? about the Birdview Dish

[Long Hair]

I believe I spotted a Birdview dish Friday night,and wanted to know how good are they with Dvb-s2 C-band and Ku-band. What signal's if any are you guys not able to pickup with it. The reason I ask is,if I get one it will have to be mounted about 9ft. in the air.And I would not want to do the work of putting it up,only to replace with a bigger dish later on. Sorry I have no pics of the dish I spotted but it had six rod's holding the lnb and cap, and the mount looked just like some of the pic's around here. Please any info,about the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Birdview Dish. Thanks Long Hair

 

[radio]

Have not used for Ku (yet) ...Hope to this week. But, when we sold them in the 80's and at that time two-degree spacing was a "new" issue, BV was good for that. It was also compatible with Ku which was relatively (consumer) new at that time.

From the standpoint of longevity, and hardware-build, you've found the best. Again, you'll need to see what receiver it was used-with last. If its original BV equipment, you'll need to convert the drive to a reed-switch system, and upgrade the LNB, also. (a BV high block LNB will run C-band FTA and 4D receivers of today, however.)... there are some GREAT writeups on this on this site.

If the last-used equipment is ANY other than birdview brand, hopefully the reed-switch system is working, and you'll be good to go from a "motor" standpoint. Search "birdview" on this site to see the reed-switch and magnetic-wheel setups needed to read on today's FTA and other receivers.

On C-band FTA I'm loving the signal, even on an original BV LNB, by the way. (high block, 950-1450 mhz)

Others here can address the Ku reception and feed-selections, and I, too will look forward to reading responses to your question, as my two BV dishes are scheduled for upgrades very soon for FTA on both bands.

Congrats in advance if you're able to grab the dish!

 

[Long Hair]

Thanks for the reply radio.Hopefully some more satelliteguys with a birdview will chime in.

 

[phlatwound]

I can't be much help to you on this one, Long Hair. My BV solid is up and tracking the arc very well but I still haven't done my underground cabling yet to run it into the house.

That being the case, 95% of my testing of that dish has been with a DVB-S std definition receiver....never had an S2-capable receiver hooked to it and it is C-band only (C-2 LNBF), so I can't tell you about it's Ku abilities. I know others have seen good performance from their BVs with some Ku.

My impression is this dish may be a little small for the high-FEC S2 signals, but maybe someone else can let us know for sure.

That being said you need to go get it anyway......or let me know where it's at and I will.

 

[stogie5150]

The Distinguished Gentleman from Hillbillistan is correct. In my experience my BV is just a little small for some of the S2 stuff. I still like mine, but I don't think I'd kill myself getting another one, unless it was for motor parts or something...

 

[phlatwound]

Stogie and myself are assuming that you are talking about a 8.5' diameter BV.

Although I am unaware of anyone verifying an in-the-flesh sighting, some of the old BV literature showed a 9', and/or a 9.5' diameter dish. Not sure but those larger dishes may have only been shown as being available perf, not solid.

No matter what size it is my previous statement still applies.....someone needs to get it, if you don't want it I would be interested. If you want it and need help I would help you take it down if it fits my schedule (am assuming it's in the Joplin area).

 

[Long Hair]

I plan on checking it out this weekend. Maybe I'll take some pics to.I want it, I think the mount would be worth the work.I now know that it's been there for a least 10 years. Would it be possible to replace the dish with a bigger one say a Mesh dish. Assuming soneone could build an adapter to fit the mount?

 

[phlatwound]

You could definitely mount a mesh dish on that mount, just need to make some sort of brackets to attach it. Need to remember that mount has somewhere around 5 degrees of declination built into it.

I put a 1.2m offset on a BV mount here:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/184324-prodelin-1-2m-offset-birdview-h.html

 

[Long Hair]

Although I am unaware of anyone verifying an in-the-flesh sighting, some of the old BV literature showed a 9', and/or a 9.5' diameter dish. Not sure but those larger dishes may have only been shown as being available perf, not solid.

Was the birdview perf dish 100% perf or was it solid in the middle. The reason I ask,is when I went to pick up my 7.5 perfect 10. I seen a few dishes with in a mile of it,and one stuck out, because the pole was big.I assume it was 6" o.d. pipe and
the dish was black solid in middle about 3 or 4ft. and the rest was pref.

 

[phlatwound]

Was the birdview perf dish 100% perf or was it solid in the middle. The reason I ask,is when I went to pick up my 7.5 perfect 10. I seen a few dishes with in a mile of it,and one stuck out, because the pole was big.I assume it was 6" o.d. pipe and
the dish was black solid in middle about 3 or 4ft. and the rest was pref.

They are all perf, but at a distance appear to be solid in the middle because they have the same (or similar) round "tub" on the back of the reflector that the solid dishes have. That "tub" is the piece between the reflector and the mount plates, the dish mounting bolts screw into it.

I don't have any perf pics on this computer or I would post some.

 

[1captain]

Would it be possible to replace the dish with a bigger one say a Mesh dish. Assuming soneone could build an adapter to fit the mount?

Yes a Birdview mount will handle a 10-ft mess with no problem. but I think it would be a big waste of time an money to do it on a mess dish, a 10-ft solid would be a smarter choice by far an yes the mount will handle a 10-ft solid just fine with a low (note last picture below) motor amp draw. I have also fab a 12-ft Paraclispe dish on a bird view mount it ran Fine also with a little over 1.2 amp draw w/a 70 to 1 motor, coming up from its low position at 12 degrees.

now the 8 an 1/2 ft solid is a great performer, on C and excelent on Ku tuned right it will beat any 10-ft mess dish on a Ku signal, but just like Stogie said it is a little short on signal on some of the S2 stuff on c-band. on mine here had a dual band ortho on it with Cal Amp lnb's, and I could lock and play the s2 cbs feeds on G-19 and G-28 with no problem but it was not the greatest signal but was solid with no break ups, now if failed on some of the Nascar feeds that are S2 just would not even show a lock.

the Birdview mounts are built great, they are realy a little over built for a 8an1/2-ft dish, here is a picture of my ChannelView, it is a 10-ft SMC Channel Master on a Birdview mount, and the SMC is one very heavy dish and next month this will be up for a year now and it performs great from T-12 to AMC-8, this is by far my best performer for signal on C and Ku.

 

[stogie5150]

ChannelView

I LIKE it!!!!!! :up:up:up:up

 

[Long Hair]

1captain how high up is that dish?

 

[1captain]

1captain how high up is that dish?

From ground up to top of the pipe little over 17-ft.
what you can not see is that their are 2 other pipes ( 2-full sticks of 21/2" an 3"pipe) inside of the main pipe along with re-bar and concrete and this pipe goes threw the roof, had to use a crane to set it. did this back in 1994 when I bought this home here, back when pipe was cheep to buy.


Thanks Stogie.

 

[Long Hair]

Well, I went to find out about that dish.And know one was home,but I took a few pics to verify that it is a birdview. I had a 50/50 shot of guessing which house it belonged to,and I felt a note so maybe I'll get a phone call sometime.

 

[Shuggy]

I have a Birdview 9' Model: MM-20/20 if you're interested - Dallas, Texas. Unit was purchased new in the early 80's.