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A few days ago in another thread several of you offered me great help and advice regarding the potential harvesting a Birdview solid I spotted on Craigslist:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/c-band-satellite-discussion/264089-birdview-motor-pole-questions.html
A friend and I launched the attack on Monday. It was an easy job, other than I forgot to bring wasp spray. Between squirting penetrant on them and swatting with newspapers, we managed to decimate the major part of the town's wasp population without any successful countercharges on us. We lost track of the number of nests we emptied from the motor housing and feed.
Because I had previously decided to mount this to a wall, and because we could see the classic Birdview pole indents below the ground, there seemed no reason to dig out the concrete and thus we chopped the pole at ground level. I plan to follow phlatwound's advice and weld the Birdview tube inside a 6" schedule 40 pipe to extend it to the proper length. The owner probably would have been ok with simply ridding her yard of the dish, but as she was a recent Army wife transplant, I gladly gave her the $75 she asked in the ad. She had been very gracious in answering several rounds of questions, confirming measurements, etc. The dish is in great shape, with only one strut snapped at where it attaches to the dish. More on that later.
The motor housing was a disgusting mess of dead insects and other debris, of which I have only removed the first few layers. I was a little disappointed to find this dish only had the original multi-turn potentiometer position sensing, but having read the extensive threads here on such matters, I had assumed this would have to be dealt with either way.
When I re-read the material, my eye was caught by a post by bryan.lynch several years back:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/124870-birdview-reed-sensor-kit-2.html#post1234794
Bryan found a rotary encoder on the cheap and proposed using this instead of the traditional magnet wheel/reed switch approach. While at that time he planned to do something with this part, as far as I could tell neither he nor anyone else ever reported back about such a scheme. This sounded more fun to me that fabricating a magnet wheel. Yesterday the encoder and some odd parts arrived, and this morning I was a little kid on Christmas.
To summarize, the encoder is an AMT-102 from a company called CUI. It uses capacitive sensing to produce 48-2048 quadrature pulses per revolution. They also make an absolute position encoder which I may investigate some time down the road by attaching it directly to a polar axis shaft. There may be some issues with that, but the possibility of not caring about backlash sounds quite attractive. Still I would probably have to build my own GBOX-like unit to handle such a part. I digress.
The AMT-102 has a DIP switch to adjust the basic pulse rate. As the pulses are provided in quadrature, one can determine the shaft rotation direction. Unfortunately that is of no particular consequence for a GBOX/VBOX. However one can use the quadrature pulses to double the pulses rate. With the GBOX counting on both rising and falling edges, one can obtain 192-8192 pulses per revolution. Before proceeding with the motor itself, I bread-boarded a simple TTL XOR gate connected to an open-collector, high voltage buffer. The outputs of the encoder were wired in and the output connected to a GBOX. When set to the lowest resolution on the DIP switch (48 quadrature pulses), I measured about 200 counts for one turn of the encoder shaft. Perfect.
The next step was to transport the bread-board, power supply and GBOX to close proximity to the Birdview motor housing. The encoder kit has several shaft adapters. I chose the 3mm one which closely matches the worm gear shaft extension on which a small nylon gear used to live. This previously coupled to a larger gear driving the potentiometer. Rather than finalizing the mounting, I simply anchored the main part of the encoder with duct tape. I have attached a couple of photos of the setup.
Everything worked from the get-go. I centered the drive with a precision inclinometer and zeroed the GBOX. I ran motor until the half-moon gear was about to fall off the worm drive. I measured a motor angle of 80 degrees and a GBOX count of 5127, or about 64 clicks per degree (.016 degrees per click). At the same time I verified the GBOX could keep track of counts from -9999 to +9999 (nice). I doubt I would ever run a Birdview +/- 80 degrees because of the load being transferred to one or two teeth on the half-moon gear. This means one could adjust the DIP switch to 100 quadrature pulses per revolution for a resolution of 0.0075 degrees per click with a motor angle range of +/- 75 degrees, and be right at the point of wrapping around the GBOX counter. Of course this all is a bit silly as having such a resolution has very little to do with pointing accuracy. Still, bragging rights are worth something.
