people who claim that it sometimes locks a V TP and yet on the same sat it might not lock a H TP or viceverse are operators that have no idea how the birdog acctually works.
not always true, mine has problems with h transponders and locks v transponders fine.
when pointing with a h transponder, the birdog has to supply roughly 18v
well, after having problems with h transponders, i tested the voltage.
when unhooked it was fine at 18v, but when connected to an lnb, the voltage collapsed to around 14v.
the poor thing has seen better days

, its seen rain, snow, sleet, and hail in the last 6 or 7 years.
for the first couple of years as an installer i used a receiver and a 13" tv to point directv, dishnet, and sky angel dishes and a laptop for direcpc then direcway (now hughesnet)
the birdog was one of the best investments i ever made for this job.