I was digging through a sheaf of paperwork I got with a salvaged dish, and lo and behold...voila!
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Birdview Brochure Scans...Feast Your Eyes Y'all
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Thanks Stogie!!
It is always great to get any documentation and specifications on Birdview dishes. Documentation is not easy to find on these beauties.
It is always great to get any documentation and specifications on Birdview dishes. Documentation is not easy to find on these beauties.
Wow! I never knew the LNA was that sophisticated. That was the LNBF of the LNA world! That must have been a very pricey system back in its day.
The back of it had the name and address of the installing retailer here in Slidell, of course long gone. I googled the phone number and now it belongs to a surgeon.
I also have a letter from the owner of the company welcoming the customer to the world of satellite tv, and it has his name on it. I googled the name, no one in Slidell, LA by that name, according to google. In fact the only match I found was a realtor in Gatlinburg,TN. Had a pic of the fellow on the realtor site, its an older fellow, I wonder could it be him....
Of course the thought would be to contact him if he still lived here, and ask him if he installed any Birdviews in this area and see if he remembered where they were....
Glad y'all enjoyed it...I have a few more flyers in there for receivers and such, mostly one page...if y'all want I'll scan those too...
EDIT: Heh heh, I did a search on the LA Sec Of State's website, and they went out of business in 1990
BUT, the business was registered in he and his wife's name, did a search for his wife..guess what she does for a living....REAL ESTATE IN GATLINBURG, TENNESSEE.
Think I should call?
I also have a letter from the owner of the company welcoming the customer to the world of satellite tv, and it has his name on it. I googled the name, no one in Slidell, LA by that name, according to google. In fact the only match I found was a realtor in Gatlinburg,TN. Had a pic of the fellow on the realtor site, its an older fellow, I wonder could it be him....
Of course the thought would be to contact him if he still lived here, and ask him if he installed any Birdviews in this area and see if he remembered where they were....
Glad y'all enjoyed it...I have a few more flyers in there for receivers and such, mostly one page...if y'all want I'll scan those too...
EDIT: Heh heh, I did a search on the LA Sec Of State's website, and they went out of business in 1990
BUT, the business was registered in he and his wife's name, did a search for his wife..guess what she does for a living....REAL ESTATE IN GATLINBURG, TENNESSEE.
Think I should call?
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"20/20" Ha Ha. I am sure analog C-band is a huge step up from fuzzy over the air vhf and analog cable.
That system had to cost thousands of dollars with multiple analog receivers in each room.
That system had to cost thousands of dollars with multiple analog receivers in each room.
The guy I got my first Birdview from mentioned that he paid over $3000.00 for the two receiver setup and the dish including installation when he bought his new.
He also said it was the most fantastic thing they had ever seen on their TV screen.
He also said it was the most fantastic thing they had ever seen on their TV screen.
I sent him an email this morning. I found his real estate website. I am awaiting an answer. I figured an email might be better...he can answer at his leisure.
Now, if he doesn't email me back....I'll call him!
That Birdview system was the very first C-Band system my family bought in the summer of 1985.....Dish and all. Somewhere in the house is a book that my dad wrote down the dish position numbers we used on the positioner on that old system to indicate where G1, F1, F3, and a few others. We still have that book somewhere in a box.
We had that system for about two years, even adding a VCII stand-alone box onto that system. The reciever was replaced by an advanced Birdview system in 87, which lasted about a year before it was replaced by a Houston Tracker VI system. The Birdview dish lasted us until we formally retired C-Band in the spring of 02 after lightning hit the system for the umpteenth time, aside from a two year period where the dish had been sitting pointing towards the ground since the pole rusted and cracked during a severe windstorm. It was eventually repaired and readjusted.
The old Birdview just sits in the backyard to this date.....I've considered asking my dad whether he wants me to sell it for him.
We had that system for about two years, even adding a VCII stand-alone box onto that system. The reciever was replaced by an advanced Birdview system in 87, which lasted about a year before it was replaced by a Houston Tracker VI system. The Birdview dish lasted us until we formally retired C-Band in the spring of 02 after lightning hit the system for the umpteenth time, aside from a two year period where the dish had been sitting pointing towards the ground since the pole rusted and cracked during a severe windstorm. It was eventually repaired and readjusted.
The old Birdview just sits in the backyard to this date.....I've considered asking my dad whether he wants me to sell it for him.
I had a member contact me via email who uses a Mac and can't figure out how to upload the images, so I agreed to post the pictures for him.
We may have seen some of these before, and some are similar to Stogie's brochure, but to me, you can't gen enough Birdview information.
We may have seen some of these before, and some are similar to Stogie's brochure, but to me, you can't gen enough Birdview information.
Great Post! It is a thing of beauty! The LNA rocked for it's time.
