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facesnorth

Last reply Oct 7, 2013 · posted in Over the Air Television By RabbitEars.Info

safe antenna installation? how far from power lines?

I hadn't even considered this would be an issue, to be honest, but there was a big warning paper included in the box of my new Winegard 7694 antenna not to put it near power lines. In fact it says it should be double the distance of the antenna plus the distance of the mast away from the lines. That's about 15 feet all together. And there's a picture of a house with the power lines, and they show the installation should be on the opposite side of the house. I can understand the danger but it seems extreme to me. And unfortunately puts me in a tough bind now to find an ideal location to mount.

The main lines are across the street from my house, but where the lines come in and bind to my house is just a few feet below where I wanted to mount my mast against the house. It's the highest point, and the one away from trees. The opposite side of the house, equally high, would face a mess of trees. I don't want to put a tripod on the roof or deal with anything in the middle of the roof if possible. I bought some wall brackets and was going to mount right into the T-111 at the edge of the house, right below the roof top. Unfortunately the bottom of the mast will be about 3 feet up and to the left of where the lines come in. Is this a huge problem? What could happen other than accidentally touching them while I'm trying to install it? It's relatively light so I think I can handle that. Is there an issue with electricity potentially jumping from the lines to the antenna or vice versa? I don't understand it please help me. Thanks.

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rglore

Dec 12, 2008

The antenna masts in stores are painted steel and will rust pretty bad. I recommend using 1" TW (thinwall) electrical conduit, it's galvanized, light, inexpensive and is 10' long so you can space your hangers further apart. Avoid pointing at nearby trees to avoid dropouts. I would just move your original location a few feet to the left for safety, the service power lines won't have any effect on the signal that far away.

facesnorth

Dec 12, 2008

rglore said:
The antenna masts in stores are painted steel and will rust pretty bad. I recommend using 1" TW (thinwall) electrical conduit, it's galvanized, light, inexpensive and is 10' long so you can space your hangers further apart. Avoid pointing at nearby trees to avoid dropouts. I would just move your original location a few feet to the left for safety, the service power lines won't have any effect on the signal that far away.

I suppose I can get that at an electrical supply? the thing about a few feet to the left is that the window doesn't leave much room for mounting. Also, if I'm going to have to mount 2x4's against the house, it will look ugly right on the front like that. If that's how I need to do it, and the trees are an issue, I'd lean towards mounting on the inside wall of the chimney, although it won't be as high.

jayn_j

Dec 12, 2008

facesnorth said:
I suppose I can get that at an electrical supply? the thing about a few feet to the left is that the window doesn't leave much room for mounting. Also, if I'm going to have to mount 2x4's against the house, it will look ugly right on the front like that. If that's how I need to do it, and the trees are an issue, I'd lean towards mounting on the inside wall of the chimney, although it won't be as high.

The height is not as big of an issue as finding a clear path through those trees. Once summer comes, you will find that the leaves suck up a lot of the signal.

It doesn't have to be a 2x4. You can use angle iron or the bracket you found. Personally, I find that any of it looks acceptable once it is painted the same color as the rest of the house.

I think at this point the chimney might be your best bet for strength if you can get past the trees. You might want to rethink the roof mounted tripod as well. It is stronger and you get more height.

facesnorth

Dec 12, 2008

jayn_j said:
You might want to rethink the roof mounted tripod as well. It is stronger and you get more height.

It just reminds me of a skylight. It seems no matter how much you caulk or tar they always leak. Do tripods have the same tendency?

jayn_j

Dec 13, 2008

facesnorth said:
It just reminds me of a skylight. It seems no matter how much you caulk or tar they always leak. Do tripods have the same tendency?

I've never had a problem, but I make sure I am sinking the lag screws into a stud instead of going straight through the sheathing into the attic. You can generally get a tripod with the same leg spacing as your roof joists.

I see a lot more problems driving by with wall mounts than roof tripods. The roof mounts tend to have broken antenna elements. The wall mounts have broken masts or brackets ripped out.

facesnorth

Dec 13, 2008

When I eventually sell the house I'm thinking buyers would consider it an eyesore (most people seem to nowadays). If I removed it before putting it on the market, is it easy to fill in the holes ? I'm thinking filling the holes with tar would be noticeable from the street. And laying new shingles over may be noticeable because the older ones will be faded.

