Spun Aluminum

[Diamond Jim]

Here are the requested photos of my spun aluminum dish. When they are enlarged, you can see the spin in the aluminum.

 

[PSB]

Simply beautiful.......... and the dish is nice also : )

 

[Cascade]

Simply beautiful.

Couldn't agree more.
Diamond Jim, cheers for that.

 

[Mike500]

It reminds me of the old discontinued "Birdview" c band dish. As I recall, I installed quite a few of them. The lnb moung was called a "button hook" support.

 

[Diamond Jim]

It reminds me of the old discontinued "Birdview" c band dish. As I recall, I installed quite a few of them. The lnb moung was called a "button hook" support.

Yes, I remember the "Birdview." They were white. That button hook has been there since 1983. If you notice, it has few coats of rust proof paint on it. If it ever breaks, I don't know if they can be replaced.

 

[Cascade]

Jim, I noticed the Regency name on the dish, is that the same company who used to make radio scanners years back?

 

[Diamond Jim]

I am really not sure, I do remember they made scanner and CB radios. I bought the system at a local electronics store. This was before there were "specialized" satellite shops. They only thing I knew about satellite dishes was that I wanted one. I bought it from a friend who took care of everything.

 

[rkrenicki]

Yep, good ole Regency.. they made all kinds of stuff back in the day.

 

[DaveJohnson]

Diamond Jim looking at your spun aluminum BUD made me think back to about 5 yrs. ago. I was given a 7 ft. dish and set it up in my yard one evening with a ku lnbf only . It worked great that night. Next day when I came home from work I couldn`t get any signal. Go outside and look at the dish and what the fudge (only I didn`t say fudge) my cable is all burned right up.

Seems when there is no paint on these dishes and they are shiny aluminum that they become a giant heat magnifer in the sun. I had to use a couple of coats of primer to fix the problem. I still have the dish but it has since been taken down. There is a picture of it called old multi lnbf dish in my sat pics signature if interested.

Thanks,

 

[Diamond Jim]

During March and October the sun gets in a certain position, reflects off of the satellites and can play havoc with with the dish. As the sun moves from east to west it will interfere with each satellite for about 15 minutes and can produce major heat reflecting off of the dish that can melt the LNBS, cables, ect. It causes a disruption of signal and the best way to prevent damage is to move the dish to another satellite until the sun moves past it. I have never had a problem with this, though I have seen photos melted components hanging on the button hook.

 

[drhydro]

Melted components? That makes me very glad my pierced aluminum BUD is painted black. not only do i not have to worry about cooking my LNB's, but snow and ice melt off of it fairly quickly.

 

[tdti1]

Nice dish Jim, what bird is it pointed at? looks like the other house and trees mite be in the way of some birds, I always thought my house was in the way of my dish after INT-805, then on the weekend I played a bit and peeked the reflector and now can get from AMC-8 to AMC-12 may need to play with my limit on my arm one day and see if I can hit the Hispansat.

 

[Diamond Jim]

It was on G4. No trees, birds or houses, (from the back view, gagrage on the left and the house in front,) in the way of that baby. I made damn sure that there would be nothing blocking the signals. I get everything from AMC 6 at 72 east to AMC 7 at 137 west. Combine that with the Motorola 922 and the Satwork 3688, I've got a pretty good set up. Wish I could get AMC 8, can't seem to pull it in for some reason.

 

[tbowen777]

Old Birdview dish, who made them????

Not only would I like to buy every old aluminum dish available, I would like to know if anyone knows who made these dishes, and how to contact them as I am making a product that I originally made using one of these old dishes. I would like to find out if there was a mold used or if they were made some other way. If anyone knows who made them and how to contact them, please let me know. Send me e-mail at tbowen777@arkansas.net. I will never melt these beautiful babies, as I have used one to make a product I am interested in marketting.

 

[Texasrosie]

I am really not sure, I do remember they made scanner and CB radios. I bought the system at a local electronics store. This was before there were "specialized" satellite shops. They only thing I knew about satellite dishes was that I wanted one. I bought it from a friend who took care of everything.

I worked at Regency Electronics from 1965-84.Yes we make the dishes but they were not a big hit even though they did work good.The speciality stores were a big hit .We made scanners,transponders, and a lot of other electronics.

 

[Stefan]

It reminds me of the old discontinued "Birdview" c band dish. As I recall, I installed quite a few of them. The lnb moung was called a "button hook" support.

Well, Jims dish certainly looks like a nice dish, but if you want a spun aluminum dish a birdview is certainly a very good choice. The birdview does not use a button hook mount. Instead they have 6 support rods in a sort of triangular configuration. Anyway, what's really great about the birdviews is they have a really great H to H motor that is in my opinion alot better than a linear actuator. I have an 8.5' birdview and I like it alot. The only thing I'd change about it if I could would be for it to be larger. If they'd have made them 12 to 15' then it'd be the absolute perfect dish.

 

[digiblur]

I recently picked up two 10 footers for free and by word of mouth someone else offered a 14' aluminum dish. I am betting it was a 12 footer though. I had turn it down as it was a 4-5 hour trip one way. With the price of gas today it wouldn't be worth it. Now if I could only find one local!

 

[jayelem]

My Birdview dish ( or whats left of it ) has a round cover over a hole right in the center, we left the dish with the house in 1990 when we moved and last fall the dish was tossed out, my brother picked it up because I caught the FTA bug, but I'm still deciding what to do with it because the LNB support arms were hacked off, now I'm wondering what the possibilities are of getting a button hook LNB support , that is if the center hole on the birdview has the same specs.

I'm being offered a 10 ft mesh dish (working) with receiver and I'm really leaning towards discarding the spun aluminum dish since it's alot more work to retrofit support arms and re-do the motor gear drive ( yeah I know Skyvision sells the kit ) but thats alot more $$$$ then I want to spend ,also no receiver, also haven't done the string test to make sure the dish hasn't been warped.

I used to drive passed the old house and the new owners had it facing straight up filled with soil and a flower bed
They were excited at first when we left it, but they never knew what to do with it and gave up on it really fast.