Bit the bullet and bought a dish from a supplier that hadn't the best of reputations, but currently was the only one who could ship me the dish.
The dish came wrapped in cardboard, 1/4" OSB, more cardboard, cardboard bumpers and two big boxes cobbled together with lots and lots of tape. More tape than cardboard actually.
The supplier wanted to be paid in US dollars even though it was a Canadian firm, so shipping cost about $130. Most of that cost was undoubtedly tape.
The dish is heavy duty, and though the pictures do show it motor mounted, I thought it might be too heavy for my SG2100 rotor.
It is meant to be mounted on a 3 inch pole, and they send you a 3 foot piece of pipe, and parts to anchor it to a cement pad.
I had to pad out the 50mm post on my motor because the U-bolt would not tighten right up to the 50 mm post on the motor. I bought a foot of 2" ABS, cut off a 5 inch piece. Split it in half with the table saw and taped it around the 50mm motor post. That a a few washers worked.
Aligning it was tricky. With that amount of mass, it wobbled and shifted the brackets and bolts. Every clamp is friction held. With the GeoSat 90cm dish, the clamp actually was double secured with a bolt right through the post. Tricky tricky, and with the wife shouting out the numbers when, finally, by chance, I did get a signal.
On the good side. The motor went to the satellites that I had previously found, once I got the due south satellite tuned in.
The results. The Quality went from 63% to 67% on 123W. I seem to be able to get OETA, and what set it off, LPB is again registering, even with the neighbour's trees having grown into my LOS.
Laurie in Ladner BC with a heavy 1.2m KU dish mounted on a SG2100 motor and a skinny 1&1/2 inch pole.