The next steps will be to wire-up a permanent circuit with some minor clean-ups and bypass caps, and drill and tap mounting holes for the encoder. First I'll have to clean and grease the gears. I will also have to provide a +5V source to run the circuit. That's available inside the GBOX, and I purchased a connector for the back of the GBOX so I can feed all five leads through that instead of dealing with the cheapo wire clamps on a stock GBOX.
Onto other matters.
I had read several people claiming the Birdview struts place the scalar about an inch too close to the focal point. My rough measurements confirmed that. As one of my struts was already broken, I looked into tapping it at something other than the stock value. It's not perfect, but I decided to tap the ends of all the struts at 7/16-14 after first cutting them down a few inches. I'll then twist on some bolt extenders and use about 4-6" of threaded rod so I can adjust the scalar position over a several inch range. Of course I'll have to drill the scalar plate out for this threading and use two nuts on each strut. This will change the adjustability of the Birdview scalar from being one of the worst imaginable to one of the best.
I've taken measurements of the Birdview scalar and have some minor concerns how well it will match a typical ADL or Chaparral feed. I'm not talking about the internal diameter, which has to be enlarged in any case, but of the field behavior. I may or may not model it before simply going ahead and reaming it out for grins because I don't want to adapt something else at this time.
Those who read my earlier thread may remember one of my targets is 37.5W, which requires a motor angle of 74 degrees where I live. Unfortunately the Birdview's half-moon gear will hit the back plate of the dish at about 65.5 degrees. I could chop out a small piece of this plate as it is not the actual dish surface itself to reach a larger motor angle. As I mentioned earlier, 80 degrees is really the absolute maximum the motor can be driven while still keeping a gear tooth or two meshed with the worm drive gear. If one lets the half-moon fall out of the worm, the pole mount hits at 85 degrees. So there may still be a chance for 37.5W on the Birdview, but I'm not worried either way because my other C-band dishes can steer to about 34W and my 1.8m Prodelin offset on an Ajak mount can barely hit 30W.
More to come as I continue.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/c-band-satellite-discussion/264089-birdview-motor-pole-questions.html
A friend and I launched the attack on Monday. It was an easy job, other than I forgot to bring wasp spray. Between squirting penetrant on them and swatting with newspapers, we managed to decimate the major part of the town's wasp population without any successful countercharges on us. We lost track of the number of nests we emptied from the motor housing and feed.
Because I had previously decided to mount this to a wall, and because we could see the classic Birdview pole indents below the ground, there seemed no reason to dig out the concrete and thus we chopped the pole at ground level. I plan to follow phlatwound's advice and weld the Birdview tube inside a 6" schedule 40 pipe to extend it to the proper length. The owner probably would have been ok with simply ridding her yard of the dish, but as she was a recent Army wife transplant, I gladly gave her the $75 she asked in the ad. She had been very gracious in answering several rounds of questions, confirming measurements, etc. The dish is in great shape, with only one strut snapped at where it attaches to the dish. More on that later.
The motor housing was a disgusting mess of dead insects and other debris, of which I have only removed the first few layers. I was a little disappointed to find this dish only had the original multi-turn potentiometer position sensing, but having read the extensive threads here on such matters, I had assumed this would have to be dealt with either way.
When I re-read the material, my eye was caught by a post by bryan.lynch several years back:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/124870-birdview-reed-sensor-kit-2.html#post1234794
Bryan found a rotary encoder on the cheap and proposed using this instead of the traditional magnet wheel/reed switch approach. While at that time he planned to do something with this part, as far as I could tell neither he nor anyone else ever reported back about such a scheme. This sounded more fun to me that fabricating a magnet wheel. Yesterday the encoder and some odd parts arrived, and this morning I was a little kid on Christmas.