Should I plan to leave it when selling the house? Do you have a better idea of how it may affect home value or buyer opinion? Just want to cover all the bases. Thanks again.

Still unsure now between the inside wall of the chimney, and using a tripod in the middle of the roof somewhere. Coax/ground seems it would be easier to run from the chimney as well. If 5' less height or so isn't an issue I may just go the chimney route. Maybe I'll splurge on that eave mount for $30 if it will make it sturdier.

protivakid

Oct 7, 2013

i know this is an old thread but I am in the same boat as this guy. The peak above where my power enters is the highest spot on my house not next to trees. I have no chimney so that is not an option. From reading though is seems the insulated electrical wires that come to the home are not the big issue, but the real thing to look out for is the bare wires on the utility pole. In my case the utility pole is far away and I can't see it being an issue.

Am I correct in saying that if there is really no better spot and I proceed with caution, in general I should be fine?

boba

Oct 7, 2013

protivakid said:
i know this is an old thread but I am in the same boat as this guy. The peak above where my power enters is the highest spot on my house not next to trees. I have no chimney so that is not an option. From reading though is seems the insulated electrical wires that come to the home are not the big issue, but the real thing to look out for is the bare wires on the utility pole. In my case the utility pole is far away and I can't see it being an issue.

Am I correct in saying that if there is really no better spot and I proceed with caution, in general I should be fine?

If you carefully install you should be safe.. What channels are active in your area? Low VHF channels can pickup interference from power lines.

protivakid

Oct 7, 2013

boba said:
If you carefully install you should be safe.. What channels are active in your area? Low VHF channels can pickup interference from power lines.

I put up a test antenna last weekend and most of what I wanted came in fine. Here is my TV Fool report if you want to check it out. Looking to get real channels 20, 12, 42, & 30. Whatever else comes in after is great.

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Scott Greczkowski

Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge

Last reply 11 minutes ago · posted in The Chit Chat Club

Song Name Game Part 3!

Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!

So let the game continue!

The last song was added by Bobby who posted...

One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters

CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!

Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game

Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.

Example:

Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow

Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio

Another example:

Ride the Lightning -- Metallica

Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne

Get it?

An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....

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Reactions: c-spand

FTA4PA

Today at 8:59 AM

Detroit Rock City - Kiss

Reactions: dishstaller

sdfntx

Today at 10:19 AM

I Care About Detroit - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles

dishstaller

Today at 10:32 AM

I Wanna Talk About Me - Toby Keith

Bobby

44 minutes ago

98.6 - Keith

harshness

11 minutes ago

I'm Easy - Keith Carridine

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reubenray

Last reply 59 minutes ago · posted in Computers and Gadgets

Laptop Shutting Off When On Battery?

Lately my eight year old Dell laptop has been shutting off even when I have a full battery. I have had to keep it plugged up all the time to keep this from happening. Any idea what is causing this? I replaced the battery about three years ago.

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arlo

Today at 10:09 AM

A recalibration might be needed. Even if it shows full, the individual cells may have become unbalaced. And the BMS chip in the battery reports false information to the pc.
Try this. Start it up in the bios/uefi and leave it there until the battery dies and it shuts off.
It might just keep running longer than in Windows. Or run for a short while and shut off.
If it's the first case. Probably just needs a balancing. If the latter, the pack might just be dead.
Not throwing stones but perhaps just a cheaply constructed battery with substandard cells. Could be.

Patience. Keep restarting it in bios/uefi until it won't fire up anymore.
Then plug the charger in and let it complete a full charge. And see what happens. If it's better.
Do the same thing one more time. Run it until it dies dead-dead. Then just let it charge, pc shut off.
When charged, it might be better. It might not be.

There are bench jigs that read the actual BMS and override it to let a tech manually monitor and charge the separate packs. They can also reset any "time bombs" in it that cause an otherwise good pack to show bad.
Maybe Santa will be good to me some year.

You might just need a new battery. Maybe the PC power management chip is going. A Dell common thing.
Leaving a laptop plugged in with a full battery is known to reduce the life. Asus for one recommends that you don't leave the charger plugged in all of the time even when shut down. And setting Windows to charge the battery to 85% instead of 100% increases life.
That's all I got.

dishstaller

59 minutes ago

arlo said:
That's all I got.

