Put in my first dish (7.5' KTI mesh) in 1993 then took it with me in 2003 when I moved. Still working! 
How Long Have You Had Your BUD?
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Pencil and eventually scribed...
I have one dish with an actuator that I've never bothered to hook up. What I did was take off the motor, and connect a battery powered hand drill to the shaft via a home-made connector that simulated the motor drive. I know I could have dragged a car battery out there and just used the actuator motor, but the hand drill moved the dish much faster. I finally ended up breaking the end of the shaft though.
Got my first one a year or so out of high school. It was a 6' StarTrak (still have it actually) dish with linear actuator and some old Drake electronics given to me by a friend of the family. LNA and Block Downconverter was old at that time (around '92 or '93) but it got me going.
System was hit by lightning and I upgraded. Was working on systems back then and got a lot of freebies from folks who were upgrading or switching to Direct TV or one of the emerging Canadian DTH systems. Still have a lot of old parts and pieces.
System was hit by lightning and I upgraded. Was working on systems back then and got a lot of freebies from folks who were upgrading or switching to Direct TV or one of the emerging Canadian DTH systems. Still have a lot of old parts and pieces.
It's been up and running for 21 years now. But, I was a wannabe since the first dish I saw in the early 80's.
Sold 'em in mid 1980's (Birdview) first one was a borrowed unit on demo trailer from the store where I worked, and parked alongside the apartment I rented. Then in 1990's, bought that (same) building, had dish over 10 feet in the air on a concrete-decked trailer 'cuz the city wouldn't allow an install "that" close to the property line. Wasn't permanent, so they couldn't complain! 14 years later, removed from THAT trailer, and brought to new location wired to silver RV!
Well I got my first BUD last weekend! It's been interesting seeing whats on Cband. As I put it together in the garage friday night the wife came out to see what the finished product looked like.
She said she didn't think it would be any bigger than the 4 smaller dishes I have in the yard! I said honey at least its only 6foot not 10 foot! No more dishes she said...yeah I said I hear ya. Blind
She said she didn't think it would be any bigger than the 4 smaller dishes I have in the yard! I said honey at least its only 6foot not 10 foot! No more dishes she said...yeah I said I hear ya. Blind
9.5' mesh dish was already installed in the house I bought 11 years ago. used it for a few years right after buying the house, then went to the dark side for a few, but now I'm back in C-band'ness ;-)
Radio: hey neighbor!
Radio: hey neighbor!
Picked up a used 10' channel master, a little over a year ago, for the networks on 99W.
No motor.
No motor.
Bought mine in '85, 8' Odum solid dish system for $600 used. Today using 4DTV DSR 920 receiver with Diamond 8000 FTA. I wouldn't trade that dish for anything!!!!
I've had mine this long. I was thinking 1979-1980, but don't really remember for sure. I had a Drake ESR something or other, and it was a 70mhz with lna and down block converter. It had two hand cranks, one for elevation and the other to move it from one sat to another sat. You had to write down the number of turns, to remember where each sat was at. Those were the days.... I paid about $3200 for the system.
I remember seeing one about 6 months earlier, a Zenith, and they wanted $6000 for it. I thought mine was a bargain. I certainly feel like I got my moneys worth out of it.
The best that I can figure is that I have had the BUD for 18-20 years. We had a marketing campaign that came through our area going door to door. If you wanted to talk to them you made an appointment and they came back to talk to you. I think that I paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $2600 for the complete setup installed. It consisted of a 6.5 food Echo-star dish, C-Band lnb, and receiver. The receiver was (still is) a Legend with VC-II. I updated the feedhorn with a Chaparral that had both C and Ku about 5 years after I bought the system. Never did get the Ku to work. Had to have the receiver repaired just once when we had a sever thunderstorm and the receiver got zapped.
The BUD just sat there for about 6 years when I first got started with FTA. I changed out the feedhorn with a BSC621 and put a V-box in-line to move the dish. after hooking up the FTA to it, I started having problems with the wind moving the clamp on the actuator and constantly having to re-align everything. Lucky for the dish, the receiver died. If it hadn't died, the BUD would probably be in a landfill somewhere.
Now I have resurrected the BUD, fixed the slipping actuator clamp, hooked up the V-Box and have a new receiver hooked up. Still having problems with Ku though. I have been playing with the new setup now for a couple of weeks off and on. Don't have everything functioning yet, but I'm working on it.
The BUD just sat there for about 6 years when I first got started with FTA. I changed out the feedhorn with a BSC621 and put a V-box in-line to move the dish. after hooking up the FTA to it, I started having problems with the wind moving the clamp on the actuator and constantly having to re-align everything. Lucky for the dish, the receiver died. If it hadn't died, the BUD would probably be in a landfill somewhere.
Now I have resurrected the BUD, fixed the slipping actuator clamp, hooked up the V-Box and have a new receiver hooked up. Still having problems with Ku though. I have been playing with the new setup now for a couple of weeks off and on. Don't have everything functioning yet, but I'm working on it.
Since 1983, spun aluminum with a hand crank and 70 mhz if. I remember the guy that installed it used Gene Scott to get a rough alignment. Still got the equipment around here somewhere.
Yeah I had the 120 degree LNA the 70 mhz downconverter and SatTec Receivers with knows to tune Audio and Video with an Antenna rotator to change from H to V and the obligatory hand crank...
Wannabee since 2001. Have BUD since late 2007. Happy. Now Birdview. Lucky find, very cool experiience.
We had C-Band from late 1985 to 1995, and again from 1997 to 2002.
The dish had always been the same.....a 6 ft. Birdview. We had an old Birdview receiver with separate positioner in 1985. Replaced that with a new Birdview unit w/built-in positioner in 87. We added a seperate VCII box in 86. It finally died and my dad got a Houston Tracker VII IRD in about 87 or 88, and that lasted until the end of our C-Band days in 2002.
In 1995, a windstorm toppled the dish at the pole. Thankfully, the dish itself was undamaged. Dad chose not to get it repaired at the time.
He finally got the dish back up in 1997 and also upgraded to a VCRS module as well. It lasted until 2002 when lightning finally got it and it was found to be not worth repairing.
The dish itself sat in our backyard until late 2008 when my dad finally ordered it hauled away....I tried to get him to let me sell it for him, but he said no...
The dish had always been the same.....a 6 ft. Birdview. We had an old Birdview receiver with separate positioner in 1985. Replaced that with a new Birdview unit w/built-in positioner in 87. We added a seperate VCII box in 86. It finally died and my dad got a Houston Tracker VII IRD in about 87 or 88, and that lasted until the end of our C-Band days in 2002.
In 1995, a windstorm toppled the dish at the pole. Thankfully, the dish itself was undamaged. Dad chose not to get it repaired at the time.
He finally got the dish back up in 1997 and also upgraded to a VCRS module as well. It lasted until 2002 when lightning finally got it and it was found to be not worth repairing.
The dish itself sat in our backyard until late 2008 when my dad finally ordered it hauled away....I tried to get him to let me sell it for him, but he said no...
Newbie. I thought I'd never get a BUD. I liked the little Primestars. But they only deliver so much. And you guys are so persuasive. I'm now convinced that life is better with a few BUDs. My second one will go up when I get some free time.
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