To summarize, the encoder is an AMT-102 from a company called CUI. It uses capacitive sensing to produce 48-2048 quadrature pulses per revolution. They also make an absolute position encoder which I may investigate some time down the road by attaching it directly to a polar axis shaft. There may be some issues with that, but the possibility of not caring about backlash sounds quite attractive. Still I would probably have to build my own GBOX-like unit to handle such a part. I digress.
The AMT-102 has a DIP switch to adjust the basic pulse rate. As the pulses are provided in quadrature, one can determine the shaft rotation direction. Unfortunately that is of no particular consequence for a GBOX/VBOX. However one can use the quadrature pulses to double the pulses rate. With the GBOX counting on both rising and falling edges, one can obtain 192-8192 pulses per revolution. Before proceeding with the motor itself, I bread-boarded a simple TTL XOR gate connected to an open-collector, high voltage buffer. The outputs of the encoder were wired in and the output connected to a GBOX. When set to the lowest resolution on the DIP switch (48 quadrature pulses), I measured about 200 counts for one turn of the encoder shaft. Perfect.
The next step was to transport the bread-board, power supply and GBOX to close proximity to the Birdview motor housing. The encoder kit has several shaft adapters. I chose the 3mm one which closely matches the worm gear shaft extension on which a small nylon gear used to live. This previously coupled to a larger gear driving the potentiometer. Rather than finalizing the mounting, I simply anchored the main part of the encoder with duct tape. I have attached a couple of photos of the setup.
Everything worked from the get-go. I centered the drive with a precision inclinometer and zeroed the GBOX. I ran motor until the half-moon gear was about to fall off the worm drive. I measured a motor angle of 80 degrees and a GBOX count of 5127, or about 64 clicks per degree (.016 degrees per click). At the same time I verified the GBOX could keep track of counts from -9999 to +9999 (nice). I doubt I would ever run a Birdview +/- 80 degrees because of the load being transferred to one or two teeth on the half-moon gear. This means one could adjust the DIP switch to 100 quadrature pulses per revolution for a resolution of 0.0075 degrees per click with a motor angle range of +/- 75 degrees, and be right at the point of wrapping around the GBOX counter. Of course this all is a bit silly as having such a resolution has very little to do with pointing accuracy. Still, bragging rights are worth something.
The next steps will be to wire-up a permanent circuit with some minor clean-ups and bypass caps, and drill and tap mounting holes for the encoder. First I'll have to clean and grease the gears. I will also have to provide a +5V source to run the circuit. That's available inside the GBOX, and I purchased a connector for the back of the GBOX so I can feed all five leads through that instead of dealing with the cheapo wire clamps on a stock GBOX.
Onto other matters.
I had read several people claiming the Birdview struts place the scalar about an inch too close to the focal point. My rough measurements confirmed that. As one of my struts was already broken, I looked into tapping it at something other than the stock value. It's not perfect, but I decided to tap the ends of all the struts at 7/16-14 after first cutting them down a few inches. I'll then twist on some bolt extenders and use about 4-6" of threaded rod so I can adjust the scalar position over a several inch range. Of course I'll have to drill the scalar plate out for this threading and use two nuts on each strut. This will change the adjustability of the Birdview scalar from being one of the worst imaginable to one of the best.
I've taken measurements of the Birdview scalar and have some minor concerns how well it will match a typical ADL or Chaparral feed. I'm not talking about the internal diameter, which has to be enlarged in any case, but of the field behavior. I may or may not model it before simply going ahead and reaming it out for grins because I don't want to adapt something else at this time.
Those who read my earlier thread may remember one of my targets is 37.5W, which requires a motor angle of 74 degrees where I live. Unfortunately the Birdview's half-moon gear will hit the back plate of the dish at about 65.5 degrees. I could chop out a small piece of this plate as it is not the actual dish surface itself to reach a larger motor angle. As I mentioned earlier, 80 degrees is really the absolute maximum the motor can be driven while still keeping a gear tooth or two meshed with the worm drive gear. If one lets the half-moon fall out of the worm, the pole mount hits at 85 degrees. So there may still be a chance for 37.5W on the Birdview, but I'm not worried either way because my other C-band dishes can steer to about 34W and my 1.8m Prodelin offset on an Ajak mount can barely hit 30W.
