Birdview AP2028 ?

[Greg Mueller]

I've probably driven by this dish about a zillion times and so today I stopped to see it.
I asked the guy if I could look at his dish and he asked "Why, do you want it?"
I asked him if he didn't use it anymore and he said his son stayed with him and used it a couple years ago (????) and it worked then. He said he still has all the boxes in the house. He said he'd just as soon it was gone.
He said he'd call his son and ask if he wanted it or not. I left my name and number.

I thought this was fiberglass but it is aluminum.
Anyone know how well they work on KU and C-Band?
I can't quite figure out how the "look angle" is adjusted.
It looks about 8' but I didn't measure it

 

[Lone Cloud]

Cream of the Crop

Looks like mine. Birdview 8.5 foot solid. A great dish. Any solid dish works for both Ku and C bands - so long as you have the right lnb setup. I use a BSC 621-2 Universal on mine. I think I have one of the few that works as advertised. That result is good luck rather than good management.

If it has the Birdview receivers, you might be able to slave them to your FTA receivers, meaning you might be able to use the HH motor on there without the reed sensor conversion.

I get every satellite from( I got the DeLa Hoya Pacquiao fight on this one - in Spanish) 55 west to (if I wanted it) 148 west. The motor is fast - faster than most little dish HH motors like Stab or Moteck.

Great dish! Puts my first BUD to shame. It's exceeded my expectations.

Get it if you can. Don't let on what a find it is. In my humble opinion, these hard economic times could spark a new interest in true FTA C-band, and that dish would be high on anybody's list.

By the way, if you get it, try to get as much of the mast as you can. I used a Skilsaw with a metal cutting blade. Took me about 2 minutes to cut it off .

 

[Greg Mueller]

Thanks
I might have to take the Perfect 10 down.

It's only about 7 miles from the house.
I'll drive back over tomorrow if I don't hear from them.
Don't want to appear too eager


Say, how do you adjust the "Look Angle"

 

[Lone Cloud]

Use a scoring tool to mark edges of the mount for elevation- at 7 miles, yours will be very close to where it's coming from. This helped me approximate the right elevation position for aiming. I took the Birdview lnb out and taped in an old Directv lnb I had, and hooked up an old viewsat receiver, setting it on "Beep to Scan" . I hooked in the sending unit to the audio outputs for wireless headphones. One of the Dish Network satellites is close to my due south position, so I got my trusty wireless headphones out (radio type, inexpensive) and moved the dish around until I got the most and highest frequency beeping. Worked for me real well.

Remember to pack it carefully for the trip home. I don't recommend it be shipped on its edge. The parabolic shape on this dish is pretty exact and you don't want to deform that.

The dish itself is light, but bulky. Get a friend to help you take it down off the mount. I'd probably leave the struts and lnb on the dish and set it on its back in or on the bed of a truck, with the lnb up in the air.

The motor assembly weighs a ton. Hardest thing to move.

It's a great item and you will get a lot of great setup help on this forum.

 

[caddata]

....If it has the Birdview receivers, you might be able to slave them ....

The original Birdview receivers used a 70MHZ IF, which would not be compatable with the feedthru feature of the modern receivers. They used an LNB (Low Noise Block downconverter) Reduced to 3.7 / 4.3Ghz. band to 70Mhz in one step and sent the IF (70Mhz) inside where it was processed by the receiver.

If you can get this dish, don't waste any time. In my openion, they were the best and still are. This 8.5 footer performs like most 10 footers.

Harold

 

[Greg Mueller]

The real bugger is going to be when we move to New Mexico (1500 miles)

I do have a car trailer with a wooden deck. Maybe I can make a wooden pole type affair (spud) and set the dish right on that for transport, just like it was mounted on a steel pole.

 

[Lone Cloud]

You might be able to use the receivers as a standalone positioner, without slaving them to an FTA receiver. If he does a reed conversion, he'll still need a V or Gbox dish mover.

 

[Greg Mueller]

I've got a brand new Uniden UST300 stand alone dish mover (don't know what voltage it puts out) and a DSR922. Between them I should be able to get something to work (I hope)

 

[Lone Cloud]

Problem is, most dishes are moved now by units that read the on and off pulses of reed sensors. The Birdview, if it's original, uses a potentiometer.

linuxman has a thread on here for the reed sensor conversion, where little round magnets are installed on a wheel. I did that conversion, using some different parts. I liked, for example, an endcap for a black pvc pipe. It is thicker than a compact disc and can take a punch mark without cracking. It took me basically a weekend.

You might be able to avoid all of that if you get the Birdview receivers.

