Social Feed

iBoston
Last reply · posted in Free To Air (FTA) Discussion
I will upload pictures in the next couple days. I had two 120 cm dishes on motors. I was tired of making adjustments and dealing with the USALS motor.

I obtained 3 additional 90cm GeoSat dishes. Today, I took down one of the 120 cm dishes. I then installed and tuned and locked in 3 dishes. two 90cm and one 120cm.

I now have the following fixed dishes :

90cm - 125w and 121w (2 dual bullet lnbf's - dish pointed at 123 with 4 degree dual lnbf)
90cm - 103w and 97w ( 2 geosat pro dual lnbfs - dish pointed at 103 with 6 degree side lobe for 97w)
90cm - 87w - GeoSat dual lnbf
120cm - 30w - Invacomm Quad lnbf

All 4 dishes and 6 bird locks are dual lnbfs and will be setup on 3 different receivers/tvs. I am awaiting a few extra parts (switches etc) to finalize.

My other existing and intact 120cm USALS dish will be for testing and scanning other birds. (Invacomm Linear/Circular lnbf)

The only hard part was setting up the 120cm at 30 west. I couldn't figure out why i couldn't hone in a signal. Turns out that the dish elevation slider doesn't allow the dish to descend down enough. I had to put a wedge in where the mount slips in so that it tilts forward a few degrees. I then had extra play on the elevation to fine tune it. I am getting excellent signal quality with many tp's at over 13db.
282 Replies · 60536 views
iBoston
Okay, we are buried in snow! - The first cband 10' rim of dish is 5' above ground. I am officially digging the first foot of the rim out from under the snow. The second Cband dish, i put the rim up higher. The snow is about a foot away from touching the rim. In the last week, we have gotten so much snow, and the winds have been shifting directions so drifts are building up everywhere. Our 6 foot high fence that keeps the cows/goats in is officially invisible and buried in many areas. Luckily, the cows goats won't walk into deep snow, so they stay to there packed down trails they make.

Yesterday, i had to feed the cows with a 1000lb bale. The snow had drifted the gate corner where there water was to 5' foot in one night. I used the blower on the tractor to blow it all out. Jeez, i just walked out there to to do chores, and give water to the animals, and im gonna have to blow again today. We have gotten so much snow, we are living in a HOLE. Our driveway , courtyard and path to the cows is now about 6 feet below ground level. So, when we get high winds accompanied by snow, it just fills in all the holes, and things can start to get bad fast, because you blow it out build up a higher wall which then makes for deeper holes and deeper drifts the next time. For this reason, i never blow during a blizzard. I wait the blizzard out, because if you blow it all out, 2 hours later, its like you didn't do anything, and all you have done is make the problem worse because of the wall building i mentioned.

I remember one year, we had a 3 day blizzard. We have a 1000 gallon metal tank. The tank is about 6 feet high on its side. We cut a hole in it and the goats take it as shelter. After the blizzard, i walked out to the animal yard, and the 1000 gallon tank was GONE! And i don't mean just the tank was burried. The entire field was at that depth. Crazy! I grabbed a snow shovel and started digging. It took 2 feet of digging before we hit the top of the tank on its side. About an hour of digging later, we managed to dig a small tunnel down to the hole on the side of the tank. All the goats emerged out of the tank. The snow was so deep the animals could not vacate. We put on snow shoes and walked back and forth a 100' foot for about an hour tapping down a path in the snow between the tank and the cow shelter and the food/water so the animals had a path to walk. The snow was SO deep. The animals were very motivated as they probably hadn't had any food or water for a couple days. Slowly and cautiously they walked/crawled the path and made it to water/food. THAT was a crazy storm!
FTA4PA
Okay, we are buried in snow! - The first cband 10' rim of dish is 5' above ground. I am officially digging the first foot of the rim out from under the snow. The second Cband dish, i put the rim up higher. The snow is about a foot away from touching the rim. In the last week, we have gotten so much snow, and the winds have been shifting directions so drifts are building up everywhere. Our 6 foot high fence that keeps the cows/goats in is officially invisible and buried in many areas. Luckily, the cows goats won't walk into deep snow, so they stay to there packed down trails they make.

Yesterday, i had to feed the cows with a 1000lb bale. The snow had drifted the gate corner where there water was to 5' foot in one night. I used the blower on the tractor to blow it all out. Jeez, i just walked out there to to do chores, and give water to the animals, and im gonna have to blow again today. We have gotten so much snow, we are living in a HOLE. Our driveway , courtyard and path to the cows is now about 6 feet below ground level. So, when we get high winds accompanied by snow, it just fills in all the holes, and things can start to get bad fast, because you blow it out build up a higher wall which then makes for deeper holes and deeper drifts the next time. For this reason, i never blow during a blizzard. I wait the blizzard out, because if you blow it all out, 2 hours later, its like you didn't do anything, and all you have done is make the problem worse because of the wall building i mentioned.

