16 Ft Fiberglass Buttonhook

[mengram]

I just communicated with the owner of a 16 ft fiberglass buttonhook BUD about removing it from his property for him, he told me if I wanted it, come take it down and haul it away. I will be adding this monster to my dish farm this weekend:bigthumbup:

mengram

[el bandido]

Excellent!!
I look forward to seeing some pictures of it. That should be about the best performing dish around considering where you live, providing it is not warped! EB

[eastof111]

Wow! Congratulations. Thought dishes that size disappeared long ago. Last 16 footer I saw (mesh) was years ago made by Hero. Curious to see how you're going to get it home.

[mengram]

I have a 16 ft utility trailer to haul it on, I'm hoping I can transport it without having to dismantle it but still may have to break it down in 2 sections. I may also fabricate a jig out of some 4X4 post so I can stand it on it's edge on the trailer and transport it in one piece.

mengram

[ViP3R]

That is one big bud! I wonder how much it weighs, any idea?

[Costactc]

Awesome dish but considering it's made of fiberglass it probably weighs a ton, I would bring at least 2 others with you just for transport.

[mengram]

The 10 ft channel master I have is probably in the 300 lb range, I figure another 150 lbs for the extra 6 ft of fiberglass, so just guessing 450 lbs. When I go after it, I will have my wife, my son, my son-in-law, my grandson, my brother, and my nephew to help, hopefully we can take it down without any problems or damage to the dish.

mengram

[Costactc]

Sounds like your bringing an army. I have a 10' channel master that doesn't weigh more then 150 lbs, mount and all.

[mengram]

These are some pics of my 10 ft Channel Master
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[Costactc]

That mount you have behind the bud is for what? Just curious.

[mengram]

The mount behind the Mesh Dish is the mount for the 10 ft Channel Master. I had to take the 8 ft Mesh Dish down in order to put up the Channel Master. Did you notice the size of the base mount? It is a 6 inch diameter pole. It took me, my son, my brother, and my nephew to remove this dish from the previous owners property and set it back up at my property, and everyone of us are grain fed rednecks raised on hard work.

mengram


4624

[Costactc]

That's one hell of a mount, this is what my 10' channel master mount looks like:


4625

[mengram]

Unfortunately we were not able to get the dish this weekend as it has been to cold and my brother is having a problem with the vertebrates in his neck. He is going for a MRI tomorrow, hopefully he will find out what is causing the pain he has been having.

mengram

[el bandido]

I wish your brother the best and hope everything goes OK! EB

[mengram]

Thanks el bandido!

[mengram]

Well sad to say, I will not be getting the 16 ft bud. While waiting for my brother to shake the problem he has with his neck, I went and did a string test on the dish and the strings did not touch where they intersected and it also had a chunk of fiberglass on the outer rim that was broke which led me to believe the dish might have been blown over and hit the ground causing the dish to be warped.
On another note I have been given an 11 ft fiberglass dish less than 3 miles of my house, it too is a buttonhook feed, I could see that it needs a new actuator because the one that is on it is very rusty. I may just get the 16 ft dish for the actuator on it (36' Von Weise which looked to be only a few years old) and use the dish as a hot-tub.:lolsign:
I will start a new thread when I rescue the 11 ft bud.

mengram

[Costactc]

That's a real bummer mengram but I would jump on a 36" VonWeise jack. Looking forward to the 11' thread.

[eastof111]

Too bad on the 16 footer mengram, but from the looks of it Mississippi seems to be BUD heaven. Hope the 11 footer works out well.

[mengram]

Yes it is dish Heaven around here. I can drive down any road within 5-15 miles of the house and find a dish not being used. I know there are six 10 ft mesh dishes less than 5 miles from my house. Back in the day everyone out here had a BUD because we had no internet or cable. We are in such a rural area we have to pipe in sunlight.LOL

mengram

[Costactc]

Yes it is dish Heaven around here. I can drive down any road within 5-15 miles of the house and find a dish not being used. I know there are six 10 ft mesh dishes less than 5 miles from my house. Back in the day everyone out here had a BUD because we had no internet or cable. We are in such a rural area we have to pipe in sunlight.LOL

mengram

Same here mengram, just about a bud on every street-I've found buds for many of my friends.

