Friday FTA Fun Poll 8/15/08

[Mr Tony]

Another week...another fun poll

This one had me thinking (I do that alot now while waiting on hold)

When working on a new FTA project (like installing a dish or rewiring the setup) what do you do?

-plan it all out on paper (drawings etc) then execute it...only deviate off the plan if necessary
-think of how its gonna work out then execute..again only deviate off plan if necessary
-ask on the board how to do it
-say screw it and just start working and shoot from the hip
-let someone else do it
-other (please explain)

 

[Mr Tony]

honestly I use to be a "just start it and shoot from the hip" but then I realized I would be wasting alot of time.

Now I am a draw it out and write down what I need to do (do that alot when waiting on hold for agents to pick up). When I swapped out a 3x4 switch for a 4x4 and added a line I had it written out as such

1. swap out 3x4 for 4x4
2. add 2nd wire from DBS LNB
3. wire up 4 lines to the 4x4
4. add new wire down house to wall plate for new receiver

etc

then I feel I get it done more efficiently

 

[Larry1]

Must be the early edition of the FFP.

I just use the shoot from the hip and work out any issues as I am working.


May be more of a combination of

think of how its gonna work out ....then just start working and shoot from the hip

At most for a project like my OTA antenna, draw out the major measurements, then work it out as I build it.

 

[phlatwound]

#3 "ask the board" for me!

Trying to learn enough to where I can get to point of "think and execute" or "plan/draw and execute".

 

[gabshere]

i voted other cause usually i do the first three
plan it out
some i shoot from the hip and other times i ask the board

plus i like to draw on a wealth of knowledge

it seems lately that i forget some of the important things lol lol

 

[Mr Tony]

Must be the early edition of the FFP.

sort of....with the new job (and only one computer with real internet there) I wanted to get the poll out there in enough time...and not Friday nite really late

 

[melgarga]

I usually do a combo of the choices in all my projects, sat related or otherwise. If it requires anything beyond simple wiring it gets sketched. Nothing worse than letting the magic smoke out when you could have prevented it. Design, (think dish gin pole) also gets layed out on a sketchpad. Except for staging tools and material from an improptu checklist, everything else thing is shoot from the hip using a mentally layed out plan. Project task/manpower/material management is one aspect of my vocation. After so long, foreseeing deviations from the 'master plan' and compensating on the fly becomes second nature.....lol.

 

[voomvoom]

I voted:
say screw it and just start working and shoot from the hip

because that's basically the end result

But, I could almost have voted for:
think of how its gonna work out then execute..again only deviate off plan if necessary

Only, it never winds up as planned, I always Deviate..!!!!!


Edit: I like the way Larry1 put it
think of how its gonna work out ....then just start working and shoot from the hip

that pretty well explains how I do it......

 

[DiscoLoveGrapes]

honestly I use to be a "just start it and shoot from the hip" but then I realized I would be wasting alot of time.

After this week, I going to have to agree. After runs to the hardware store, plopping a pole in concrete just before the rain (and somehow it's still level!), and a few moments of praying for the integrity of all involved metals, I think I may sit there with a pen and paper before my next install. Still, if Doc can end up watching Anderson Cooper swear at a few interns on a feeds bird, it'll all be worth it.

At the same time, the last time I retuned the dish, all I did was bring out the TV and play with the nuts and bolts until PBS hit the 70s.

 

[Tron]

I usually lie in bed losing sleep while planning the project in my head (#2 choice in the poll)

 

[Anole]

drawings

If it's minor or medium, I go with #2, and just think about it a lot 'till the answers come to me.

But, if it's a major project, complicated, or something I don't fully understand, I'll brainstorm it with a buddy.
And to discuss it, I make doodles 'n drawings to work out the details.
So, that's how I had to vote.

As for sticking to the plan, hey, does anybody?
I might have German heritage, but I can improvise with the best! - :up

(sorry if that's not PC, but I have just come off a Hogan's Heroes marathon!)

 

[stogie5150]

I usually throughly think it out, then execute. I am a very poor artist, and even a worse writer, so writing things down always goes pear-shaped at the worst possible time.

But there are things that I just go at with no planning, especially if I have done them before.

Y'all are gonna get tired of listening to this, but if you want to learn patience, improvisation, planning, frustration,anger,elation, and even some satisfaction, rehab yourself a 12' Paraclipse dish....LOL

 

[Davage]

I draw it out on paper.. I'm in the process of evaluating what to do with my dishes.. Since the audio scrambled on the Dish birds, I really don't have much need for a reflector pointed at Dishnet, because I can get Nasa from my C-Band dish. When I first moved into my house, I put in 5 direct-burial RG6 lines from the house out to my storage shed in the back yard. (I mount all of my Ku/DBS dishes on the storage shed so that I don't deface the side of the house) Over the last few years I've switched cable runs while repointing dishes etc. I am looking at setting up a fixed dish on Galaxy 18 for the equity muxes, and I also still want a motorized dish as well as my subscription Bell dish etc.. My mind works visually. If I see it drawn out on paper at least once, then I can get to work. So my vote is for #1 - Draw it out on paper, and only deviate if necessary.

 

[cracklincrotch]

Shoot from the hip.

Anybody that doesn't has no sense of adventure.

 

[Corrado]

For me, I start with a site survey on these type of projects and plan from there. Some flexibility and creative thinking usually required with LOS issues.

 

[olliec420]

Ice: you left one out, google it and see if someone has already written it out for you

 

[eurosport]

I chose -think of how its gonna work out then execute..again only deviate off plan if necessary- That method has always worked for me.