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arcticracer

Last reply Oct 29, 2011 · posted in C-BAND Satellite Discussion

Corrosion pics from coastal Alaskan arctic sites

We battle constantly to win the war with corrosion in coastal areas of Alaska, especially in the Arctic. Here are a few pics of LNA's that have failed, one got wiped out during the recent solar outage period. The site went down during the outage and never came back, turned out the gain of the LNA dropped by about 20db, it was not the visible corrosion that took it out.

The long tube looking thing you see bolted to the LNA's is a transmit rejection filter, it's job is to keep the 6 GHZ uplink signal out of the LNA as both are bolted to the feedhorn.

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ayelvington

Oct 28, 2011

Our radar systems had pressure windows so we could pump in dry nitrogen. Would that work for you? It helped us keep condensation out of the waveguide since it passed through serious temperature ranges and would draw in moisture for the warm interior spaces. I'm retired Coast Guard, so I understand maritime corrosion.

ayelvington

Oct 28, 2011

Looking more closely at the photos, I'm thinking that you might protect the non-waveguide portion of the fitting with a nice layer of conductive grease. The grease or Never-Seize would exclude the moisture from being wicked into the joint by capillary action. Just thinking out loud...

arcticracer

Oct 28, 2011

Ours are pressurized with .5 PSI air run through a dehydrator, it doesn't protect the outisde unfortunately.

arcticracer

Oct 28, 2011

The smaller of the LNA's was only 4 years old, the high winds and salt seem to get to things no matter what you try to keep it out. It's the one that died from the solar outage. The other one had the N connector break, probably from the wind beating on the heliax feedline.

FaT Air

Oct 29, 2011

Salt doesn't play friendly with aluminum whenever they got together. One of the biggest problems I had with RCA 2ways in the oil fields of western ND back in the 80's.

Linus Tech Tips

35 minutes ago · posted in Linus Tech Tips

My F-You To Sam Altman

Time for another AWESOME video from Linus Tech Tips!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDmjw-c_R2k

Direct YouTube Link - My F-You To Sam Altman
Linus on Facebook
The LTT Store

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ewindowman

Lifetime Supporter

Last reply 56 minutes ago · posted in DISH Network Support Forum

Dish Bankruptcy - Business as Usual

Looks like dish is Bankrupt. Filling tomorrow Tuesday June 30th

433 Replies · 14702 views

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ewindowman

Jun 30, 2026

Correct me if I'm wrong but Dish borrowed lots of money to start a wireless company that was most likely doomed from the beginning. They bought spectrum at any cost to acquire enough bandwidth to achieve their goal. They signed leases and bought equipment and borrowed more money. They held onto the spectrum as long as possible. They then sold most of it to different companies and made a lot of money. Then they started to screw the companies that were installing and leasing the equipment and cell towers. Now they are going to claim bankruptcy under the Dish Network part of Echo Star while they have billions of dollars. So Dish basically took everyone's money that was involved in the financial part of this transaction made a huge profit is screwing everyone over from the banks to the little guy working on the towers and infrastructure.

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nelson61

Saturday at 1:01 PM

"
They note that the Dish Wireless radios at issue support the 2GHz and 800MHz spectrum SpaceX is acquiring from EchoStar and Grain.

"Buying compatible equipment already installed on towers could give SpaceX a head start on its wireless terrestrial network build and throw a big bucket of cold water on Verizon's four-to-six-year timeline and $300-$500 billion estimate for SpaceX's buildout," said the analysts."

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slow_poke_pete

Saturday at 11:40 PM

ewindowman said:
Correct me if I'm wrong but Dish borrowed lots of money to start a wireless company that was most likely doomed from the beginning. They bought spectrum at any cost to acquire enough bandwidth to achieve their goal. They signed leases and bought equipment and borrowed more money. They held onto the spectrum as long as possible. They then sold most of it to different companies and made a lot of money. Then they started to screw the companies that were installing and leasing the equipment and cell towers. Now they are going to claim bankruptcy under the Dish Network part of Echo Star while they have billions of dollars. So Dish basically took everyone's money that was involved in the financial part of this transaction made a huge profit is screwing everyone over from the banks to the little guy working on the towers and infrastructure.

i heard charlie went to dubai begging for money. but he didn't get none... that should have raised red flags.

