if the WAF is high and she say you can ?
i know thats a lot of good dishes
kinda makes me Jealous 
A solid Birdview Dish is in my near future!
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if the WAF is high and she say you can ?
i know thats a lot of good dishes
kinda makes me Jealous 
I try to keep the WAF at a very high level. You see, the next one goes on the family setup.
That makes her feel better about it.
If I tell her she can get Matlock with less rain fade, she goes for it. I won't tell her that Matlock comes in on a fixed dish hooked to the same setup.
Now that's a very Good Plan, you got there Fred! I wish I could find some around these parts? The only one I've seen had a bad Ding in/on the side/edge of it, I should go see about getting it anyway. The H to H Polar Mount drive should make any effort worthwhile.... I Think?I am now shooting to replace all 5 of my dishes on the roof with Birdviews.
Satellite Savage
Since it's the fine motors that make good Birdviews great, I can't see you locking 'em down and putting multiple Ku LNBs on 'em.
Now, if you do that, you're really gonna earn the title of: Satellite Savage! -
BTW, -is- there any rain-fade on the Primestars?
PS to Voom - from what I've read, an 80% Birdview still walks on water.
Including the little fixed-dish Ku-only Primestars you worked so hard to get going?If I tell her she can get Matlock with less rain fade, she goes for it.
I won't tell her that Matlock comes in on a fixed dish hooked to the same setup.
. . .
BTW, I am now shooting to replace all 5 of my dishes on the roof with Birdviews.
Since it's the fine motors that make good Birdviews great, I can't see you locking 'em down and putting multiple Ku LNBs on 'em.
Now, if you do that, you're really gonna earn the title of: Satellite Savage! -
BTW, -is- there any rain-fade on the Primestars?
PS to Voom - from what I've read, an 80% Birdview still walks on water.
Both dishes in place, And LOOKING GREAT!
Looks really Great! Looks like one heck of a setup you got there. Looks like all of your hard work is paying off for you in the images you posted before in your progress of working on the dishes. You will have to do a "Before and After" photograph of each dish you just got done working on! I know I would like to see it!
From looking at your flatness of the roof, that you have the dishes on is it at your place of residence or business? At any rate it looks like you could add a whole lot more. It's also a good thing that you have them that high too to get away from all of the water that your state had to deal with. I was happy that you weren't near any of the destruction. Still feel for all of the people it did hit and hit hard!
Good going again,
Tom
:up
Hey Fred,Both dishes in place, hooked up and functioning. Both are performing well already, but I plan to start fine-tuning tomorrow on the solid first, then the perfed.
Part of the reasoning for moving the perfed dish was because I was going to changed out the mast anyway, and that position has the best LOS.
Take a look at the collars around the 6 inch mast for the solid dish. The former mast there was 5-5/8" and was giving me some problems with cap movement. I now have that cured on both masts using the original 6" pipes and the bolt that comes down through the top.
Here are the pics. Two of them were taken on Friday when I was tired. My son took them. I took the others yesterday.
View attachment 23123 View attachment 23124 View attachment 23125 View attachment 23126
View attachment 23127 View attachment 23128 View attachment 23129 View attachment 23130
View attachment 23131 View attachment 23132 View attachment 23133 View attachment 23134
I'll post quality numbers when I have them tuned in.
Looks really Great! Looks like one heck of a setup you got there. Looks like all of your hard work is paying off for you in the images you posted before in your progress of working on the dishes. You will have to do a "Before and After" photograph of each dish you just got done working on! I know I would like to see it!
From looking at your flatness of the roof, that you have the dishes on is it at your place of residence or business? At any rate it looks like you could add a whole lot more. It's also a good thing that you have them that high too to get away from all of the water that your state had to deal with. I was happy that you weren't near any of the destruction. Still feel for all of the people it did hit and hit hard!
Good going again,
Tom
:up
Hey Al,
I also discovered that after shutting down MyTheatre, or DVBDream, you can run an ordinary STB from the second RF connector on the Twinhan card. I will have my Traxis 3500 hooked here too, and have it setup to not use the stationary dishes. It will be for scanning and finding new feeds.
