Anyone using SkyWay USA? How is it?

[iwc5893]

Thank you for turning what was a very hectic, drama filled day into a very enjoyable conversation tonight!!!
Regards,

Don't get your hopes up...I fully intend on tearing apart everyone of your arguments in support of hybrid technology.

[broadbandinabox]

Until we meet again then

Good night.

Regards,

[grohgreg]

Installation Manual which explains the process on page 5. All of our installation support folks are also trained thoroughly on the subject..

The grounding disclaimer ("Note: please check local codes...") is a cop-out. It puts the grounding monkey squarely on the customer's back. Those three graphics (under the disclaimer) are misleading too. I can cite scenarios where imitating those three graphics can either result in no path to ground, or constitute a direct violation of the NEC regs. In 1-2 family structures for example:
#1 - Since it only covers the ground wire, the customer has no way of knowing if a conduit by itself actually represents a usable ground path.
#2 - suggests any "existing ground wire". Wrong. Existing residential ground wires are AC grounds. Satellite systems are DC, and must never be attached to the load side of a distribution panel.
#3 - suggests any "existing ground rod", without specifying that supplemental ground electrodes must be appropriately bonded to whatever constitutes the structure's common ground (typically beneath the service entrance).
The instructions also fail to address apartment and mobile home grounding. The rules are different than those for 1-2 family structures. Be advised before you challenge any of this - I have the NFPA 70, National Electrical Code right in front of me. I'll cite page and paragraph.

Next. AMC15 employs linear orthogonal polarization, which dictates a POL angle (skew) somewhere between + 90 degrees and -90 degrees . Yet the installation instructions are at best vauge about skew. The satellite calculator recommended on pg3 (DishPointer) provides a skew angle and direction, yet pg4 specifies setting the LNB at zero. Is it because the note on pg8 reveals the SkyWay skew can only be adjusted +/-20 degrees? Where I live for example, the POL angle with AMC15 is +21.4 degrees. Oooops. DishPointer also provides two Az angles; true and magnetic. Yet pg8 further neglects to tell the customer which one to start with. Magnetic deviation can approach 20 degrees in CONUS alone. If the customer unwittingly uses the true Az number as a compass point,
the recommended +/- 10 degree sweep could miss AMC15 entirely.

My SW20 questions remain unanswered by the way. In case you hoped I've forgotten, why did SkyWay elect to use the archaic 10Base-T and V.34 standards - instead of the more current 100Base-T or 1000Base-T and v.44 circuitry? Oh, and for the record; the 33.6 kbps (v.34) or 44 kbps (v.44) analog modem transmit standards originate from the ITU, then were adopted by the FCC.

Anyway. If I wasn't already pretty sure it would be a waste of time, these would make for some interesting questions to ask the "installation support folks".


//greg//

[broadbandinabox]

Greg, since this is our first interaction since yesterday's debacle, for the record, if you construed what I PM'd you yesterday as anything but a professional reply to your gruff post promising me you'd be my 'worst nightmare' I would like to make a public apology here and now, the alternative is not my style nor was my intent. OK?

Greg said: If I wasn't already pretty sure it would be a waste of time

Wow, for something that you see being a waste of time you sure put a lot of time into your reply...
With that said, I appreciate your efforts here. That manual's ink is still drying, a full team put that together and if interested I would like to get your thoughts on how to make that section better. As you can tell, 12 pages, simple, easy, so easy a 68 year grandmother just installed one herself, as advertised, you best, brilliant IMO.

You other 2 Q's haven't been forgotten, I just haven't had the time to get around to them. I'll do my best to get you what your looking for here.

The skew on AMC-15 has never been a factor on our .76 winegard installs. It just works without any adjustments.

Have a great day!

Regards,