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I'm so excited!
Wheeeeee!!
I figured out how to program the birdog all by myself! Woohoo!!
No, really, I really did!
I have been soooooo frustrated with all this stuff. I am totally serious when I say I was just about ready to toss it all out to the curb.
I have never gotten that birdog meter to work on anything but the pay satellites but it works great on them. Of course I could care less about the pay satellites, I want the free ones.
Last week RTV went bye bye on me and now all I get are those stupid color bars and beeping.
It had been working fine for a few weeks until a storm came through. I know the dish wasn't moved by the storm, it's very solid in the ground.
So what the heck?
Then more trouble, White Springs was getting bad too, until it was unwatchable.
About all I had left was a few channels on the 123 satellite. Galaxy something.
I get them confused. !sadroll
Then that little box that all the wires connect into outside went bad. My neighbor helped me figure that out. Lucky for me I found another one in the box of junk my ex left behind. It was easy to change.
So I have a little dish pointed at the nasa satellite, it comes in, I can watch it on my TV, the signal is 100 / 100 according to the info.
So I just took the wire off of the pc and put it on the birdog and then I turned it on. The birdog found the satellite and showed it was tuned and adjusted for the best possible signal.
Then I put the wire from the pc into the birdog and using the editor software the company sent me and by looking at stuff on "thelist" I figured out how to make my own files for the birdog from scratch. Now it took me all darned day and I must have clicked like countless combinations of options and using the TEST option in the software I would upload the file to the meter and it would try it out in real time. After hours and hours, just when I was ready to give up, I hit the right combo of stuff and the meter showed that it had found the satellite, was locked on and that everything was good. WOW! :clap
I really didn't understand what I was doing yet so I changed a few things around and tried again, this time, nothing. So I changed it around a few more times and got it working again. Feeling a little more confident, I decided to try another satellite. I decided to try the next one that's been giving me fits, White Springs.
A few minutes of clicking options, hit the test button and bingo! White Springs is at long last, for the first time ever, my birdog meter was showing that it was seeing White Springs! Yay!
So now I can go outside tomorrow and use the meter to fine tune the dish specifically for White Springs and White Springs only.
I tried a few other satellites and each time I was able to program them in, to fine tune the dish to the specific channels I am interested in now, not some generic channel that may have nothing at all to do with what I want and may not be the best thing to use to adjust the dish when trying to catch a weak signal.
So now I can pinpoint precise, individual channels with surgical precision, and not with the sloppy, generic precision of using "the strongest transponder".
I think it would be best to adjust it to the specific item you wish to view.
So now tomorrow I will go outside and try to find RTV again. I think it's at 83.
I know the dish is more or less pointed at it because it very, very briefly locks on and says FOUND for just a second when I first load the file for that satellite then drops out and goes back to searching mode.
And I KNOW that a few weeks ago I was getting RTV on that very same dish and it was coming in pretty well. That however was beginners dumb luck that I had found it at all. I think, from doing a lot of reading here, that the dish is out of alignment now. That the stupid Video-1 signal is so much stronger than a misaligned dish can pick it up but can not pick up RTV anymore.
I was getting it before, I can get it again. And I am going to use the birdog to find it now, now that I *think* I have figured out how to use it.
Now make no mistake about it, I really do not understand what all those things are when I program it, all I'm doing is typing in numbers so they match what I found in the forum, information other people already figured out.
I'm a loooooong way away from understanding pretty much any of this stuff. I'm just matching things up, that's all. But it's still better than I had going for me a week ago, or even since yesterday!
Now, someone else suggested I buy a "coolsat 6000 premium". Ok. I did it.
I shouldn't have but I had a lapse of sanity and bought one, used.
I'll just have to cut back on other stuff next week.
Question: How can I add more than four satellites to my system? I see other people having gobs of them. But the little gadget outside only lets me put four on it at a time.
Another thing. Building a motor operated dish. I can't afford to do it anytime soon but I really would like to. I really hate all those separate ugly dishes out there and they are such a pain to mess with.
What is the best motor to buy? I have that big grey dish, they one missing a part. I will have to keep looking and if I can't find it I'll have to get someone to make a new one for it.
I know I will have to get someone to help me make modifications to the thing so that it can be adapted to the motor thingie. I have no idea how that will work. Probably I should get the motor first then show the two parts to someone that can make stuff and see what they say about it. It's beyond my ability to do something like that, for sure.
But the question is, what is the best motor to buy, one that's strong enough to hold up that big beastie and also survive hurricanes. We have had a lot of them lately.
They other question is, what is the best LNB to buy to put on that thing?
One that will get whatever you point it at? I would prefer a good quality one vs a cheap one, of course.
I can't afford the motor and LNB for now but I would like to know what I should plan on so I can work them into my budget. And I still have to have someone make a part for the dish, modify it for the motor and put a big heavy pole in the ground for it.
