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I picked up a 6' dish that someone was giving away - it is a mesh type dish and fairly lightweight, and had been disassembled into the four quarter panels. The feedhorn and LNB are C-band only (which surprised me a bit because I almost would have expected Ku-only) but anyway, a free dish is a free dish, and I might even be able to find a useful spot for a smaller one in my tree-filled yard (this would be an addition to an existing 10' dish that is placed at the ONE really good spot in the yard for satellite reception).
I have three lines of thought on what I might do with it. One is to just set it up as an additional C-band dish and attempt to track the arc with it, which would probably not work out real well. The second is to get a Ku feedhorn and LNB and use it solely for Ku, which my big dish doesn't do all that well on. Since that would require spending real money, that would not be my first choice. The third idea I had, and the one that most appeals to me at the moment, is to set it up as a dedicated C-band dish pointed at a single satellite, specifically AMC-7. My biggest reason for thinking along that path is that my large dish only gets a marginal signal on AMC-7, although I'm not exactly sure why. It MAY not be tracking the arc properly at that end (it's an old Winegard with the square pole, and it's very hard to get it to track properly) but also AMC-7 is ALMOST below a neighbor's tree - not quite but if that tree grows another foot or two I'm sure its shadow will be falling on the dish. Right now I get between 45 and 50 quality on digital signals (Pansat). On most other birds I get much higher.
What I am wondering is, is AMC-7 a weaker bird than most or am I correct in thinking that there may be a problem with a location or aiming of my big dish? Assuming I can find a good location in my yard, if I used the 6' dish and aimed it directly at AMC-7 and locked it down on that bird, what are the chances of getting a useable signal? Anyone else (particularly anyone east of Lake Michigan) able to get a good signal quality on AMC-7 with a 6' dish?
For that matter, is a 6' dish good for ANY C-band FTA signal, or just too small to be useful for anything other than Ku?
I have three lines of thought on what I might do with it. One is to just set it up as an additional C-band dish and attempt to track the arc with it, which would probably not work out real well. The second is to get a Ku feedhorn and LNB and use it solely for Ku, which my big dish doesn't do all that well on. Since that would require spending real money, that would not be my first choice. The third idea I had, and the one that most appeals to me at the moment, is to set it up as a dedicated C-band dish pointed at a single satellite, specifically AMC-7. My biggest reason for thinking along that path is that my large dish only gets a marginal signal on AMC-7, although I'm not exactly sure why. It MAY not be tracking the arc properly at that end (it's an old Winegard with the square pole, and it's very hard to get it to track properly) but also AMC-7 is ALMOST below a neighbor's tree - not quite but if that tree grows another foot or two I'm sure its shadow will be falling on the dish. Right now I get between 45 and 50 quality on digital signals (Pansat). On most other birds I get much higher.
What I am wondering is, is AMC-7 a weaker bird than most or am I correct in thinking that there may be a problem with a location or aiming of my big dish? Assuming I can find a good location in my yard, if I used the 6' dish and aimed it directly at AMC-7 and locked it down on that bird, what are the chances of getting a useable signal? Anyone else (particularly anyone east of Lake Michigan) able to get a good signal quality on AMC-7 with a 6' dish?
For that matter, is a 6' dish good for ANY C-band FTA signal, or just too small to be useful for anything other than Ku?
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1543 views
M
a 6 footer would work for most stronger tranpsonders 
(heck, Cascade is using a solid 4 footer and getting C-Band on it)
(heck, Cascade is using a solid 4 footer and getting C-Band on it)
A
I will keep this in mind, however I am a little shy about buying an LNB off of eBay because in the one case where I tried it, I got a lemon and the seller wouldn't stand behind it (they want you to send it back to the manufacturer, and by the time you've paid shipping and the mfr's handling fee you might just as well buy a new LNB). Besides which the supposedly 15 degree LNB, when it did work, didn't receive quite as well as a 20 degree Chaparral.
The thing I was really hoping in posting this thread was if someone with a 6' dish could tell me if they receive a useable signal off of AMC-7, because as I noted, that was always one of the hardest ones to get with my big dish. If I can dedicate the 6' dish to AMC-7 then Ku would be of no interest to me since there is (at present) no Ku on that bird. I already have a Ku dish (old Primestar) dedicated to G-10, and one of these days I'm going to try replacing it with a larger DirecPC dish (an older downlink only dish that does NOT have a transmitter on it), although I'm not sure if I will be able to replace the P* dish with the DirecPC dish without changing any settings on the Pansat (the P* dish has separate H and V outputs, and I'm only using one of them, but the DirecPC dish only has a single output and I'm not sure if it can do polarity switching or not).
