What Happened to Everybody?

[armadillo_115]

I'm still in it for the long haul. Strictly C Band at this time. Fortunately NO 5G interference so far! Mostly I watch Grit TV. Wife loves many different Spanish channels. I still plan to mount a Ku dish, just haven't gotten around to it.

We switched to TMobile Internet. Netflix, Paramount+, and Vix are included. (I'll take 'em for free) Bought a cheap Firestick, like it even better than Roku. All kinds of good stuff to watch.... until the cellular internet goes down again. lol

 

[comfortably_numb]

I still plan to mount a Ku dish, just haven't gotten around to it.

Prices on equipment have nearly doubled (just like everything else), so you might want to order your equipment soon

 

[telstar_1]

Still at it here Streaming FWIW is almost non existant for me and my crappy Century Link DSL which only has bandwidth for one thing at a time. I guess the one thing I'm trying to get connected here which is fiber, since it runs 50 feet from my house,is taking a top transport seat for carriers lately. I admit is definitely was more interesting in days gone by.

If 50' from it, why not already have it?

 

[Bassplayer 1964]

The closest tap is farther than that since they didn't cut in a tap at my pole. I don't know why they cant get the lead out and get it run to my pole at least. I have offered to bury the fiber the short distance to the house and have that wired as well. I don't think they have enough in the lineman department to get much done. How I wish they could get on a hot streak and get it done.

 

[navychop]

You may be waiting a while. Maybe quite a while.

 

[polgyver]

died or are they just quiet and no longer posting? Or worse...lost interest in this activity?

There is still another reason : ageing (and increased disability). I find that, due to peripheral neuropathy, I can not walk too far nor stand too long - therefore my tinkering possibilities are diminished.Completing any project (which requires using tools and sometimes machinery) is much more difficult than before.
cheers,
polgyver

 

[primestar31]

peripheral neuropathy

I agree with that. Both hands, and my feet suffer from that, and it's worse due to age p.s. I am NOT diabetic, it's just due to being racked up in various accidents during my life...

 

[Titanium]

We are all still here. But... we know everything about satellite systems, the dish is tracking the arc, blind scan still works, wasps are removed from the feedhorn, snow is swept off the reflector, watching all the great programming and have no need to ask questions anymore...

 

[comfortably_numb]

watching all the great programming and have no need to ask questions anymore...

Yeah, well, it would be nice to have some participation in the posting of feeds here besides 3 other people. Just sayin'.

 

[primestar31]

The closest tap is farther than that since they didn't cut in a tap at my pole. I don't know why they cant get the lead out and get it run to my pole at least. I have offered to bury the fiber the short distance to the house and have that wired as well. I don't think they have enough in the lineman department to get much done. How I wish they could get on a hot streak and get it done.

Those linemen might now have jobs at McDonald's, getting twice the pay...

 

[stecle]

Rick has ordered 300 V-boxes so there is still a lot of interest in FTA. I should probably buy 5 of them and stock up while they are still available. lol

 

[mr_rye89]

Still here, just fell asleep. I ought ta chase feeds, I put that Geosat 90 on a motor......

 

[Bassplayer 1964]

Those linemen might now have jobs at McDonald's, getting twice the pay...

Wouldn't doubt it. I've heard starting pay is $15 that's more than my starting pay back when I climbed poles for a living . I started out at $13 and that was back in the 80's.. Boy how things have changed LOL

 

[wagonman76]

I still have two 12 footers and I use them on a regular basis. I don't know if I'll spend the bucks to repair or replace anything in the future. The biggest problem that I've had recently is getting replacement mesh for the antennas. Either the dish maker went out of business (KTI, Paraclipse, etc) or it's a supply chain issue (TEK2000). I don't watch much on C-band anymore but there's still stuff of interest - usually older programs. And now we have the 5G interference. I do some streaming but not a lot of that because most of the newer shows/movies turn me off.