So this is my project for the future. It will be some time yet.
For now I'm wondering how to add more dishes than four?
And how can I put the pc and the coolsat on at the same time?
Like can I use them both at once and how do you do that?
Sorry for the rambling, I'm a bit dingy from the heat today and just plain tired.
I don't know if any of that even makes any sense to anyone. It sort of does to me. But I'm, like, in my own little world today. I really should have given all this up and give it all away but I'm too stubborn to give up.
Thank you!
Oh yes, one other thing. Those pesky trees. Hehehehehe... I found a very large bag of rock salt left over from making ice cream. I went out and dumped about 10lbs of salt around the base of each of them. The ones that are messing with White Springs and the one that drips nasty, sticky sap on my cars. I'm hoping that soon I won't have those "problems" much longer. Ya know?
Wheeeeee!!
I figured out how to program the birdog all by myself! Woohoo!!
No, really, I really did!
I have been soooooo frustrated with all this stuff. I am totally serious when I say I was just about ready to toss it all out to the curb.
I have never gotten that birdog meter to work on anything but the pay satellites but it works great on them. Of course I could care less about the pay satellites, I want the free ones.
Last week RTV went bye bye on me and now all I get are those stupid color bars and beeping.
It had been working fine for a few weeks until a storm came through. I know the dish wasn't moved by the storm, it's very solid in the ground.So what the heck?
Then more trouble, White Springs was getting bad too, until it was unwatchable.
About all I had left was a few channels on the 123 satellite. Galaxy something.
I get them confused. !sadroll
Then that little box that all the wires connect into outside went bad. My neighbor helped me figure that out. Lucky for me I found another one in the box of junk my ex left behind. It was easy to change.
So I have a little dish pointed at the nasa satellite, it comes in, I can watch it on my TV, the signal is 100 / 100 according to the info.
So I just took the wire off of the pc and put it on the birdog and then I turned it on. The birdog found the satellite and showed it was tuned and adjusted for the best possible signal.
Then I put the wire from the pc into the birdog and using the editor software the company sent me and by looking at stuff on "thelist" I figured out how to make my own files for the birdog from scratch. Now it took me all darned day and I must have clicked like countless combinations of options and using the TEST option in the software I would upload the file to the meter and it would try it out in real time. After hours and hours, just when I was ready to give up, I hit the right combo of stuff and the meter showed that it had found the satellite, was locked on and that everything was good. WOW! :clap
I really didn't understand what I was doing yet so I changed a few things around and tried again, this time, nothing. So I changed it around a few more times and got it working again. Feeling a little more confident, I decided to try another satellite. I decided to try the next one that's been giving me fits, White Springs.
A few minutes of clicking options, hit the test button and bingo! White Springs is at long last, for the first time ever, my birdog meter was showing that it was seeing White Springs! Yay!
So now I can go outside tomorrow and use the meter to fine tune the dish specifically for White Springs and White Springs only.
I tried a few other satellites and each time I was able to program them in, to fine tune the dish to the specific channels I am interested in now, not some generic channel that may have nothing at all to do with what I want and may not be the best thing to use to adjust the dish when trying to catch a weak signal.
So now I can pinpoint precise, individual channels with surgical precision, and not with the sloppy, generic precision of using "the strongest transponder".
I think it would be best to adjust it to the specific item you wish to view.
So now tomorrow I will go outside and try to find RTV again. I think it's at 83.
I know the dish is more or less pointed at it because it very, very briefly locks on and says FOUND for just a second when I first load the file for that satellite then drops out and goes back to searching mode.
And I KNOW that a few weeks ago I was getting RTV on that very same dish and it was coming in pretty well. That however was beginners dumb luck that I had found it at all. I think, from doing a lot of reading here, that the dish is out of alignment now. That the stupid Video-1 signal is so much stronger than a misaligned dish can pick it up but can not pick up RTV anymore.
I was getting it before, I can get it again. And I am going to use the birdog to find it now, now that I *think* I have figured out how to use it.
Now make no mistake about it, I really do not understand what all those things are when I program it, all I'm doing is typing in numbers so they match what I found in the forum, information other people already figured out.
I'm a loooooong way away from understanding pretty much any of this stuff. I'm just matching things up, that's all. But it's still better than I had going for me a week ago, or even since yesterday!
Now, someone else suggested I buy a "coolsat 6000 premium". Ok. I did it.
I shouldn't have but I had a lapse of sanity and bought one, used.
I'll just have to cut back on other stuff next week.
Question: How can I add more than four satellites to my system? I see other people having gobs of them. But the little gadget outside only lets me put four on it at a time.
Another thing. Building a motor operated dish. I can't afford to do it anytime soon but I really would like to. I really hate all those separate ugly dishes out there and they are such a pain to mess with.
