Anyone making a spring FTA "to do list"?

[iafirebuff]

Somebody had a busy day! When does the new job start?

and now today I had to redo 1/2 of what I did. Put a Dish500 on the roof (actually it was a Phase II) but something was goofy and it wasn't working right (the 811 wouldnt acknowledge the switches)...so I got pissed and tore it down.

-Put up the 36" Fortec for AnikF1 and locked that on good (+11 on TSN +7.5 or above is great signal, +10 is awesome)
-Moved the SC dish back to Hispasat and tied that into the Motorized (removed the 22k switch and added a Diseqc so port 1 is MOtorized KU, port 2 is Motorized DBS and port 3 is Hispasat)
-added a DBS to the G10 dish for 119
-added a DBS to the AnikF1 dish for 110
-combined them....yeah that looks good. LNB's are about 40 feet apart from each other (110/119) but it works now
-redid cabling (about 5 times)

but I think we are done now (hopefully)

 

[Mr Tony]

30th

 

[lumpkin666]

- Rewired and moved some switches around to accomodate the BSC621 (with internal 22k tone switch - dangit. Bypassed that and added an external diseqc) into my setup.
- Burried some cable to tie the BUD and little dishes together.
- Added zipties to everything to make sure cables will stay put.
- Started wiring for installation of vBoxII on the BUD this weekend (if rain stays away).

BTW - getting some KU on the BUD now that I rewired and use correct switches. Need to tweak things, but not a priority given that I have most of my KU needs met.

Next on the list:
- Finish wiring and cable runs for the vboxII (and test vboxII + SG2100 on same cable with ecoda 22k switch).
- Steal primestar dish from my setup and gift it to my mother for G10.
- Decide where I want remaining primestar dish to point, and get it done.
- Trim trees before leaves start causing a problem.
- Tweak BUD for more of the arc and better KU.
- Attempt to acquire more dishes (primestar and 5ft mesh) from neighboring areas.
- Rewire everything again to somehow enable me to utilize my other FTA receivers.
- Watch TV.

 

[Mr Tony]

Somebody had a busy day!

the last two days have been busy
-moved the C-Band dish from one table to another table
-had to move the G10 dish because the C-Band dish blocked it
-set up SC dish for StarChoice
-set up Dish500 for Dish
-rewired a bunch of stuff

then some of it didn't work so yesterday we
-put up a different dish for SC and got better results
-added a LNB for 110 there
-added a LNB on the G10 dish for 119
-moved the SC dish to Hispasat
-ran a cable to the motorized
-swapped out the 22k switch to a 4x1 diseqc

went through probably 100 zipties yesterday because I kept running cables up the side of the deck door and ziptieing them then realizing I had to rerun a different cable or remove it.

But now its all working right

 

[Davage]

went through probably 100 zipties yesterday because I kept running cables up the side of the deck door and ziptieing them then realizing I had to rerun a different cable or remove it.

I've done the exact same thing. Put a ziptie on the cable and end up cutting it off just 2 minutes later. The last batch of zipties I bought are re-useable because they have a little tab that allows the ziptie to release and be used again. That comes in handy during rewiring projects.

 

[Mr Tony]

Last Christmas Menards (home improvement sotre here in the upper midwest) had a bunch of little zipties for cheap (like 1000 for 5 bucks or something) so I go through those like crazy

but yep...put one on and cut it off 2 minutes later

 

[Anole]

I've bought good quality zip ties at the 99¢ store chain.
Often they are name brands.
I even have some green ones that must've been intended for Xmas tree use.
White is the most common color found, though

 

[iafirebuff]

I go through those like crazy too! For outdoor I always get the white (UV safe) and last fall when I rewired everything, I got colored ties, and color coded all my cable ends, connections, connections at splitters, and about every 30' or so under my crawl space. If the cable was for lets say OTA and it got the color RED. Then each room had its own color. So lets say blue for the living room. So the OTA cable that feed the living room I would put a red tie and a blue tie on ot, trim the ecess, and now when I open up my outdoor enclosure, I can easily find the cable that feeds the OTA to my living room. I assigned a color for each room and each 'service" (ots, Dish, fta). I LOVE zip ties! I wanna get a 6' one sometime - not sure what I wold use it for though.

 

[Anole]

color code using tie wraps

Brilliant idea, mate!