Thanks Tom,
Even with the ding in the side, it will still probably out-perform most other dishes, and like you say, you still have the H-H mount.
Where the solid dish sits, yes there are 3 stationary dishes with a total of 5 LNBFs on them which I am going to leave operational. The Twinhan 1020 will run that setup.
I also discovered that after shutting down MyTheatre, or DVBDream, you can run an ordinary STB from the second RF connector on the Twinhan card. I will have my Traxis 3500 hooked here too, and have it setup to not use the stationary dishes. It will be for scanning and finding new feeds.
Thanks Tom,
We live and work in a commercial building. That's why the flat roof, and yes, I have lots of room left.
After spending the better part of two days tuning the solid dish, I have not yet been able to achieve the same quality of signal I had using the Perforated dish with the GeoSat Pro CK1 LNBf.
The C-Band is fantastic, and I have a good shot all across the arc from Hispasat to 137.
I know where the problem lies. I need to go up tomorrow and take some measurements between the two dishes to see if there is a difference in the Focal Distance.
I put the CK1 in the exact same spot I had it on the Perforated dish, and have less than desirable results on Ku. I have recessed the LNBf inside the scaler ring about 1/4" and improved the Ku enough to know that is the direction I should be going.
As is without modification, there is a point of diminishing return on trying to recess the LNBf further into the scaler.
What is needed I think is to move the scaler out further allowing the focal distance to be increased without restriction. I tried that today with lock washers between the support strut and the scalar, but they wouldn't fit.
I will look for a 5/16" close nipple that I can screw onto the existing stud, and then get a 5/16" stud to screw into the other end. I am looking to extend the scaler out about 1/2" to 1".
That should allow me to set the focal length properly.
I'll know more after I take the measurements tomorrow.
The C-Band is fantastic, and I have a good shot all across the arc from Hispasat to 137.
I know where the problem lies. I need to go up tomorrow and take some measurements between the two dishes to see if there is a difference in the Focal Distance.
I put the CK1 in the exact same spot I had it on the Perforated dish, and have less than desirable results on Ku. I have recessed the LNBf inside the scaler ring about 1/4" and improved the Ku enough to know that is the direction I should be going.
As is without modification, there is a point of diminishing return on trying to recess the LNBf further into the scaler.
What is needed I think is to move the scaler out further allowing the focal distance to be increased without restriction. I tried that today with lock washers between the support strut and the scalar, but they wouldn't fit.
I will look for a 5/16" close nipple that I can screw onto the existing stud, and then get a 5/16" stud to screw into the other end. I am looking to extend the scaler out about 1/2" to 1".
That should allow me to set the focal length properly.
I'll know more after I take the measurements tomorrow.
Made a trip up to the roof right after lunch to measure the Focal Length and see if there is any difference between the solid and the perfed dish.
The Perfed dish measures 39-7/8" from the center of the dish to the lip of the feed horn which is flush with the scalar ring.
The Solid dish measures 39-1/4" from the center of the dish to the lip of the hole where the feed horn should be flush for a .41-.42 F/D ratio.
That's a 5/8" difference in Focal Length. I think that is part of the reason the CK1 performed so much better on the other dish.
Went to town and picked up 6 - 5/16 ID steel coupler nuts that are 13/16" long. I will take the scalar plate off and screw the couplers onto the existing support struts which will screw on about 3/8 to half an inch. I bought 6 - 5/16" all thread 3" pieces to screw into the other end of the couplers.
Putting the plate back on and having it rest against the couplers will extend it out from the dish another 5/8" to 3/4" minimum from where it is now. Put the nuts back on and that should give me the Focal length I am looking for. I will also have some play room left over.
After reading the thread "Will Readjusting Clock Position of C and KU Band LNB's Improve Satellite Reception" and seeing gpat's response about a digital level and it's accuracy, I stopped by sears and picked up the digital torpedo level. Mine is only 8 inches long and doesn't have the laser beam, but it will do what I need. It isn't that the protractor isn't accurate, it is just my eyes are having trouble seeing the lines nowadays.
