Birdview harvesting, California style:

[Anole]

moving day:

I selected a day convenient to the owner, to go dig out his dish.
Well, my other buddy with an SUV went on vacation that week.
So, we took down the Birdview as you see above, and left it for later pickup.

During that time, a second dish became available.
See my other thread on the AMCI & AJAK.
So here we were, coming down to the wire, for a 2-dish day, as I went to rent a trailer.
Well, I got all kinds of B/S about the big trailers they wanted to offer.
Making a long story short, they suggest a stake-bed truck, once I describe what I was doing.
BONG! - - Man, this is THE solution for my needs.
A day-rental is reasonable ($70), but when they mention the per-mile charge of 25¢, I comment what a problem that'll be.
Immediately, they lower it by about half!
Hey, I wasn't even negotiating! Just being my friendly self.
In the end, they even gave me some sort of 10% preferred discount card.

I met up with a very good buddy at the site of the BV, and with the help of the owner, loaded it onto the truck.
We used a slightly different method of securing it for transport.
More akin to palletizing, than the crating you've seen in many previous BV moves.
. . . now if we'd just had that big shrink wrap . . . -

I got two 2x6's, 10' long. We drilled two holes in each, to match the bolt holes in the back of the BV dish.
It was a bit awkward to put the boards onto the back side of the dish, but once we did, that provided something to tie to.
As you can see, the motor uses the same bolt pattern, so it was secured to the far end of the 2x6's.
(...and we used the motor as the hole-template for the dish, too) - :up
Lowe's supplied the new bolts, nuts, and big fender washers to secure everything. Maybe $10?

The 9' long, 6" diameter pole was spaced away from the dish with our third 2x6, making for a perfect load.
Everything was tied down with cargo straps.
Some are the ratchet type; some aren't.
The mixed packages I got at Harbor Freight were deceptive in that respect.
Still, we used only two of the three packs, so we had ample reserves.

I drove the 30? miles home on surface streets, at around 30 miles per hour.
My buddy in the chase-car, kept an eye on me from behind, watching the load.
It traveled fine all the way home, in spite of the sometimes bumpy ride (a truck's a truck, for truck-sake!)

Load-up might have taken two hours (probably less)
Unload was maybe 1/2 hour. So, our technique was pretty good for short moves.

And then there was lunch! Continued in the AMCI + AJAK thread:

 

[linuxman]

Congratulations!!!

Very nicely done!

Home safe and ready to plant!

 

[Smith P.]

Anole, I'm just curios what is weight of each part ?

 

[Anole]

I will have to guess on the weights:
The dish is known to be 100 lbs from a scan of the brochure.
With the support arms, scalar, and LNB? I'll guess 125.
That motor is one bear of a wiggly beast. I'll guess 100.
The thin pole is probably light, but mine had cement in the bottom: 100 lbs ?

I'll make no claims of accuracy.
So, give or take 25%, let's say.

 

[gabshere]

great job Green Guy oh we will have to change that now

 

[Mr Tony]

congrats on the dish!

 

[Cadsulfide]

Anole;

Great solution, I'm betting there is a little green fellow sleeping inside of that new avatar.

 

[Anole]

dish at rest:

Recovered from the move, and with some daylight, here's the dish in my back yard.
The lot is somewhat twisted, being on a bit of a circle.
So, the camera is looking roughly south-east-magnetic.

 

[Mr Tony]

dang man......two words

LAWN MOWER

But I'm confused as to that....I think its grass that you mow...but I havent seen any of it since October

 

[Anole]

Light 'em if ya got 'em !

Well, we wouldn't have had to put up with all that wild grass in my nature preserve, but it's sprinkled a few times in the last couple of months.
Back in early November, it was burned to the ground by a flaming transformer on the power pole.
Lines were down, and laying across the yard.

This shot is about 180° from the one above, but you get the idea.
(this shot looks north , above shot looks south)
Recovered pretty nice, eh?

 

[Bill_Gats]

Now that you have your dishes.
I hope you press them into service soon.

