12' Paraclipse or 9' solid Birdview, your opinions please.

[phlatwound]

That is a fine specimen, congrats.

If you don't want to pad mount that jewel you could cut a piece of the mount tube off, lap it a few inches and weld it to a piece of 6" Sch40, it's a perfect fit:



Here's what I did for a declination adjuster:


The BV mount has about 5 degrees of declination built-in, so depending on your latitude and how it sets up to the arc, you may not even need to adjust it.

Anole pretty well summed up the common upgrades you will want to do, great that most of them are already done, I had to do all of them on mine. The only other thing I can think of is you may want to take out the slop in the worm drive shaft in the H-H, easy fix.

Yeh, I think I remember the 8.5' being marketed as a 9', and it seems like they may have even had a perf listed as a 10 footer also, weird. Lots of mystery and unanswered questions about these great dishes.

 

[phlatwound]

...I may pick up the Paraclipse as well, but the almost 4' of overhang on each side of the 8.5' wide trailer I have though is enough to give me pause.

You should only have about 2' of overhang on each side.

If you have a place to store/erect it, get it!

 

[madmadworld]

Also, I'm in luck, the motor has the reed sensor kit installed.

you are lucky
good for you

 

[hags]

You should only have about 2' of overhang on each side. If you have a place to store/erect it, get it!

Yep, you're right, it was late............................I was thinking about that this morning when I got up. The 2' of overhang doesn't sound that bad. I'll have to hunt down some flags and maybe a "wide load" sign from a local marina or trucking company. The Paraclipse can go right on the pole I have up and in use for the 7.5' Unimesh in the backyard. If anybody is local and wants the Unimesh send me a PM and you can come and get it. If not I may put it out by the road and it will be a matter of minutes/hours before the scrappers take it.

 

[hags]

That is a fine specimen, congrats. If you don't want to pad mount that jewel you could cut a piece of the mount tube off, lap it a few inches and weld it to a piece of 6" Sch40, it's a perfect fit: View attachment 87810View attachment 87811 Here's what I did for a declination adjuster: View attachment 87812 The BV mount has about 5 degrees of declination built-in, so depending on your latitude and how it sets up to the arc, you may not even need to adjust it. Anole pretty well summed up the common upgrades you will want to do, great that most of them are already done, I had to do all of them on mine. The only other thing I can think of is you may want to take out the slop in the worm drive shaft in the H-H, easy fix. Yeh, I think I remember the 8.5' being marketed as a 9', and it seems like they may have even had a perf listed as a 10 footer also, weird. Lots of mystery and unanswered questions about these great dishes.

Thanks for this info! I was wondering about the declination adjustment etc....

 

[ftageekyyc]

All this talk about satellite dishes, and no one is asking the most important question.

Did you stop at the Mars Cheese Castle?

 

[stogie5150]

If you want to do both C and Ku, use the BV. If you require absolute C-band performance, use the Para. My BV has a c/Ku quad orthomode feed on it, and its 90 percent of the dish the Paraclipse is on C-band. I could pull feeds some guys with 10's couldn't. The BV will require a LOT more tuning to get perfect, and it isn't easy because of the design of the dish/mount, but is oh so worth it. Ku isn't even a contest, BV blows the Paraclipse away. In fact my BV is virtually the equal of my 1.8 Prodelin offset on Ku.

But there are times that the only solution is Paraclipse. Especially with C-band S2.

I am a lot less hardcore than I used to be, FTA isn't my only source of TV now, so if I HAD to only have ONE dish, it would be the BV, hands down.

But you did well getting both. I have both, and not sorry I did. I only wish I had more LOS to use the H to H mounts!

 

[hags]

All this talk about satellite dishes, and no one is asking the most important question. Did you stop at the Mars Cheese Castle?

No, despite a request from the wife to do so, I simply forgot give the task at hand, not really a satisfactory answer according to the wife. That means I'll be driving up there later today.