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handymantoo

Last reply Jan 6, 2010 · posted in DISH Network Support Forum

Snow hood for LNB

Do they make or would it be possible to construct a plastic shield above the LNB to reduce snow collection. I don't know much about how sat signals are
transmitted. Would such a device cause a problem?

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old corps

Jan 5, 2010

I did the "trash bag fix" before the 1st significant snow we had (covering the dish ONLY) and initially thought it worked well. No longer think so. It all depends on the conditions but after almost breaking my neck to clear just a small amount of snow/ice that collected on the bag it is now GONE--the bag, not the neck.......

Both times it was really only a small amount of snow/ice that caused me to lose signal. I've had WAY more snow collect on the bare dish in the past that barely decreased signal strength. The black garbage bag itself caused no reduction in signal but when snow/ice froze to the bag it was good-bye signal. Again, it was actually a small amount and my 1000.4 IS peaked and normally has excellent signal strength. I've purchased a small, 4"X5" stick-on 150 watt heating pad made for engine blocks but this old fart ain't gonna be installing it until the roof is snow free (Spring?LOL).

This was just my experience, others may vary...............

Ed

Jonhern

Jan 6, 2010

old corps said:
I did the "trash bag fix" before the 1st significant snow we had (covering the dish ONLY) and initially thought it worked well. No longer think so. It all depends on the conditions but after almost breaking my neck to clear just a small amount of snow/ice that collected on the bag it is now GONE--the bag, not the neck....... Both times it was really only a small amount of snow/ice that caused me to lose signal. I've had WAY more snow collect on the bare dish in the past that barely decreased signal strength. The black garbage bag itself caused no reduction in signal but when snow/ice froze to the dish it was good-bye signal. Again, it was actually a small amount and my 1000.4 IS peaked and normally has excellent signal strength. I've purchased a small, 4"X5" stick-on 150 watt heating pad made for engine blocks but this old fart ain't gonna be installing it until the roof is snow free (Spring?LOL).
This was just my experience, others may vary...............

Ed

Just looked those heating pads up, and they are exactly the same thing as the ice zapper for satellite dishes which has been talked about on this fourm, even the same color, but for less. Wish I had seen those first. Although the ice zapper is two connected to one plug, two of those pads are about $20 less than the ice zapper, on amazon anyway.

handymantoo

Jan 6, 2010

I tried using 4X5 stick on heating pad but metal dish disipates heat too rapidly must use two one for each side. Also 150 watts very hot may burn off paint. I ended up with Ice Zapper 2 which has two heating tapes each about 1 1/2 x 8 inches at 120 watts works perfect, but I found out my problem is snow on LNB not the dish.

handymantoo

Jan 6, 2010

Jonhern said:
Just looked those heating pads up, and they are exactly the same thing as the ice zapper for satellite dishes which has been talked about on this fourm, even the same color, but for less. Wish I had seen those first. Although the ice zapper is two connected to one plug, two of those pads are about $20 less than the ice zapper, on amazon anyway.

I did look them up before I purchased Ice Zapper but trial and error ( wattage , and size) ended up costing more than if I bought Ice Zapper originally

old corps

Jan 6, 2010

handymantoo said:
I tried using 4X5 stick on heating pad but metal dish disipates heat too rapidly must use two one for each side. Also 150 watts very hot may burn off paint. I ended up with Ice Zapper 2 which has two heating tapes each about 1 1/2 x 8 inches at 120 watts works perfect, but I found out my problem is snow on LNB not the dish.[/QU

My intention was to power on the pad just long enough to melt off any snow/ice that's causing a problem. I did think about the lnb's causing a problem as well. We've been really lucky so far this winter--very minimal amount of snow. When I had a 1000.2 in my back yard I had several inches of snow build up on the dish and only lost a few points of signal strength. It was easy then to trudge out and sweep off the dish/lnb's if necessary, doing that on my roof is DANGEROUS. I'll still try the pad thing but won't be installing it until my roof is snow free.
Thanks for your input!

Ed

BTW--The pad shipped from Amazon was under $25 'cause I purchased another item which gave me free shipping.

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iJustine

14 minutes ago · posted in iJustine

The new PROLED MacBook Pro has a Dynamic Island 😯

Time for another AWESOME video from iJustine!

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CjVbq6h2VZw

Direct YouTube Link - The new PROLED MacBook Pro has a Dynamic Island

The official iJustine Website's Website
Buy her book!

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iJustine

14 minutes ago · posted in iJustine

New PROLED MacBook Pro!

Time for another AWESOME video from iJustine!

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ux8oQzvijl4

Direct YouTube Link - New PROLED MacBook Pro!
The official iJustine Website's Website
Buy her book!

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"MysteryMan"

Pub Member / Supporter Cutting Edge

Last reply 22 minutes ago · posted in Computers and Gadgets

Windows 10/11 Download

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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EarDemon

Oct 13, 2026

If it wasn't for what I want, I wouldn't need any of this.

Do I need a collection of handheld radios, scanners and speed enforcement countermeasures? Nope, but I want them. Very little, if any of the software used to interface with these devices is available on Linux.

WhiteBeard

Oct 13, 2026

EarDemon said:
If it wasn't for what I want, I wouldn't need any of this.