More to come as I continue.
61 Replies
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16696 views
Staff member
HERE TO HELP YOU!
Cutting Edge
Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!
So let the game continue!
The last song was added by Bobby who posted...
One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters
CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!
Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game
Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.
Example:
Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
Another example:
Ride the Lightning -- Metallica
Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne
Get it?
An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
So let the game continue!
The last song was added by Bobby who posted...
One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters
CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!
Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game
Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.
Example:
Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
Another example:
Ride the Lightning -- Metallica
Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne
Get it?
An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
68502 Replies
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2670993 views
Supporting Founder
Really excited for this season with Kentucky having a new coach and some really exciting recruits. Probably won't last long, but here's hoping this season is great.
143 Replies
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1435 views
Nah, you just don't understand how ignore works, which is why you made your own NFL thread thinking there wasn't one
For quite a while now, people with a VIP211k have been losing their recordings on their activated external HDDs... even when there's nothing physically wrong with HDD. I believe this is an intentional and underhanded tactic that Dish is pulling in an attempt to force users away from the VIP211k.
They are obviously regretting that they ever let users have a "non-dvr" dvr in the first place. You would think they would be happy charging you a $40 one time fee... and then be happy letting the customer be the one responsible for HDD failures.
Dish clearly hates the 211k bitter-clingers. This recording deletion problem is intentional (IMO), and I think it is just one more tool that they are using. Hopper and a 2-year agreement... that's what they want you to have. Think about that... a 2-year agreement... with a company $30 Billion in debt (that's with a B). What happens when all that debt causes them to drop the channel that may have been your whole reason for having Dish in the first place? Guess who's stuck with a service that no longer suits their needs... for the remainder of the 2-year agreement.
On top of that, they don't want you to install it yourself. I purchased and installed all my equipment myself. That used to be common. Now, they lie to me and tell me that my dish must be updated to use a Hopper. Funny thing is... they don't even know what dish I have because they didn't install it, and I didn't tell them. If you ask what type of dish/LNBs the hopper needs... good luck getting an answer. All they know is that whatever you have needs to be upgraded by an installer.
It is quite apparent to me that they care much more about staying in their box, than they do working with the customer. That's too bad, because it hasn't always been that way. It's like they are totally unaware of the current business environment that they are trying to compete in.
I have been a customer since 2010. I will be cancelling my service before the next period. Yeah, I know, my $1,200 a year won't make a difference to them. It just seems like they have forgotten who needs who, especially when you consider the competition in today's streaming world. But hey, they will have succeed in forcing me off the 211k.
They are obviously regretting that they ever let users have a "non-dvr" dvr in the first place. You would think they would be happy charging you a $40 one time fee... and then be happy letting the customer be the one responsible for HDD failures.
Dish clearly hates the 211k bitter-clingers. This recording deletion problem is intentional (IMO), and I think it is just one more tool that they are using. Hopper and a 2-year agreement... that's what they want you to have. Think about that... a 2-year agreement... with a company $30 Billion in debt (that's with a B). What happens when all that debt causes them to drop the channel that may have been your whole reason for having Dish in the first place? Guess who's stuck with a service that no longer suits their needs... for the remainder of the 2-year agreement.
On top of that, they don't want you to install it yourself. I purchased and installed all my equipment myself. That used to be common. Now, they lie to me and tell me that my dish must be updated to use a Hopper. Funny thing is... they don't even know what dish I have because they didn't install it, and I didn't tell them. If you ask what type of dish/LNBs the hopper needs... good luck getting an answer. All they know is that whatever you have needs to be upgraded by an installer.
It is quite apparent to me that they care much more about staying in their box, than they do working with the customer. That's too bad, because it hasn't always been that way. It's like they are totally unaware of the current business environment that they are trying to compete in.
I have been a customer since 2010. I will be cancelling my service before the next period. Yeah, I know, my $1,200 a year won't make a difference to them. It just seems like they have forgotten who needs who, especially when you consider the competition in today's streaming world. But hey, they will have succeed in forcing me off the 211k.