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reubenray

Yesterday at 5:36 AM

nelson61 said:
"
They note that the Dish Wireless radios at issue support the 2GHz and 800MHz spectrum SpaceX is acquiring from EchoStar and Grain.

"Buying compatible equipment already installed on towers could give SpaceX a head start on its wireless terrestrial network build and throw a big bucket of cold water on Verizon's four-to-six-year timeline and $300-$500 billion estimate for SpaceX's buildout," said the analysts."

Back when Dish was installing antennas everywhere for their internet service I mapped several of the tower locations around me. One is less than a mile away from me and several more about three miles away in several different directions. If SpaceX does something with these I may be in a prime spot.

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slow_poke_pete

Yesterday at 6:57 PM

Amazon to acquire Globalstar and expand Amazon Leo satellite network

Globalstar satellites, radio frequency spectrum, and operational expertise will enable Amazon Leo to add Direct-to-Device (D2D) services to future generations of its low Earth orbit satellite network.

www.aboutamazon.com

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slow_poke_pete

Yesterday at 7:07 PM

SpaceX reportedly seeks 80,000 cell sites to become a wireless carrier | Fox News

SpaceX is reportedly pursuing 80,000 cell sites to turn Starlink into a wireless carrier that could compete with Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile for cell coverage.

www.foxnews.com

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nelson61

56 minutes ago

Washington Post

SpaceX has held talks with Boost's parent company EchoStar in recent months about launching its own signature wireless service through a deal with the company, according to two people familiar with the negotiations.
Musk, the SpaceX CEO, has discussed the deal personally, meeting with EchoStar chairman Charlie Ergen last month, according to the people. The potential deal may result in SpaceX acquiring Boost Mobile or SpaceX gaining access to its network, which it leases from AT&T and T-Mobile US, the people said.
Access to those lease agreements would be a coup for SpaceX. The back door would allow Musk to make a play for a U.S. wireless market that equity research firm MoffettNathanson estimates is worth $235 billion. But the proposed service may need consent from those carriers for the service to actually launch, the people said.

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Van

Last reply Today at 12:08 PM · 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.

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dfergie

Wednesday at 3:35 PM

Thought I was getting a Chorizo and egg burrito (marker had rubbed off)but was a roast beef/potato I made up before hunting this morning.
Btw every morning at camp I cooked my homemade Chorizo and scrambled eggs plus sausage side while my brother brought bacon. (they liked both the beef and pork versions)

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TRG

Wednesday at 5:06 PM

dfergie said:
Thought I was getting a Chorizo and egg burrito (marker had rubbed off)but was a roast beef/potato I made up before hunting this morning.
Btw every morning at camp I cooked my homemade Chorizo and scrambled eggs plus sausage side while my brother brought bacon. (they liked both the beef and pork versions)

I had a chorizo and egg burrito for you. With lots of green chile and cheese of course.

Reactions: dfergie

dfergie

Saturday at 11:26 AM

Mixed one egg, one tablespoon cottage cheese with a small fine grated potato, salt and pepper, made 3 waffles in the small waffle iron... Bacon, sausage and milk. (next time will add grated cheese to mix)

TRG

Yesterday at 12:54 PM

Breakfast Sandwich. Over hard eggs, fried deli ham and a thick slice of sharp cheddar cheese on sourdough toast. Coffee.

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dfergie

Today at 11:15 AM

Buttermilk waffles, butter, maple syrup... Milk

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TRG

Today at 12:08 PM

Bagel and cream cheese. Coffee.

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reubenray

Last reply Today at 11:54 AM · posted in Computers and Gadgets

New Laptop?

