85 lines
4.4 KiB
Text
85 lines
4.4 KiB
Text
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---
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title: "Birdcage"
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description: Satellite dish control for amateur radio tracking
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template: splash
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hero:
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tagline: Repurposing motorized satellite TV dishes for amateur radio satellite tracking
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image:
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file: ../../assets/carryout-g2.jpg
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alt: Winegard Carryout G2 satellite dish — the white dome radome that inspired the project name
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actions:
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- text: Get Started
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link: /getting-started/
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icon: right-arrow
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- text: Console Commands
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link: /reference/console-commands/
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variant: minimal
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---
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import { Card, CardGrid, LinkCard, Aside } from '@astrojs/starlight/components';
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<Aside type="tip" title="Standing on the shoulders of saveitforparts">
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This project builds directly on the open-source work of **Gabe Emerson (KL1FI)** and his
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[saveitforparts](https://www.youtube.com/@saveitforparts) YouTube channel. Gabe documented
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five different Winegard dish variants, wrote Python control scripts for each, and shared
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everything on GitHub. Without his work, none of this would exist.
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[Read the full story →](/journal/origins/)
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</Aside>
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## Why "Birdcage"?
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The Carryout G2's white dome radome does look like a birdcage -- and in ham radio, satellites are called "birds." A birdcage catches birds from the sky.
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It's also a nod to [saveitforparts](https://www.youtube.com/@saveitforparts). Gabe saves discarded RV satellite dishes "for parts." We took the parts and built a birdcage from them.
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## What is this?
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Winegard makes motorized satellite TV dishes -- the Trav'ler, Carryout, and their variants -- designed to automatically find DirecTV and DISH Network satellites from an RV rooftop. They have stepper motors for azimuth and elevation, firmware consoles accessible over RS-485 or RS-422, and enough mechanical range to track objects across most of the sky.
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Birdcage repurposes that hardware for **amateur radio satellite tracking**: pointing a dish at LEO and GEO satellites using orbital prediction software like Gpredict, controlled via the Hamlib `rotctld` protocol.
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Along the way, we've reverse-engineered the firmware console of the Carryout G2 (all 12 submenus, 100+ commands), mapped the K60 MCU's GPIO pins live over serial, built a BLE-to-RS422 wireless bridge, and discovered a built-in radio telescope mode.
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## Where to start
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<CardGrid>
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<Card title="Getting Started" icon="rocket">
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What hardware you need, how to connect, and your first satellite track.
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[Start here →](/getting-started/)
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</Card>
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<Card title="Guides" icon="open-book">
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Task-oriented guides: wiring, calibration, search disabling, firmware probing, BLE bridge build.
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[Browse guides →](/guides/wiring/)
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</Card>
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<Card title="Reference" icon="document">
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Complete firmware command inventory, NVS settings, GPIO pin maps, hardware specs.
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[See reference →](/reference/firmware-variants/)
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</Card>
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<Card title="Understanding" icon="puzzle">
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Software architecture, hardware platform internals, reverse-engineering methodology.
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[Deep dives →](/understanding/architecture/)
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</Card>
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</CardGrid>
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## Supported hardware
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Five Winegard dish variants are documented, with varying levels of testing:
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| Variant | Connection | Status |
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|---------|-----------|--------|
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| Trav'ler (HAL 0.0.00) | RS-485 / RJ-25 | Supported (Gabe's original) |
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| Trav'ler (HAL 2.05) | RS-485 / RJ-25 | Supported (Gabe's original) |
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| Trav'ler Pro | USB A-to-A | Partially supported |
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| Carryout (2003) | RS-485 / RJ-25 | Supported (different protocol) |
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| Carryout G2 | RS-422 / RJ-12 | **Fully reverse-engineered** |
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The Carryout G2 has the most complete documentation — over 100 firmware commands mapped across 12 submenus, NVS settings dumped, GPIO pins identified, and motor control characterized.
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<LinkCard title="Firmware Variant Comparison" href="/reference/firmware-variants/" description="Detailed comparison table of all five variants: baud rates, motor commands, position formats, and protocol differences." />
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## Project journal
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This isn't just a reference manual. The [project journal](/journal/) captures the story of how we got here — the debugging sessions, the discoveries, the moments where a `?` in the right submenu revealed a whole new capability. It's a living section that grows as the project evolves.
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<LinkCard title="Read the journal" href="/journal/" description="Discovery stories, debugging sessions, and the ongoing narrative of this project." />
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