Fro 0-100 in 2 months,I'm Now a BUD owner!

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skewed

SatelliteGuys Guru
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Aug 28, 2008
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I couild not pass up the find. Thanks to Hurricaine Rita a school that got flooded by my hose was shut down and re-built on higher ground. After speaking with someone from the school board I was able to go yesterday and take it down. I think it is an 8' in size but it is a bird view The motor was not hooked up, I am assuming as there is 2 connectors hanging out of the plastic that were not hooked up to nothing. Is this is goos dish? How hard will it be to make it move? I did not have time to play with it last night and tonight I have to finsh cutting up the pipe> I plan on doing alot of reading before I attempt to install this thing hopefull earlier than spring. It just depends on how hard it will be. Ahy suggestions on theres that detail a fresh install?
 
I couild not pass up the find. Thanks to Hurricaine Rita a school that got flooded by my hose was shut down and re-built on higher ground. After speaking with someone from the school board I was able to go yesterday and take it down. I think it is an 8' in size but it is a bird view The motor was not hooked up, I am assuming as there is 2 connectors hanging out of the plastic that were not hooked up to nothing. Is this is goos dish? How hard will it be to make it move? I did not have time to play with it last night and tonight I have to finsh cutting up the pipe> I plan on doing alot of reading before I attempt to install this thing hopefull earlier than spring. It just depends on how hard it will be. Ahy suggestions on theres that detail a fresh install?

If it is a Birdview, it is a very rare and excellent dish.

You will need the top section of the pole that connects into the cap on the mount for re-assembly later. That is very important to have, so don't cut up that part of the pipe.

Do a search on Birdview here in this forum searching titles only in the advanced search, and read all about them.
 
Post some pictures of it.

According to the literature, there was a model which didn't have a motor.
Not sure why a school would have a Birdview anyway, but a fixed BUD would be as likely as a movable one.
.... if they were receiving educational programming.

Of course, it was a donated dish, then all bets are off. :)

Where are you located?
Most Birdviews didn't seem to stray too far from their home factory.
(I've only heard of a few which flew as far as California, for instance) :(
 
It is a birdview, The label and s/n on both the dish and lnb is still intact. The reflector is metal or aluminium with about a 2" hole right dead in the center. It has a mounting bracket for a 6-8" pipe with some hex head locking nuts. From that mount it has what resembles a motorcycle fork mount with 1 big bolt running from top to bottom at the top of this mount is a pretty big plastic box with 2 connectors hanging out of it each one has a few wires on it. I live in 70560 if you want to google it, right on the coast of louisiana. We got "hit" by both rita and Katrina but rita was the hurricaine that flooded most of our city. The dish was hooked up to the schools library, not sure what they were using it for. I could not get into the library because it was boarded up. I'm going back after work to see if the left the box inside. I'm not sure if it would still be good but it is worth a shot. My friend works for the school board and his superior said that if we did not take the dish it was going to get demolished with the rest of the school.

To be honest with you I am pretty sure I can get at least 5 ku commerical dishes of different sizes from 3'-6' by talking to the people who own stores that have flooded out and have never reopened. Thats how I scored 4 superdishes, 1 hughes net, and a direct way dish, by having a friend who worked for FEMA he gave them top me when they tore down the fema trailer parks. it is amazing that after this long we are still not 100%, especially since IKE flooded the same area again but this time with only 1' less water. So You can see why they wont rebuild.


Is the bird view still made? Is it easy to get parts for?
 
Birdview has been out of business for some time. It was designed for some of the good old days of C-band for people who wanted top of the line stuff. Some say they were overengineered and that was why they went under.

Just this year I lucked into an 8 1/2 Birdview solid dish - it's aluminum, as you can instantly tell after you get it off the mount -light in weight. I get twice as many c-band statellites and stations than I got before. I had another brand 8'solid dish.

What you describe sounds like my Birdview dish. You may not think it has a motor, because it is inside that boxy looking plastic thing on the back. But take it off and see if you have a worm gear in there. Take as much of the 6" mast as you can - I cut mine with a circular saw with a metal cutting blade on it.

You can't really get any new parts, but the darn things are made so well, you probably don't need any.

People questioned my judgment when I swapped my 8 footer for the 8 1/2 foot Birdview. They were wrong. I get a great variety of programming.

Go ahead and grab that thing. I hope the hurricane winds didn't twist it. After that, I'm sure the guys here will help you gt it set up.
 
I went and took it down yesterday, I used a bobcat excaviator and dug the whole thing out. I have it in my back yard I just need to seperate the top from the pipe and cut off the concreate part.
 
Search for threads with Birdview in the title, especially by Linuxman.
He's rescued several, and rehabilitated them.
Don't mess with that 6" tube it's on, much less cut it near the mount, 'till you've read how it's put together.

Look through his pictures for lubrication and setup info.
You may need to add a magnet wheel and reed switch.
Other than that, and a good tune-up, it's pretty much a giant signal-sucking machine.!