After having continuing trouble with my eight+ year old Dell Inspiron laptop I am looking to hopefully catch a good deal on new one. My options to buy is Costco and Sam's Club. It seems like a lot of new laptops are 2 in 1 which I do not need. I use the laptop to mainly surf the web and keep up with my finances, money and bills. I would like to have at least a 15" screen and having a touchscreen is a plus. The keyboard would need to lighted also. I don't game any. It would have to be Windows instead of and not Mac. The brands I see the most are Asus, Dell and HP. My two last laptops has been Dell's. Of these brands are there any standouts over the other brands. My budget (hopefully) is $600+-. Also while researching I noticed that do not have ethernet ports.

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EarDemon

Yesterday at 10:46 AM

Why not do a CTO directly through the manufacture? Get exactly what you want. Plus It's quite common to find 10%% (or higher) discount codes for Dell and HP.

Backlit keyboards are pretty much standard, and in the constant effort to try to make devices and thin and dainty as possible ethernet ports are becoming rarer, if not a normal ethernet port, you may be able to find a laptop with drop-jaw style one.

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arlo

Yesterday at 12:16 PM

Can't really help with an exact set of suggestions. I can say that if you have a set budget. And $600 these days wont get you much. One thing I can say is check out Dell Refurbished.
I've suggested and even configured, ordered a few for friends who were a bit iffy in deciding what they needed and wanted.
Refurbished doesn't mean that they came back defective and were repaired. Companies and organizations who order quantities of the same computers often cancel or modify their requirements.
Dell builds usually on demand. Their direct refurbished line will be brand new, unused. Perhaps not exactly the "today" specifications of the latest-greatest. And you can get a nice pc for quite a bit less with full warranty.
Just a suggestion.
"I use the laptop to mainly surf the web and keep up with my finances, money and bills. I would like to have at least a 15" screen and having a touchscreen is a plus".

As far as Asus, HP goes. And others you may consider. I'd think $600 (new) would get you a laptop. A quality, long lasting one? Not so sure. Now. If you could get a $1000 lappy for $600. Good deal, don't you think?
Surf the web doesn't need a killer Nvidia graphics chip. Nor a pinnacle, top of the line Intel, AMD processor.
12-16 gigs of memory will get you by just fine.
I'm personally an Asus fan. Brands aside. The one thing is the batteries. We discussed that here someplace else.
I repair these critters. Batteries. Cheap laptops have cheap batteries. Asus suggests that you don't keep the charger plugged in all of the time to make them last. Like you see on phones where 85% vs full charge is suggested to preserve battery life.

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harshness

Yesterday at 2:16 PM

EarDemon said:
Why not do a CTO directly through the manufacture?

Because there are fewer economies of scale with custom products. Savings come from giant contracts with major retailers.

RAM and GPUs make buying a computer now financial suicide. In 2023, I bought two 16GB RAM modules for my lone Windows machine. The cost was under $100. Now that equivalent RAM goes for $260.

One can opt for an on-CPU GPU, but you can't opt out of RAM. While Microsoft goes on and on about Windows 11 eventually being happy with 8GB of RAM, we know how that always ends.

Foxbat

Yesterday at 9:56 PM

GB is the new MB (remember when Windows used to be happy with 8 MB of RAM?)

I had great experiences with Dell's Refurbished systems in the past. I ended up getting Business desktops instead of the Home PCs since they didn't come loaded with bloatware and the one Desktop I got for Mrs. Foxbat even had a license for MS Office Professional included.

arlo

Today at 3:58 AM

arlo said:
Can't really help with an exact set of suggestions. I can say that if you have a set budget. And $600 these days wont get you much. One thing I can say is check out Dell Refurbished.
I've suggested and even configured, ordered a few for friends who were a bit iffy in deciding what they needed and wanted.
Refurbished doesn't mean that they came back defective and were repaired. Companies and organizations who order quantities of the same computers often cancel or modify their requirements.
Dell builds usually on demand. Their direct refurbished line will be brand new, unused. Perhaps not exactly the "today" specifications of the latest-greatest. And you can get a nice pc for quite a bit less with full warranty.
Just a suggestion.
"I use the laptop to mainly surf the web and keep up with my finances, money and bills. I would like to have at least a 15" screen and having a touchscreen is a plus".