So when it quits raining again and I have another couple of warm, dry days, I am going to start over on the solid from the beginning using my new toy.
Oh, and I almost forgot. I think I found the declination adjustment for Birdview dishes. Hence the digital level. I found it completely by accident. A couple of bolts had worked loose on the mount. I will let you know the next time I work on it and see if they actually allow declination to be set without washers. If they do, I'll take pictures because they are kind of hidden up under the hood.
The Perfed dish measures 39-7/8" from the center of the dish to the lip of the feed horn which is flush with the scalar ring.
The Solid dish measures 39-1/4" from the center of the dish to the lip of the hole where the feed horn should be flush for a .41-.42 F/D ratio.
That's a 5/8" difference in Focal Length. I think that is part of the reason the CK1 performed so much better on the other dish.
Went to town and picked up 6 - 5/16 ID steel coupler nuts that are 13/16" long. I will take the scalar plate off and screw the couplers onto the existing support struts which will screw on about 3/8 to half an inch. I bought 6 - 5/16" all thread 3" pieces to screw into the other end of the couplers.
Putting the plate back on and having it rest against the couplers will extend it out from the dish another 5/8" to 3/4" minimum from where it is now. Put the nuts back on and that should give me the Focal length I am looking for. I will also have some play room left over.
After reading the thread "Will Readjusting Clock Position of C and KU Band LNB's Improve Satellite Reception" and seeing gpat's response about a digital level and it's accuracy, I stopped by sears and picked up the digital torpedo level. Mine is only 8 inches long and doesn't have the laser beam, but it will do what I need. It isn't that the protractor isn't accurate, it is just my eyes are having trouble seeing the lines nowadays.
So when it quits raining again and I have another couple of warm, dry days, I am going to start over on the solid from the beginning using my new toy.
Oh, and I almost forgot. I think I found the declination adjustment for Birdview dishes. Hence the digital level. I found it completely by accident. A couple of bolts had worked loose on the mount. I will let you know the next time I work on it and see if they actually allow declination to be set without washers.
If they do, I'll take pictures because they are kind of hidden up under the hood.
The 10" is on sale for the same price as the 8", if anybody cares:
8" torpedo at $35
Craftsman Digital Torpedo Level - Model 48295 at Sears.com
10" Laser Track level at $35 thru 03/28/08
Craftsman 10 in. Digital LaserTrac® Level - Model 48292 at Sears.com
the 24" version is $70, if you do construction and need one (not on sale):
Craftsman 24 in. Digital LaserTrac® Level - Model 48293 at Sears.com
all were found by going to Sears.Com and searching on: "digital level"
Sears.com
Yes, I could have gotten the 10" model with the laser for the same money, but I bought this tool for dish elevation and declination.
Believe it or not, I have found places on dishes where I had a difficult time getting an 8" level to have a flat spot. That's why I bought the smaller model.
My son and I manged to get on the roof yesterday afternoon and using my new digital level, re-leveled the mast to a perfectly plumb position. We also set the elevation to 39.6 degrees and used the zero feature to set the declination to 5.5 degrees.
For a total of 45.1 degrees of total elevation. We didn't do any further adjustments as it was too cold to stay longer.
My daughter and I got up there late morning and put the extensions onto the support struts to move the LNBF further away from the dish. The Focal distance now measures about 40-1/4 inches with the lip of the wave-guide flush with the scalar ring.
The Ku signal has gone from mediocre to pretty darn good so that was the correct direction to move toward.
Again it was very cold, and we came down without further tweaking. I am going to wait until warmer drier weather for the final tweak. I am satisfied the CK1 is going to perform as well as an ordinary Co-Rotor on this dish with excellent C and Ku signal quality.
The bolts I described in the last post as possible declination adjustments do allow for about 1 degree of declination adjustment. The rest must be done with washers.
Here are pictures of the bolts in question and the extension couplers I used. One of the adjusting bolts is hidden behind the motor.
