Help! Wasps/Hornets in these dishes; need to be removed.

Demetrax1

Well-Known SatelliteGuys Member
Original poster
Jan 17, 2018
29
11
Roanoke, Virginia
Hi all,

So I have a family-friend who is leasing their property, and asked me if I wanted these two dishes. Me, being a satellite geek, took them up on the offer. The dish on the upper side of the building is an original DISH 300 along with a 500 dangling by one bolt (for some reason) so I agreed to take them off their hands. I plan to refurbish and hang in mancave. However, I have a few problems.

First of all, the 300 is mounted 25 - 30 feet up. I'll borrow an extension ladder, no problem. However, it has come to my attention that wasps or hornets have built nests inside of both dishes. This brought a screeching halt to my plans. Does anybody have any advice for dealing with these things? It'd be one thing if the nests were visible, as I'd just hit it with some Raid when it gets dark and be done with it. The problem is that these nests are inside the actual mast assembly and maybe even the feed arm. I have seen multiple wasps fly into the hole so I know they're in there. I'm afraid to be that high up and come face-to-face with a swarm of Satans. Please see the attached pictures to get an idea of what I'm working with. Any advice from some accomplished satellite techs would be appreciated.

F17B2B77-93EE-4497-A839-6276FA2AD6F8.JPG

3C63ED86-D46E-45C5-9796-20654929F019.JPG
 
Had a big hornets nest a few years back to deal with. Going after yellow jackets and wasps with a can of spray at night usually does the trick with minimal risk of getting stung. However the basketball sized hornets nest was a different story. Rather than call a professional I ordered this bee suit on amazon. Was a little nerve racking, felt like someone throwing marbles at me but it was hornets bouncing off the suit. Have used this a few times and never got stung while wearing it. Well worth the low investment for something like this and cheaper than a pro.

Amazon product ASIN B0042JAHI0
 
When I was a rookie I went to a service call, pulled the LNB out and felt my right forearm itching. Didn't pay attention and scratched it, all of a sudden my left hand was itching. Looked down and I had pulled a wasp nest out with the coax. Luckily it was a ranch house with a roof that had a shallow pitch and I was able to go running across the roof. From there on, I kept a can of wasp spray in the truck, if I suspected bees just squirted it up the LNB arm and down the J mount. They'd come dropping out.
 
When I was a rookie I went to a service call, pulled the LNB out and felt my right forearm itching. Didn't pay attention and scratched it, all of a sudden my left hand was itching. Looked down and I had pulled a wasp nest out with the coax. Luckily it was a ranch house with a roof that had a shallow pitch and I was able to go running across the roof. From there on, I kept a can of wasp spray in the truck, if I suspected bees just squirted it up the LNB arm and down the J mount. They'd come dropping out.
Yep same experience with dryer vents. Yellow jackets love those.

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using Tapatalk
 
As a ex tech I can tell you right now that I didn't deal with bee's no matter how much the customer complained! PERIOD!
I would reschedule till they resolved the issue. If I could put a new dish up some where else with ease and less than 20 mins then MAYBE I would do that otherwise nope. See I was paid per job not per hour so the faster you were in and out of the job the more you were paid...messing with bee's not only slowed me down but was also just flat out dangerous.
Some of the guys mentioned sprays they had...but at the end of the day NOPE.
I was a dish tech NOT an exterminator!
 
Had a big hornets nest a few years back to deal with. Going after yellow jackets and wasps with a can of spray at night usually does the trick with minimal risk of getting stung. However the basketball sized hornets nest was a different story. Rather than call a professional I ordered this bee suit on amazon. Was a little nerve racking, felt like someone throwing marbles at me but it was hornets bouncing off the suit. Have used this a few times and never got stung while wearing it. Well worth the low investment for something like this and cheaper than a pro.

Amazon product ASIN B0042JAHI0

Would love to see a photo of you in this
 
***

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)