As far as Asus, HP goes. And others you may consider. I'd think $600 (new) would get you a laptop. A quality, long lasting one? Not so sure. Now. If you could get a $1000 lappy for $600. Good deal, don't you think?
Surf the web doesn't need a killer Nvidia graphics chip. Nor a pinnacle, top of the line Intel, AMD processor.
12-16 gigs of memory will get you by just fine.
I'm personally an Asus fan. Brands aside. The one thing is the batteries. We discussed that here someplace else.
I repair these critters. Batteries. Cheap laptops have cheap batteries. Asus suggests that you don't keep the charger plugged in all of the time to make them last. Like you see on phones where 85% vs full charge is suggested to preserve battery life.

Just an edit. I did look on Dell's refurb site. To me I didn't really see anything approaching the six-hundred dollar range that I'd even consider owning. That's me though. Marginally in the $700 range.
Upwards of $1000, sure. Me? I'd save up a little more. I think their warranty is 100 days. Not that you'll need it. Square Trade is a viable option too.
The other guys replies after my first post here are viable. All I can say is that my friends and folks who chose refurbished over new have been entirely happy.

Just beware of cheap. It might just bite you. We do have tariffs now since when you bought your lappy 8 years ago.

Harshness' comment of on-cpu gpu. Intel Integrated Graphics is usually accompanied with and Nvidia gpu also.
Low power drain, good graphics and when needed, the Nvidia kicks in.

2 in 1 goes along with touch screen. Fold the display over and use it as a tablet. They go hand in hand. The keyboard shuts off. Normally open, the touch screen works as is should. I never use the touch screen when opened normally on mine. Kind of clumsy. In tablet configuration, does as it should.

harshness

Today at 10:44 AM

In a world where Chromebooks are retailing for upwards of $600, that probably isn't enough for a self-respecting Windows laptop.

Come to think of it, it is barely enough for a reasonable mini PC with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse these days.

If a laptop is a mandate, you're looking in the used market, and that's a complete crap shoot unless you can get a factory refurb with a >90-day warranty.

reubenray

Today at 11:54 AM

After checking on new laptops and not liking the prices I checked to see when I replaced the battery in mine. It was about five years ago. I also installed a bigger 1TB SSD drive a few years ago. It already has 12GB of RAM which was more than most new laptops I looked at. I plan on replacing the battery to see what happens. The laptop is a Dell Inspiron 5570. Is there anything else I need to replace?

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Ramy

Supporting Founder

Last reply Today at 11:48 AM · posted in The Sports Section

2026-27 NCAA College Football

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.

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osu1991

Saturday at 11:05 PM

..I hate playing in Ames.

Foxbat

Yesterday at 7:38 PM

osu1991 said:
..I hate playing in Ames.

My in-Laws came from Iowa, she was a graduate of ISU. Unranked Iowa teams beat the #24 and #25 teams on Halloween.

And I heard that your QB made a poor choice after scoring the tying touchdown, leading to a fifteen yard penalty on the ensuing kickoff. The Cyclones were then able to take advantage of the resulting field position to get close enough to score the winning field goal.

In a NCAA Football season of bizarre endings, this has to rank right up there.

osu1991

Yesterday at 7:47 PM

Foxbat said:
My in-Laws came from Iowa, she was a graduate of ISU. Unranked Iowa teams beat the #24 and #25 teams on Halloween.

And I heard that your QB made a poor choice after scoring the tying touchdown, leading to a fifteen yard penalty on the ensuing kickoff. The Cyclones were then able to take advantage of the resulting field position to get close enough to score the winning field goal.

In a NCAA Football season of bizarre endings, this has to rank right up there.

Yep, but wasn't the QB. Was WR. Offense had a great game but defense didn't show up at all. I don't think they were even in the State.

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meStevo

Yesterday at 9:24 PM

View: https://x.com/CSOonX/status/2117053113781698800?a=-y87e7mFcfr7a6ptnjc&s=20

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osu1991

Today at 9:15 AM

View: https://youtu.be/b9vzhHLNUcQ?si=iNzfZTeZ3m9UKyKw

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Yespage

Today at 10:31 AM

Parity is growing in College Football. Making it even harder to tell who is better than each other.