What is the best motor to buy? I have that big grey dish, they one missing a part. I will have to keep looking and if I can't find it I'll have to get someone to make a new one for it.
I know I will have to get someone to help me make modifications to the thing so that it can be adapted to the motor thingie. I have no idea how that will work. Probably I should get the motor first then show the two parts to someone that can make stuff and see what they say about it. It's beyond my ability to do something like that, for sure.
But the question is, what is the best motor to buy, one that's strong enough to hold up that big beastie and also survive hurricanes. We have had a lot of them lately.
They other question is, what is the best LNB to buy to put on that thing?
One that will get whatever you point it at? I would prefer a good quality one vs a cheap one, of course.
I can't afford the motor and LNB for now but I would like to know what I should plan on so I can work them into my budget. And I still have to have someone make a part for the dish, modify it for the motor and put a big heavy pole in the ground for it.
So this is my project for the future. It will be some time yet.
For now I'm wondering how to add more dishes than four?
And how can I put the pc and the coolsat on at the same time?
Like can I use them both at once and how do you do that?
Sorry for the rambling, I'm a bit dingy from the heat today and just plain tired.
I don't know if any of that even makes any sense to anyone. It sort of does to me. But I'm, like, in my own little world today. I really should have given all this up and give it all away but I'm too stubborn to give up.
Thank you!
Oh yes, one other thing. Those pesky trees. Hehehehehe... I found a very large bag of rock salt left over from making ice cream. I went out and dumped about 10lbs of salt around the base of each of them. The ones that are messing with White Springs and the one that drips nasty, sticky sap on my cars. I'm hoping that soon I won't have those "problems" much longer. Ya know?
46 Replies
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5053 views
Hmmm... Sounds Easy enough.
Before I run out and buy more stuff I will check with my neighbor and see if he has one of those cables I might borrow first. Or maybe he can make one for me, he made one for my meter, he said it was easy to make.
It sure would make things easier if they didn't have 2 bazillion different kinds of cables. Just have one cable that fits everything.
Thank you again!
what's your time worth?
Yea, $20 for a $2 cable is a bit steep.
I build mine for... uhhh.... about $2, as I recall. *
BUT, there are two sizes of RS232 connectors, (DB25 and DB9)
there are two sexes of RS232 connectors, (duh)
and there are at least two ways to wire the cables! (called "straight-through", or "crossover")
So, it's up to you. The easy way, or the hard way.
In truth, the connector size and sex are easy enough - you just look.
Whether it's a crossover or straight-through wiring that is required, that's not hard to look-up, either.
* as I recall, the connectors were 50¢ or 60¢ each at a local electronics store, and the plastic shells for 'em were about the same.
PS: some receivers use crossover cables, and some models, even within the same brand... do not.
Yea, $20 for a $2 cable is a bit steep.
I build mine for... uhhh.... about $2, as I recall. *
BUT, there are two sizes of RS232 connectors, (DB25 and DB9)
there are two sexes of RS232 connectors, (duh)
and there are at least two ways to wire the cables! (called "straight-through", or "crossover")
So, it's up to you. The easy way, or the hard way.
In truth, the connector size and sex are easy enough - you just look.
Whether it's a crossover or straight-through wiring that is required, that's not hard to look-up, either.
* as I recall, the connectors were 50¢ or 60¢ each at a local electronics store, and the plastic shells for 'em were about the same.
PS: some receivers use crossover cables, and some models, even within the same brand... do not.
Yea, $20 for a $2 cable is a bit steep.
I build mine for... uhhh.... about $2, as I recall. *
BUT, there are two sizes of RS232 connectors, (DB25 and DB9)
there are two sexes of RS232 connectors, (duh)
and there are at least two ways to wire the cables! (called "straight-through", or "crossover")
So, it's up to you. The easy way, or the hard way.
In truth, the connector size and sex are easy enough - you just look.
Whether it's a crossover or straight-through wiring that is required, that's not hard to look-up, either.
* as I recall, the connectors were 50¢ or 60¢ each at a local electronics store, and the plastic shells for 'em were about the same.
PS: some receivers use crossover cables, and some models, even within the same brand... do not.
Wow! $2 ???? Oh yeah, I will wait and ask first.
I looked on the back of the pc and there is a plus that looks just like the one on the tuner that is labeled "RS-232C". They both have 9 little gold pins inside an ovalish metal part.
The birdog program cable is plugged into it. I dug through a tangled up box of wires I found in the junk room but I didn't see anything that has the same plug on both ends. I hope I can borrow one from my neighbor, I shouldn't need it but one time, I would think. Or maybe he can make one for me. Or maybe ebay would have one?
Thank you!
Supporting Founder
Pub Member / Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
Apple has finally released their Apple TV 4K with built-in Siri and a microphone so it can respond to your queries even if you don't have the remote. It also increases in price, to $299. I had been planning on updating my current Apple TV 4K streamers, but that's $600 for the two of them, and that's a pass at this point.