It is going to be an awesome dish to use with a voltage controlled LNBF and my PCI tuner card.
When I finish, I will be ready to pursue DVB-S2 8psk either with a tuner card, or STB whichever arrives first with all the options I want.
For a total of 45.1 degrees of total elevation. We didn't do any further adjustments as it was too cold to stay longer.
My daughter and I got up there late morning and put the extensions onto the support struts to move the LNBF further away from the dish. The Focal distance now measures about 40-1/4 inches with the lip of the wave-guide flush with the scalar ring.
The Ku signal has gone from mediocre to pretty darn good so that was the correct direction to move toward.
Again it was very cold, and we came down without further tweaking. I am going to wait until warmer drier weather for the final tweak. I am satisfied the CK1 is going to perform as well as an ordinary Co-Rotor on this dish with excellent C and Ku signal quality.
The bolts I described in the last post as possible declination adjustments do allow for about 1 degree of declination adjustment. The rest must be done with washers.
Here are pictures of the bolts in question and the extension couplers I used. One of the adjusting bolts is hidden behind the motor.
It is going to be an awesome dish to use with a voltage controlled LNBF and my PCI tuner card.
When I finish, I will be ready to pursue DVB-S2 8psk either with a tuner card, or STB whichever arrives first with all the options I want.
which ones did you order if you don't mind me asking .
glad to hear the ck1 is doing well on the birdviews
Haven't ordered anything yet.
The one with the options we all want has not arrived yet in North America.
But I am certain that one or the other will be on our market soon, and when it does, I'll be ready.
Just an update on the progress:
I guess I overdid it a week and a half ago when my brother, son, and I did all the re-arrangement of Birdviews on the roof. Swapping the perf out where the solid was going, and having to put two mounts in place etc. Have not felt well since until yesterday morning.
I managed to do a few things as the weather has permitted, and yesterday, I managed to do some more work on getting the focal length correct on the solid. I haven't even started tweaking the elevation since re-setting it with my new digital level, nor have I made any twisting adjustments.
With the non-tweaking above stated, and only working with the focal length, here are some numbers for you. This is using the CK1 and the numbers are from the Pansat 3500.
30W Hispasat Cubavision Ku 90% SQ
72W AMC6 popular MUX V Ku 99% SQ
87W AMC3 Montana PBS 65% SQ
91W G11 test card Ku 45% SQ
91W G11 CW C-Band 75% SQ
95W G3 Equity MUX C-Band 7/8 FEC 80% SQ
123W G10 11720 V Ku 75% SQ
129W G27 White Springs Ku haven't been able to get anything yet. I am sure the whole dish assembly needs a twist.
133W G15 California Channel C-Band 30% SQ
137W AMC7 NASA C-Band 60% SQ
As you can see, the C-Band is good, not yet great, but coming along nicely. The Ku is phenomenal except at the center of the arc. Also the East side is much stronger than the West. That is where the twist will correct that.
Before I adjust any further for Focal Length, on Saturday, I am going to adjust elevation and twist and see what that does. It is finally supposed to be both warm and dry at the same time this week-end.
Hopefully I will finish the solid this week-end. I want to get started on the Perfed, and I have another thing to test too for someone else.
I guess I overdid it a week and a half ago when my brother, son, and I did all the re-arrangement of Birdviews on the roof. Swapping the perf out where the solid was going, and having to put two mounts in place etc. Have not felt well since until yesterday morning.
I managed to do a few things as the weather has permitted, and yesterday, I managed to do some more work on getting the focal length correct on the solid. I haven't even started tweaking the elevation since re-setting it with my new digital level, nor have I made any twisting adjustments.
With the non-tweaking above stated, and only working with the focal length, here are some numbers for you. This is using the CK1 and the numbers are from the Pansat 3500.