Reactions: Howard Simmons, Jimbo and Ronnie-

rvvaquero

Today at 11:48 AM

Yespage said:
Parity is growing in College Football. Making it even harder to tell who is better than each other.

I agree to a point. The transfer policy is creating parity, but only for the top 20-25 teams. The other 110+ teams in the FBS are just breeding grounds for the bigger schools which have more money and more recruiting appeal.

If a smaller school recruits, trains, and matures a quality player, they can't keep them past their sophomore year because the bigger schools snatch them up. Example: LSU didn't cultivate Sam Leavitt, they just harvested him from other schools. LSU is a top contender, in large part because of Leavitt. Michigan State and Arizona State.................are not. If either of those schools had been able to retain his services, who knows where they would be now.

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MorCowbell

Last reply Today at 11:35 AM · posted in DISH Network Support Forum

Saved OTA list on Dish can't be appended

I have Dish with Hopper3. I choose to get local channels OTA and had a "guide list" established at my previous home. Having moved a few miles away, I wanted to update the list by appending a couple new stations via a rescan. As many would know, some stations come in with the UHF/VHF antenna aimed in one direction, while others come in better with a different direction.

Unfortunately, when a scan is done (bringing in 25-30 stations for that particular antenna aim), the dialog screen does not present the established guide list; it presents an empty field to the right that the scanned stations may be selected one by one and added to the empty guide. But because of antenna aim, some stations originally saved are missing, and would have to be retrieved with a different antenna aim. But as I explain, if a 2nd scan is done with a different antenna aim, the stations saved from the first scan are lost.

It troubles me that Dish didn't develop software that would allow a user to simply append only 1 or 2 channels to the established list.

Any thought on this? Has anyone experienced this or heard of this from others?

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dishstaller

Yesterday at 9:59 PM

I hear complaints from customers each and every day. I chose not to install OTAs with a doggle for a reason.

BTW, I like your user name

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MXNU6pQFkok

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rvvaquero

Today at 7:49 AM

MorCowbell said:
It troubles me that Dish didn't develop software that would allow a user to simply append only 1 or 2 channels to the established list.

So, you want the ability to, for example, scan while your antenna is pointed to the east and save those channels to your list. Then, you want to scan again with the antenna pointed to the west, and add some of those channels to the list also while retaining the original channels you added from the east?

How would that work? If you move the antenna and some of your channels are no longer are accessible, there's no point in having them on the list. Unless, you want to re-point the antenna each time you switched from an east channel to a west channel and vice versa.

I suppose you could have one of those remote controlled antenna mast like we had back in the 60's. In that case, I can see your point. I think DISH has just designed the system to fit what the vast majority of users actually have. I'm guessing your situation is a pretty narrow use case scenario. I'm just really happy to be able to have my locals without having to pay the $17 month for them.

I just wish DISH would fix the remote control issue that the last few software downloads screwed up. I use the 54 remote and my Hopper is jumping around from off to on, from live to recording.......................like a Kangaroo.

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MorCowbell

Today at 11:18 AM

To Dishstaller, I appreciate your compliment. That was an epic SNL skit !!

To RVvaquero, I appreciate your coments but everything you mention has been considered:

Firstly, I use OTA very rarely - mainly for sporting events.
Secondly, I'm well aware that, since certain channels may scan from one directon while others from another directions, and remembering the difference, for certain stations I will point the antenna in a suitable direction. Some stations come in for almost any direction. In my original list (which has now been discarded), I had about 18 OTA stations and all of them were scanned from the same antenna direction. Even so, the Dish receiver was very particular about ABC (local KOAT 007-01). In the new geographic setting, it gets KOAT easier. Several months ago, due to a contract dispute, CBS (formerly local KRQE on 013-01) was dropped; it hooked up with KOAT as KOATCB (007-04) which is the one station I really needed. But I had to rescan to get it ...