[GetBit03]

You guys are LUCKY! Most of them around here have been removed and are long gone! I've found a few but most I don't want there in bad bad shape!

[ViP3R]

You guys are LUCKY! Most of them around here have been removed and are long gone! I've found a few but most I don't want there in bad bad shape!


It's hit and miss around here, I got my 7.5 perfect 10 with a 24" VonWeise jack in very nice condition for 75 dollars, though I paid 200 for the pole I needed the one they had was way to short.
Still for 275, it sure beats what would have cost around 3,500 in the 90's.

Most people now day's apart from us think these big ugly things are useless...

[Costactc]

I know of at least 20 channel master 10' buds in my area that aren't being used and yours for the taking, only problem is that most of them are really high up and I'm not breaking my neck for another. Sure would like to put up 1 more for the circular Atlantic sats.

[GetBit03]

Ya, but your probably 1500 miles from me! Not worth it unless I'm bringing back 20 of them and then it's still probably not worth it! Down by my lake house in the country I've seen quite a few, I'm gonna look this summer while I'm there and see if I can grab a few!

[easily confused]

Definitely no lack of BUDs around here. There are 8 or 10 varying from 6' to 10', both mesh and solid within 15 minutes of here and yesterday, I had to go pick up two turkey hens and a tom, and counted 16, both solid and mesh. All but 2 are not in use and not sure about the two but they looked like they were being used. this puts 20 to 25 within about an hour that I know of. People still argue with me that there is nothing on them.

[mengram]

I finally managed to get the 11 ft BUD to the house this afternoon. Here are a few couple pics. This one has a 24' Von Weise Actuator which still works perfectly.

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[eastof111]

Cool! Now come the fun part of setting it up. Congrats.

[hags]

Very nice, an 11' solid, very high gain and usable for high quality Ku as well as C band.

Nice find!

[Costactc]

Nice dish bud and that jack looks in good shape but might need a bit of tlc.

[ViP3R]

Nice dish bud and that jack looks in good shape but might need a bit of tlc.

Maybe just a little sandpaper and some lube.. never mind I was think of something else...:o

[mengram]

The weather was finally good enough to get out and clean the dish up:th_thumbs20up:

[mengram]

I got the new BUD on the pole yesterday:bigthumbup:

mengram

[mengram]

It is not tracking the arc very well as I can only get a signal from 91.0W to 101.0W, more tweaking needed:whoopdeedo:

mengram

[eastof111]

Looking good, mengram...

[chewie]

Very nice dish, where you able to make it track the arc?

[mengram]

I worked on the BUD yesterday and found the feed was off center by 2 inches, installed some makeshift guy wires to center the feed and now I can get at least a few channels on every satellite from 58.0W to 139.0W. I still have some tweaking to do, if the weather is nice tomorrow, I will take a small tv and receiver out to the dish and hopefully wrap this project up:yes2:

mengram

[mengram]

Here are a few pics of the completed project:bigclap:

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[chewie]

hello Mangram
that looks very good, glad you go it going, how tall is the pole?
Regards.
chewie

[eastof111]

Looks great mengram! Turned out to be a really rewarding find for you.

[mengram]

hello Mangram
that looks very good, glad you go it going, how tall is the pole?
Regards.
chewie

It's between 5-6 ft. above ground and 4 ft. in the ground.

mengram

[mengram]

Looks great mengram! Turned out to be a really rewarding find for you.