 

[gabshere]

The real bugger is going to be when we move to New Mexico (1500 miles)

this is a nice dish and one that should make the move with you others have made transport cradles for the dishes and they worked out well

 

[Anole]

Linuxman has several thread chronicling how he located, obtained, moved, and delivered three Birdviews.
Read them all, along with any of his ramblings about his buildings roof, or the brainstorming we did on magnet wheels.
Might take a weekend to read, but then you'll be armed.

Stogie has a good thread with pictures of obtaining his Birdview, too.
He was lucky enough to get one with the 24-magnet reed switch conversion already installed, AND the mod for a Chaparral feedhorn.

Search on "Birdview" for other threads; a number of members have transported, them.
I'm particularly fond of user Hyper (though he didn't start his thread) where he carried it on the roof of his Isuzu Trooper.
Not what I'd recommend, but ya gotta love innovation!

I have several BV scouted out, and will be following in the footsteps of the greats.
My plans include renting a low trailer, and transporting the dish on its back, after crating it up.
Mine will need all the mods, where most regular BUDs won't.
However, I think the extra work is worth it.

For C-band reception, the comments from owners is quite positive.
For Ku-band, the feedback is generally good, depending.
They were never factory installed and aligned for Ku, so getting that tweaked in seems a bit more challenging.
Choice of feedhorn is probably best left to the seasoned experts, too.

edit: and as for moving 1500 miles, let me say this . . .
If I had a Birdview, I'd damned sure take it with me!
Even it I had to buy it a trailer!

 

[Lone Cloud]

Right, the "drill out" on the scalar plate.

For that, I favor leaving the scalar attached to the struts, getting a good quality, right size hole saw for a drill motor (meaning same diameter as standard lnb throat), drilling that size hole in a piece of plywood, clamping the plywood onto the scalar - hole dead center, and drilling it out with a lot of oil. Took me about a half hour total - 15 minutes to drill and clamp the plywood and 15 minutes to drill the hole in the scalar aluminum. Plywood acts as a guide for the hole, otherwise it jumps all over the place.

 

[Greg Mueller]

I have a lathe so I can turn the whole contraption (well at least the feedhorn)

When I got the Perfect 10 I got a Chaparral KU/C feedhorn but never installed it. That's probably what I will try to use.

 

[Lone Cloud]

The problem is, I think, the Birdview scalar acts as part of the Birdview LNA , meaning the inside diameter of the scalar hole is probably the same as the inside diameter of your Chapparal feedhorn. If you lathe down the feedhorn, you may end up cutting it off .

Taking off the scalar and lathing it could work, but I'd be super careful about installing it back exactly like I found it. I avoided that by my method. Of course the inside of my scalar plate will look rough compared to your machined piece, but that doesn't show, even when you are standing next to it.

 

[Greg Mueller]

I'll probably turn the scalar
The Chaparral is pretty thin already

 

[Techfizzle]

That is ONE DIRTY DISH. Take to the dish..er I mean Car Wash.
If he telling the truth and his son used it a couple years ago, it may of been retrofitted

 

[Greg Mueller]

That is ONE DIRTY DISH. Take to the dish..er I mean Car Wash.
If he telling the truth and his son used it a couple years ago, it may of been retrofitted

Mildew Black and Mold Green are the state colors.
After 57 years here I'm ready to dry out

 

[Greg Mueller]

If you take the steel mount parts off the back, how much does just the dish and LNB etc weigh? (Approximately)
Trying to figure out how many guys to recruit to lift the dish off the mount and move it to the trailer......

 

[stogie5150]

If you take the steel mount parts off the back, how much does just the dish and LNB etc weigh? (Approximately)
Trying to figure out how many guys to recruit to lift the dish off the mount and move it to the trailer......

I'd say 75 pounds...I did mine with two guys. Two guys can do the motor too, but they have to be beefy guys, its heavy. I'd take three total to be safe.

IMO how I would do it is mark the elevation, then loosen all the elevation bolts and tilt it where the dish is pointing upwards as much as possible, then tighten the elevation bolts down again.

THEN take the dish-to-mount bolts out, I'd put a guy on each side of the hub while you remove the bolts, then slowly lift if off the mount,(the dish will be over your head here, at the end of your arms straight above you, so don't take guys with short arms....LOL) then walk it to open area, then slowly work the dish until you both can grab the rim, then you can go anywhere you want with it.

Then you can take the motor off the pole...be careful here it is VERY top heavy.

Hope some of that helped.

 

[Anole]

other way around

Actually, I think you lift the white dish 'n LNB off the black mount.
Then, wrestle the mount off the pole.
And, don't forget to save the unique 6" tubing they use for the pole.

edit: oops, Stogie beat me to it!