Found the dish I want

[djkurious]

I went satellite dish cruisin and I found this Birdview dish 4 miles from my house. The owner said I can have it for 50 bucks, so it's a go! It looks like it's going to be hell to remove and the pole looks as if it's about 9 feet in the air, so I imagine it's about 4 feet in the ground. I am 5'11 and can't reach the bottom lip of the dish unless I jump for it.

Any suggestions on removing this dish. I wonder how did they installed it!

Also, let me know what you think. Thanks

 

[chefwan]

The way i've been removing them is. if you cant or dont want to dig it up . get a buddy and get a sawzall and cut it at the very bottom of the pole that way you still have enough to plant it when you get home atleast 2 1/2 feet or you can digg for ages lol and better have a few people with you to carry the pole but i wouldnt take any thing loose but the dish from the pole...forgot to add that's a very nice dish there i hope you have fun with it . do you know if it has Ku? everydish i've gotten but one didnt have KU there hard to find around here anyways good luck with it

 

[djkurious]

The way i've been removing them is. if you cant or dont want to dig it up . get a buddy and get a sawzall and cut it at the very bottom of the pole that way you still have enough to plant it when you get home atleast 2 1/2 feet or you can digg for ages lol and better have a few people with you to carry the pole but i wouldnt take any thing loose but the dish from the pole...forgot to add that's a very nice dish there i hope you have fun with it . do you know if it has Ku? everydish i've gotten but one didnt have KU there hard to find around here anyways good luck with it

Thanks for the advice. I think I will do that. The owner just moved into the house so he doesn't have a receiver or anything for it. it's a great Ku performer. I wonder how long was Birdview in business...

 

[chefwan]

Thanks for the advice. I think I will do that. The owner just moved into the house so he doesn't have a receiver or anything for it. it's a great Ku performer. I wonder how long was Birdview in business...

I Dont know I've Never Seen A Birdview before . but how big is it ? 7.5, 10 footer? its a nice dish i bet it does have good ku i see it looks like it has the Horizon -Horizon Mount i hear those are good to look over the arc?

 

[djkurious]

I Dont know I've Never Seen A Birdview before . but how big is it ? 7.5, 10 footer? its a nice dish i bet it does have good ku i see it looks like it has the Horizon -Horizon Mount i hear those are good to look over the arc?

From what I heard, correct me if I'm wrong but birdview was the Cadillac of dishes back in the day. I think its a 8.5 or 10 footer.

 

[lumpkin666]

I've got a 10 footer that I'm thinking of taking off a buddy's hands. He assures me that he can weld a couple pieces onto the pole and then use an engine hoist to rip the pole outta the ground. I suppose we'll see if that works

 

[chefwan]

From what I heard, correct me if I'm wrong but birdview was the Cadillac of dishes back in the day. I think its a 8.5 or 10 footer.

That's Cool Im Not Sure Your Probably Right tho good luck like i said i've never seen a birdview

 

[caddata]

djkurious:

Great find at $50.00.

Remove the dish from the HH mount--two people can move dish

Remove the HH mount from the pole--two people can move mount

Cut pole at ground--two people can move pole

Leave dish assembled--It'll take an army to move it and you'll probably damage it.

This is the same dish I had in Arkansas before I moved to Florida. Once it was adapted to the "modern" C/Ku electronics and the declination angle was optimized, I never had to touch it again. It survived several tornados and ice storms.

Rent or borrow an auger type post hole digger and auger a 12" hole no less than 3 feet deep, set in "sackcreet" (make sure it's plumb), and it'll last forever while you watch every satellite from horizon to horizon. Also note that it is a true HH mount. It'll look 90 degrees to the earth both East and West.

 

[djkurious]

djkurious:

Great find at $50.00.

Remove the dish from the HH mount--two people can move dish

Remove the HH mount from the pole--two people can move mount

Cut pole at ground--two people can move pole

Leave dish assembled--It'll take an army to move it and you'll probably damage it.

This is the same dish I had in Arkansas before I moved to Florida. Once it was adapted to the "modern" C/Ku electronics and the declination angle was optimized, I never had to touch it again. It survived several tornados and ice storms.

Rent or borrow an auger type post hole digger and auger a 12" hole no less than 3 feet deep, set in "sackcreet" (make sure it's plumb), and it'll last forever while you watch every satellite from horizon to horizon. Also note that it is a true HH mount. It'll look 90 degrees to the earth both East and West.

Oh yea, I was definitely going to take the dish down, then deal with the pole like you stated! It would be hell if I didn't. Thanks for the advise because I will get me a auger type hole digger.

These birdview dishes last long and keep their stance! My grandmother has a weird-looking one that I believe was one of the first ones the produced. She got it way back in 1983 when birdview was just starting out. The dish looks more like an offset oval shaped dish, with all the electronics on the top of the dish. (I will try to get pictures of it) I plugged it up to the original birdview receiver about 6 years ago and it was still receiving C-band! It shocked me to still be tracking the Arc so precise. That H-H mount is one of the best ever produced. I guess thats why the dishes were so expensive back then!

 

[caddata]

djkurious:

When I adapted the old Birdview to "New" C\Ku electronics, I had the rings machined off the stock feed and the hole enlarged to accept a Corotor2 feed. I believe, after going to all that trouble, that you can remove the scaler from the Corotor2 and insert it into the Birdview feed without machining off the rings.

Skyvision sells a reedswitch conversion (rather expensive) to replace the pot, so your IRD can operate the HH. My dish had the conversion on it when I bought it. By the way, I paid $75.00 for my dish. The Skyvision reedswitch went south during my installation, so I made a homebrew replacement that worked fine until I moved to Florida.

My weather cover for the feed was missing, so I fabricated another from fiberglass. Made it bullet shaped on the end and changed the whole look of the dish.

Do a search of this site and find a thread relating to optimizing the declination. It's critical for Ku. You'll have to use flatwashers between the dish and mount to zero it in.

Good luck on your installation.