Rusty areas on satellite dish.

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Hi guys,,
my neighbour has a satellite dish that is going a bit rusty here and there, although it is in good enough condition.
Question,,, can it be painted with a suitable metal paint, after the surface rust has been treated??
Many thanks.
 
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Yes use some spray paint with a matt finnish not a gloss as this would reflect the signal. If the dish in question is a Sky minidish it may be cheaper to replace the whole thing as they can be bought quite cheaply on eBay.
 
Thanks for the reply Streetlighter. The dish in question is the normal Sky dish,, 24" across,, is this what you refer to as a "Sky mini dish"??
 
Some info on dish sizes LINKY :D

Personally I'd go for a new dish. Painting a rusting mesh dish will be a p.i.t.a. If I needed to change, and the dish wasn't exposed to high winds, I'd get an aluminium solid dish for around £40-£45. Bye bye bad weather interference :D
 
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I got a dish and LNB from a radio rally for £8, if your dish is rusty, cheap to replace.
 
Yes use some spray paint with a matt finnish not a gloss as this would reflect the signal. If the dish in question is a Sky minidish it may be cheaper to replace the whole thing as they can be bought quite cheaply on eBay.

disclaimer: I have nothing to do with Sky installations, satellite communications, or anything remotely sky dish/sky tv related...but....

surely the whole point of the dish is to reflect the signal into the receiver (aka the LNB)?

this is a genuine question, not an attempt to contradict/play devil's advocate!

and seconded for buying a new dish from ebay, there are plenty of good deals.
 
Yes use some spray paint with a matt finnish not a gloss as this would reflect the signal. If the dish in question is a Sky minidish it may be cheaper to replace the whole thing as they can be bought quite cheaply on eBay.

disclaimer: I have nothing to do with Sky installations, satellite communications, or anything remotely sky dish/sky tv related...but....

surely the whole point of the dish is to reflect the signal into the receiver (aka the LNB)?

Yes, now what happens if you add paint with metallic particles at odd angles?
 
probablly not a whole lot. notice that a sky dish works fine despite the fact it's made of mesh!

imperfections that are significantly smaller than a wavelength don't really matter much. SKY is the the KU band which makes the shortestt wavelength about 1.6cm
 
Yes use some spray paint with a matt finnish not a gloss as this would reflect the signal. If the dish in question is a Sky minidish it may be cheaper to replace the whole thing as they can be bought quite cheaply on eBay.

disclaimer: I have nothing to do with Sky installations, satellite communications, or anything remotely sky dish/sky tv related...but....

surely the whole point of the dish is to reflect the signal into the receiver (aka the LNB)?

this is a genuine question, not an attempt to contradict/play devil's advocate!

and seconded for buying a new dish from ebay, there are plenty of good deals.

I learned from reading satellite magazines and fourms that you should use the matt pait as a shiny gloss paint would deflect the signal away from the focal point on the LNB.
The satcure website has some great info on how to paint or hide a satellite dish.
 
Logic would tell me that by using matt paint, causes the suns rays to be absorbed, and not reflected, which would damage the LNB.

I presume the dishes are mesh to prevent this problem, the suns rays pass through the dish, and are thus reflected less.

If my dish was rusty, I'd definately upgrade to a larger dish, as used in Scotland, as bad weather often causes picture freeze, even though the dish is setup correctly (and has been replaced already) FOC by Sky, even though I don't subscribe to them.
 
I think the mesh dish design is more to do with keeping costs down than absorbing the sun's rays. Wind passes through a mesh dish, so a lighter bracket can be used.
 
I think the mesh dish design is more to do with keeping costs down than absorbing the sun's rays. Wind passes through a mesh dish, so a lighter bracket can be used.

I think thats contempt. I've installed solid and mesh dishes, and this comment borders on contempt, and ignorance, but no offence Chris.
 

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