Getting closer to having my BVOC card stamped!

[skysurfer]

It's been a pretty good week here! Weather is warming up, I'm between busy work periods, so I've checked out a few things with the Birdview I picked up from Radzoid and am inching closer to getting it in the ground.

I've checked out the motor and the dish mount moves great, I just modified the scaler ring to fit a corotor II+ feedhorn throat (and got the Chappy scaler ring bolted to the birdview scaler ring so all I have to do is loosen/tighten the set screw on the chappy to set the throat distance where I need it). I"m starting out 1/8" extended from the birdview scaler ring because I'm making the assumption the focal length of the birdview goes to the dish-facing surface of the birdview scaler ring, whereas the Corotor II+ focal length goes to 1/8" inside the chappy throat. I can adjust it as needed when I get it on arc and can see how the signal levels are.

Friday, I fixed the only broken feedhorn support and I believe I may be the only one to have done it this way because I don't recall any postings about fixing broken supports this way.

I was able to keep the aluminum support leg. What I did was "screw extracted" the broken-off threaded part of the support from the support holder welded to the dish. I turned the support 180 deg around (so the remaining good threaded end screws into the restored socket) and I filed flat the end with the broken threaded part and drilled a hole into the end of the support rod and tapped it for a number 10 screw to mount it to the scaler ring. I didn't have to use a long 5/16" steel threaded rod to fix it.

I have to start digging the hole, now that I decided I need to hot-switch the birdview with the Orbitron 7.5' dish that the birdview is replacing. The original plan was to adapt a piece of the 6" birdview pole onto the orbitron pole, but I may need the orbitron before I can get around to getting the birdview on arc.

with work about to pick up again for the next month, I only have a day or two to try to get the hole dug and cemented plumb, otherwise it will be slower as I can only spend a few minutes here and there working on the hole before darkness sets in each evening.

I'm pretty stoked with the mods/restoration I was able to get done this week.

I do have a question about the motor part - is there a mechanical stop or will the dish run off the gears and go crashing if I go too far east or west? I plan to drive the dish by spectrum analzyer (watching my analyzer to see where I am as I drive the dish with my 24V power supply). I may eventually get around to buying yet another vbox and doing the reed sensor mod.

 

[Lone Cloud]

...
I do have a question about the motor part - is there a mechanical stop or will the dish run off the gears and go crashing if I go too far east or west? I plan to drive the dish by spectrum analzyer (watching my analyzer to see where I am as I drive the dish with my 24V power supply). I may eventually get around to buying yet another vbox and doing the reed sensor mod.

Cool!

No mechanical stop on the motor/worm gear but the stopping is incorporated in the mover. A Gbox or a Vbox will cut off the power supply if the magnetic reed switching stops.

Those boxes are programmable also, and you can set the east and west limits, so the dish will stop where you set the limit.

 

[skysurfer]

No mechanical stop on the motor/worm gear but the stopping is incorporated in the mover.

no stopping incorporated into my 24V DC power supply!

I best be really careful driving it then, since there is no stop built into the mount.

I know about VBOX/GBOX as I have a few of those already controlling dishes. I just have to decide if I want to add another one to the collection.

 

[1captain]

Cool!

No mechanical stop on the motor/worm gear but the stopping is incorporated in the mover. A Gbox or a Vbox will cut off the power supply if the magnetic reed switching stops.

Those boxes are programmable also, and you can set the east and west limits, so the dish will stop where you set the limit.

That is correct, Birdview never had any kind of limit switch to stop them from over running off the worm gear. but if you look at the 1/2 moon gear you will see how they cut about 10 degrees off it, so it will stop when it come's in contact with the back of the dish.

now it is real easy to add a pair of mirco-switches w/diods to set as a mechanical limit so you don't over run the worm gear. what I did here was I bent 2-alum pieces of flat stock an mounted a mirco swith to them, an used the hole that was already in the BirdView plate (right above where the 1/2 moon gear is), an when the 1/2 moon gear come's in contact with them it opens the circuite to stop it from over run. here are a few pictures of my ChannelView dish mount, a 10-ft Channel Master SMC with a fabed BirdView mount on it, now these are not the best pictures due to where the limit switches are mounted, but hope you get the idea. my self I beleive in mechanical stops, an I will add a switch in any of my dish set ups here (even when they did not come with them) just in case some thing would ever go wrong with either the dish mover or myself.

