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Author Topic: old satellite dish?  (Read 4919 times)

brimic

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old satellite dish?
« on: May 09, 2012, 01:59:42 PM »
I'm cleaning the junk out of my basement right now for the annual garage sale/dump run and came upon something I don't know what to do with..
My wife had won a satellite dish (Direct TV I think) and receiver back in 1999-2000 or so from a radio contest. We couldn't get it hooked up at the time because we were living in an apartment, and never bothered with it when we bought a house.

Are these things obsolete?
Is there any market for them?
Are there any interesting uses for them that might make me consider holding on to it?
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AJ Dual

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Re: old satellite dish?
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2012, 02:11:54 PM »

The old stuff, at least at one point, was worth serious BANK on eBay etc. Mainly because the old sets were easier to hack I guess. The dish.. not so much since they've hardly changed at all.

I had three RCA boxes of the older 1999 vintage from our apartment, and I had nobody to return them to since the leasing company went bankrupt. The apartment complex didn't want them either. So they moved with me to Casa del Dual, and I sold them for $250 each around 2002. Made a nice $750 to fund some gun stuff with that.  Some friend of a co-worker literally drove over the same day he learned of them to pay me for them, he wanted them so bad for whatever it was he thought he could do with them...

OTOH, it might be worth nothing because of tech passing them by, and being unable to handle HDTV etc.  I would look up your model on the B/S/T sections of some DSS forums, or eBay.

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brimic

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Re: old satellite dish?
« Reply #2 on: May 09, 2012, 02:17:54 PM »
Quote
Mainly because the old sets were easier to hack I guess.

My BIL offered to hook me up with one of his friends that knew how to hack or get hacked cardss for it way back when, but I neve pursued that.
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RoadKingLarry

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Re: old satellite dish?
« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2012, 02:30:31 PM »
They make decent bird baths.
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brimic

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Re: old satellite dish?
« Reply #4 on: May 09, 2012, 02:36:07 PM »
Quote
They make decent bird baths.
Brilliant! I might just do that, if my last resort would be the recycling bin otherwise. :cool:
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280plus

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Re: old satellite dish?
« Reply #5 on: May 09, 2012, 03:09:35 PM »
I was thinking salad bowl. Or nachos... Popcorn  [popcorn]
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Tallpine

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Re: old satellite dish?
« Reply #6 on: May 09, 2012, 05:55:29 PM »
I've had one lying around since we bought this place, and I took in down off the house.

I keep thinking about mounting it on the horse shed just for laughs  =D
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lee n. field

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Re: old satellite dish?
« Reply #7 on: May 09, 2012, 06:44:05 PM »
Quote from: brimic on May 09, 2012, 01:59:42 PM

Are there any interesting uses for them that might make me consider holding on to it?


Mirror the inside.  Find the focal point.  Fry stuff.
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AJ Dual

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Re: old satellite dish?
« Reply #8 on: May 09, 2012, 09:14:15 PM »
Mount them pointed at your crazy paranoid neighbor.
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Re: old satellite dish?
« Reply #9 on: May 09, 2012, 09:21:37 PM »
Could you turn the dish into a directional antenna to borrow some free wifi from someone?
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Harold Tuttle

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Re: old satellite dish?
« Reply #10 on: May 09, 2012, 11:20:20 PM »
Yep
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Re: old satellite dish?
« Reply #11 on: May 09, 2012, 11:24:26 PM »
Quote from: AJ Dual on May 09, 2012, 09:14:15 PM
Mount them pointed at your crazy paranoid neighbor.
Quote from: Tallpine on May 09, 2012, 05:55:29 PM
I've had one lying around since we bought this place, and I took in down off the house.

I keep thinking about mounting it on the horse shed just for laughs  =D

 :cool: :cool:

pretty awesome, or you could mount it on a pole attach headphones to it and charge people to listen to the aliens
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Tallpine

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Re: old satellite dish?
« Reply #12 on: May 10, 2012, 09:43:27 AM »
Quote from: gunsmith on May 09, 2012, 11:24:26 PM
:cool: :cool:

pretty awesome, or you could mount it on a pole attach headphones to it and charge people to listen to the aliens

Nobody around here listens to aliens, at least not once we notice the CA license plates  :P
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Re: old satellite dish?
« Reply #13 on: May 10, 2012, 12:29:09 PM »
Quote from: never_retreat on May 09, 2012, 09:21:37 PM
Could you turn the dish into a directional antenna to borrow some free wifi from someone?


Let my neighbor do that to my wifi hookup a while back, when he was going through a rough patch.
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lee n. field

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Re: old satellite dish?
« Reply #14 on: May 10, 2012, 03:55:59 PM »
Quote from: never_retreat on May 09, 2012, 09:21:37 PM
Could you turn the dish into a directional antenna to borrow some free wifi from someone?


With the right dish, you could probably borrow from someone in the next county.
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Re: old satellite dish?
« Reply #15 on: May 10, 2012, 04:55:43 PM »
Quote from: never_retreat on May 09, 2012, 09:21:37 PM
Could you turn the dish into a directional antenna to borrow some free wifi from someone?

I've done that.  Honestly, a cantenna worked better.
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seeker_two

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Re: old satellite dish?
« Reply #16 on: May 10, 2012, 07:12:15 PM »
If only we knew someone who could get us some Russian launch codes....
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charby

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Re: old satellite dish?
« Reply #17 on: May 10, 2012, 10:00:17 PM »
I've been wanting an old dish for my camper, I need to start checking craigslist.
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zahc

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Re: old satellite dish?
« Reply #18 on: May 10, 2012, 11:10:22 PM »
I also recommend mirroring it and making an oven or something. Or a directional sound antenna. I really don't know how parabolic these things really are. I think they really must be fairly crude. I don't understand why I see the pickup often placed off to the side somewhat. That would only really be correct if it was an oblong/aspheric dish. Maybe it actually is; I dunno.
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Re: old satellite dish?
« Reply #19 on: May 11, 2012, 12:52:05 AM »
Charby: when we bought the house there were two old Direct TV dishes the previous owners had installed. Next time I'm on the roof I'm happy to snag one and ship it to you at cost.
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lee n. field

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Re: old satellite dish?
« Reply #20 on: May 12, 2012, 01:29:38 PM »
Quote from: brimic on May 09, 2012, 01:59:42 PM

Are there any interesting uses for them that might make me consider holding on to it?


Find its focal point.  Put a microphone there.  Eavesdrop.
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