Thread: Are you approachable as a SatelliteGuy?

Are you approachable as a SatelliteGuy? I was thinking about this topic the other day while preparing to go outside and work on the dish farm. I spotted an older gentleman pull to the side of the highway and snap a few photos of my dishes. Which doesn't bother me a bit.

I thought perhaps he feared he was noticed and quickly departed when I stepped out the door. How do others here react to curious spectators? Had he stayed he could had watched me pointing my latest dish recently installed. People in my neighborhood are probably accustomed to seeing my son and I out doing something with one of the dishes.

I wondered if others in our hobby are more defensive than open to the curious. When attempting to describe what I do with the dishes the first response is something along the lines of...wouldn't it be easier to have cable? It's your hobby to watch TV? Is all this necessary? Or the dreaded...I have a friend that gets free satellite TV too. If he was interested, I could have introduced him to this site.

I try to explain it's fun to hunt down new and unusual feeds and programs not available any other way. Like RetroTV for the past 4 or 5 years. We were among the first to enjoy it. Back in the 90s on analog C band we saw channels months or years before cable. Sci-Fi and TVLand come to mind.

I see potential SatelliteGuys dish farms in my travels. I can spot them a mile away. I would stop and ask if I saw you outside. Although not limited to locally, even in print. I was reading one of my son's Lawn and Garden Tractor collector magazines and spotted the contributor's dish farm behind his Wheelhorse "stable" he was building. At least four dishes beautifully setup out back. Multiple LNBF and toroidal dishes, a Bud and what appears to be a recycled commercial Andrews dish. Congrats if your a fellow member, I'd like to see more of it.

Maybe the gent was actually a spy for Charlie... looking for eye-patches...

I'm as accessible as I can be. When I first put my mount posts up for the BUDs, all the neighbors wondered what I was doing... funny, a couple of them thought I was mounting solar panels at first. When I told them they lost interest.
The others started wondering about a neighborhood cable service... which I have pondered quite a bit... (there's only 8 of us in the 'hood)

I have weekly lunches with some former co-workers (and decade-long friends).
I have weekend lunches with two couples (and friends).
From time to time I try to preach the gospel of FTA.
But, I can never get anyone to drink the Kool-Aid. -

And once you've gone PVR, you never go back! -

Yes, but often it is people asking about the other kind of FTA. It kindly tell them it is stealing and won't help them with that, if that is what they want to play.

Every time I go out to work on my three fta dish's the neighbors dog comes over and wants me to play with him. And when the dog starts to bark, Thats when the neighbor has her chance to come over and start talking to me for hours. Sometimes I can't get anything done. She just starts talking about nothing...I feel sorry for her tho, She is in her 80's and her husband passed away a year ago. She has no TV as she mentioned several times. She just reads books.

The other neighbor on the other side of me came over asking why I needed so many dish's. After trying to explain what FTA is, I told him at this moment I was trying to lock on the Pentagon channel. His eyes popped wide open and ask if that was legal?...lol. I told him it was mostly military news and he got very interested as he is retired Air Force 30 years. After taking him inside to watch a few minutes of the Pentagon channel he asked me how much would I charge to install a dish for him?....The next weekend I brought over a old Superdish and a old Fortec Star receiver and installed it for him. I didn't accept any money for it but that evening his wife came over and gave my wife and I a $100 Olive Garden gift card. :-)

Originally Posted by DirectDishNet

his wife came over and gave my wife and I a $100 Olive Garden gift card. :-)

Olive Garden, they have been gone from around here for quite a few years. They were a good place to eat, and reasonable too.

I have only one neighbour ask me about my dish. He also talks at the fence about the TV antenna. He only has antenna, does not have cable, but is happy with his TV reception. I keep telling him next summer I'm putting another section in my TV tower. His is one piece higher and gets quite a bit better reception than mine. The other neighbour has a pirate dish and does not even say hi, well fine for him.

I have so many trees nobody could see mine unless they flew over. And even if they spotted me from a helicopter, I don't have enough yard to land one in safely. But I'd be happy to talk about my dishes!

I ran into a guy in Buna Texas that was buying some TV antenna equipment. I asked him why he needed the amp. He said his antenna was a long ways from the TV and he had to have it. he said he refuses to pay for TV. So I pointed him over to the great SatelliteGuy site hope he jumps in and enjoys some FTA.

One of my neighbors has no TV I have been wondering how to give them a line to my dishes. For the price of a cheap STB would be worth it to be nice to them.

My array has raised some eyebrows, and a few questions. It has also led to the construction of at least two other arrays in the area and hopefully more.