Best regards

 

[mbarnes]

Nice score. Looks like it will do you well. I try to find ones I can back the truck right up to. I take off the tailgate and take loose any elevation hardware and birdbath the dish. I back right up until the bumper hits the pole. Swing the dish around and lower the edge onto the sides of the truck. Then I pick up the far side, lifting it off the pole, and slide it on into the truck. I put blankets over the sides to protect the paint and slide easier. I have a fifth-wheel hitch for my RV. When I take it out, there are two nice slotted rails bolted to the frame. A couple of well placed ratchet straps and that dish is going nowhere. Then I wrap a chain around the bottom of the pole about three times and hook it to the bumper. Put her in 4-LO, give it a little gas, and the pole usually comes right out of the ground. Load up the tools, put the tailgate back on and hit the road. Piece of cake.

But, I'd sure like to find one that looks as good as yours.

 

[Anole]

paints ?

Well, I'm an engineer, not a dish-mover, so I'm not nearly that efficient. -
Plus, getting the right tools 'n truck are a big part of the solution.
I really had neither.
AND, I was thinking the Birdview was a one-of-a-kind windfall, so was super protective of it.

This week, I've been studying rust-inhibiting paints, undercoats, etc.
Probably will do the AMCI dish first, and leave the Birdview 'till I know my paint combinations are winners.

The black metal of the pole and mount seem to have a black oxide finish.
That's held up okay, and might be left for another 20 years, but I want to kill any rust it may have.
Currently, I'm considering Rust Knock Out by Advanced Protective Products.
I've worked through other rust converters (some at 2x or 3x the price), and hope the flexible surface of this one will be okay.

For a top coat, I'm leaning toward an attractive rust-killing paint, Hammerite.
It's available in flat or hammered finish, and I like the hammered look.
This paint is meant to go over lightly rusted metal, but I'm considering it for its look and hard shell.

For colors, the hammered black should look good on pole and mount.
For my other BUD, I was thinking of black on the pole, and possibly hammered gray or silver for the mount.

In addition to the look, I'm trusting the sales pitch of the hard-sealed surface are true.
"As the HAMMERITE Rust Cap coating dries, millions of heat-hardened glass flakes interlock with special resins, forming a super-tough barrier that seals out moisture to prevent rusting."

As always, any input of opinion or experience is welcome.

 

[1captain]

don't know if you have look into this area of paints an primers, but on mine here, I use marine epoxy primmer for steel boats below the water line. now this type of primmer likes metal that is pitted from rust, it is meant to grab an fill. an it hold up great, an really sticks to metal, but it highly toxic. an then for top coat or color just use rust-oleum for my final coat, but spay it when the primmer is still tacky.

 

[guapoharry]

Recovered from the move, and with some daylight, here's the dish in my back yard.
The lot is somewhat twisted, being on a bit of a circle.
So, the camera is looking roughly south-east-magnetic.

Hey, what's the deal with that rectangular dish on the roof of the Shell station in the background? I see those everywhere. Are they for two way internet, or what?

 

[guapoharry]

Nice score. --snip--

That picture in your avitar scares me.

 

[Anole]

I made up the avatar from the first picture in my other BUD thread: AMCI & AJAK.
Sadoun also commented on the avatar in another thread.
Totally the product of an old 3.3 mega pixel camera and lucky lighting, no photoshopping.
Well, I did flop the picture left-for-right, and shrink it, but that's all.


As for the dish in the background, a lot of gas stations out here have those rectangular dishes.
I believe someone said they are made by Prodelin.
They are used for two-way traffic... maybe credit card authorization, or some sort of remote monitoring.
Let me see if I have a picture.

 

[guapoharry]

The avitar I was talking about is the one with the guy on a stepladder on top of a roof. He's standing on the top most step with one foot and the other foot is on the dish.

 

[Cadsulfide]

Credit card transactions, very secure. Most transactions are only a few bytes in length, so also very quick.

Most of the CC card swipes that are tied to phone lines run at 2400 bps because synching at a higher speed would take longer than the transaction itself.........