found a Birdview need help

[madmadworld]

have been reading about them on here the past couple of days.
this seems to be one of the oldest ones 25 + years as told to me by the owner. and not modified/ updated.
sure would like to bring it home but i'm no good at fabbing stuff up like what needs to be done for the motor to work.
anyone here these days doing that ? would galdly pay for the spent time.
guy said a few people have looked at it over the years and now thinking about scrapping it out. that would be sad.
thanks for reading

 

[gabshere]

unless the motor is bad it should work with a vbox pushing it

now a new wheel for the sensor might be needed and some work on the scaler might need to be done

lots of threads here on bv recovery and rebuilding

 

[gabshere]

get as much of the pole as you can
the lil poles that hold the scaler are aluminum so be careful if you try to remove the scaler its breaks easy ( the threaded ends ) a lubricant and a wire brush on the threads first ... if needed .

also the bolts that hold the dish to the motor bracket these are threaded into the dish area and often strip free and have to be cut off , try using extra care and something like pb blaster on all bolts ( on dish too) let even sit for a day or two if possible

 

[madmadworld]

now a new wheel for the sensor might be needed and some work on the scaler might need to be done

Lone Cloud
"Or do you need a mover or a 4dtv receiver? "
linuxman
An analog box or 4DTV receiver would work, but you still need the Reed Sensor Conversion Kit.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/140995-9-foot-Birdview-Dish?p=1431819#post1431819

new wheel for the sensor --- Reed Sensor Conversion Kit. these are same thing right ?

are these kits anywhere to be had ?
and drilling out the scaler can that be done on the dish ?
thanks a lot

 

[gabshere]

Lone Cloud
"Or do you need a mover or a 4dtv receiver? "
linuxman
An analog box or 4DTV receiver would work, but you still need the Reed Sensor Conversion Kit.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/140995-9-foot-Birdview-Dish?p=1431819#post1431819

a analog receiver or a 4dtv will move the dish , these are the older receiver used to move these dishs. if your wanting to go FTA only then a vbox type mover would be needed

new wheel for the sensor --- Reed Sensor Conversion Kit. these are same thing right ?

are these kits anywhere to be had ? and drilling out the scaler can that be done on the dish ? thanks a lot

sensor can be bought , magnet wheel can be made or bought (i plan on buying mine i forget where i seen one it was like $10-15 i think)
the drilling out the scaler varies on what lnbf you want to use. for most that are about the size of the standard chaperal feed i think several members used a drill , a door hole cutter and sandpaper or something like that .... the info is here on the forums plus here's a thread on wheels

 

[stogie5150]

IMO you guys are getting ahead of yourselves. MadMad, do you KNOW the dish doesn't work? The LNB will need to be changed, but a regular dish mover will move it, it just wont count. So you will have to see the dish so you know where its moving when you push the button. You MAY not have to rework the scalar, those of us that are anal about such things reworked ours because it gets that last bit of signal. It will work for cband as is usually.

Yes, get as much pipe as you can, and look at my thread if you need ideas on adapting it.

And by all means, if you decide you dont want it, at least pass on where it is so someone else might have a shot at it! LOL

 

[Cadsulfide]

I got a machinist to chuck the scalar in a lathe and open up the center hole a few thousandths for a standard C band lnb, I ended up changing the unistrut clamps in the photo for simple "L" brackets and set screws.

 

[Lone Cloud]

Just noticed the thread.

It's hard to do this hobby if you have no handyman skills at all. We can help you, but the reality is, c band installers etc. are long off the scene.

My BV is one of my prized possessions. Great dish.

I am no electronics wizard, but followed the instructions here and got it done.

 

[madmadworld]

other than the h-h motor do these dishes perform better than say a 10' mesh ?
better for cband or ku ?
thanks for all the input guys

 

[Lone Cloud]

A solid Birdview dish will be excellent for both C and Ku bands, It will outperform the ten foot mesh dish. It has a long travel east to west,

May be the best consumer dish ever. The lnbs and feedhorns can be expensive.

I have never seen anyone drive one of these with an old Birdview receiver, but if the owner still has it, you might be able to avoid the reed switch/magnet wheel mod

 

[pendragon]

I picked up a Birdview last year and it's one of my prized dishes. For Ku it's hard to beat, although that is with a virtually custom dual orthomode feed. For C it's a good performer, but nothing special for its size. My 10' dishes easily outperform it.

One caution for the older, original Birdviews is they use a potentiometer to feed back their position to the controller. This is incompatible with all current movers. There was an official conversion kit available from Birdview and I've heard they can still be found. However I decided to use a rotary encoder for my dish. I published the details here, but it requires some ingenuity and a simple circuit to adapt the encoder outputs to dish controllers.