At $299, it had better come with 256 GB of Storage, Gigabit (or better) Ethernet, the latest HDMI tech and standards, and one year of free Apple One. But it probably won't…
At $299, it had better come with 256 GB of Storage, Gigabit (or better) Ethernet, the latest HDMI tech and standards, and one year of free Apple One. But it probably won't…
Apple TV 4K
Apple TV 4K. New Siri AI and hands-free control. Stunning picture and immersive HomePod surround sound. Works with your Apple and smart home devices.
www.apple.com
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168 views
S
. apple's been making money off of software and not hardware for a while
they all do that anyways.. ever notice your cell phone slows down when you come up for an upgrade..
. apple's been making money off of software and not hardware for a while
The new curated multiview is now live.
While on many of the sports channels and non sports channels there is a multi view option button. It will pull up a side bar with many different multi view options.
While on many of the sports channels and non sports channels there is a multi view option button. It will pull up a side bar with many different multi view options.
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152 views
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.
141 Replies
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1340 views
Supporting Founder
Lifetime Supporter
This thread is a place to discuss the 4K events that appear on channel 540. We are getting, at this point, one college football game a week. Let's hope there is more coming.
1931 Replies
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298840 views
Hmmm, I'm not seeing anything like those events in our Hopper 3 guide for tonight or Saturday.
I went into the Tools menu and requested a Guide Update. I'll try looking at it after the update completes.
edit — I now have the 148-01 4KFox events for Saturday, but not anything for 148-02 or 148-03 which don't even show as available channels. I do have 148-04 4KUSA.
As I recall you have the Flex package. Do you sub to multisport? -02 is FS1 and -03 is ESPN. -01 is Fox so you would get that if you sub to locals.Hmmm, I'm not seeing anything like those events in our Hopper 3 guide for tonight or Saturday.
I went into the Tools menu and requested a Guide Update. I'll try looking at it after the update completes.
edit — I now have the 148-01 4KFox events for Saturday, but not anything for 148-02 or 148-03 which don't even show as available channels. I do have 148-04 4KUSA.
TWiT Tech Podcast Network
Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87N42NxLPC0
Direct YouTube Link - 8 U.S. States Sue OpenAI Over Safety Concerns With Younger Users
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87N42NxLPC0
Direct YouTube Link - 8 U.S. States Sue OpenAI Over Safety Concerns With Younger Users
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
0 Replies
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7 views
Pub Member / Supporter
On Tuesday, I recorded the first episodes of the new season's NCIS shows on CBS (Dish provided, not OTA). The new New York series and Origins will both do Auto Skip, but the original, now season 24 does not. What's stranger, when I do a search for NCIS, Origins and New York show the current recording and the next episode it will record, but the original show only shows the current recording and some other channel showing the very first episode of season one. It makes no sense. When I set up the timers, I was able to use search for Origins and New York, but for the original, I had to scroll ahead in the guide until last Tuesday when the show was airing. Then set the timer from there. You can see its timer type is DVR where the other two are Seek. What am I missing?
Thanks!
Thanks!
20 Replies
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385 views
Pub Member / Supporter
Cutting Edge
I created this thread on the original Edgecutter Cutting Edge Forums site. It's simply a place for those to review the latest software available for those using Windows 10 and Windows 11. To date it has received 112,559 views. I have been asked by staff to continue this thread here.
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47170 views
To each there own but I've found that Windows can't do much more than Linux can. Can't have everything.
For niche use cases, yes I agree. Kali for ethical hacking and security testing, and running a Cacti server for network monitoring are the two things I have experience in. Plus thousands and thousands of other things, but for every day use I just can't see it. The owner of the GMRS repeater that I pay to access is changing the Tx DPL tones tomorrow, while Chirp is available on Linux, the software to program my MXT500 is not.To each there own but I've found that Windows can't do much more than Linux can. Can't have everything.
I run Fedora and Ubuntu in VMWare, honestly I don't care much for the UI of either of them and I don't feel like spending days/weeks to customize the UI to make it look Windows-like when I could just use Windows. The cartoonish dock at the bottom of the screen reminds me of Apple products.
As I said above, and, FWIW, I run Win11 Pro and Arch on separate 250 GB NVME drives, using F8 to select which I boot to, with a 1TB SSD for storage, accessible to both OSs and a third formatted Nvme I want to use to learn Kali. It was much faster to setup Arch than it was to strip down Windows. Windows still takes much longer to boot.
Staff member
HERE TO HELP YOU!
Hard getting used to the new younger Gibbs, Mark Harmons son had the right look but I understand he didn't want the role.
Still I'm enjoying, pretty good job with Franks.
Still I'm enjoying, pretty good job with Franks.
66 Replies
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4210 views
Pub Member / Supporter
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17 views