 2 heavy duty motor wires and 2 sets of small wire for polarotor and motor pulse sensors.
Re the analog receiver, it used to be that "receivers" did not have the ability to control the actuator, and people had to buy separate dish movers. Then they started selling "IRDs" {integrated receiver/descramblers}, which could both accept a VCII descrambler unit plus that had built in dish mover capability. I'd recommend making sure that you get one of those IRDs, which now are just called receivers. Usually though, if it says that it is VCII or VCRS compatable, then it's usually an IRD, but you can tell by seeing all the connections for wires on the back. There should be screw connections for at least 7 or 8 wires in the back. The receiver may or may not have the VCII+/VCRS module, but that's not important unless you want to subscribe to analog channels. If you want to subscribe to digital DCII channels, then you'll need a 4DTV, however you can do that later via a sidecar if you feel the need.
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