Acquired a BUD (finally)

[AcWxRadar]

Walrus located an eight foot BUD and HexFET delivered it the other day.

Not sure what brand or model the LNB, dish and motor are, but it reportedly was in working condition. The receiver is a General Instruments 4DTV Digicipher II DSR-920.

Any comments or advice?

RADAR

 

[Mr Tony]

It looks like a NFD...and that would be a nice f----- dish

Take off the cover on the LNB and that usually will show what model of LNB it is. Probably an older one that has a polorotor (3 wires to tune polarity)

 

[Magic Static]

Very nice one piece perforated dish! Excellent find.

 

[AcWxRadar]

It looks like a NFD...and that would be a nice f----- dish

Take off the cover on the LNB and that usually will show what model of LNB it is. Probably an older one that has a polorotor (3 wires to tune polarity)

Very nice one piece perforated dish! Excellent find.

Yes, I thought it was very nice. It is not bent up or damaged. It has small perforations, so it should even work for Ku if I desire. I have the whole system except for the cabling.
I think I will go outside and pull the cover off the head assembly and jot down some numbers and take a pix.

RADAR

 

[AcWxRadar]

LNB on BUD

Well, this was a nice surprise.

There is a Chaparal feedhorn with a dual feed. Ku and C-Band already in place.

I don't know how good of quality these LNBs are, I m not familiar with them.

The Ku band LNB is a Precision Gold Label 0.6 dB made by Astrotel Communications in California. The C-Band LNB is a Mini-Mag (p/n m/n) 140011 65dB / 20K 3.7 - 4.2 GHz (950-1450 out) from California Amplifier. No clue if this is good news, bad news or great news. It is just what it is.

Cannot get to the motor right now to check it out fully for part or model and make. But it does not have an actuator arm, it has some sort of a gear box that turns the dish on a pivot axis atop the pole. I am not familiar with it and cannot take a picture of it in this position. The dish is very light-weight, but too big to handle by myself to flip it up off the trailer I have it resting on.

RADAR

 

[FaT Air]

it has some sort of a gear box that turns the dish on a pivot axis atop the pole

aka: H2H mount(horizon to horizon) Nice acquisition. Perf dish, should do NICELY on Ku along with C. Cal amp C band LNB's, installed many of them. Used one myself, until going the LNBF route. The Ku LNB is familiar. Think that's what's on my unused ADL feed. (I don't feel like digging it out to look.)

 

[turbosat]

Fairly modern lnbs , Radar, and a nice looking dish. You asked for comments, lol, ok, Wash it! But seriously, that one should do you well. I wonder about that dish-didn't Birdview make a perforated dish, I can't remember how big it was but seems like it was similar to your dish. And if it's got the H-H motor you describe, should be a great first c-band dish. Congrats
EDIT to add :
If you want an analog box to use for controlling the lnb polarity, and moving the dish motor let me know. I still have several good ones stored, and cheap. LIke, for the shipping price , hehe.

 

[radio]

Birdview make a perforated dish, I can't remember how big it was but seems like it was similar to your dish

Yes, BV did make a "perf"..(non paneled) dish. Sold in black. Standard Horizon to Horizon mount. BV's H-H was probably the heaviest in the (consumer) industry, (but had to be to support the dish weight, too.) I believe most if not all were the same size as their white (solid) dishes.

 

[Anole]

get some shots of motor 'n mount!

Looks a lot like my perf (see signature).
Except....
- the rim is flatter, where mine is more rolled
- your scalar support legs are way more spread wide

But the H-H sound familiar.
My AJAK motor is about 65 lbs.
But the dish itself is very light 'n stiff, just as you described.
Two of us carried it, each using one hand.
Maybe 1/10th or 1/8th inch thick metal.

Another member, Will822, had one similar to mine, but with a more traditional jack 'n mount.
I'm sure you can find pictures, searching on his user name.
I'll look through the archives (here) and see if I can find any that match your dish.
Just off hand, maybe DH brand ?
edit: well, DH, used 4-legs on many dishes shown on their site . . .

I love the dull stealthy finish.
Not that you'll have any neighbors complaining.


PS: the beautiful black Birdview perfs seem quite rare.
But, like their white solids, have six scalar support legs.
When I got my AMCI, I quite looking for a BV perf!
Yours is just as gorgeous. - :up

 

[AcWxRadar]

Fairly modern lnbs , Radar, and a nice looking dish. You asked for comments, lol, ok, Wash it! But seriously, that one should do you well. I wonder about that dish-didn't Birdview make a perforated dish, I can't remember how big it was but seems like it was similar to your dish. And if it's got the H-H motor you describe, should be a great first c-band dish. Congrats
EDIT to add :
If you want an analog box to use for controlling the lnb polarity, and moving the dish motor let me know. I still have several good ones stored, and cheap. LIke, for the shipping price , hehe.

Turbo,

Thank you for the offer on the analog receiver/s. I did acquire the 4DTV box with the dish, (including the remote and UHF antenna for the remote, too) so I will use that at first to test the motor out and confirm its operation before completing the full installation. I am wondering if a G-Box or V-Box will control all aspects of this BUD. I plan to use this BUD with my AZBox if possible.