I remember one year, we had a 3 day blizzard. We have a 1000 gallon metal tank. The tank is about 6 feet high on its side. We cut a hole in it and the goats take it as shelter. After the blizzard, i walked out to the animal yard, and the 1000 gallon tank was GONE! And i don't mean just the tank was burried. The entire field was at that depth. Crazy! I grabbed a snow shovel and started digging. It took 2 feet of digging before we hit the top of the tank on its side. About an hour of digging later, we managed to dig a small tunnel down to the hole on the side of the tank. All the goats emerged out of the tank. The snow was so deep the animals could not vacate. We put on snow shoes and walked back and forth a 100' foot for about an hour tapping down a path in the snow between the tank and the cow shelter and the food/water so the animals had a path to walk. The snow was SO deep. The animals were very motivated as they probably hadn't had any food or water for a couple days. Slowly and cautiously they walked/crawled the path and made it to water/food. THAT was a crazy storm!

Stay safe!
iBoston
Stay safe!
Thanks. I try!

I just came in from snow blowing. Phew. Of-course, it's still snowing and blowing, so unless it lets up soon, ill have to blow again tomorrow. :snow Small price to pay to live in paradise. But, i got the wood stove going, i came in to a house at 75 degrees, so im toasty. When its windy like this, Cband is pretty much off limits.
  • Like
Reactions: Brct203 and FTA4PA
iBoston
34.5w KU has gone off a bit. This is a FIRST for the 3+ years its been hooked up. I didn't care when it took out the Venezuela channels, but now getting borderline on my music channels and i cannot have that. Ill have to get out there and re-fine tune it.

Also, one of my Cband dishes has gone off. Funny - the two dishes are right next to each other. So, maybe the same gust of wind took em both out, or maybe I've having a bit of a heaving issue of the storage container from frozen ground??

Ill have to wait for a above freezing day and when the wind isn't drifting the smoke from the wood furnace into the satellite. I was willing to wait until spring, but losing my music channels prioritizes the situation.
  • Like
Reactions: FTA4PA and freddylq
iBoston
Well, I'm not complaining, but 34.5w self corrected. I am getting the hard Venezuela channels again, and my Nostalgia is back to full strength again. Maybe it was some other issue???

My Cband is still off thou....
Former member 209992
Last reply · posted in SatelliteGuys Support Center
For some reason, the satelliteguys.us site is loading a lot slower than usual on both Chrome on my Asus laptop and Safari on my iPhone.
I'm also seeing longer appearances of the blue bar at the top and the "3 blue bars" loading symbol.
Is anyone else also having the same problem? Thanks in advance.
524 Replies · 17818 views
  • Like
Reactions: charlesrshell
Foxbat
Yeah. It's probably something going on with the MacBook as my iPhone has been pretty snappy.
  • Like
Reactions: charlesrshell
Scott Greczkowski
I have been optimizing the site the past few days... and got us here now. :) We are rocking now!

Screenshot 2026-10-15 144737.webp
Foxbat
Yeah. It's probably something going on with the MacBook as my iPhone has been pretty snappy.
I rebooted my MacBook Air and it's zipping right along. Sorry, but it was taking over 20 seconds to load pages, with the pulsing blue bars so it was munching on something.
Scott Greczkowski
Remember folks... just like DNS... its always Foxbat. :D
  • Haha
Reactions: Foxbat
Foxbat
Remember folks... just like DNS... its always Foxbat. :D
WTF… …What the Foxbat!😱
dishstaller
Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in Internet Television (IPTV) Discussion Forum
Wasn't exactly sure where to post this. Just had a customer come in inquiring about internet. He has HughesNet and had heard good things about mine. He asked if we provided email addresses and it kinda caught me off guard. I said he should be able to keep whatever email he had been using....my sister in law is still using a BellSouth email addy and they haven't been around here for many years. He said he had gotten a letter from HughesNet stating that they had until Nov 16th to save, move, forward, whatever, their Hughesnet emails because they would lose them after that date.

I have never heard of a company simply mass-deleting email accounts (the customer still has his HughesNet service). From what I understand, in the past, the company who was ditching their email service simply sold the customer base to a company like Google.

Anyone else getting this letter. He said he would show it to me tomorrow when I go out there and set up his internet.
4 Replies · 53 views
Foxbat
Doing a Google of the HughesNet Email notice, it seems that HughesNet has been trying to eliminate hosting emails since 2019. And with HughesNet filing Chapter 11 back in August, it would be a smart move to switch to a more stable Email provider. Even AT&T farmed out their Email to Yahoo! years ago.

SpaceX's Starlink and the Cellular 5G Home Internet solutions have pretty much relegated HughesNet and its high latency, low bandwidth Internet service to History. If Earth had shorter days, maybe a Geostationary Internet Solution might have stood a fighting chance…
dishstaller
Well, I helped him set up a gmail acct....I actually wanted to see what the new process is for setting up a gmail acct since it had been years since I set mine up. Anyway, I showed him how to forward the emails he wanted to keep over.
navychop
If Earth had shorter days,

Wouldn't we then die of old age sooner?

🙄
Foxbat
Wouldn't we then die of old age sooner?