30W Hispasat Cubavision Ku 90% SQ
72W AMC6 popular MUX V Ku 99% SQ
87W AMC3 Montana PBS 65% SQ
91W G11 test card Ku 45% SQ
91W G11 CW C-Band 75% SQ
95W G3 Equity MUX C-Band 7/8 FEC 80% SQ
123W G10 11720 V Ku 75% SQ
129W G27 White Springs Ku haven't been able to get anything yet. I am sure the whole dish assembly needs a twist.
133W G15 California Channel C-Band 30% SQ
137W AMC7 NASA C-Band 60% SQ
As you can see, the C-Band is good, not yet great, but coming along nicely. The Ku is phenomenal except at the center of the arc. Also the East side is much stronger than the West. That is where the twist will correct that.
Before I adjust any further for Focal Length, on Saturday, I am going to adjust elevation and twist and see what that does. It is finally supposed to be both warm and dry at the same time this week-end.
Hopefully I will finish the solid this week-end. I want to get started on the Perfed, and I have another thing to test too for someone else.
well i hope you recover quickly
rain rain and more rain here... someday i will get to set a post and start the instal on the 10 ft mesh
i hope the drought areas get some of the rain we've been getting . it is fllooding north of here between you & me and near stage levels here.
rain rain and more rain here... someday i will get to set a post and start the instal on the 10 ft mesh
i hope the drought areas get some of the rain we've been getting . it is fllooding north of here between you & me and near stage levels here.
Sorry to hear you're under the Weather, Fred. But, glad you starting to come out of it. Get well soon...!!!
Thanks George and Al!
I am starting to feel better, and the work I did yesterday afternoon didn't hurt anything so I may be on the road to recovery until the next connective tissue disorder attack hits.
I just have to keep telling myself, "You can do this tomorrow", and not push so hard. But when you only have a good weather window of opportunity every now and then, at least I want to take advantage of it.
Hopefully we will have a lot more good weather than bad weather the rest of the Spring.
I am starting to feel better, and the work I did yesterday afternoon didn't hurt anything so I may be on the road to recovery until the next connective tissue disorder attack hits.
I just have to keep telling myself, "You can do this tomorrow", and not push so hard. But when you only have a good weather window of opportunity every now and then, at least I want to take advantage of it.
Hopefully we will have a lot more good weather than bad weather the rest of the Spring.
I wanted to close this thread out since I have the solid on it's own mount, and a Co-Rotor hooked up to it.
I also didn't want anyone to get the impression from the other "adjusting the CK1" thread that I was dis-satisfied with this dish.
After moving the reflector to the original mount, and putting on the Co-Rotor, I can say that both C-Band and Ku are giving me OUTSTANDING signal quality.
I am not going to post the numbers because I want to keep all of you as my friends.
I will only say, if you have the opportunity to get your hands on a Solid or Perforated Birdview, do everything you can to get it, bring it home, and set it up.
They are both awesome dishes.
I also didn't want anyone to get the impression from the other "adjusting the CK1" thread that I was dis-satisfied with this dish.
After moving the reflector to the original mount, and putting on the Co-Rotor, I can say that both C-Band and Ku are giving me OUTSTANDING signal quality.
I am not going to post the numbers because I want to keep all of you as my friends.
I will only say, if you have the opportunity to get your hands on a Solid or Perforated Birdview, do everything you can to get it, bring it home, and set it up.
They are both awesome dishes.
get your hands on a Solid or Perforated Birdview, do everything you can to get it
Tom
Yeah you're right Fred. I think you would even say "except when it it gets hit by a Tractor Trailer and gets dented real bad!" Still in all still looking on my part!!I wanted to close this thread out since I have the solid on it's own mount, and a Co-Rotor hooked up to it.
I also didn't want anyone to get the impression from the other "adjusting the CK1" thread that I was dis-satisfied with this dish.
After moving the reflector to the original mount, and putting on the Co-Rotor, I can say that both C-Band and Ku are giving me OUTSTANDING signal quality.
I am not going to post the numbers because I want to keep all of you as my friends.
I will only say, if you have the opportunity to get your hands on a Solid or Perforated Birdview, do everything you can to get it, bring it home, and set it up.
They are both awesome dishes.
Tom
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