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A couple days ago, I posted about how I doubled my signal on AMC6 by cutting down a few pine trees (I still have about 6 smaller ones to go). Well yesterday, I was dragging off those trees, after taking off most of the bigger limbs. After I was finished, I came inside, and was searching for some signals on C-band. I scanned one particular satellite with my Broadlogic spectrum scanner, and got the results shown below.
As you can see, about half way through the scan, the signal pretty much died, not only on the Broadlogic, but I was also monitoring on my Azbox and TT3200 at the same time, and also, the background signal went nearly to zero on my analog receiver. I thought that perhaps the LNB voltage had gone out, but I checked, and I still had voltage. I checked, however, and the LNB was no longer drawing any current.
I thought oh fooey, the LNB died. But then I remembered that when I had dragged the trees away, I had dragged them very near to where the coax comes up out of the ground going into my garage to the house. I went out and checked, and sure enough, not only had the several coaxes there been pulled to the side, a small ladder had been jammed down into the hole that the coaxes came out of. I didn't see any damage to the coax, but I figured that I had probably broken the center conductor or something.
Anyway, today, I started trouble-shooting, went outside with my meter, hooked it up to the coax that comes from the receiver.... no voltage.... until I wiggled the connector, then voltage kind of went on and off every couple seconds. This was a good 60' from the place I ran the trees into the coax, so it's completely un-related, and apparently the trees didn't do any damage after all. Then, just to make sure that the LNB was still good, I connected my meter to the coax that goes to the lnb (I have a barrel connector out at the dish to allow me to insert meters and switch coax). Well this connector also seemed bad. Ie the LNB was drawing current, but every few seconds it would jump down to zero... until I wiggled THAT connection, and I got it working steady.
I've now re-done BOTH connections by cutting off a couple inches of coax, and everything seems back to normal, but I find that it's kind of wierd that BOTH connectors that connected to this barrel connector went bad at the same time, and so suddenly. I HAVE been having trouble with C-band, ever since a big rainstorm a couple weeks ago.. no lightning, but LOTS of water, so I guess I could have gotten a lot of water into this barrel connector, even though it's enclosed in a plastic military box to protect it from the elements.
Anyway, everything back to normal, and the trees didn't get the last laugh.
As you can see, about half way through the scan, the signal pretty much died, not only on the Broadlogic, but I was also monitoring on my Azbox and TT3200 at the same time, and also, the background signal went nearly to zero on my analog receiver. I thought that perhaps the LNB voltage had gone out, but I checked, and I still had voltage. I checked, however, and the LNB was no longer drawing any current.
I thought oh fooey, the LNB died. But then I remembered that when I had dragged the trees away, I had dragged them very near to where the coax comes up out of the ground going into my garage to the house. I went out and checked, and sure enough, not only had the several coaxes there been pulled to the side, a small ladder had been jammed down into the hole that the coaxes came out of. I didn't see any damage to the coax, but I figured that I had probably broken the center conductor or something.
Anyway, today, I started trouble-shooting, went outside with my meter, hooked it up to the coax that comes from the receiver.... no voltage.... until I wiggled the connector, then voltage kind of went on and off every couple seconds. This was a good 60' from the place I ran the trees into the coax, so it's completely un-related, and apparently the trees didn't do any damage after all. Then, just to make sure that the LNB was still good, I connected my meter to the coax that goes to the lnb (I have a barrel connector out at the dish to allow me to insert meters and switch coax). Well this connector also seemed bad. Ie the LNB was drawing current, but every few seconds it would jump down to zero... until I wiggled THAT connection, and I got it working steady.
I've now re-done BOTH connections by cutting off a couple inches of coax, and everything seems back to normal, but I find that it's kind of wierd that BOTH connectors that connected to this barrel connector went bad at the same time, and so suddenly. I HAVE been having trouble with C-band, ever since a big rainstorm a couple weeks ago.. no lightning, but LOTS of water, so I guess I could have gotten a lot of water into this barrel connector, even though it's enclosed in a plastic military box to protect it from the elements.
Anyway, everything back to normal, and the trees didn't get the last laugh.
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1378 views
Definitely weird. But I've known that type of thing to happen. Ever renovate a house where you're sure things can't got but a certain way and should take so long but ends up taking triple the time because you ran into this, this, and this? And how could "this" even end up like that? And while you're scratching your head your wife is wondering what the heck is going on that you're not done yet?
I feel a rant coming on. Can you guess about what?
I feel a rant coming on. Can you guess about what?
Supporting Founder
Really excited for this season with Kentucky having a new coach and some really exciting recruits. Probably won't last long, but here's hoping this season is great.
177 Replies
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2891 views
..I hate playing in Ames.
I hate playing in LA ...
Buckeyes had 2 weeks off and came out and looked absolutely terrible ... broke in a new Freshman Qb, but that wasn't the worst part ... undiscipline play, at last count they had 10 penalties.
Freshman in the end of the game trying to play catch up, had a lot of Over throws ... Bucks lose ...