167 Replies
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7431 views
For some reason, the satelliteguys.us site is loading a lot slower than usual on both Chrome on my Asus laptop and Safari on my iPhone.
I'm also seeing longer appearances of the blue bar at the top and the "3 blue bars" loading symbol.
Is anyone else also having the same problem? Thanks in advance.
I'm also seeing longer appearances of the blue bar at the top and the "3 blue bars" loading symbol.
Is anyone else also having the same problem? Thanks in advance.
530 Replies
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18079 views
Remember folks... just like DNS... its always Foxbat. 
WTF… …What the Foxbat!Remember folks... just like DNS... its always Foxbat.
S
wow what a kick in the balls!!! the wife blames you when things don't work now scott's blaming youWTF… …What the Foxbat!
I know. Here's what Scott has in store for me if I get out of line:wow what a kick in the balls!!! the wife blames you when things don't work now scott's blaming you
S
OMG to freaking funny
You're no fun.
I thought I would come here and find lots of complaints about the update to the dish anywhere mobile app, but am not seeing any. It used to look just like the desktop webpage. Now you can no longer filter by sports channels or movie channels. Plus that they made it look like a big button telephone and you see fewer channels in the screen which requires more scrolling. Yes I realize you can look at sports then select which sport you want to look at, I just liked being able to see all sporting events in the guide with all other channels being filtered out. Am I alone in the wilderness on this?
7 Replies
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127 views
Supporting Founder
Pub Member / Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
Apple has finally released their Apple TV 4K with built-in Siri and a microphone so it can respond to your queries even if you don't have the remote. It also increases in price, to $299. I had been planning on updating my current Apple TV 4K streamers, but that's $600 for the two of them, and that's a pass at this point.
At $299, it had better come with 256 GB of Storage, Gigabit (or better) Ethernet, the latest HDMI tech and standards, and one year of free Apple One. But it probably won't…
At $299, it had better come with 256 GB of Storage, Gigabit (or better) Ethernet, the latest HDMI tech and standards, and one year of free Apple One. But it probably won't…
Apple TV 4K
Apple TV 4K. New Siri AI and hands-free control. Stunning picture and immersive HomePod surround sound. Works with your Apple and smart home devices.
www.apple.com
20 Replies
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288 views
S
. apple's been making money off of software and not hardware for a while
they all do that anyways.. ever notice your cell phone slows down when you come up for an upgrade..
. apple's been making money off of software and not hardware for a while
You should have looked in the APP STORE instead.
Supporting Founder
Several Dish offers showed up today in my account. Once you choose one the rest are removed. Offers were Showtime, Starz, AMC and others.
35 Replies
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1675 views
Not for me, mines has no mention of how long aka the offer period and the Terms and conditions the $0.00 is good for. All I see is one can lose $5.00 if you decide to remove it before day 31 after you add it to the account.
You have a different offer that is free for a shorter timeframe which is different than the one that I and bnewt saw without defining the promotion period as I sent the question to DISH Care via Facebook Messenger and this is the response I got back 20 minutes ago.
TWiT Tech Podcast Network
Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4Edq2eavsQ
Direct YouTube Link - This Week in Space 232
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4Edq2eavsQ
Direct YouTube Link - This Week in Space 232
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
0 Replies
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18 views
TWiT Tech Podcast Network
Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!
View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oRVxjGm0qtE
Direct YouTube Link - Tim Cook, Elton John & King Charles: A Royal Tech Event
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oRVxjGm0qtE
Direct YouTube Link - Tim Cook, Elton John & King Charles: A Royal Tech Event
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
0 Replies
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15 views
TFLEV
Time for another AWESOME video from TFL Electric Vehicles!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyF_RH1m0mc
Direct YouTube Link - Watch the New Tesla Roadster Jump, Fly and Barrel-Roll in Mid-Air!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyF_RH1m0mc
Direct YouTube Link - Watch the New Tesla Roadster Jump, Fly and Barrel-Roll in Mid-Air!
0 Replies
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24 views