EDIT: I just found this thread, which answers my question about the DirecPC dish.
lilyarbie said:
I will keep this in mind, however I am a little shy about buying an LNB off of eBay because in the one case where I tried it, I got a lemon and the seller wouldn't stand behind it (they want you to send it back to the manufacturer, and by the time you've paid shipping and the mfr's handling fee you might just as well buy a new LNB). Besides which the supposedly 15 degree LNB, when it did work, didn't receive quite as well as a 20 degree Chaparral.
The thing I was really hoping in posting this thread was if someone with a 6' dish could tell me if they receive a useable signal off of AMC-7, because as I noted, that was always one of the hardest ones to get with my big dish. If I can dedicate the 6' dish to AMC-7 then Ku would be of no interest to me since there is (at present) no Ku on that bird. I already have a Ku dish (old Primestar) dedicated to G-10, and one of these days I'm going to try replacing it with a larger DirecPC dish (an older downlink only dish that does NOT have a transmitter on it), although I'm not sure if I will be able to replace the P* dish with the DirecPC dish without changing any settings on the Pansat (the P* dish has separate H and V outputs, and I'm only using one of them, but the DirecPC dish only has a single output and I'm not sure if it can do polarity switching or not).
EDIT: I just found this thread, which answers my question about the DirecPC dish.
Forget ebay.
Quality lnb's at ebay price without the ebay horror (lol):
http://www.psbsatellite.com
It's where we're getting all the C-band lnb's we're having such luck with on the smaller dishes... should be ideal for you
Quality lnb's at ebay price without the ebay horror (lol):
http://www.psbsatellite.com
It's where we're getting all the C-band lnb's we're having such luck with on the smaller dishes... should be ideal for you
Staff member
HERE TO HELP YOU!
Cutting Edge
Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!
So let the game continue!
The last song was added by Bobby who posted...
One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters
CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!
Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game
Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.
Example:
Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
Another example:
Ride the Lightning -- Metallica
Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne
Get it?
An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
So let the game continue!
The last song was added by Bobby who posted...
One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters
CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!
Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game
Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.
Example:
Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
Another example:
Ride the Lightning -- Metallica
Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne
Get it?
An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
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2672756 views
Why are ViP922s So rare? like its crazy how ebay has none, i checked everywhere, also, i got a ViP222k now, which is actually activated!
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My year was almost up and we got the new bill for a year of service for $ 360.00 insane sat radio is becoming like cable!!! i logged into my acct and hopped onto chat and told the rep that i wanted to cancel. she understood my concern and went quiet for a few minutes. i figured that she was canceling my service. she comes back and said that she seen that i have been a sub since 07 and then offers me the same package for a year for 120.00 with taxes and fee's!!! i grabbed it. after almost having a stroke 
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Mrs. Foxbat reminded me it's that time of the year to do the Cancel Tango
The A.I. agent appears to be better than in the past. It got to the acceptable price quicker than previous years, no human operator involved. $5/mo and I still have over $50 in SiriusXM credit from my FordPartner benefits.
The A.I. agent appears to be better than in the past. It got to the acceptable price quicker than previous years, no human operator involved. $5/mo and I still have over $50 in SiriusXM credit from my FordPartner benefits.
Staff member
HERE TO HELP YOU!
Stumbled across this ... http://www.gaspricewatch.com/USGas_ZipSearch.asp
I found no local prices, although it did show stations at my location...
Added these to this post...
USA National Gas Temperature Map
State By State Gasoline Taxes
Gas Buddy
Ethanol Free Stations
I found no local prices, although it did show stations at my location...
Added these to this post...
USA National Gas Temperature Map
State By State Gasoline Taxes
Gas Buddy
Ethanol Free Stations
5552 Replies
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460637 views
Here in Indiana, the difference between Regular and Premium is usually a dollar, but some charge even more:
Ok, I'm bored .... actually - to be more precise - I'm bored of eating the same rotation of 9 or 10 meals that are currently my "go-to" meals. My wife works the long hours - I work from home as and when i feel like it ... which means i generally do most of the cooking ... and so by default - i also make out the shopping list ...
We cook at home 5 or even 6 nights a week - but we always seem to fall back on the same old tried and tested "quick and easy but tastes ok" meals. Week in week out.
Pot Roast - mash and Peas.
Spaghetti
Chicken Pasta in cheese sauce.
Curry & rice
(these are some of mine)
Now it's not that I'm not adventurous in the kitchen ... I'll try anything once or twice ... but we all do it. Unless your name is Martha Stewart or Rachel Ray .. we all eventually fall back on our 8-10 favorite "meals"
So i thought - if we shared some of our own go-to meals with each other ... we might be able to add a few "new" ones to our own arsenal of meals.
So again - I ask you ...
What's for dinner tonight ?
Please give me something new to add to my rotation ... its our weekly shop tomorrow - so i want to pull together a few idea's and try and eat a meal each day next week that I've never had before .. or at least something that is not on my current "go-to" meal plan.
What meal do you always seem to fall back on in your house ? Maybe its something that I've never tried or not had in a while. I need inspiration !! I've got a blank shopping list in front of me - and nothing sounds good .. HELP !
