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Finding Dishes for 802.11b Service?
toygeek2002 asks: "With the proliferation of 802.11b, plans like this one are popping up all over. Where is the best place to FIND such dishes? Numerous Google searches have led to dead-ends, and calls to some local satellite TV shops tell me I'm gonna pay a lot for a 2-3' dish. Where's the best place to find old Primestar or other such dishes?"
If you need just a DISH, go to a junk yard. If you need a dish with the boards, etc. You could try a used satelite company. Now, the options there are as follows: A) go retro, get a bigger, cheap dish. B) Find used dishes from companies updating their subscribers and equipment.
Another option, steal..........
And what about the dishes used on news trucks? THe small-form ones are very durable, because a lot of the crews don't know what they are doing. Thise would work, and are probably cheap and easy to obtain.
Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
For the paranoid: http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?MfcISAPI
.sig wanted: Must be concise, funny, and display my cleverness.
These guys look pretty damn good... Hyperlink Technologies
Yep, I just bought a 2ft one for less than $50 with the Yagi feed. It was a group buy, but even if you buy one it's not too bad. I got mine from dbiplus.
If you look long enough you might find one on the street on trash pickup night. Just put a 2.4 Ghz Yagi on it and you have a high gain antenna...
At first it might seem that building your own dish is the cheapest solution--but I really question that. I considered building two antennas for my shot that's about a mile. If you really want something to work, consider getting a real (professional) antenna. They aren't that much more expensive when you factor in your cost in time plus they are almost guaranteed to work.
I just ordered a couple of PacWireless parabolic dishes (21 dBi) and pigtails. Sure, I'm paying roughly $175 all said and done--but that's much cheaper than my time right now. If you want to buy, look at NetNimble and Electro-Comm Wireless.
Obviously, it's much more "cool" to have put together your own antenna with a pringles can, a primestar dish, or aluminum foil. I can't doubt that one bit. But my neighbor's aren't going to complain about a (relatively) tasteful dish up on my roof compared to a hacked-up job that's rusting away. Add to that this guy's story, and I was sold: 300-400Kbps for the homemade deal compared to 3.5Mbps with a dish. I can feel comfortable knowing that my link will need to experience a huge amount of interference before it goes down.
Long, cute, or funny Sigs are just another form of over compensation, used by geeks, nerdz, etc.
Where is the best place to FIND such dishes?
When we moved into our new house, the last couple had PrimeStar (one meter dish complete with lnb and receiver), wireless digital cable (from BellSouth, now defunct; 28db gain yagi, 2.4 ghz) and TimeWarner cable. I kept the cable. Everything else is in my shed.
If you'll pay shipping and a token finder's fee, you're welcome to the dish, lnb and receiver.
InitZero