Garden and Yard Uses

• The most difficult part of finding a use for old satellite dishes is not what to use them for, but how to disassemble them. The large 10-foot diameter dishes usually have visible bolts that can be unattached to disassemble the dish from its stand. Once you have the dish free, it can be used in a number of clever projects for your yard or garden.
  With or without a base, the dish can be converted into a circular planter. Either drill a few drain holes into it or line the bottom with gravel. Make a bird bath or fish pond, either above ground or sunk into the ground. The dish can be painted with marine paint or, for the more craft-oriented, tiled in rows or in a mosaic design.
  The smaller old satellite dishes work well for this, too. Mount the inverted dish on wood poles, 6-inch or larger in diameter, for a roof to a small shed. For mesh dishes, invert and make a small gazebo (see Resources).
  
  If you raise farm animals, old satellite dishes make a great roof for feeders or shelters (see References).
  Replace the mesh or line a solid dish with aluminum flashing from the hardware store and make a solar cooker (see Resources) that will bake and cook just as fast as your stove.
  
  

Technical Uses

• For the more technically inclined, you can modify an old satellite dish using N-connectors, or a kit, to make a powerful Internet Wi-Fi antenna. (see Resources).
  For mounting solar panels on the tracking base of old satellite dish set-up, remove the dish, attach a mounting (such as old bed frames) for the solar panels onto the base. You will need to buy an inexpensive sun-tracking devise to attach to the system. Once this is installed, the satellite base, which was designed to rotate to catch the signals, will rotate so the solar panels can follow the sun (see References).