We cook at home 5 or even 6 nights a week - but we always seem to fall back on the same old tried and tested "quick and easy but tastes ok" meals. Week in week out.
Pot Roast - mash and Peas.
Spaghetti
Chicken Pasta in cheese sauce.
Curry & rice
(these are some of mine)
Now it's not that I'm not adventurous in the kitchen ... I'll try anything once or twice ... but we all do it. Unless your name is Martha Stewart or Rachel Ray .. we all eventually fall back on our 8-10 favorite "meals"
So i thought - if we shared some of our own go-to meals with each other ... we might be able to add a few "new" ones to our own arsenal of meals.
So again - I ask you ...
What's for dinner tonight ?
Please give me something new to add to my rotation ... its our weekly shop tomorrow - so i want to pull together a few idea's and try and eat a meal each day next week that I've never had before .. or at least something that is not on my current "go-to" meal plan.
What meal do you always seem to fall back on in your house ? Maybe its something that I've never tried or not had in a while. I need inspiration !! I've got a blank shopping list in front of me - and nothing sounds good .. HELP !
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331180 views
Smoked some salmon on the grill while enjoying some Blue Moon beer. Kinda cool tonight so I fired up the heaters. Here in FL, we fire up heaters once the temps get below 60 
As for the salmon, I seared them first, then flipped them off to the side not over the coals and brushed on some lemon pepper marinade followed by some salmon seasoning. Threw some hickory chips on the coals and then closed the vents to about 10% airflow. Yum.
As for the salmon, I seared them first, then flipped them off to the side not over the coals and brushed on some lemon pepper marinade followed by some salmon seasoning. Threw some hickory chips on the coals and then closed the vents to about 10% airflow. Yum.
Pub Member / Supporter
America’s Fastest-Growing EV State Isn’t California—Not by a Long Shot
New data shows electric vehicle adoption is increasingly driven by state policies, electricity prices and charging access—not federal incentives
www.autoweek.com
The number-one US state for EV growth, according to the June 22 Yardi report?
Oklahoma.
It has no ZEV mandates and "minimal" incentives, Yardi says, but also has cheap electricity, high multi-car household rates (so, for example, a non-Lightning Ford F-150 pulls their trailers), and a consumer base willing to switch.
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905 views
tomwellborn3rd (@wellborn.net)
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bsky.app
Never realized that Tesla is losing to BYD at manufacturing too, which IMO is Tesla's biggest accomplishment and area of innovation. Nice writeup about the state of play and how we got here though. I have no faith that we're moving any productive direction though sadly, most changes and efforts feel reactionary rather than rooted in making use of the time being bought by tariffs, with few exceptions.
So: how are the cars so cheap, and what is being cut to get there? The best public accounting comes from the Rhodium Group, which compared BYD, Geely, and Leapmotor against Tesla's Chinese operation, a fair comparison because it removes labor costs and shipping from the equation entirely. Their estimate is that BYD builds a car for about $4,700 less than Tesla builds a Model 3 in Shanghai, roughly 15 percent of the Model 3's price. The breakdown is the interesting part. Direct government grants account for about $292 per vehicle, which is 5 percent of the gap. The biggest single factor is vertical integration: BYD makes about 80 percent of its top-tier components in-house, against 37 percent for Tesla, and that eliminates roughly $2,369 per vehicle in supplier markups. Lower overhead, meaning cheaper engineering talent and administrative cost spread across enormous volume, accounts for another $1,719. And BYD pays its suppliers on 155-day terms, against Tesla's 60, which is worth about $214 per car in float. When people say the Chinese advantage is subsidies, the per-vehicle number says otherwise. When people say it is slave wages, the Tesla Shanghai comparison says otherwise too. The advantage is mostly that BYD decided, twenty years ago, to make its own batteries, its own motors, its own power electronics, and its own semiconductors, and Western automakers decided the opposite.
US EV sales are rising again. Here’s why the recovery is set to last.
Even though sales tanked last year after the end of federal incentives, the American EV sector is on the mend as drivers face sky-high gasoline prices.
www.canarymedia.com
TWiT Tech Podcast Network
Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO_nW-BTlv4
Direct YouTube Link - Microsoft Defender Arriving on Linux
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO_nW-BTlv4
Direct YouTube Link - Microsoft Defender Arriving on Linux
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
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29 views
Ham Radio 2.0
Time for another AWESOME video from Ham Radio 2.0!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDeuQ1SLkQU
Direct YouTube Link - LIVE!
Ham Radio 2.0 Website
Ham Radio 2.0 on Facebook
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDeuQ1SLkQU
Direct YouTube Link - LIVE!
Ham Radio 2.0 Website
Ham Radio 2.0 on Facebook
0 Replies
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21 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.
148 Replies
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1762 views
Was thinking same thing. It should be a good week for sec shorts and roll callThey ought to have fun with this…