It is rewarding eastof111 and it keeps me active:thanx:

[chewie]

thanks Mengram
I been trying to set mine up between honey dues, mine was disassemble, it is painted now, got a hole in the ground, I will try to set the pole this weekend.
My dish is only 9 feet and it weight a ton here is a picture of it.
I hope everything works out.
Regards.
Chewie

[mengram]

Hey chewie, that is a good looking dish, it looks like it is a deep dish which should do very well pulling in satellite signals. Is it fiberglass or aluminum?

mengram

[chewie]

Hello Mengram
is not fiberglass or aluminum, is galvanized steel, it was made by Laux communications is a Beta-9, there is not much information on the web on this dish, i found it was made around 1984-5.
when is all put together is going to weight around 250 to 270 lbs.
is a button hook also.
Regards.
Chewie

[Costactc]

Just curious chewie, what size actuator are you going to use with that dish.

[chewie]

hello Costactc
I got me a Venture 24" ball screw actuator the heavy duty, I am having problems calculating how many 90 lbs bags of quikrete I would need to fill in the hole for this dish.
We overkill the size, it is a square hole 27" each side and 4 feet deep, I call quikrete and homedepot and got different answers.
I used some formulas from the internet and don't agree with it.
I think it should take about 15 to 17 90lbs.
If anybody here can help out I would appreciated.
Regards.
Chewie

[Costactc]

I've installed 5 poles over the years and never required more then 4 30kg bags for each install, however your hole is wide. I think 10 bags should be enough if you mix in some crushed stone.

[ViP3R]

I think I used 5 bags for 4 feet down, but not that wide of a hole. I just made the hole big enough for the pole and added a few more inches for some rod going through the pole to prevent any spinning at all.

4990

Drilled holes and put some threaded rod with nuts to hold.

4991

Poured the quick dry and hammered in a 4ft ground rod.

4992

Put the pole in on a nice hot summers day and held it for a beer or three till stable.

4993

Then three or four days later mounted the dish and started the fun.

[easily confused]

At 27" X 27" X 48", you should need 1.33 cubic yards of concrete. The bags should tell you how much each one produces and take it from there. Going to hav to get at the 12 footer eventually but just found out that after this weekend I am on schedul for 9 midnight shifts in a row so n ow I am actually hav to start planning things out. Nice looking dish chewie and great installation on yours mengram!!

[chewie]

Hello Gents
Well, this Little hole took 26 90lbs bags to fill, it took 3 people and a cement mixer, i am glad this part is done.
Next will be setting the dish on pole, I wondering if any of the members here has some pictures of a home made dish lifter that would like to share.
My dish is metal with everything on it it weights about 250 to 270 lbs.
any ideas would be most welcome.
here is some pictures of this project.
Thanks in advance.
Chewie

[ViP3R]

Hello Gents
Well, this Little hole took 26 90lbs bags to fill, it took 3 people and a cement mixer, i am glad this part is done.
Next will be setting the dish on pole, I wondering if any of the members here has some pictures of a home made dish lifter that would like to share.
My dish is metal with everything on it it weights about 250 to 270 lbs.
any ideas would be most welcome.
here is some pictures of this project.
Thanks in advance.
Chewie

Great install chewie,, you are very precise! I have to say that is a fantastic job and many fellow member should take a look at this.

[catthepatch]

Hi chewie, I did my 10' mesh by myself a few years back. What I used were 3 16' 2x8s lashed together at the top and a come along. I'll try and post some pics if I can get it to work. Just did a speed test and it's real slow at the moment, Blizzard!
Can't find the pics ATM.

Happy Testing!!!

[chewie]

Thanks Gents, please post some pictures if you can, i would like to see them.
Regards.
Chewie

[catthepatch]

Gotta get a new computer!!! This one is 10 years old! Finally found some, now to get them up.

501750185019


The way I got it down originally was to lash 2 4x4s end to end onto the sat pole. Lossen the bolts and lift the dish with the come along.

[catthepatch]

That was easy enough. Maybe I'll post more pics now. Even got Pecasa 3 working.

Happy Testing!!!

[chewie]

Thank you Catthepatch
these pictures just gave me a heck of idea, i will try to make something to mount my dish.
Regards.
Chewie

[catthepatch]

This rig was a little shakey at first until the weight of the dish planted the tripod. Google is your friend.

Happy Testing!!!