#1 Miami struggled but pulled away in the end beating North Carolina by 3 ...
Tuesday the CFP brings out thier Playoff Top 12 again ... Buckeyes should drop from #2 to about #22 (they won't) had they had thier Starting QB, it would have been a different game ...
They could lose the rest of thier games at this point.
Pub Member / Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
This should hit a lot of folks with a dose of reality. I can only imagine how much more common this will get as AI progresses.
I read several stories on this and most are clear as mud. They say a lot of the stolen bitcoin has been "locked out" and that everyone will be made financially whole. I guess time will tell if either of these statements are actually true.
www.cnbc.com
I read several stories on this and most are clear as mud. They say a lot of the stolen bitcoin has been "locked out" and that everyone will be made financially whole. I guess time will tell if either of these statements are actually true.
Hackers steal $6.3 billion from Binance in biggest-ever cryptocurrency theft
The company later added it began recovering assets impacted by the breach after pledging to cover losses using its Secure Asset Fund for Users.
www.cnbc.com
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119 views
Follow up to the story. Binance says it has "plugged" 90% of the $6.3 billion with its own cash. Well, that leaves 10% or $630 million that is "unplugged". Are those folks just out of luck?
www.zerohedge.com
Binance Plugs 90% Of $6.3 Billion Hack Hole With Its Own Cash, Says Withdrawals Reopen Sunday<!-- --> | ZeroHedge
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com
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Cutting Edge
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....
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....
68685 Replies
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2681611 views
Pub Member / Supporter
Pissed off at the crappy healthcare costs
My health Insurance renewal for 2027 just came in. Going from $827 a month to $1,187 a month. Deductible going up a $1k to $9,350. Max out of pocket also going up $1k to $11,000. Doctor co-pay of $40. Urgent Care co-pay $50. ER 50% coinsurance after deductible. That's all in network. Out of network is double, should it be needed.
Have to think about this. I'm really tempted to just go without now. I only go to the doctor once or twice a year. I pay out of pocket for Tirzepitide and can do without the Rosuvastatin (crestor) now. Really tired of spending over $10k a year and getting nothing out of it.
After years with Blue Cross I switched last year to Ambetter as my Blue Cross premium was going from $1200 to $1800 for a Silver plan and the Bronze plan was still going to be $1300 at BCBS. Ambetter was $827 for the same coverage with a Bronze plan. Didn't think it would jump this much so soon.
I'm guessing a Silver plan is probably over $2,000 a month for 2027.
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284 views
Yes.....they do. Which is why I am very careful when at a customer's house these days....you NEVER know what is going to set someone off. Polite dialog is a thing of the past.....which is why I like my dog so much
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Cutting Edge
Some of the channels start next week.
investor.siriusxm.com
SiriusXM Delivers the Soundtrack to the Holidays with Its Festive Lineup of 25 Handcrafted Seasonal Music Channels
Lineup features channels produced and presented by celebrated personalities and iconic brands, including Jimmy Fallon, Hallmark,…...
investor.siriusxm.com
4 Replies
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190 views
Pub Member / Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
I figured some of the guys would be looking here for an answer. You'll need to use this link
I'll mention what happened over there. I don't want to cause Scott any issues or put him in a bad spot.
I'll mention what happened over there. I don't want to cause Scott any issues or put him in a bad spot.
7 Replies
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272 views
Now I have to go check out what happened now. Lol!I figured some of the guys would be looking here for an answer. You'll need to use this link
I'll mention what happened over there. I don't want to cause Scott any issues or put him in a bad spot.
Went and looked, not too bad...
Just let people know the address is satelliteretailer.com as DishRetailer.COM is not working.
Just let people know the address is satelliteretailer.com as DishRetailer.COM is not working.
I sent you a PM Scott. Doesn't really make any sense to me BUT....I've never claimed to be the sharpest knife in the drawer....though I just might be the most persistent.
Its an automated bot. Explained it to you in the PM.I sent you a PM Scott. Doesn't really make any sense to me BUT....I've never claimed to be the sharpest knife in the drawer....though I just might be the most persistent.
Pub Member / Supporter
America’s Fastest-Growing EV State Isn’t California—Not by a Long Shot
New data shows electric vehicle adoption is increasingly driven by state policies, electricity prices and charging access—not federal incentives
www.autoweek.com
The number-one US state for EV growth, according to the June 22 Yardi report?
Oklahoma.
It has no ZEV mandates and "minimal" incentives, Yardi says, but also has cheap electricity, high multi-car household rates (so, for example, a non-Lightning Ford F-150 pulls their trailers), and a consumer base willing to switch.
117 Replies
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1166 views
tomwellborn3rd (@wellborn.net)
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bsky.app
Never realized that Tesla is losing to BYD at manufacturing too, which IMO is Tesla's biggest accomplishment and area of innovation. Nice writeup about the state of play and how we got here though. I have no faith that we're moving any productive direction though sadly, most changes and efforts feel reactionary rather than rooted in making use of the time being bought by tariffs, with few exceptions.