I still rember doing circuit traces by hand on mylar with a lightbox, it was an artform then.
I still rember doing circuit traces by hand on mylar with a lightbox, it was an artform then.
I still have the receipt from when my parents had their Birdview system installed in November of 1984. $2950.00
LNA my fuzzy butt!
The latest scans describe a low noise block down converter!
Output frequency range 500 to 1000 mhz.
Of course, the noise level wasn't that low (90° Kelvin), but still . . .
The Birdview company was either leading edge or following it pretty closely!
The latest scans describe a low noise block down converter!
Output frequency range 500 to 1000 mhz.
Of course, the noise level wasn't that low (90° Kelvin), but still . . .
The Birdview company was either leading edge or following it pretty closely!
I just noticed that the solid dish in the info stogie posted is listed as 8.5' in diameter, while the solid in the brochure that linuxman posted is a 9 footer.
Is the 9 footer a newer model possibly? I bet those 10' perfs are "rare birds".
Is the 9 footer a newer model possibly? I bet those 10' perfs are "rare birds".
I was researching Birdview Communications this AM and came up with this tidbit... kinda funny... politics and satellites!! Thought it might be a laff. Maybe there should be a sticky in C-Band "All Things Birdview" - so folks can post facts/findings on the company/products.
"As he rose in power and stature on Capitol Hill, Dole became an accomplished fund-raiser. Throughout his political career, Dole, like Nixon, saw his campaigns for various national offices scrutinized by federal authorities, sometimes resulting in large fines for illegal contributions. David Owen, the close friend of the Dole family who ran Dole's 1974 senatorial race and played key roles in Dole's 1980 and 1988 presidential bids, but later went to prison for tax fraud, observed, "He was obsessed by money and power. There are a lot of personality traits in Dole that parallel Nixon." Dole's 1980 presidential campaign was forced to refund more than $50,000 to various companies and to the Federal Election Commission for undocumented campaign disbursements.
During that same campaign, the FEC filed a complaint against Dole's wife, Elizabeth Hanford, for loaning his campaign $50,000. The $50,000 loan had been requested by Dole's campaign. Elizabeth Dole got the money from David Owen's bank at below the prime rate. At the time, Owen was also chairman of the Dole for Senate Committee and Elizabeth Dole's financial adviser, later handling her blind trust. A letter from Jo-Anne Coe, assistant treasurer of Dole's leadership PAC, to Owen on Dec. 17, 1979, written on Dole's U.S. Senate stationery, said, "These funds are needed at the earliest possible time, and I will therefore appreciate your expediting the bank transfer." The campaign had only $14,709.04 in the Dole for President account at its Virginia bank.
The FEC dropped the charges and levied no fines, citing "the unique nature of Kansas law at the time of the uunsaction.
During Dole's 1988 presidential campaign, allegations emerged that Owen, a former Kansas lieutenant governor and close Dole aide, had employees and executives of a Kansas company -- to which he served as a $3,000 a month consultant and in which he held stock-make $24,000 in contributions to Dole's 1986 Senate campaign. Employees reportedly were ordered to contribute and later got reimbursed by the firm, Birdview Satellite Communications. Steven Small, one of Birdview's founders and a former company vice president told the Kansas City Star, "I didn't feel right about [the contributions] but what could I do? I wasn't in a position to say no."
When the story broke in the midst of the 1988 presidential pnmaries, Dole's staff denied that he had done anything wrong. The senator, who said he knew nothing of the donations, called for an internal and Federal Election Commission probe into the matter and the staff promised that if any illegal money was received from Birdview employees, it would be returned." FEC officials, however, have no record of any request from Dole to look into the Birdview matter."
"As he rose in power and stature on Capitol Hill, Dole became an accomplished fund-raiser. Throughout his political career, Dole, like Nixon, saw his campaigns for various national offices scrutinized by federal authorities, sometimes resulting in large fines for illegal contributions. David Owen, the close friend of the Dole family who ran Dole's 1974 senatorial race and played key roles in Dole's 1980 and 1988 presidential bids, but later went to prison for tax fraud, observed, "He was obsessed by money and power. There are a lot of personality traits in Dole that parallel Nixon." Dole's 1980 presidential campaign was forced to refund more than $50,000 to various companies and to the Federal Election Commission for undocumented campaign disbursements.
During that same campaign, the FEC filed a complaint against Dole's wife, Elizabeth Hanford, for loaning his campaign $50,000. The $50,000 loan had been requested by Dole's campaign. Elizabeth Dole got the money from David Owen's bank at below the prime rate. At the time, Owen was also chairman of the Dole for Senate Committee and Elizabeth Dole's financial adviser, later handling her blind trust. A letter from Jo-Anne Coe, assistant treasurer of Dole's leadership PAC, to Owen on Dec. 17, 1979, written on Dole's U.S. Senate stationery, said, "These funds are needed at the earliest possible time, and I will therefore appreciate your expediting the bank transfer." The campaign had only $14,709.04 in the Dole for President account at its Virginia bank.
