10ft Birdview Dish Revival

[audio2000]

I recently took a project I had on the back burner off the shelf this past weekend and started fixing my old Birdview Dish. Hooked up a Reed Sensor to it and a GBox3000 redid the wiring and hooked the drive motor up to it and the dish is tracking like a beauty automatically now with the motor box. Next Question now is I took the original Lnb mount and made the circle wider and filed the old scalar down so I can mount a new one onto that plate. I even power washed the dirt and moss growing on the dish off looks almost brand new now.

Question is what is a good Digital Lnbf to put up there on it one that doesn’t use a Servo motor and wants a Good FTA receiver to use to test this out with? Unless someone has some spare parts they want to give up.

 

[audio2000]

Lnbf that dose C and Ku Band

 

[radio]

Most any of the modern LNBF's will do you well! I've got two BV's going, one stationary for W-5 on subscription, and one on a G-box and have had (3) different FTA receivers on it! The plates that come with the new LNBF's seem to match up perfectly with your BV original bolt holes, just make sure to get the proper bolt to put in! (and by all means....WATERPROOF your LNB and connections somehow--Today's LNBF's aren't built like the BV ones were of the 1980's!

Pictures attached. May help you see approximately where to put your LNBF, biggest thing being polarity by turning it until its at its best! Mine, by no means is perfect, but she works well! Another member mentioned in my signature line also has modified his BV successfully and had GREAT results, too!

Used to sell BV, but I never sold a 10 foot, only the 8-plus's. If you really have the 10, its "rare" even in the BV collector's world!

 

[phlatwound]

Need some more info, please:

Do you want C-band only....or C & Ku?

Single or dual outputs?

No matter what the answers to those questions I would recommend you look at the selection of LNBFs that are carried by Satellite AV, or Galaxy Marketing. You can find links to their websites at the top of every forum page. They are sponsors of this forum and the members have reported good results with their products.

Another question.....are you sure you have a 10' Birdview? To verify, please measure across the dish, and do not follow the curvature of the dish. I have never seen one that was bigger than 8'-6 in diameter, but some of their old brochures mentioned larger models.

Where in the "Ozarks" are you located? I am in the greater Springfield area and may have a receiver that you can borrow to get your dish going.

 

[audio2000]

Radio of the pictures you’ve posted that’s how the original mounting bracket looks like that I am using I just took the center circle and made it wide so I can stick the lnbf itself into it to adjust the focal point better. Will attach and older picture of the dish before I cleaned it up will attach a new one later.

Phlatwound: I want both C and Ku band and to my knowledge it is a 10ft dish it was installed in 1984 (when I was 3 years old) it was just sitting there and I decided to clean this up and use it.


FYI I am also in the Springfield area

 

[radio]

You should be in GREAT shape, then for ANY LNBF of today. Use the supplied ring, bolt it to the BV's original plate, and experiment! And, by all means, ASK questions! We're all glad to help!

The one NICE thing you also have going is, if you want to use a C/Ku combination LNBF with built in switching, you can choose to use internal switching as supplied, or...with that original dual cable, install your diseqc switch or 22khz switch in your home using separate leads and keeping the switch out of the weather........or, like I did, use ONE of the two leads for combination c/ku, and keep the other lead free at the dish-end to attach via extension to a smaller Ku dish for fixed satellite reception of favorites! Just a thought!

 

[audio2000]

ya the one thing i did that i noticed you did diffrently on the mounting plate i filed the scalar rings down flat so i can use the newer ones from the new lnbf but i also made that circle wider so the lnbf and fit through the hole as well. .. i also made the four holes that way so i can mount a newer cover on top of the lnbf from the weather so right now all i need now is just those two things to get this bird up and running again

 

[phlatwound]

audio2000, please check your private messsages, thanks.

 

[audio2000]

Okay here is a picture of the Dish after it has been power washed this past weekend minus the bird who decicded to take a dump on it.

 

[radio]

Excellent! And the logo looks GREAT, too.....that's unusual! Wish my two did!

 

[audio2000]

all i need now is a lnbf to put on the dish and a reciver to start channel surfing

 

[phlatwound]

Excellent! And the logo looks GREAT, too.....that's unusual! Wish my two did!

Yep, that's a beauty.

audio2000, you need to delete some private messages, I tried to reply but your mailbox is full

 

[radio]

What did you say you were using to move your newly cleaned Birdview? If its still got the old "pot" system, your positioner must be an older one....but...as long as its working, easy is GOOD! Just curious 'cuz many of us here have done various mods to our dishes to work with newer positioners and FTA.

 

[audio2000]

it had the old pot system and dish mover on it. however i was smart enoguh to buy the Reed Sensor upgrade kit serval years ago for this dish just never put it on was just sitting on a shelf. Put the kit on the Dish and installed a Gbox3000 and the dish is moving nice with it. ... the Old pot and Old Mover box was still working at time of disconnect

 

[radio]

Ah! Surprised that the G-box was able to read enough pulses, but.....somewhere I remember on this forum that another BV owner noted the G-box doubles its count automatically reading "on/off" not just one or the other. Glad its working well for you! We modified a V-box (two different models) to take more pulses from a rotary encoder instead of the wheel, and increased the "resolution" of the dish movement to make mine and a friend's BV's work. Thanks for the clarification! Maybe on my next BV project just the G-box will work!

 

[audio2000]

well the reed sensor/switch i got was specific for this .. only thing was noted on it was suppose to be used for a gear box ratio of 1:70 i think this was a 1:36 but its tracking just fine far as the numbers. was able to set 3 postions and everytime it hits it when i tell it to goto any of the 3.. do you know where i can get a DSR-410? lol

 

[radio]

PM me. May have a spare, depending on one client right now....who got hit by lightning, but...may have one available (not spoken for.)

 

[Lone Cloud]

Very cool, although some people in the know think that Birdview only made an eight and a half foot solid dish.

I really am happy with mine. Having the reed sensor kit sure will save or has saved you time and effort. I made my own and it took me a week.

I have been pretty happy with true fta for some time. I'm surprised it isn't a bigger hobby.

 

[audio2000]

most people dont want the eye soars in there yard

 

[Lone Cloud]

I really hate the eyesore in my mailbox. The one that says pay me money for two hundred stations, 95 percent of which are useless.

You know, if you just look around, there is a big dish at about one out of two hundred and fifty houses. A small percentage of those actually work, but yet they sit there.

I don't know that it's so much of an eyesore. I think it's just not easy enough for most folks.