I have always color coded my CAT-5 cables by using different color silicon snag-boots.
So a particular cable color plus boot color is unique, and I can sort 'em out at the far end.
They all go from my computer room to various places in the house, and I never have a duplicate.
Boot colors include: dark blue, black, gray, white, yellow, pink, orange, and green.
(but I reserve red for crossover cables).
Cable colors include: light blue, dark blue, white, gray, and black.

I'm going to go mark my coaxes with two tie wraps as you suggested.
I think I saw various color zip ties at the 99¢ store just the other day.
But just at the two ends will be enough.
Maybe I'll use the resistor color codes, and read from connector as the first digit.
So then, "connector, red, green, cable------cable, green, red, connector" would be cable number 25.

uhhh: maybe these last few off-topic posts would make a nice thread of their own?

 

[iafirebuff]

It makes finding the right cable quick and easy! I have a chart that I made up, taped inside the lid to my Satellite Tool Box (Yes, I have a toobox that has nothing but Satellite tools and parts in it). I with the excess of the tie trimmed off, the ties are nice and tidy looking.

 

[RVD420]

I dug the hole and put in the pole (4 bags of concrete) yesterday. Today I put the motorized dish on the pole. Now I can get from 148 to 72. (should be able to get further east, but the LNB I had died and I am using a Primestar LNB ziptied and duct taped to the dish.) You can tell the LNB is not quite centered. Going to order a new LNB and fine tune the Dish.

Sunday I am re-runing cables, make the job nice and tidy.

 

[1inabillion]

Got another C/Ku Bud Planned 2 go with what i already have more FTA fun

 

[Tron]

Hopeful weekend project: Use an admittedly undersized Dish Network NPRM to mount one of the 84E Channel Masters given to me by Stogie. It will be used to pick up 87w and 91w

 

[lumpkin666]

Okay, so far this weekend:
- Trimmed trees near BUD (lesson/story to follow)
- Rewired cabling for VBoxII (burried, and zip-tied everything!)
- Tested vboxII and SG2100 on same cable with 22k ecoda switch (seems to be working fine!)
- Primestar dish moved to mom's pointed and ready to run cable

Two lessons learned:
- Double check everything before making assumptions. I was getting errors with my actuator arm's reed switch, and had assumed that this was because the switch had been exposed to the weather for awhile. I stole a switch from another actuator, only to find later that my wiring had a short in it somewhere. Rewired and everything worked fine.
- Use caution when trimming trees. I was trying to avoid having a branch fall onto my BUD and dent the mesh. This was a great plan, but I was more worried about catching/guiding the falling branch, and ended up getting the crap cut outta my arms AND got whacked on the head hard enough to send me wobbling around the yard for a few moments (which made my wife laugh). Fortunately the dish didn't get hit

 

[voomvoom]

I hope you don't mind if I agree with your wife? HeHeHeHeHeHeHe!!!

Al

 

[Tron]

...ended up getting the crap cut outta my arms AND got whacked on the head hard enough to send me wobbling around the yard for a few moments (which made my wife laugh). Fortunately the dish didn't get hit

The things we do for our FTA

 

[Anole]

one thing at a time

...ended up getting the crap cut outta my arms AND got whacked on the head...
Fortunately the dish didn't get hit

I respect a man with priorities ... and values! :

Well, today, I (had a buddy help me) rig an Invacom SNH-031 to the end of a Phase III arm.
Used a variant of a very clever and simple bracket design discovered in another thread , here.
(build on the shoulders of giants!)
If it works out for 129ºW Whitesprings, I'll post some pix in a more appropriate thread.

I wasn't all that ambitious today.
I'm pacing myself.

 

[Inno]

I plan to move to a 15 acre "dish farm" paradise!!!!! Now to convince the significant other that a 10' dish is necessary.............ideas????

 

[vfrjim]

I plan to move to a 15 acre "dish farm" paradise!!!!! Now to convince the significant other that a 10' dish is necessary.............ideas????

Convince? With a 15 acre pacel, can't you just hide it?

 

[lumpkin666]

I plan to move to a 15 acre "dish farm" paradise!!!!! Now to convince the significant other that a 10' dish is necessary.............ideas????

After the purchase and before the move-in, simply slip over and install the dish. Don't even mention it, or pay attention to it till your wife asks. Then say, "Wow, we were so excited about the house that we must not have even noticed that there!" or.. "Yeah, the previous owner said he had an old dish stored away and wanted to know if it'd be okay to leave it here since he didn't have a need for it at his new place. I told him it would be okay, as long as it wasn't in the way. I had no idea it was that big, and that he was going to put it back on that old pole before he left!"