Picking Up My First BirdView C-Band Dish

[gabshere]

if you attempt to remove the lnbf be careful most all of these are aluminum rod stock (the support arms) and will break easy after being there a long time . a wire brush and a penetrating oil might help

lots of threads here on sattellite guys on birdviews installs & refurbs

and welcome: to the group

 

[allen75960]

Thanks. Making progress. Not as excited as I was but still excited. so I now know old school was " LNA "and I need upgrade to c band LNB.

 

[allen75960]

ordered titanium lnb off ebay. So next will be getting it in the ground and aligned. I will temporarily use boat battery to move it. Till I figure out if a vbox will work, or what I will need.

 

[allen75960]

That link to simplified alignment by fatair is broke

 

[FaT Air]

Whoops. ( "Fat finger error) HERE it is.

 

[N6BY]

....
Depending on it's age, it may be a 10 turn pot for a sensor. If so a pulse conversion will be necessary to use a new mover. (GBox, VBox, Titanium ASC1) ...

The photo in post #22 is the original pot sensor from 1986. So it needs to be replaced by something that will work with a modern dish mover.

As suggested by other members here I made a magnet wheel and bought a reed sensor. Here is a photo of what I built based on info found here on satelliteguys. It works very well and was inexpensive to make. I can give you a list of where I got the raw materials if you decide to make one.

I would also recommend extending the LNBF rods about an inch so that the scalar ring is about 1 inch farther from the dish. This is because the focal length of the dish is 40.55 inches (according to forum member 'pendragon'), and the scalar ring is too close now to position the C1PLL. My focal length tests agree with pendragon's. In addition, as FaTAir pointed out above, the hole for the scalar ring is too small for a C1PLL. You can either enlarge it a few mm or start over from scratch and make a multi-LNBF mount like I did in the photo below. It works great for both KU and C-Band.

When I got my BirdView, it had no LNBF rods or scalar ring. So before I made the multi-LNBF mount shown above, I used an original BirdView scalar ring kindly provided by 'radio'.

The original scalar ring (like the one you have) worked OK for just C-Band, but I wanted to add KU reception. With this multi-LNBF setup shown above I am getting good C-Band reception and outstanding KU reception. I am now pulling in a LOT more on KU than ever before. It even far surpasses what I was getting with my 1.2m offset dish. For C-Band, it is roughly equivalent to my 10' Unimesh.

ordered titanium lnb off ebay. So next will be getting it in the ground and aligned. I will temporarily use boat battery to move it. Till I figure out if a vbox will work, or what I will need.

You should get excellent results with the Titanium C1PLL.

For moving the dish a VBox will work fine.

I have plenty of extra threaded 5/16" rods if you need some to make a scalar ring extension. I have no need for them and would be happy to mail you what you need.

 

[allen75960]

Sure enough. Broke 3 of the arms off luckily all at scalar end. All 3 have about 3 threads left on them so I might attempt to use them with like a hex standoff ?

 

[Bongu]

If you do that, make sure you use some anti-sieze compund. The dissimilar metals cause a galvanic reaction that can be like welding or in the worst case, accelerate corrosion.

 

[Cosmo Blatz]

So a new lnbf and adapter?

Definitely go with the C1-PLL. You shouldn't need an adapter. At least 2 of the bolt holes should line up.

 

[N6BY]

Sure enough. Broke 3 of the arms off luckily all at scalar end. All 3 have about 3 threads left on them so I might attempt to use them with like a hex standoff ?

For best performance you will need longer struts anyway. I used 5/16" all thread rods from Lowes and cut them to length. Here is an excellent thread by 'pendragon' which I referred to extensively when getting my BirdView working: http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/threads/pendragon-vs-the-birdview.264831/

Post #16 talks about making a strut extension. However, he used 7/16" rods instead of the 5/16" like I used.

 

[allen75960]

I will post pics when I get back home. I used 5/16 bolt couplings on current struts. Which gave me almost an inch. I haven't gotten a chance to measure it yet. I will post measurements also.

 

[N6BY]

Here is the thread where 'phlatwound' tells how to enlarge the scalar opening with a hole saw and sandpaper wrapped around it: http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/threads/phlats-birdview-install.154646/ Its in post #13. It worked great for me too.

The only other thing (not mentioned in that post) is that I sanded the front outside of the LNBF tube at the end to get rid of the lip and make the diameter uniform. Otherwise, once you get the hole in the scalar ring big enough to slip the front of the LBNF tube through, it will be too big for a good tight fit.

 

[allen75960]

I saved the link to that but I'm waiting on new lnbf to come in before I get started on that. Found perfect area in pasture to put it. And started digging today. Started brainstorming who I could get to finish hole. Lol. Hoping to have it in ground and together by Saturday. I will get started on mover/ mods next week.

 

[allen75960]

These bolt couplings are 3/4 inch long. I have bolts and washers to hold to scalar. From dish to scalar is 40.25 inches. I get lnb later today. I'm not sure how far in it sits. I believe the rods with couplings were 42 7/8 not counting threads.

 

[allen75960]

If the lnb does fit flush with the bottom of the scalar, I can always place washers between scalar and rods for fine tuning.

 

[FaT Air]

the lnb does fit flush with the bottom of the scalar

Usually NOT. How far did the original feed stick out in front of the scalar? Your replacement feed should be set the same. Then you can do some measurements and calculate(not precisely but very close) where the feed should be. (Focal point should be approx 1/4 inch inside the throat) Then fine tune it once you have acquired signals.

 

[allen75960]

It's in ground. I don't want talk about how I got it there lol.
I ended up using something like a dremel stone in my power drill to ream out the scalar.
Not sure about adjusting lnb in or out. I just mounted it flush. But with bolt couplings on there that puts it at 40.25 inches from dish to little plastic cover on lnb.
Either both compasses are off or something else is. I'm picking up about 40 channels some on 99 some from 101. But I was aiming for 103. I used dish allign app, my phone compass and a compass that came with microhd.

 

[allen75960]

I know what i did wrong

 

[primestar31]

I know what i did wrong

Spill the beans, we won't laugh TOO hard! lol It's all a good learning experience, even the mistakes. I'll bet money it's one that plenty of us have done before...

 

[N6BY]

Glad you got it working Allen. Do you plan on getting the motor hooked up?

...It might help people searching in the future if the word 'Birdview' was added to the title.