Raven 1.8m Install Progress

[Captain Jack]

My SWMBO would have kittens if I put all those dishes up, but great job!

You have more than most!

 

[mapperuo]

My SWMBO would have kittens if I put all those dishes up, but great job!

Haha! The original thought was to bin a lot of the older cheaper dishes but I'm still tempted to find a spot for them.

 

[mapperuo]

Well a bit behind schedule, weather has been very wet. I have removed the grass and levelled the area best I could, got the concrete pad frames in place, level as can be, concrete will be levelled when poured.

Still have to backfill the outside of the boxes with mud so it is level with the concrete when it's poured in.

I have decided to use the NPRM, Going to lay out 4 concrete pads for each 'leg' and then bolt it down, then pop some slabs in it on top. One of the 'pads' will share with the larger pad of another dish, So will end up being 3 pads dedicated to it.

From left to right in these views, 1.5m Gibby, 1.8m Raven with Tripod mount, 1.8m Raven with the NPRM

 

[mapperuo]

Two more before/after shots

 

[mapperuo]

Oh and my reasoning behind using the NPRM.. I was very tempted to buy another tripod stand from SSS or even bury a pipe but I notice even by hand you can rock the SSS mount as the bracing struts are flat iron rather than angled which would surely help prevent that. The NPRM is a solid piece of kit and it just isn't going to move a mm hopefully.

 

[Captain Jack]

Sss should really redesign some of their stuff for the prices they charge...

 

[mapperuo]

Well life got in the way! Way behind my original schedule, but made some more progress this weekend.

 

[edbe]

it's looking good, wait for your end result

 

[mapperuo]

Thank you!

Got another two holes concreted the other day, Just two more to go before i have a shed load of mud to move to even the whole area up!

Need to sort the left hand 'pod's position, seems to have gone squint! Also need to carefully remove the wood from the bottom one to create the right hand mould... I ran out of wood

 

[Channel Hopper]

Thank you!

Got another two holes concreted the other day, Just two more to go before i have a shed load of mud to move to even the whole area up!

Need to sort the left hand 'pod's position, seems to have gone squint! Also need to carefully remove the wood from the bottom one to create the right hand mould... I ran out of wood

 

[beano2]

my 1.8 channel master and 80cm 60cm

 

[mapperuo]

Life is a cruel mistress! Nearly a year since I bought the dish and still not done, but the past few weeks I've made a bit more progress.

I have all the concrete done, the frame is loosely bolted together and I have the electrical connection box in the ground ready for wires.

I have a lot of ground earth to move to raise the ground around the frame up but Im hoping to have the dish installed in the next month or so... We shall see!


In the box I have a power strip which will power some of the fibre gear, Network jacks for some POE IP cameras I'll be adding and a row of F Plug connectors for the smaller dishes. I also have a couple BNC connectors to pipe video down, should I need to see the output of my satellite tuner to tweak a dish or something.

 

[RimaNTSS]

Nice! I like the electrical box. Do you have a plan how to move the grass when it grows through the frame?

 

[focus36]

A piece of terram and gravel no grass to be seen ever

 

[satelliteman]

Nice looking project

 

[mapperuo]

There will be a small wall between the grass and the satellites, end goal is gravel base for the satellites.

Quite a lot of earth to move first sadly!

 

[Channel Hopper]

If you are happy to recycle, you could turn the earth into the ballast blocks for the baird mount, fill the pole with it to deaden the sound of the actuators, and use within the counterweight if you are going for dual axis.

 

[mapperuo]

If you are happy to recycle, you could turn the earth into the ballast blocks for the baird mount, fill the pole with it to deaden the sound of the actuators, and use within the counterweight if you are going for dual axis.

A good idea which I did today!

 

[mapperuo]

Got the base secured to the concrete today with these guys, used them on the other Raven and they have been superb:

 

[mapperuo]

And then finally got the chap on, Tomorrow I'll finish the feed arm.