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Dee_Ann
Last reply · posted in Free To Air (FTA) Discussion
My folks have an Openbox S9 and a motorized primestar dish. The motor is Powermax SG-9120.

I guess about two months ago I helped them put it up.

My dad did the physical labor and all like putting the post in and running the wires. All I did was put the connectors on the wires and align the dish with my nifty meter. :)

But there has been a problem from day one. The dish would wiggle back and forth, a LOT. So when the wind would blow, it would blow the dish about and they would lose signal. The first time it happened they didn't even call me for a week! :confused:

When they did it was because my dad bumped it while mowing the yard. I went to look at it after finding a thread on here about these motors and how to adjust them if they wiggle. There's a screw inside the motor called the backlash. When I mentioned that to Dad he instantly knew what it meant. So I took the printout with the info on adjusting it and Dad messed with it. He tightened it up so much that the gears couldn't turn and it still wiggled, a lot. :(

So all I could really do was use my meter to push the wiggly dish back to where there was a good signal again and go back home.

A few weeks passed and we had a lot of strong winds off and on during that time. When it would lose signal my dad would go outside and move it until my mom yelled at him that they had a picture back.

This was so totally unacceptable and it really bothered me a lot because I was the one that said "here's the things you should buy".. :(

I did some more googling and I found someone mention something to the effect that the other model, the SG-9102B has a bolt up inside the motor tube that could become lose but that this motor, the SG-9120 does NOT have that bolt inside. Oh boy.....

So I went ahead the other day and took my motor totally down and looked inside the motor tube. HELLO! There IS a bolt in there. It's some sort of hex bolt, I can't remember what you call them. So I called Dad and told him about this and he asked it he could fix it himself. I said sure but he would be able to get the dish back to alignment without my meter since the whole entire dish had to be removed from the motor.

So he came and picked me up and we took it apart. He used some hex tool thing and sure enough, the bolt up inside it was loose! He tightened it up and then declared it to be "Tight as a tick". We put the dish back on then I sat down with my little meter and fine tuned the dish again. We go back inside and check and everything is working great!

Thus ends their wiggly dish problem. :)

I hope that this might be helpful to someone else with a similar problem.

Also, while I had my motor down my dad wanted to see the inside of the gears to see the backlash thing. He couldn't see it, it seems to be hidden under other parts. But now that it's down and open, I took some photos of the inside. I'm hoping to one day find a way to add a power supply to the motor because my pc tuner card is too wimpy to move the motor and that annoys me, a lot! :mad:

Someone posted a few weeks ago about how to do it but it's not anything I know about and I'm afraid to mess with it without very specific step by step directions with lots of high res photos. It's going to be some time before that happens. If ever..

:)
4 Replies · 1307 views
KE4EST
Yes very good info and glad you got your folks all squared away now.
Dee_Ann
Oh, I remember now, it's called an allen bolt!
Anole
Excellent research 'n solution to an annoying problem. - :up

As for getting independent power to the motor, the best/simplest method I've seen was probably one Pendragon came up with a while back.
He cut one trace inside the motor, and may or may not have put in one jumper.
In the end, one of the coax connectors now received power from your independent supply.
The other connector hooked to the LNBF-to-receiver coax (maybe through a diplexer).
Thread should be easy to find; Pendragon hasn't started all that many threads. :)
And with any luck, maybe he even used the same motor. ;)

edit:
Wrong motor. Here's the thread I was thinking about:
Naughty Mods I: DG-380 Separate Drive Power
Tron
The bolt inside the tube is one bolt of interest, but the actual backlash adjustment is under the sticker that says "WARRANTY VOID IF SEAL IS BROKEN". The bolt inside the tube should be checked for tightness first. It is the bolt that connects the tube to the actual motor shaft. On the SG9120B, this hex bolt is on the outside of the tube, in the same orientation as it is on the SG-2100 motors. To get at the actual backlash adjustment bolt, which is a much smaller hex bolt, you must remove the forbidden sticker ;) ...
TheForce
Supporting Founder Pub Member / Supporter
Last reply · posted in The Phone & Tablet Zone
Apple Fall Hardware Event takes place today, September 9, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET. It marks the debut of new CEO John Ternus and the expected reveal of Apple's first foldable phone.
130 Replies · 1420 views
comfortably_numb
Can't remember if I've posted this yet..