So: how are the cars so cheap, and what is being cut to get there? The best public accounting comes from the Rhodium Group, which compared BYD, Geely, and Leapmotor against Tesla's Chinese operation, a fair comparison because it removes labor costs and shipping from the equation entirely. Their estimate is that BYD builds a car for about $4,700 less than Tesla builds a Model 3 in Shanghai, roughly 15 percent of the Model 3's price. The breakdown is the interesting part. Direct government grants account for about $292 per vehicle, which is 5 percent of the gap. The biggest single factor is vertical integration: BYD makes about 80 percent of its top-tier components in-house, against 37 percent for Tesla, and that eliminates roughly $2,369 per vehicle in supplier markups. Lower overhead, meaning cheaper engineering talent and administrative cost spread across enormous volume, accounts for another $1,719. And BYD pays its suppliers on 155-day terms, against Tesla's 60, which is worth about $214 per car in float. When people say the Chinese advantage is subsidies, the per-vehicle number says otherwise. When people say it is slave wages, the Tesla Shanghai comparison says otherwise too. The advantage is mostly that BYD decided, twenty years ago, to make its own batteries, its own motors, its own power electronics, and its own semiconductors, and Western automakers decided the opposite.
GM Is Coming for Tesla, Rivian, and China, on Your Phone and in the Car
GM’s latest tech preview details autonomous highway driving plans, AI-powered OnStar features, and new LMR batteries for future EVs.
GM said its next-generation vehicle architecture will provide 40 times more computing power and 30 percent less wiring than before and will expand from the 2028 Cadillac Escalade IQ to its high-volume SUVs, trucks, crossovers, and fourth-generation EVs, which will be powered by lithium manganese-rich (LMR) prismatic batteries
Despite the politicization and perceived consumer pivot away from EVs in America, GM needs to remain globally competitive, so it's doubling down on its fourth generation EVs, with energy-dense, cheaper-to-manufacture LMR batteries, more efficient motors, and state-of-the-art centralized computing architecture. With a stated goal of cutting the traditional four- to five-year concept-to-production time in half, GM is clearly challenging the concept of "China speed," which in the Chinese automotive industry can be as quick as 18 months from design to start of production. In the AI space, GM is smartly collapsing all of its marque-specific apps under the familiar OnStar brand, while providing more features—both on the phone and in the car—than it ever has before.
T
That's how Ford did it- vertical integration. He even set up a rubber plantation in S. Americatomwellborn3rd (@wellborn.net)
This author has chosen to make their posts visible only to people who are signed in.
Never realized that Tesla is losing to BYD at manufacturing too, which IMO is Tesla's biggest accomplishment and area of innovation. Nice writeup about the state of play and how we got here though. I have no faith that we're moving any productive direction though sadly, most changes and efforts feel reactionary rather than rooted in making use of the time being bought by tariffs, with few exceptions.
So: how are the cars so cheap, and what is being cut to get there? The best public accounting comes from the Rhodium Group, which compared BYD, Geely, and Leapmotor against Tesla's Chinese operation, a fair comparison because it removes labor costs and shipping from the equation entirely. Their estimate is that BYD builds a car for about $4,700 less than Tesla builds a Model 3 in Shanghai, roughly 15 percent of the Model 3's price. The breakdown is the interesting part. Direct government grants account for about $292 per vehicle, which is 5 percent of the gap. The biggest single factor is vertical integration: BYD makes about 80 percent of its top-tier components in-house, against 37 percent for Tesla, and that eliminates roughly $2,369 per vehicle in supplier markups. Lower overhead, meaning cheaper engineering talent and administrative cost spread across enormous volume, accounts for another $1,719. And BYD pays its suppliers on 155-day terms, against Tesla's 60, which is worth about $214 per car in float. When people say the Chinese advantage is subsidies, the per-vehicle number says otherwise. When people say it is slave wages, the Tesla Shanghai comparison says otherwise too. The advantage is mostly that BYD decided, twenty years ago, to make its own batteries, its own motors, its own power electronics, and its own semiconductors, and Western automakers decided the opposite.
TWiT Tech Podcast Network
Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX2rbpCdM8M
Direct YouTube Link - Untitled Linux Show 277
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX2rbpCdM8M
Direct YouTube Link - Untitled Linux Show 277
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
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12 views
Lon.TV
Time for another AWESOME video from Lon Seidman of LON.TV!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxxD1-9EW3I
Direct YouTube Link - Rivulet on Apple TV is a Game Changer! Dolby Vision FEL, Lossless Audio
The Official LON.TV Website
Lon on Facebook
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxxD1-9EW3I
Direct YouTube Link - Rivulet on Apple TV is a Game Changer! Dolby Vision FEL, Lossless Audio
The Official LON.TV Website
Lon on Facebook
0 Replies
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14 views
I have Dish Hopper and Hopper Plus and also have Alexa Echo. I link the Alex skill to Dish and it asks me to enter the pairing code shown on the TV. I go into Dish Settings and there is no Alexa shown. Not sure what to do.
18 Replies
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888 views