 

[skysurfer]

I now have a Birdview on a stick! When do I get to join the BVOC? When I get the dish performing like I want or now since I've gotten first signal with it?

AMC-18 is disappointing, but that's probably because I've roughly pointed it south-- and my south is more like Anik F1R anyway. I haven't done peaking with my meter yet to see what I can get from it or what adjustments I have to make. I"m betting elevation adjustment is in order because IMHO c-band installers didn't have the nice signal meters (or access to digital signals) back in the day to dial a dish in perfectly! If the sparklies were minimized to none, it was good enough of an install.

How is the elevation adjustment as far as course or fine control? I want to use my installer quality meter to peak it and I am having a tough time seeing how fine elevation adjustments can be made when there is no threaded bolt to make them. Has anyone tried putting an actuator or bolt mechanism on it to have more precise control over elevation? I'm dreaming of taking my unused hand-crank actuator out of the closet and making a precise elevation adjustment mod, even though BVOC members may kill me!

and, yes, pics will be coming at some point, when I get them downloaded from the camera.

 

[stogie5150]

I now have a Birdview on a stick! When do I get to join the BVOC?

That's up to the president. And he is off playing carpenter right now, so we rarely see him. See the Lizard for your temporary membership card, and a plastic decoder ring. These will be replaced when your place in the organization is created, and you will get your permanent card and plastic decoder ring.

I hope that cleared things up for ya.



(Oh, and congrats on the BV, BTW. Nice job.:up)

 

[phlatwound]

Congrats on your progress, skysurfer, you need to fill out your BVOC paperwork (in triplicate) and President Linuxman will schedule the secret initiation ceremony ASAP (sometimes it takes a while to acquire a goat).

As you have noted, there is no elevation adjuster, you just have to do manually.

It's not that hard to do on the round solid dishes as they are so well balanced, you can change the elevation and it tends to stay where you put it while you are snugging the bolts.

I am also planning on building some kind of elevation adjusting bolt when I am able to get back into working on my BV Spoon project, looking forward to your pics and what you come up with on yours. :up

 

[skysurfer]

Found out a couple of things:

1) the elevation is slightly off - no shocker to me as the dish was originally installed in the days of analog and the installer probably said little or no sparklies is good enough.

I'll have to do the elevation adjustment another day since it's dark and I"ll try things without my mod and see if the birdview mount is balanced enough to give me fine control as I use my digital installer meter to peak up on a digital signal. I imagine the pole might also have a difference in plumbness such that the tilt at the top of the post could also affect elevation slightly.

2) I did the 5 gallon bucket thing for a replacement LNB cover. I trimmed off the bucket as minimally necessary to be able to fit on the scaler ring. Guess what, the Corotor II+ and Norsat C-band LNBs stick back so far that the bucket won't fit (it's about 2 inches short of fitting!) My feedhorn will have to go naked! I may slip the ring of the original birdview feedhorn cover on the scaler ring (since it's the top that's broken out, the sides are still good) and that should obscure the corotor I+I+ and the lower half of the norsat LNB so all you'll see visually is the top half of the norsat LNB and the coax connection.

 

[stogie5150]

Found out a couple of things:

1) the elevation is slightly off - no shocker to me as the dish was originally installed in the days of analog and the installer probably said little or no sparklies is good enough.

I'll have to do the elevation adjustment another day since it's dark and I"ll try things without my mod and see if the birdview mount is balanced enough to give me fine control as I use my digital installer meter to peak up on a digital signal. I imagine the pole might also have a difference in plumbness such that the tilt at the top of the post could also affect elevation slightly.

2) I did the 5 gallon bucket thing for a replacement LNB cover. I trimmed off the bucket as minimally necessary to be able to fit on the scaler ring. Guess what, the Corotor II+ and Norsat C-band LNBs stick back so far that the bucket won't fit (it's about 2 inches short of fitting!) My feedhorn will have to go naked! I may slip the ring of the original birdview feedhorn cover on the scaler ring (since it's the top that's broken out, the sides are still good) and that should obscure the corotor I+I+ and the lower half of the norsat LNB so all you'll see visually is the top half of the norsat LNB and the coax connection.