Do I need a collection of handheld radios, scanners and speed enforcement countermeasures? Nope, but I want them. Very little, if any of the software used to interface with these devices is available on Linux.

To each there own but I've found that Windows can't do much more than Linux can. Can't have everything.

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EarDemon

Oct 14, 2026

WhiteBeard said:
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.

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.

harshness

Oct 15, 2026

EarDemon said:
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.

What is so fantabulous about the Windows UI? By many accounts, it has been going downhill since Windows 7.

There are Linux desktops that offer Windows or Mac UIs, yet you don't hear much chatter about them outside of questions about when the creators might get sued.

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EarDemon

Oct 15, 2026

harshness said:
What is so fantabulous about the Windows UI?

Because it's what I prefer. I know I've said this a few times, I use Open Shell to give me the cascading start menu a la WIN 95 and NT4.0. The only reason I went from Windows Vista to 7 back in the day was because of Classic Shell. I cannot stand anything other than the OG start menu from 30+ years ago. I'm using ExplorerPatcher to give me Windows 10 UI elements of the taskbar and right click context menus.

If you could take a look at how I set up Windows 95, you'd find many similarities to how I use 11.

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EarDemon

Oct 15, 2026

I could probably use that as a starting point, but I don't like the full size icons. If you have to click on each folder that's also a no-go for me, it has to be cascading.

I used to have Peppermint Linux in a VM, that was about as close as I could get to recreating a Windows NT4.0 style of menu structure, but I could never get it to scale properly in VMWare on a 4K display and eventually gave up.

Whatever the boot up time it's fine with me. The longest part of my bootup is the HP SureStart BIOS integrity check. Once that is done, it's only a few more seconds. I haven't done this reg tweak yet since the reformat, but I switched the bootup animation to the Windows 10 style spinning circle of dots, and it's two and a half rotations. I can live with that.

harshness

Oct 16, 2026

EarDemon said:
Because it's what I prefer.

I hope you don't believe that makes it wonderful (especially when you're using workarounds for Microsoft's malfeasance).

I use LibreOffice as opposed to Microsoft office (even in Windows) because it's UI is like the Office of old, so I'm putting my money where my mouth is (in a manner of speaking). The ribbon was one of the worst ideas to come out Redmond.

HipKat

Oct 16, 2026

EarDemon said:
I could probably use that as a starting point, but I don't like the full size icons. If you have to click on each folder that's also a no-go for me, it has to be cascading.

I used to have Peppermint Linux in a VM, that was about as close as I could get to recreating a Windows NT4.0 style of menu structure, but I could never get it to scale properly in VMWare on a 4K display and eventually gave up.

Whatever the boot up time it's fine with me. The longest part of my bootup is the HP SureStart BIOS integrity check. Once that is done, it's only a few more seconds. I haven't done this reg tweak yet since the reformat, but I switched the bootup animation to the Windows 10 style spinning circle of dots, and it's two and a half rotations. I can live with that.

I used to pin the C: drive to the Win Taskbar and it would open in cascading style

"MysteryMan"

22 minutes ago

2026-10 Preview Update Builds: 26300.9818 and 26200.9818 (KB5127936) has been released. Moderate time needed for those choosing to perform a manual download/install/restart. Quality improvements only. No new operating system features.

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TWiT Tech Podcast Network

24 minutes ago · posted in TWiT Tech Podcast Network

Windows Weekly 1007

Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MT4ptWNv2E

Direct YouTube Link - Windows Weekly 1007
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed

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Scott Greczkowski

Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge

Last reply 48 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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harshness

Today at 9:54 AM

Show and Tell - Al Wilson

sdfntx

Today at 10:24 AM

On with the Show - The Rolling Stones

gms49ers

Today at 10:41 AM

The Show Must Go On - Pink Floyd

Reactions: dishstaller

Bobby

Today at 11:20 AM

If Love Must Go - Dobie Gray

FTA4PA

48 minutes ago

Drift Away - Dobie Gray

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Van

Last reply 53 minutes ago · posted in What's Cooking?

Whats for breakfast?

Who says dinner or lunch has to be the only good meals of the day?

Honey butter grits with scrambled eggs and grilled boneless pork ribs on flakey biscuits washed down with cranberry juice.

6633 Replies · 380102 views

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dfergie

Oct 17, 2026

Dos cackleberrys over easy on top of 2 corned beef hash patties fried in skillet... Chocolate milk.

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TRG

Oct 17, 2026

Cold morning today, only 32 degrees. Fired up the oven and made cinnamon rolls (from a tube) and a pot of coffee.

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TRG

Thursday at 4:10 PM

2 egg burrito with bacon and a side of hashbrowns. Coffee.

TRG

Sunday at 1:40 PM

Breakfast Quesadillas. Grilled flour tortilla filled with scrambled eggs, hash browns, chopped green chile, cheddar & Jack cheese and bacon. Coffee.

Bobby

53 minutes ago

Taco omelette. 3 eggs, taco meat from yesterday, diced green chilis, cheddar cheese, chopped red onion, avocado, black olives, chopped tomato, La Victoria Salsa Brava.

This one was really, really good!

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Booredatwork.com

54 minutes ago · posted in BooredAtWork.COM