All of ths points to the flaw in Dish's OTA software that prevents scanned stations from simply being appended to a master saved list. The user should be left to manage antenna pointing per OTA station since in many areas (like mine), they don't all come in from the same direction.

Reactions: charlesrshell, rvvaquero and dishstaller

Bobby

Today at 11:35 AM

MorCowbell said:
To Dishstaller, I appreciate your compliment. That was an epic SNL skit !!

To RVvaquero, I appreciate your coments but everything you mention has been considered:

Firstly, I use OTA very rarely - mainly for sporting events.
Secondly, I'm well aware that, since certain channels may scan from one directon while others from another directions, and remembering the difference, for certain stations I will point the antenna in a suitable direction. Some stations come in for almost any direction. In my original list (which has now been discarded), I had about 18 OTA stations and all of them were scanned from the same antenna direction. Even so, the Dish receiver was very particular about ABC (local KOAT 007-01). In the new geographic setting, it gets KOAT easier. Several months ago, due to a contract dispute, CBS (formerly local KRQE on 013-01) was dropped; it hooked up with KOAT as KOATCB (007-04) which is the one station I really needed. But I had to rescan to get it ...

All of ths points to the flaw in Dish's OTA software that prevents scanned stations from simply being appended to a master saved list. The user should be left to manage antenna pointing per OTA station since in many areas (like mine), they don't all come in from the same direction.

As rvvaquero mentioned, you are in a very small population who actually need to move their antenna to receive various TV channels. There are a few reasons why it is not advantageous for Dish to do what you are asking for. First and primary, there are anomalies in the software that can cause issues when you have scanned channels in the mix that have little or no signal. You get error pop ups and cannot watch any channel, OTA or satellite. I have seen these even with my antenna pointed to one direction. Second, you are asking Dish to adapt their software to your needs while the very vast majority don't need that. This is an expense that everyone is going to have to pay for while few gain any advantage.

Have you thought about adding a second antenna so that you are pointing at both directions to fulfill your needs. There are ways to do this and it would fulfill your individual need.

Google Search

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dishstaller

Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Last reply Today at 11:31 AM · posted in The Chit Chat Club

Retro looking camcorder

Saw this in Sams yesterday. I thought this was a really cool idea. Having a new grandbaby I almost bought one. I saw a lot of these back in the day.

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Bobby

Today at 11:15 AM

dishstaller said:
Saw this in Sams yesterday. I thought this was a really cool idea. Having a new grandbaby I almost bought one. I saw a lot of these back in the day.

View attachment 195195

You do know that phones actually take pretty good movies too don't you.

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dishstaller

Today at 11:22 AM

Bobby said:
You do know that phones actually take pretty good movies too don't you.

Yeah...I heard something like that

I just thought it was cool for the retro aspect of it. I still prefer taking video with my camcorder because I then have the video on a physical memory card which I can back up and put in my safe.

navychop

Today at 11:26 AM

No image stabilization. Fatal mistake.

dishstaller

Today at 11:31 AM

navychop said:
No image stabilization

I've still got my old Sony Mavica....the camera that put the files on 3.5 mini disk. That sucker had the best image stabilization on the market and probably still does. It had a fluid filled prism system. I could, while holding it in my hands, take a pic of a mountain stream and leave the shutter open for 2 seconds with no blur. Absolutely amazing camera.

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osu1991

Pub Member / Supporter

Last reply Today at 11:29 AM · posted in The Chit Chat Club

USA Healthcare Costs are Ridiculous

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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osu1991

Yesterday at 7:39 PM

Such a scam. Healthcare.gov shows me cheaper individual plans available for 2027 from ambetter that ambetter doesn't show on their website. Looked it up. I've spent $68,000 in premiums the last 5 years and got nothing out of it except a few doctors visits and labs.

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dishstaller

Yesterday at 8:15 PM

osu1991 said:
I've spent $68,000 in premiums the last 5 years

That's why I cancelled ours and just started saving the money. We're about to do the same thing with our home insurance.....not cancel it outright but do away with the portion which covers wind damage. We're paying over $5k right now and that is AFTER I dumbed things down...and it keeps going up. Got a couple trees I want to have taken down first before I do that however. After we do that, it will knock about $3k off our annual premium.