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfL5seXJyWU
Foxbat
If you ponied up for an iPhone Duo, keep it away from anything other than your soft, fleshy fingertips. No fingernails, no dust, sand, dirt, or other particulate matter. And don't bend it more than it needs to. Zack has destroyed $2,000 of Apple hardware to get those views, which should cover his expenses.
​
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comfortably_numb
No fingernails, no dust, sand, dirt, or other particulate matter

And definitely no medieval chain armor!
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harshness
medieval chain armor
Aka "mail" or "maille".
Foxbat
IFixIt has published their Teardown and they had some positive things to say about the iPhone Duo. It still showed some dust ingress into the hinge assembly but seemed otherwise well-sealed.
​

But with a considerable number of reports of the main screen dying with similar failures, AppleCare+ should be a no-brainer for this phone.
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dishstaller
Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in TV Shows
Don't know if any of you have watched this series yet, it would be interesting to see if you feel this review was accurate. It was very humorous to listen to however.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tsDO3y8I2c
2 Replies · 104 views
KAB
KAB
What a "pile of slop" review! I liked the show.
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Y
What a "pile of slop" review! I liked the show.
If the review is like the article, oi! Eighteen paragraphs into the review and... all they've done is not really talk at all about the actual thing they are reviewing.

Halfway into the "written" review, I know more about how the writer "thinks" than I do about what they are writing about. I understand their politics, their self-overestimated understanding of film, their inability to be funny.

Takes about 22 paragraphs to get to one that starts "Anyway, the story kicks off...". Talk about Slop! 😂
K
Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in TV Shows
Season 2 order already in hand:

'Star Trek: Starfleet Academy' Renewed for Season 2, Tatiana Maslany to Guest Star in Season 1

I've not been optimistic about this show based on what I've read so far. Seems to be aimed at a younger audience. Interesting though that Tatiana Maslany will have some sort of role.
91 Replies · 3667 views
K
I'm sure I will watch at least the first episode but I am not optimistic.
Here i am over a year later and just finished season 1. Not great but not as bad as I was expecting. Did not care for the barefoot captain stuff but overall ok. Actually looking forward to see what they did for season 2.
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MikeD-C05
Here i am over a year later and just finished season 1. Not great but not as bad as I was expecting. Did not care for the barefoot captain stuff but overall ok. Actually looking forward to see what they did for season 2.
Yeah, the foot stuff was just nasty. I kept thinking of how dirty her feet would get traipsing around shoe-less. Funny, I love being shoe less at home and never wear shoes indoors in my home for long, but seeing her laying on all her furniture with her bare feet hanging out just kind of grossed me out.
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harshness
I kept thinking of how dirty her feet would get traipsing around shoe-less.
Where would this "dirt" come from? Dead skin and dandruff?
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MikeD-C05
Where would this "dirt" come from? Dead skin and dandruff?
There would still be dirt ,dust in the future I am sure. So walking around the station like she did she would get stuff on her feet. I am sure the robot vacuum is still going to miss stuff, with all those different alien species running around there.
harshness
There would still be dirt ,dust in the future I am sure.
Where is it going to come from -- specifically?

Why do you think cleaning technology won't improve in the next few hundred years? HEPA filtration was invented as part of the Manhattan Project.
MikeD-C05
Where is it going to come from -- specifically?

Why do you think cleaning technology won't improve in the next few hundred years? HEPA filtration was invented as part of the Manhattan Project.
I don't know, but I still don't like her walking through the station or the academy with out her shoes. It looks unprofessional and very "hippy like" for someone of her status and I personally don't get off to feet, so there is that. ;)
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osu1991
I don't know, but I still don't like her walking through the station or the academy with out her shoes. It looks unprofessional and very "hippy like" for someone of her status and I personally don't get off to feet, so there is that. ;)
Stay out of my office. I rarely have shoes or socks on in the office. My office and business is at home though :clapping
MikeD-C05
Stay out of my office. I rarely have shoes or socks on in the office. My office and business is at home though :clapping
Say, I don't wear socks or shoes in my house either. But for a captain in Star Fleet it looks bad to be walking around the academy with no shoes. Gives off 1960 Hippie vibes.
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Jimbo
Gives off 1960 Hippie vibes.
You say that like it's a Bad thing or something ... :biggrin
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long_time_Dish
Well, look at the way she sat in the Captain's Chair. I didn't say the show should have been called "Captain Chair-Whore" for nothing...
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primestar31
Say, I don't wear socks or shoes in my house either. But for a captain in Star Fleet it looks bad to be walking around the academy with no shoes. Gives off 1960 Hippie vibes.
star trek GIF by HULU


Just sayin...
MikeD-C05
You say that like it's a Bad thing or something ... :biggrin
For a whole generation of adults it was in the 1960s and 1970s.

All In The Family Nostalgia GIF by Sony Pictures Television
All In The Family Singing GIF by Sony Pictures Television
harshness
Females wearing any clothing is unthinkable on Ferenginar.
long_time_Dish
Females wearing any clothing is unthinkable on Ferenginar.
Was never a huge of the Ferengi-centric episodes in Trek...
Scott Greczkowski
Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
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....
68605 Replies · 2677835 views
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sdfntx
Gondoliers, Shakespeares, Overseers, Playboys and Bums - Norman Greenbaum
Bobby
I Wish I Was Eighteen Again - George Burns
harshness
I Wish - Stevie Wonder
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EatMyVolts
Lonesome Road -- The Wonder Who?
long_time_Dish
Lonesome Loser - Little River Band