The FEC dropped the charges and levied no fines, citing "the unique nature of Kansas law at the time of the uunsaction.
During Dole's 1988 presidential campaign, allegations emerged that Owen, a former Kansas lieutenant governor and close Dole aide, had employees and executives of a Kansas company -- to which he served as a $3,000 a month consultant and in which he held stock-make $24,000 in contributions to Dole's 1986 Senate campaign. Employees reportedly were ordered to contribute and later got reimbursed by the firm, Birdview Satellite Communications. Steven Small, one of Birdview's founders and a former company vice president told the Kansas City Star, "I didn't feel right about [the contributions] but what could I do? I wasn't in a position to say no."
When the story broke in the midst of the 1988 presidential pnmaries, Dole's staff denied that he had done anything wrong. The senator, who said he knew nothing of the donations, called for an internal and Federal Election Commission probe into the matter and the staff promised that if any illegal money was received from Birdview employees, it would be returned." FEC officials, however, have no record of any request from Dole to look into the Birdview matter."
MAY 1984 - Birdview Satellite Communications, Inc., seems a fitting name for the company founded by Charles A. Ross three years ago. The Chanute, Kans., firm makes an earth-station system that allows customers in isolated areas to view a wide variety of television shows via satellite.
A mythical bird might have been even more appropriate: phoenix--the bird that rises from the ashes. Bud Ross, 43, rebounded from bankruptcy to start the company, which already has customers in 41 states and expects its sales to jump to $25 million in fiscal 1984, up from $13.3 million in the last fiscal year.
Ross' career as an entrepreneur began in his family's garage in Overland Park, Kans. After playing guitar for a rock-and-roll band for three years, he started Kustom Electronics in 1963 and "ran it for 32 straight quarter without losing money," he says. Ross moved the firm, which made guitar amplifiers, to larger quarters in Chanute and broadened its line to include public address systems, traffic radars, police car computers, drums, portable organs and equipment to test aircraft radios.
Named Small Business Person of the Year for Kansas in 1968 by the Small Business Administration, Ross was flying high. The trouble was, he jokes, "I read all of those [news] stories and believed them." He founded eight other companies making such diverse products as boats and high-speed printing presses.
"People started coming to me with ideas, and I started putting up the dollars," he explains. Before long, he admits, "it had gotten totally out of hand. It was physically, mentally and financially more than I could go through."
In 1973, Ross, who had once spurned a $10 million takeover offer for Kustom, was forced to sell the business and liquidate his other assets to pay his debts. He went bankrupt--and was divorced--the following year. He remarried in 1975 and moved with his new wife to Colorado. "She worked, and I cleaned house," he says. "I could go into the beautiful mountains and not worry about business."
But by 1977, Ross was ready to take on the business world again. He returned to Chanute, dabbling in several businesses, until he spotted an item in the 1980 Neiman-Marcus Christmas catalog: a private satellite-receiving station for $12,500. He was hooked. "I read night and day," he recalls. "I had me a new toy."
Ross became convinced he could sell a comparable system for far less. He incorporated Birdview in March, 1981, and offered stock in November.
By the following May, the new firm was turning out its product for a suggested retail price of $2,995: a complete earth-station system with a satellite receiving dish, the mount to hold the dish, a low-noise block-down converter (which amplifies signals and converts them to the proper frequency) and a station selector.
Using the equipment, viewers can pick up signals via any of 12 satellites orbiting the earth, including signals from "super stations" in large cities. They also can pick up the signals of paid-subscriber companies like Home Box Office--and that has Birdview and similar manufacturers in a legal bind.
Birdview does not want to "pirate" pay-TV signals, says Ross. In fact, it encouraged its customers to sand checks to the pay-TV companies whose programming they watch. But when they tried to do so, their checks were returned with warnings that they were not authorized to watch the programs.
The legal question is one the earthstation industry is watching. One possible solution, says Robert E. Owens, Birdview's executive vice president, would be for the pay-TV firms to scramble their signals and then sell decoders directly to satellite-dish owners.
Birdview, which now employs 300, thus far has shipped about 12,000 systems, mostly for rural customers, and hopes to ship 25,000 in the coming year.
Its strengths, say Ross and Owens, are that it is one of the most "vertically integrated" companies in the business--selling complete systems, not just parts--and that it has a solid network of 700 independent dealers.
Meanwhile, Bud Ross' fortunes have come full circle: He was recently named Executive of the Year by Kansas Business News magazine and was 1983 chairman of S.P.A.C.E., a Washington-based earth-station industry organization. "If God ever prepared someone to do something," he has told his wife, "he prepared me to do this."