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b4pjoe

Yesterday at 10:12 PM

My wife and I use the same Medicare Advantage plan from United Healthcare. (Yes I have heard the horror stories about Medicare Advantage plans but we have used it for the last 5 years). We are both pretty healthy so it works for us. It costs $0.00 per month for both of us and it pays part of our Medicare part B premium. Next year it will be paying $170 per month of the $220 monthly part B premium for both of us. We also each get $90 per quarter to use on OTC products. $0.00 copay for Dr. visits and $55 copay for specialists. Includes dental and hearing coverage. Never have had an issue with it although I don't really use mine other than for the dental, Part B payments and the OTC benefit as I am a veteran and use the VA for all of my medical needs. I just had a kidney that had a cancer mass removed last month and they allowed me to use a non VA surgeon at a non VA hospital through the VA Community Care program. For all of the doctors visits, exams, tests, surgery, hospital stay, meds etc…was around $60,000 and the the VA paid for it entirely. I did have to pay $16 for the Oxycodone pain pills when I left the hospital that I got from my local CVS instead of waiting for a week for the VA to ship them to me from the VA pharmacy.

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dishstaller

Yesterday at 11:46 PM

b4pjoe said:
$0.00 copay for Dr. visits

And THAT is one of the big issues causing a lot of the problems. If the minimum copay for Dr. visits was at least $100 then a LOT of folks would opt out of those visits. If it cost the individual nothing then why should they care. All of my older family members are constantly going to doctor visits.....to them it is an adventure.....an outing that allows them a reason to go out to eat at a restaurant. IF they had to pay one cent out of their own pockets a lot of that crap would stop asap.

Sorry...rant off.

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meStevo

Yesterday at 11:57 PM

dishstaller said:
And THAT is one of the big issues causing a lot of the problems. If the minimum copay for Dr. visits was at least $100 then a LOT of folks would opt out of those visits. If it cost the individual nothing then why should they care. All of my older family members are constantly going to doctor visits.....to them it is an adventure.....an outing that allows them a reason to go out to eat at a restaurant. IF they had to pay one cent out of their own pockets a lot of that crap would stop asap.

Sorry...rant off.

You're not wrong that some people treat free visits like a social outing. But it has to be a balance. Put a $100 barrier on a doctor visit and people don't just skip the pointless ones, they skip the important ones too. Then the stuff that would've been a cheap catch at a checkup shows up later in the ER, sicker and way more expensive. The shift we need is from sick care to actual healthcare.

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dishstaller

Today at 9:08 AM

meStevo said:
But it has to be a balance.

Unfortunately, humans tend to suck at finding a balance in just about anything.

reubenray said:
They go to the Doctor for everything.

I see a LOT of that. And yes...they DO go to the doctor for EVERYTHING.

I was sick a couple months ago, either light flu or cold. First thing my Mom asked me when I told her was "You need to go to the doctor". I said WHY......I know what to do....it'll last a few days and I'll be fine.

The biggest problem with paying nothing out of pocket is that people quickly don't want to pay a penny for anything. Had an older customer in the store the other day. He mentioned that he had just come from CVS and I guess he wanted to rant. He said he went to pick up his prescription and "they changed my plan and wanted $4, they used to be free...I told them to stick them somewhere and walked out". BTW, he was in the store buying a new remote. So he HAD money for a remote but not $4 for this medicine that somebody somewhere thought he needed.

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Jimbo

Today at 9:28 AM

dishstaller said:
Unfortunately, humans tend to suck at finding a balance in just about anything.

I see a LOT of that. And yes...they DO go to the doctor for EVERYTHING.

I was sick a couple months ago, either light flu or cold. First thing my Mom asked me when I told her was "You need to go to the doctor". I said WHY......I know what to do....it'll last a few days and I'll be fine.