Analog adjustments will almost never be right for digital. I don't know why, to be honest I really don't wanna know, so if you know why, keep it to yourself...LOL

Stop hoping. It wont be balanced. That's the FIRST thing our Esteemed (har har) President told me, and he was NOT kidding. Have help, or prepare for it to take awhile. We have been talking about, for a year or so now, a way to make a temporary way to adjust it with control, then after you lock down the bolts, take the adjuster off. I could do it with a welding machine....but I was thinking something simple that could be installed and removed quickly.

That must be a LONG assed LNB, or you got a short bucket...LOL...easy to fix BTW, just cut the bottom of the bucket out to clear the LNB, then silicone a Rubbermaid container to the bucket, covering the LNB that sticks out. I am going to put an ortho on mine, and that's what I intend to do. Ask your wife for an old one, I bet she has a pile of them she doesn't use anymore...

Nice job, BTW. :up

Hey, how about some pictures, dangit!

 

[1captain]

have to agree with Stogie, when adjusting the elevation it is tough for 1 person, but it can be done, far better with 2-people.

but what I would be more concern about is their is NO declination adjustment with these Birdview mounts, this is very important to have them track the ark perfect. an if you're only a 1/2 to 3/4 of a degree out, this is not bad, that can be corrected with washer or shims behind their backing plates. the problem for me is my area with declination I am at 4.04-degrees, now with the bend in their back plate (from mine mounts here) is at 5.6 degrees, an the washer trick puts the pivot points in a bind.

now for a adjustable elevation, I have did a few mounts an it is easy with a few parts, a welder is need an a few peices of steel an good treaded rod, I have here a Miller Trail Blazer an the skills so not a problem for me here, but most folks don't have welding skills or access to the tools. here is a link that to Plats Soon when he was setting it up, an I posted a picture for Plat on how I build them here. it is not realy needed but shure makes it nice for a 1-person job.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/c-band-...over-care-feeding-birdview-6.html#post2036725

 

[skysurfer]

Pics!

here are some pics - the birdview on a stick, the birdview and the laux near each other, pics of the connections I made, pics of the support arm fix I did and how I bolted a corotor II+ to the birdview scaler ring, and even a pic of what a birdview does to the grass after one week.

EDIT: forgot I also added pics of the orbitron that the birdview replaced (and you can see the birdview post that just barely clears underneath the orbitron since I had to hotswitch the dishes and used the orbitron up to the day that I took the orbitron 7.5' off and put the birdview on its post.

 

[Anole]

Nice pix. Very high resolution and clear.

Could we see a picture of the scalar, looking up from the dish?
And, did you mill out the Birdview scalar?

 

[skysurfer]

Nice pix. Very high resolution and clear.

Could we see a picture of the scalar, looking up from the dish?
And, did you mill out the Birdview scalar?

I'll see what I can do about the picture request and getting an acceptable shot when I have to blindly point the camera towards the scaler ring.

I am not sure if what I did is considered milling. I started out with a grinding wheel device (one inch wide abrasive material on a drill shank) and a drill but it became a PITA when the device became clogged with aluminum material (melted and cooled?) that was hard to pick out of the abrasive material with my tool that is like a dentists' pick with a sharp point. I only found out about a wheel dresser just as I was about done with the
mod.

When the grinding wheel wasn't getting me far fast due to clogging, I used a circular handfile and filed it out to roughly the right size in about an hour and then used the grinding wheel to smooth things out and eventually got it the right diameter to accept the chappy throat.

 

[skysurfer]

Another Birdview has officially reentered service!

I used my signal meter and got the Birdview on arc in about an hour Sunday afternoon. I capped off the night watching some NASA HD on it.

For a 8.5' dish, it performs pretty good. The west end is a little cruddy but that's because I have house and another dish blocking some of the signal in that direction. East end and center arc where there is no blockage is spectacular!

I still owe a photo looking up into the feedhorn that was requested, but otherwise I would say I'm a new member of the BVOC since it's installed and operational.

Thanks again Radzoid for your generosity!