Getting Started
What hardware you need, how to connect, and your first satellite track. Start here →
Birdcage
Repurposing motorized satellite TV dishes for amateur radio satellite tracking
Why “Birdcage”?
Section titled “Why “Birdcage”?”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.
It’s also a nod to saveitforparts. Gabe saves discarded RV satellite dishes “for parts.” We took the parts and built a birdcage from them.
What is this?
Section titled “What is this?”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.
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.
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.
Where to start
Section titled “Where to start”Guides
Task-oriented guides: wiring, calibration, search disabling, firmware probing, BLE bridge build. Browse guides →
Reference
Complete firmware command inventory, NVS settings, GPIO pin maps, hardware specs. See reference →
Understanding
Software architecture, hardware platform internals, reverse-engineering methodology. Deep dives →
Supported hardware
Section titled “Supported hardware”Five Winegard dish variants are documented, with varying levels of testing:
| Variant | Connection | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Trav’ler (HAL 0.0.00) | RS-485 / RJ-25 | Supported (Gabe’s original) |
| Trav’ler (HAL 2.05) | RS-485 / RJ-25 | Supported (Gabe’s original) |
| Trav’ler Pro | USB A-to-A | Partially supported |
| Carryout (2003) | RS-485 / RJ-25 | Supported (different protocol) |
| Carryout G2 | RS-422 / RJ-12 | Fully reverse-engineered |
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.
Firmware Variant Comparison Detailed comparison table of all five variants: baud rates, motor commands, position formats, and protocol differences.
Project journal
Section titled “Project journal”This isn’t just a reference manual. The project 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.
Read the journal Discovery stories, debugging sessions, and the ongoing narrative of this project.