The biggest problem with paying nothing out of pocket is that people quickly don't want to pay a penny for anything. Had an older customer in the store the other day. He mentioned that he had just come from CVS and I guess he wanted to rant. He said he went to pick up his prescription and "they changed my plan and wanted $4, they used to be free...I told them to stick them somewhere and walked out". BTW, he was in the store buying a new remote. So he HAD money for a remote but not $4 for this medicine that somebody somewhere thought he needed.

My prescription before Medicare took over was $30 for 90 days, Medicare took over, now it was $375 last January and $150ish after that 90 days worth.

Jimbo

Today at 9:29 AM

dishstaller said:
Unfortunately, humans tend to suck at finding a balance in just about anything.

I see a LOT of that. And yes...they DO go to the doctor for EVERYTHING.

I was sick a couple months ago, either light flu or cold. First thing my Mom asked me when I told her was "You need to go to the doctor". I said WHY......I know what to do....it'll last a few days and I'll be fine.

The biggest problem with paying nothing out of pocket is that people quickly don't want to pay a penny for anything. Had an older customer in the store the other day. He mentioned that he had just come from CVS and I guess he wanted to rant. He said he went to pick up his prescription and "they changed my plan and wanted $4, they used to be free...I told them to stick them somewhere and walked out". BTW, he was in the store buying a new remote. So he HAD money for a remote but not $4 for this medicine that somebody somewhere thought he needed.

Priorities ...

dishstaller

Today at 9:34 AM

Jimbo said:
Priorities ...

I guess so. Obviously he didn't really need those pills....or at least HE didn't think so.

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harshness

Today at 10:51 AM

dishstaller said:
not cancel it outright but do away with the portion which covers wind damage.

Other than fire, what other kinds of damage do you guys get down there?

harshness

Today at 10:54 AM

Jimbo said:
My prescription before Medicare took over was $30 for 90 days, Medicare took over, now it was $375 last January and $150ish after that 90 days worth.

My Ozempic went from almost $400 every four weeks to $11 with a $0 Part D plan. That plan will be $5.63/month in 2027.

Make sure you've shopped around this open enrollment season.

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dishstaller

Today at 11:26 AM

harshness said:
Other than fire, what other kinds of damage do you guys get down there?

Not much else. Fire is the only thing I really worry about. I honestly didn't know I could remove wind coverage until someone told that they had....dropped their annual rate from $6,500 to $1,800. I'm currently paying $5,160.

navychop

Today at 11:29 AM

dishstaller said:
So he HAD money for a remote but not $4 for this medicine that somebody somewhere thought he needed.

Sounds like a self correcting situation.

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Scott Greczkowski

Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge

Last reply Today at 11:08 AM · 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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hwkn

Today at 2:39 AM

Touch Me IN THE MORNING-Diana Ross

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ClarkGable

Today at 5:48 AM

Touch Me - The Doors

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dishstaller

Today at 9:10 AM

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack

harshness

Today at 10:47 AM

In the Still of the Night - The Five Satins

Bobby

Today at 11:08 AM

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - David Cook

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dishstaller

Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Last reply Today at 10:28 AM · posted in The Chit Chat Club

TVs are really getting big these days

Was raining yesterday so I went to Sams up in Dothan to stock up on some things. Haven't been there in quite a while. I was amazed at how large most of the TVs were. When I walked in they had a 100 in Vizio (I think it was Vizio) that was marked down to something like $1,200. The first rows of TVs were all in the 80 in + sizes. The next couple of rows had the "smaller" models....those 75 and under. I was amazed at how small the 75s looked when lined up with the larger screens.

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osu1991

Today at 10:28 AM

Q-LED and Mini LED panels have improved the picture quality and the tv's are so thin and nearly without bezels now. I've thought about replacing the 75in 4k DV/HDR LED Sony in my living room with a newer 86in. That's as big as I can go without construction changes. I watch the 75in 4k DV/HDR Q-LED in my bedroom and the difference between the two is very noticeable. There's nothing wrong with the living room tv though and I don't now that I actually watch enough anymore to really justify it. I could move it out to the patio but the 65in Q-LED out there looks really good and I'd have to change the mount to accomdate a larger tv out there.

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