Big satellite dish (New Birdview) to be given away- Fort Garland, CO

[Lone Cloud]

Great news that it is reed switch and not potentiometer.That saves you a day right there. It's true there isn't a fine adjustment for elevation, although I've retrofitted mine with one. Used a two foot length of threaded rod, 5/8 " and three heavy angle pieces, all found at home depot. I can't find the link for the angle pieces but they are 2 1/2 or three inches long with two holes in each of them. One of the bolts on the pole mount worked out for the bottom. If I were better at posting pictures--------. Well if I'm asked, I'll try.

Without the fine adjustment, the whole thing can slam backwards or sideways, cracking the plastic housing.

You are really lucky that the struts came out easily and by hand

I have trees and mountains too, and my first big dish ended up 6 feet above my roof line because of that. In its position I can get down east to 55.5w and could probably get a signal up at 160w if there was anything up there. The BV has range, if you can get a clear view of the arc. Ku only? I understand, but C-band is cool.

The best way I found to get the hole in the scalar plate bigger, is to get a good hole saw of the right size ( I forget which size) first drill a hole with it in a piece of wood. Then center that wood hole on the scalar plate and clamp it down. The wood will hold the hole saw centered as you drill. Use a lot of oil. Going slowly, mine took 20 minutes - dish was on the ground though. The hole in the wood prevents the saw from drifting or travelling sideways - keeps it centered.

 

[lost_mesa]

Thanks. I was thinking about something along those lines, or get getting some brackets welded on before I put it up. I can't see getting this to track the arc well on Ku, without an elevation fine adjustment. I think it would be an exercise in frustration.

Always interested in seeing photos of what others have done!

 

[Magic Static]

If the preset elevation of the dish was for Colorado and you are further south you may need to put some spacing washers on the bolts that attach the bottom of the dish to the mount. This will actually not change elevation but decrease declination and help a bit.

 

[FaT Air]

The Declination is preset on the BV dishes to that required in Kansas. We placed the washers under the top dish mount bolts up this way, BITD, to increase the dec.. EDIT: you're going to really enjoy that dish when setup's finished.

 

[Lone Cloud]

I am in Southern Cal and did try to change the declination with washers. I did all the trigonometry and calculations. I ended up taking the washers out. I mention that only because my latitude is well south of Kansas. I am also further south than Colorado. I wouldn't mess with it.

 

[lost_mesa]

It didn't have any washers, not surprising since it was at the same latitude as Kansas. I was thinking I might need some for Ku. But I will see what the real world results say, and only add some if needed.

 

[lost_mesa]

Ku only? I understand, but C-band is cool.
.

I much prefer C Band over Ku, but already have 10 and 12 ft dishes. I want to get more signal on Ku than my 1.2 meter dishes can provide.

 

[N6BY]

... I want to get more signal on Ku than my 1.2 meter dishes can provide.

It should deliver. I was surprised at how much more it got than the 1.2.

I'm using an Invacom C120 (single output) for KU. I was considering getting a multiple output, but I'm not sure how much of a performance loss (if any) it would be. Which KU LNB are you planning on using?

 

[lost_mesa]

I'll be using a Chaparral Ku only Polarotor with a Norsat 1107HA LNB. Has anyone compared this to an Invacom?

 

[Magic Static]

I'm using a pair of 1208HAs on my Bullseye II. I'm real happy with them.

 

[N6BY]

A comparison review of the high performance KU LNBs would be great to see. Maybe I'll Google around or search the archives of Tele Satellite International.

 

[Lone Cloud]

They used to make a C/Ku lnbf - (voltage controlled for H or V on both Ku and C bands). I used that for awhile. It worked not too bad and getting both bands was a big improvement. That would be the quickest way to get both bands for this dish. A lot of the good products in the past are just not there anymore. G-Box anyone?

 

[Magic Static]

I should do a write up on my experiences with DiSEqC 1.2 boxes. After careful testing I would say the G-Box would be my last choice for a controller. It's a joke. The latest POS V-Box 7 is very close to the G-Box but I would take it over the G-Box. Appearances are deceiving. The latest VBox 7 and the GBox will both lie about where they stopped moving. They will indicate they are on position when they blew right past it. Unless you remember the exact count for the positions you would never know. Other than poor signal reception.

 

[Lone Cloud]

I should do a write up on my experiences with DiSEqC 1.2 boxes. After careful testing I would say the G-Box would be my last choice for a controller. It's a joke. The latest POS V-Box 7 is very close to the G-Box but I would take it over the G-Box. Appearances are deceiving. The latest VBox 7 and the GBox will both lie about where they stopped moving. They will indicate they are on position when they blew right past it. Unless you remember the exact count for the positions you would never know. Other than poor signal reception.

Right now I am using a Pansat mover, which does accurately move the dish, but my G-box was better. I had a V-box and returned it after a short time. The G-Box was the best of the three. I am not alone in that thought, and I have had people wanting my broken G-Box in order to replace bad capacitors or other electronic repairs. I wouldn't know where to start on that. The whole electronic thing to me is as hard to understand as Japanese.

 

[N6BY]

I've been using my GBox V3000 without DiSEqC.

I have the counts written down on a paper chart and use the GBox remote control to move manually -- usually while watching the signal strength. I have found that the optimum position count on the front panel varies depending on whether I'm moving the dish east or west.

 

[fred555]

I just built a Ku only 6 footer. So what are Big Ku dishes called?
BuKu?