A mythical bird might have been even more appropriate: phoenix--the bird that rises from the ashes. Bud Ross, 43, rebounded from bankruptcy to start the company, which already has customers in 41 states and expects its sales to jump to $25 million in fiscal 1984, up from $13.3 million in the last fiscal year.
Ross' career as an entrepreneur began in his family's garage in Overland Park, Kans. After playing guitar for a rock-and-roll band for three years, he started Kustom Electronics in 1963 and "ran it for 32 straight quarter without losing money," he says. Ross moved the firm, which made guitar amplifiers, to larger quarters in Chanute and broadened its line to include public address systems, traffic radars, police car computers, drums, portable organs and equipment to test aircraft radios.
Named Small Business Person of the Year for Kansas in 1968 by the Small Business Administration, Ross was flying high. The trouble was, he jokes, "I read all of those [news] stories and believed them." He founded eight other companies making such diverse products as boats and high-speed printing presses.
"People started coming to me with ideas, and I started putting up the dollars," he explains. Before long, he admits, "it had gotten totally out of hand. It was physically, mentally and financially more than I could go through."
In 1973, Ross, who had once spurned a $10 million takeover offer for Kustom, was forced to sell the business and liquidate his other assets to pay his debts. He went bankrupt--and was divorced--the following year. He remarried in 1975 and moved with his new wife to Colorado. "She worked, and I cleaned house," he says. "I could go into the beautiful mountains and not worry about business."
But by 1977, Ross was ready to take on the business world again. He returned to Chanute, dabbling in several businesses, until he spotted an item in the 1980 Neiman-Marcus Christmas catalog: a private satellite-receiving station for $12,500. He was hooked. "I read night and day," he recalls. "I had me a new toy."
Ross became convinced he could sell a comparable system for far less. He incorporated Birdview in March, 1981, and offered stock in November.
By the following May, the new firm was turning out its product for a suggested retail price of $2,995: a complete earth-station system with a satellite receiving dish, the mount to hold the dish, a low-noise block-down converter (which amplifies signals and converts them to the proper frequency) and a station selector.
Using the equipment, viewers can pick up signals via any of 12 satellites orbiting the earth, including signals from "super stations" in large cities. They also can pick up the signals of paid-subscriber companies like Home Box Office--and that has Birdview and similar manufacturers in a legal bind.
Birdview does not want to "pirate" pay-TV signals, says Ross. In fact, it encouraged its customers to sand checks to the pay-TV companies whose programming they watch. But when they tried to do so, their checks were returned with warnings that they were not authorized to watch the programs.
The legal question is one the earthstation industry is watching. One possible solution, says Robert E. Owens, Birdview's executive vice president, would be for the pay-TV firms to scramble their signals and then sell decoders directly to satellite-dish owners.
Birdview, which now employs 300, thus far has shipped about 12,000 systems, mostly for rural customers, and hopes to ship 25,000 in the coming year.
Its strengths, say Ross and Owens, are that it is one of the most "vertically integrated" companies in the business--selling complete systems, not just parts--and that it has a solid network of 700 independent dealers.
Meanwhile, Bud Ross' fortunes have come full circle: He was recently named Executive of the Year by Kansas Business News magazine and was 1983 chairman of S.P.A.C.E., a Washington-based earth-station industry organization. "If God ever prepared someone to do something," he has told his wife, "he prepared me to do this."
From Kansas Music Hall of Fame:
Charles "Bud" Ross, 2006 Director's Award
Bud Ross, a bass player and vocalist for Larry Emmett & The Sliders and The Bygones in Kansas City, started a guitar amplifier business in his garage.* Tired of blowing out speakers, Ross built the first bass amp that could handle the power to make bass guitars practical rock instruments.* His Kustom Electronics outgrew the garage, and Ross moved it to Chanute, Kansas, where it grew to become one of the largest musical equipment companies in the world in the late 60s and early 70s.* The distinctive "tuck and roll" upholstery of the amplifiers is remembered fondly by baby boomers.* Kustom also developed the first hand-held radars for police to use in catching speeders.*
Charles "Bud" Ross, 2006 Director's Award
Bud Ross, a bass player and vocalist for Larry Emmett & The Sliders and The Bygones in Kansas City, started a guitar amplifier business in his garage.* Tired of blowing out speakers, Ross built the first bass amp that could handle the power to make bass guitars practical rock instruments.* His Kustom Electronics outgrew the garage, and Ross moved it to Chanute, Kansas, where it grew to become one of the largest musical equipment companies in the world in the late 60s and early 70s.* The distinctive "tuck and roll" upholstery of the amplifiers is remembered fondly by baby boomers.* Kustom also developed the first hand-held radars for police to use in catching speeders.*
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