Find & lower your new found bud dish the easy way! ** safely **

[grynner]

C&p,thanks goes to no1wolverine

Find & lower your new found bud dish the easy way! ** safely **

I have recently decided to setup a "bud" "big ugly dish" are becomming more and more popular amoung us fta testers! i have went out the past several months and landed and took down over a dozen. Usually if you drive past someones home and see a bud and then look and see a pizza dish and go up and ask the homeowner, they will most likely give it to you.

My approach... Hi im john "q" satellite doode... I was driving by your home and noticed that you have a old big dish in your back yard, but i see you also have a small dish, do you use your big dish anymore? hmmmmmmm?

Customer - no we have switched to di*** tv

John q - well mamm / sir most of your local satellite installers charge between $ 50.00 to $200.00 to remove your dish when they install your new dish for you, i am needing parts for my big dish and if you would like i will remove your dish for free, cut your pole down, and haul everthing away for you! and oh and by the way, you still wouldnt happen to have your reciever would you?

Be nice and polite and you will be shocked at the amount of dishes and recievers that can be had. After you have enough dishes of your own you might also try this, if you find a local scrap scavenger doode he will most likely do the job for you for takeing the aluminum... And you can go out with him and show him the parts that you want him to save for you, usally actuator, feedhorn, lnb, reciever etc. This will give you extra spare parts or things to trade or sell on fleebay. Now to take these dishes down safely without damage and without heavy equipment like a back hoe or similar gear can be be a pain. Most people dont like heavy equipment in their yard anyway...

I pondered this one evening and decided to build a "dish crane" the major ingrediant in this contraption is a "brake winch" these can be picked up for around $75.00 at your local farm *****, and will lift and hold 950 lbs plenty for 99% of bud dishes. This alows you to let loose of the winch handle without the winch ratcheting down and free falling the dish. You have to crank the handle to raise or lower. The 3/16 cable rated at 1000 lbs costs about $25.00 for 40' this will allow you to lift a dish 20+ feet in the air on a pole. I welded this unit up for around $125.00 total and it makes easy work getting the dish to the ground safely, without wrecking the dish or needed parts. You need to match up your hardware and use grade 8 bolts remember... A few extra bucks in sturdy hardware is worth the cost in safety.

This unit has two modules the crane modual and the winch modual. They are both mounted to 1/4 4" x 2" id channel iron. There are 1/2" blk pipe sleeves cut 2" that help support & guide the bolts around the pole. The bolts are 1/2 dia x 6" long grade 8. The back supports are 1/4" x 6" angle iron. A wood block was utilized as a spacer in the pictures as the bolts wound up being a little to long. I will make spacers for smaller dia poles such as this 3 1/2 dia pole. The winch is mounted on 3/8 studs thru the channel iron. The crane arm is made of 2" black pipe 16" long and is bolted thru two 1/2 mounting tabs welded to the channel iron. A 3/4" x 5" grade 8 bolt supports the main crane arm. Inside the 2" dia pipe is a 1 1/2 blk pipe free floating that can swivel and extends in the air above the mount of the dish. At the end of this 1 1/2 pipe is a support for a 3/16 steel cable rated pulley. This pulley is mounted half way in the center of the pipe to allow the cable to be run thru the crane arm around the pulley to the dish mount. At the end of the cable is a 1600 lb rated hook with locking hasp. This allows a chain 3/8 4000 lb chain w/ link hooks to wrap around the dish mount without fear of the chain comming loos from the cable.

This is a two man operation, one person on the winch and one on the dish. Lower the dish fully down bottom edge of dish to the pole.once the bolts are loosened on the mount to the pole, your helper will swivel the dish back and forth while the winch operator is raising the dish do this slowly. Once the mount is just about free from the pipe your helper will need to be prepared as the dish will want to fall forward. It is best to prop a long 2x4 against the pole under the dish at a angle this will help support the dish from the pole. Two rubber padded c clamps can be used on each side of the rim of the dish with a nylon rope running between them to the person 15' in front of the dish this helper will guy the dish and apply pressure away from the pole.
The winch operator will then slowly raise the dish untill free from the pole.

The winch operator then lowers the dish to the ground. This works very well, and has lowered 14 dishes so far.