🙄
Still the same number of years, just more Sunsets…😉
dishstaller
Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
Can't help but wonder if a worker overlooked checking the harness. I rarely ride a roller coaster anymore but when I do I check the harness myself pretty aggressively.
Can't imagine what the son is going through.

22 Replies · 172 views
Jimbo
Back on the Goliath Roller Coaster ... I'm interested to find more details as well ...
Like where on the track did this happen (somewhere I read that it was on the climb up the top), which is impossible ...

They really need to take that ride and add at the very least, seatbelts ...

The Park is opening back up on Friday, the ride will Not be opening ... personally, I would keep it closed until different type of restraints can be designed and installed (over the winter).

I find it hard to believe that this ride is even allowed to be running with the restraints that exist at the moment, there are other rides that use the same type and they have been shut down across the country.

You got to believe that every ride has at least 2 types of restraint systems in place.

I wonder what and when we will hear from the Manufacturer ... and whatever governing bodies control these ...

Just think, this is a Major Amusement Park .... I would not have any problem getting on the Roller Coasters I have rode ...

Imagine what these County Fairs and others like them, I would not be caught Dead on one of them ... they get put up and tore down every other week, where is the safety for those rides ... No Thank You.
  • Like
Reactions: dishstaller
Jimbo
navychop
I would not be caught Dead on one of them

Yet IF you were on one, you might be caught dead.
dishstaller
Had no idea there were that many redundancies built into those restraints.
Jimbo
Had no idea there were that many redundancies built into those restraints.
It makes sense, however, I would want more types of restraints, so if one doesn't work, the other does ... the restraints coming over the shoulder I would have expected ... with a Seat belt as last resort.

Fwiw, I inquired with what they use on Coasters at Cedar Point, various Coasters, different restraints according to what the car and track requires ...

NONE of the Coasters at CP use THAT particular system :)
I'm glad to see ...
dishstaller
with a Seat belt as last resort.
According to the article, when you see a seat belt on a ride like this, it is basically used as a way of making sure the rider isn't too large/fat to safely ride the ride.
H
Last reply · posted in FTA Receiver / Equipment Support
I just received 6 receiver 2 port mini Multiswitch and it work great, no external power need it, and you can connect 6 receiver instead of 4 on most Mini Multiswitches... If anyone is interested in where they can get one PM me....
IMG_1786.webp
2 Replies · 43 views
Titanium
Have you tested using external power? Over the years, have found unpowered polarity switching to be unreliable. Especially problematic when used with DiSEqC motors or switch stacking.
H
No I have not. I just got it the other day and it is connected to six receivers working just fine. What I do is non power mini multi-switches work best with LNBF's and with LNB's
TWiT Tech Podcast Network
· posted in TWiT Tech Podcast Network
0 Replies · 6 views
TheRatPatrol
Last reply · posted in TV Shows
Anyone else watch this show? Any guesses as to what was in the box Gibbs gave to Abby that was on her desk? It look liked it was glowing.

I also heard that someone was leaving the show at the end of this season. Any guesses as to who thats going to be?
2129 Replies · 214619 views
TheRatPatrol
Wait, Tony is the director now? Apologies, I stopped watching a while ago.
  • Wow
Reactions: Howard Simmons
Jimbo
Wait, Tony is the director now? Apologies, I stopped watching a while ago.
Was Gibbs still there when you quit watching ?
If so, A Lot has happened ....

It's been pretty good all along , once you get use to Gibbs being gone.
  • Like
Reactions: MikeD-C05
Jimbo

Howard ...
You don't like Tony, or Tony as the Director (he's only been there for 30 seconds now) or you don't like NCIS ?
  • Like
Reactions: Howard Simmons
Howard Simmons
Howard ...
You don't like Tony, or Tony as the Director (he's only been there for 30 seconds now) or you don't like NCIS ?
Tony as the director.🙄
Jimbo
Tony as the director.🙄
Would you rather have LaRoche ???
TWiT Tech Podcast Network
· posted in TWiT Tech Podcast Network
0 Replies · 8 views
dishstaller
Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
I bought the fixed color version of these bulbs for my store several years ago...work great and no more replacing ballast. Finally had one go out and when I went back to Amazon I saw that now they come in selectable versions so no more guess work as to what color light would do best in a certain area. They are now double OR single ended...used to be strictly one way or the other. If any of you are looking at replacing the old style 4 or 8 ft bulbs, you might want to give these a try. The 8 footers are BRIGHT. I put 5 in my shooting/target shed and you can get a decent tan if you are in there long enough.

1 Replies · 26 views
Foxbat
When we re-lamped my in-Laws' house for sale last year, we were able to get all the Edison bulbs and a few fixtures with switch-selectable Color Temperature. We tried a few and settled on 3000°K as the best fit for the house. Matching the lighting in all the rooms made for an inviting experience. The Shop was the only place that we went with 4000°K for the LED 4' fixtures.

The house was sold within a month of going on the market, so we must have done something right.

The other advantage is if the new owners decide that they prefer a warmer light, they can unscrew the bulbs (I think it was close to 70 bulbs) and set them to the 2500K/2700K settings.

I'll have to check these out. Thanks!
  • Like
Reactions: dishstaller