Bees in C1WPLL, can center hole in the cover be filled?

[. Raine]

For a week or so now, I've been losing stations on my 9'. Went out today and found the problem, bees nest in the LNB, a C1WPLL. It has a plastic cover on it, but a bee still made a nest in it. The center hole in the cover looks big enough for a bee to fit through, the other holes look to small. Can I just fill that center hole with silicone and keep the bees out?

 

[primestar31]

Yes, it's safe to fill the larger hole. Use silicone bathtub caulk.

 

[KE4EST]

Yep sure can as long as it is non-metallic.
I have to admit when I read the title I was thinking I bet he lost the blue cap, but I forgot about that hole.
This is the first year I can remember that so far no bees in mine yet.

 

[Blindowl1234]

I had the cap fall out of mine last year. I kept wondering why I had no signal until I went outside and saw a wasp flying around the lnb. The nest was as big as the inside of the lnb.

 

[Keystone7]

Wow, I'll have to keep an eye out for this type of problem. Thanks for the pics.

 

[. Raine]

Thanks, everyone! Figured I could fill it, but wanted to make sure!

 

[Corrado]

I noticed Friday evening while we were eating dinner and watching the end of Mission Impossible and Rat Patrol Saturday morning that 101W kept going to "No Signal". Bumping the dish didn't help.

Later Saturday while mowing the lawn I spotted the LNBF cover had fallen out and was allowing the bees in mine. Cleaned it out today.

 

[RT-Cat]

Wow! I have good signal since I recently adjusted the elevation, but will sure take a look at mine. I have had others full of bees in the past. Nasty little buggers.
Nice pics.

 

[FTA4PA]

For a week or so now, I've been losing stations on my 9'. Went out today and found the problem, bees nest in the LNB, a C1WPLL. It has a plastic cover on it, but a bee still made a nest in it. The center hole in the cover looks big enough for a bee to fit through, the other holes look to small. Can I just fill that center hole with silicone and keep the bees out?

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Nice how he held still while you got a picture. You are lucky you didn't get stung when you 'invaded his new home'. Never had any in my lnbf but they do love the eaves of the shed by my dishes. Little ^#@*! chased me away regularly when I tried to work on the dishes last year. Hate to use toxic chemicals so I bought a case of this organic stuff: http://www.victorpest.com/store/insect-control/bs5730 It's safe to use and works great. Sprayed them after dark once they were back for the evening. The stuff also leaves a coating so they don't want to return. This year I sprayed the spots they like before they came so hopefully they will find another home.

 

[phlatwound]

I had the same issue of the cap falling out of my GeoSat C1 LNBF. I put a very light coating of silicone caulk around the rim of the cap before I put in back in last time, it's held for about 3 years now. And it should be no problem to get it back out, if I ever need to.

 

[FaT Air]

I had the same issue of the cap falling out of my GeoSat C1 LNBF

same here, fell out every winter. Would find it on the ground in front of the BUD come spring. Two wraps of Scotch 33 has held it on for this past winter and winters to come. That 33 seems impervious to the effects of the atmosphere.

 

[. Raine]

Nice how he held still while you got a picture. You are lucky you didn't get stung when you 'invaded his new home'. Never had any in my lnbf but they do love the eaves of the shed by my dishes. Little ^#@*! chased me away regularly when I tried to work on the dishes last year. Hate to use toxic chemicals so I bought a case of this organic stuff: http://www.victorpest.com/store/insect-control/bs5730 It's safe to use and works great. Sprayed them after dark once they were back for the evening. The stuff also leaves a coating so they don't want to return. This year I sprayed the spots they like before they came so hopefully they will find another home.

He almost got the bee spray because he was beginning to annoy me, when I pulled the nest out the bee flew away, straight to the LNB arm on the dish. I threw the nest into a old [unoccupied] bird house that was laying around here and set it on the wall at the back of my yard. Twice I went to the dish and let the bee land on my hand and then carried it over to where the nest was, stupid bee flew back to the dish arm both times.

This is where it started to annoy me and I was thinking of going and getting the bee spray and spraying it, but it also got me curious. I carried the bird house to the dish and held the hole up to the hole in the scalar, bee went in the hole after a bit and I carried the bird house back over to the wall, soon as I set it down the damn thing flew back to the dish.

I then taped the nest just inside the opening of the bird house and put it up to the hole in the scalar, the bee went right to it and this time it stayed with the nest when I put the bird house back onto the wall. Throughout the day I tuned up the dish and puttered around the yard and the bee left the nest here and there and never went back to the dish, always to the bird house.

My wife thinks I'm crazy when it comes to bees cause they can be flying all over and I keep on working, the only time I really ever get stung is if I accidentally sit on one or something like that. Or white face hornets, they're just plain ornery and need no reason to sting! She just walks near bees and she gets stung, she hates bees!

A week or so ago we were clearing a bigger area to ride our horses in and we were moving a pile of old pallets, yellow jackets in the pile somewhere, flying everywhere. My wife asks me, "What the hell are those things flying around?" I said bees, and she was gone in about two seconds!

Had to finish moving the pallets by myself.

 

[KE4EST]

WOW I have never been scared of bee's either, and have let them land on me....with an exception. Yellow Jackets, if I get in a nest of those they always sting me, I hate yellow jackets.

 

[RT-Cat]

Twice I went to the dish and let the bee land on my hand.

 

[Jason S]

After reading through these posts, I had to go pop the cover off my C-band LNBF to have a look... No critters.

Twice I went to the dish and let the bee land on my hand and then carried it over to where the nest was, stupid bee flew back to the dish arm both times.

From the photo, the nest looks to be a wasp nest and the 'bee' looks like a yellow jacket.

 

[Corrado]

I thought mine was strange when the quality was reading about 40 and the signal was about 10. I had never seen it read that way before.

 

[Titanium]

Watch out for these radiation enhanced "Super Hornets". Living in the focal point of the concentrated signals from space have created these creatures that selectively absorb the satellite signal radiation and increase their super powers while preventing the signals from reaching the LNB.

 

[. Raine]

I thought mine was strange when the quality was reading about 40 and the signal was about 10. I had never seen it read that way before.

Mine had me stumped a bit, it was odd the way it happened, but makes sense now. I lost Encore completely first, then a few days later channels on 107 started going in and out, which didn't bother me much, everything else seemed fine. Then a few days later Me and Movies on 101 and 99W dropped in Q, then a day or so later, were gone. Then decades went too. Which made me think, all right, I gotta find out what's causing this! Didn't get to check it for a few more days and then ByuTV went out and others dropped way down in Q.

I was trying to think of what it could be and thought it must've been either the dish went out of plumb because it's the one mounted on the cedar stump, or the cable was going bad. First I checked the pole and it was still plumb, then I checked with my meter at the switch, then at the dish, all the same readings. I was thinking at that time that the LNB had gone bad until I took it off and looked inside of it!

 

[. Raine]

After reading through these posts, I had to go pop the cover off my C-band LNBF to have a look... No critters.

From the photo, the nest looks to be a wasp nest and the 'bee' looks like a yellow jacket.

I thought it was a yellow jacket, but maybe it isn't. This picture is clearer than the one I'd posted before.

 

[KE4EST]

That is a wasp, but you are close, with those markings it is called a yellow jacket wasp -- as is resembles a yellow jacket.