I had originally planned to set up one dedicated C-Band dish and one dedicated Ku-band dish with my AZBox Premium Plus. I have dual DVBS-S2 tuners installed in my AZBox and intended to use one tuner for C and the other for Ku band. If this new BUD works extremely well for Ku band, I might alter my plans slightly. I will have to ponder what I am going to do with the system once I get this new dish set up and operating and checked out fully.

There is a lot of work ahead to set this mother humper up and get it wired in. I'll see how well it works overall first, and then go from there. It's going to be awhile before I really get into it. I have so many other projects to contend with that I would have to quit my job or take the entire summer off on vacation to do everything that I want to. Obviously, I can't do either, but I can take some vacation in order to play.

This is going to be fun!

RADAR

 

[AcWxRadar]

I am getting a gut feeling that it might actually be a BirdView dish. I am going on past memories from when my older brother set them up in western Nebraska, and it looks a lot like what he had at his shop and in his own yard. That was a long time ago, so I may be totally wrong. Regardless, it's a good dish.

RADAR

 

[AcWxRadar]

You asked for comments, lol, ok, Wash it!

Actually, it is VERY clean. You can't really tell from the pix, but the only problem is that the paint is worn off and exposing the base metal. The dirtiest area is under the cap for the LNBF and that is not bad. I expected to find a wasp nest or a mouse home under there, but it was just dusty.

RADAR

 

[linuxman]

I am getting a gut feeling that it might actually be a BirdView dish. I am going on past memories from when my older brother set them up in western Nebraska, and it looks a lot like what he had at his shop and in his own yard. That was a long time ago, so I may be totally wrong. Regardless, it's a good dish.

RADAR

This is what a real Birdview Perforated dish looks like.

I took this picture of my first Birdview the very first time I laid eyes on her. She was so beautiful standing there in all her translucent majesty.

 

[radio]

Birdviews were known for the "hexapod" LNB mount, and a rather large motor-gear system in the back, (covered by a plastic shroud.) Would also have a large 6" pole "cap" with not only side-bolts to prevent movement, but a place for a bolt down "through" the top into a horizontal plate in the mounting pole. Rather unique, and a distinguishing mark or two when one is "dish hunting." I agree, however that the one in this thread looks like a sturdy dish.

 

[AcWxRadar]

This is what a real Birdview Perforated dish looks like.

I took this picture of my first Birdview the very first time I laid eyes on her. She was so beautiful standing there in all her translucent majesty.

View attachment 64810

Well that isn't what I have then. Ths dish is much different than that. My mesh is much tighter (you would not be able to see through it so readily) and there isn't an inner ring that is solid like your picture. There is no logo and the housing over the lnbf is rounded instead of flat. Your dish looks sweet, though! But, and I am guessing, the mesh and the perforations are too large for Ku reception? The perf holes on my dish are the size of a B-B or a very fat pencil lead. I don't have a B-B handy, but I don't think it would pass through the perf hole. It is very small.
RADAR

 

[zamar23]

Radar

The LNB cap looks intimidating like a bomb.

To spare yard space, I guess, you can mount the perf on one of your trailers- they seem to be of similar age, so will stay in harmony in neighbors' eyes. Still need to wash it to increase signal reflection.

 

[radio]

the BV dishes were "Ku" ready when the perf units hit the market, though there wasn't much Ku being used to market the big dish systems to consumers. I've not heard anything "bad" about Ku from anyone running a black perf BV antenna. Have to admit, the dish in this thread looks very interesting. Can't say as I've seen any in my area like it.

 

[Mr Tony]

The Ku band LNB is a Precision Gold Label 0.6 dB made by Astrotel Communications in California. The C-Band LNB is a Mini-Mag (p/n m/n) 140011 65dB / 20K 3.7 - 4.2 GHz (950-1450 out) from California Amplifier. No clue if this is good news, bad news or great news. It is just what it is.

The LNB's are good. I know you see companies saying ".3dB" and on C-Band "13K" yet those older LNB's usually will kick the ars of the cheapy LNBF's. With C-Band the lower the K temp the "better" it is suppose to be. But I've seen some 25K LNB's kick butt.
Yeah the KU LNB is a .6 but some of us use the old Primestar KU stock LNB that is a .7 or even a .8 and it performs good. What made the older LNB's work better was the stability of them.

If you dont want it, Omaha is only an 6 hour drive from Minneapolis

 

[Anole]

You'll be surprised how translucent your dish looks, once it's up in the air. - :up

I did more searching, and the only dish I found that had the three short wide legs and that flat rim was a Paraclipse Hydro.
However, it is -not- perforated all over, just in stripes from center to edge.
Wonder if this is a variation, early prototype, or something totally else?

 

[linuxman]

The question of the size of the holes was brought up back when I first acquired the dish in my picture above.

Caddata was my mentor in teaching me about Birdview dishes. He said that it wasn't the size of the holes that mattered, although, just slightly smaller than 1/4" was required, the precision of the surface, and the parabolic form was what was important in receiving Ku signals.

The only "Ku" dish that has outperformed my perforated Birdview on Ku signals is my 6' Prodelin dish.

That said, the Birdview perforated and the Birdview solid are virtually the same on Ku reception. I have both models, and have tested them both extensively.