There are also threads with scans of the old Birdview brochures.
Be sure to look through those, too. Makes good reading. - :up
 
Right. Don't cut the top of the mast off! The big bolt that goes down in between the two forks should be preserved if you possibly can do it.

It sounds like you got the concrete attached at the bottom of the mast. I think you are going to have to add concrete to the footing. If you have rocky ground you may be able to add less concrete around the footing. If muddy or loamy, you probably have to reinforce it with more concrete. I'd make sure I compressed as much of the dirt it'll sit in. I've used a little water and a short piece of 4 x 12 to hit it until it's compressed.

Set that mast in the hole, brace it dead plumb, put the concrete in and then plumb it again. Then you'll be ready for the next steps.

Did you get the Birdview receiver units with it?
 
By the way, I got that center bolt out of mine with a hammer and chisel. I didn't chop it off. I liquid wrenched it then I just hit edgewise against the bolt head in the direction of loosening. It came off. There wasn't much damage at all to the bolt head.
 
I'm going make a return trip after work to check on the boxes. I did leave the concrete on as my tourch tip was dirty and would not cut good. The pole was long, about 16'-18' I would like to lower it to a manageable level to tune it in. I just cait see myself up 20ft or so on a ladder trying to tune in a monster like that, I know it is kinda on the small side but to me it is huge.
 
Well, we don't see your yard. The point being, your new dish has to "see" the arc. This will affect where you put it and how high. It sounds like you know something about dish aiming so maybe this is unnecessary. My mast is about 14 feet, but it goes through my eaves. I can stand on the roof and aim it. You are very right that a stable foot position is much better for aiming a big dish.

But a shorter mast is inherently more stable and less prone to wind and moving off target.

Also, it's basically impossible to fill up a Birdview mast with concrete - the inside nut for top bolt is basically a welded in cap. If I were you, I might cut some 2 inch box shaped cutouts in the bottom of the mast, with the thought that, when you concrete it in, the cutouts might help it avoid twisting in the wind.

You won't be sorry you got a Birdview. I think an 8 1/2 foot Birdview must be as good as an average 12 foot dish.
 
Sorry for no pictures yet but last night I made a run to try and get the reciver and well, no luck the inside the buildings were gutted. Anyway I went home and cut the 2 1/2 ft off the pipe that had the concreate on it and left the pipe long for now. As far as my yard I'm not sure how it it going to act. The peak of my roof may interfear with a bird or 2 but I have no choice. What I am able to get a will just be a bonus to my KU.

On to the dishthe pipe fits into a sleve with 3 hex heads bolts used as set screws. then there is 2 ears welded to to it that stretch out 10" or so to the dish. I am trying to seperate the dish at this piont so that I can just install the pole and plumb it then set the dish on top. Can I seperate it from the pipe? I was going to go and rent a 36" pipe wrench or something to try and turn it because it is rusted on. Also This dish is HEAVY! I'm going to have to get the bob cat back at my house to hang it. You did you hang yours?
 
One more thing. IS IT WORTH IT?? I have no idea what is up there to watch and this looks like a big task to only get a dozen or so channels.
 
One more thing. IS IT WORTH IT??

nope just pack up the dish and i will come by to get it :D

lol

you will love c-band ( and ku if you set it up) just for the sports feeds alone :)
sometimes its hard to explain how a person will or won't like FTA but so far i don't think i've talked to anyone who didn't enjoy it. but for me and a lot of others here 1/2 the fun is setting up the dish and tuning it. I probably peak or retune my dish more than i watch tv.
but when the sports feeds jump on .... Its Game Time :)
 
If you are not into this as a hobby, the argument could be made that it's not worth it.

There is a lot up there. A lot of it is in HD. On the little dish, you get a handful of stations that are HD. Bigdish, a lot more. Sometimes a whole lot more. This past summer, for example, I had about 20 hd stations off the big dish. 91w, 99w, 121w, 127w, and 133w. Right now there are fewer, but Monday Night Football you can get most of the time in hd and there is CBS hd on 97w and ABC and MY, both HD on 99w - more than that.

I enjoy the Sportsman channel (sd) Natgeo(sd) and a couple of hd stations on 127w. I love getting the early broadcasts of the Sunday news shows (99w)

If you enjoy looking for stations, if you don't mind scouting around on the internet for feed information, then you will really enjoy your new dish. If you want to set it up then forget it, it probably won't work for you.

Free c-band variety far outshines Ku. Keep it working and you will definitely like it.
 
Always great to hear another Birdview is saved. Mine was in a scrap pile. It now resides on a tall post behind the house. Like Lone Clouds, it's easy to access from the roof.
Michael
 
Hey skewed!

Any photos yet? Is your dish the one in the Birdview Brochure posted in the thread of the same name on this forum?

Does it have the HH motor inside the plastic enclosure on the back of the dish? Is anything damaged?
 
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