That was quite enough....I definitely learned something from your post. Thanks

TRG

Pub Member / Supporter

Last reply Today at 10:27 AM · posted in Computers and Gadgets

Starlink Router question

I set up a music server for my brother a few years ago. It's basically a small headless computer but it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.

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b4pjoe

Saturday at 2:12 PM

TRG said:
I set up a music server for my brother a few years ago. It's basically a small headless computer but it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.

If you can't get into the router to reserve an IP address just don't use DHCP on the device that needs connected and assign it to a specific IP address in the network settings.

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HipKat

Saturday at 11:07 PM

TRG said:
I set up a music server for my brother a few years ago. It's basically a small headless computer but it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.

They are not. Your best bet is to set up a third-party router, attached to the Starlink for your server, that you can get into, like a Linksys, etc

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Foxbat

Sunday at 12:44 AM

TRG said:
…it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.

The Starlink V5 Install Kit I just got comes with the Mini Router. It is pretty limited in what it can do. For example, it can provide only one IP subnet at a time, no Guest Network, but it does support the pass-thru to a third-party Router. You can also split the Wi-Fi into separate 5 GHz & 2.4 GHz SSIDs to help some IoT devices that don't support 5 GHz bands to work.

The larger Starlink Router that still comes with the V4 Kit does support a Guest Network with separate IPv4 Subnet, but it's $120 from Starlink. And it still won't do DHCP Reservations.

harshness

Sunday at 11:46 AM

If you can restrict the DHCP address space to assign addresses to one end of the subnet (i.e. x.x.x.50+), you can manually assign the IP address on pretty much any operating system. This is a default behavior on several popular routers. As the Router Mini only supports 235 devices, I expect that's already done.

Another option is to use a router that supports PoE to power the antenna. This article discusses that option (under PoE Power heading):

Starlink V5 Is Here: What RVers Need to Know

Overview of the new Starlink V5 model along with comparison to the previous V4 model along with a recommended setup for mobile internet users.

mobilemusthave.com

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Foxbat

Today at 10:27 AM

Now that I've had the v5 kit with the Mini Router, it's not as bad as I first thought. Yes, no DHCP reservations, but you can set up multiple SSIDs that have separate IPv4 subnets, and like the big brother, you can select from 192.168.x.0/24 or 10.x.0.0/16 (where "x" is 1-4).

You can also split a subnet and have different SSIDs for the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz channels to handle some IoT devices. I haven't discovered what subnet the 2nd NIC on the router assigns, I'm guessing it's the first subnet.

dishstaller

Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Last reply Today at 10:27 AM · posted in The Chit Chat Club

I think we could all use a laugh - Rodney Dangerfield on Carson

Good...simple humor. Enjoy

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E92AtfTLge4

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJy0WnejlF4

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Jimbo

Today at 12:37 AM

Not Rodney, but a laugh ...

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WHEcmortfK0?feature=share

dishstaller

Today at 10:27 AM

Sorry for posting the wrong link. Just corrected it.

dishstaller

Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Last reply Today at 10:17 AM · posted in The Chit Chat Club

At least 64 dead in Spanish passenger train collision

Terrible tragedy. You would think that they would have safe guards in place that would prevent something like this from happening. I guess if you are going to ride in a passenger train it might be best to get a car near the rear.

At Least 64 Dead After Two High-Speed Trains Collide In Spain | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

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Jimbo

Yesterday at 11:24 AM

dishstaller said:
Terrible tragedy. You would think that they would have safe guards in place that would prevent something like this from happening. I guess if you are going to ride in a passenger train it might be best to get a car near the rear.

At Least 64 Dead After Two High-Speed Trains Collide In Spain | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

They will have to look at the switching sections to determine WHY 2 trains were on the same track ... at the same time.

dishstaller

Today at 10:17 AM

Thought this article might be of interest to some of you who might travel via train.

The safest seat to sit on in a train

Safety experts have shared top tips on train safety after a fatal railway crash in Spain killed 69 people, including where the safest place is in an emergency.

www.dailymail.com