Homepage

McNICHOLS® supplies the largest inventory of Perforated & Expanded Metal, Wire Mesh & Grating Products from 19 U.S. locations.

www.mcnichols.com

This is the company my work uses. They have a huge selection of meshes, expanded metal, perforated sheet, etc. They might have the matching material for your dish.

 

[wagonman76]

I’m still here and will be until the end. No 5G out here and may not ever be, which is good. I enjoy looking around and seeing what I can find. And using the technology that to most people is long forgotten, that is if they know about it in the first place. Kinda like working on my old cars.

I grew up with people who had the luxury of a big dish in the 80s. When I bought my first house in 99, it had a working dish and receiver. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, but my gf at the time had a dish fixed at G5 and was eager to help. So I subscribed for 4 years till money got tight and I had to drop it. Then in 06 I got 4DTV. And learned from forums what to do with it. When 4DTV switched to HTH I got a Corotor feedhorn with Ku. Also sometime in there I got a Traxis FTA box.

Even though my house came with the dish, my HOA wouldn’t stop complaining about it and wanting it gone. I continued to use my setup until 2016 when I took it down and moved it to my new house in the sticks, then sold the old place. Good riddance HOA.

By the time I got financially ok and got the dish put back up at the new place, 4DTV was done. But I had no internet, so FTA was really nice. And even though I finally have internet now, I still prefer the dish. You just can’t get that much of a variety of oddball stuff anywhere else.

But I can see where most people don’t want anything to do with it. It’s work and a hobby. No local companies to service it. Gotta keep it shoveled off in the winter. Installation, maintenance, repairs. adjustments, understanding the arc and transponders and the equipment… it’s all on you. Trying to explain it to my housemate at the time was pointless. I am thankful that my dish, actuator, analog box, even my C lnb are still from 99. I got spares. But if I had to buy all this stuff from scratch, I may not have gotten into C band to start with.

The young generation who grew up with internet and smartphones, have even fewer influences of people using a big dish. My 22 year old daughter is familiar with it. But even for the handful who really want to do it, another factor is modern day living. More HOAs, more apartments, more shared situations, etc that put a stop to that idea. Now a lot of people gotta keep up with 5G.

 

[telstar_1]

The closest tap is farther than that since they didn't cut in a tap at my pole. I don't know why they cant get the lead out and get it run to my pole at least. I have offered to bury the fiber the short distance to the house and have that wired as well. I don't think they have enough in the lineman department to get much done. How I wish they could get on a hot streak and get it done.

Simple manpower could be the answer. We have fiber in our semi-rural area and I haven't heard of anyone right on a line who couldn't get. But this is all underground. Yours is on poles?

Still have my C/Ku, and have inquired here but not gotten much direction for FTA

 

[JFOK]

Hi all,

I’ve had more people ask me, when they see my dish in the yard, “does that still work ?” I reply, “hell yea, you should see all the free stuff I can view. Then I show them what I get and although they are fascinated, they have no interest in owning one.
IMHO…most of the younger generation is too lazy to learn what we have learned regarding the BUD. They want instant gratification through streaming and Youtube.
Like ham radio and shortwave dx-ers, we are a dying breed. Todays generation will never know how fascinating our hobby is and that’s a real shame.

John

 

[navychop]

Let us be kind and say they want to watch TV, not acquire a hobby.

 

[KE4EST]

Like ham radio and shortwave dx-ers, we are a dying breed.

Somewhat true of shortwave dx-ers, but there has been a been uptick in ham radio. Most of the older guys in ham radio kill off the hobby on their on accord. They say they want new blood, but they resist change. Everyone should be like them, sit on a frequency and gripe about stuff. They preach rules, rules, rules. But don't dare get on their "net" frequency before their net, they will key on you and tune up and run 5000 illegal watts, remember it is "their" frequency. So, rules do not apply to them. But it is changing finally, slowly, but it is changing and the old guys say it is dying. For awhile it was on a decline, but not anymore. I've seen more hams on the air now, then I have in a few years.

 

[fireball517]

I feel I may be one of the younger people on here. I was born 1993 and always had a fascination with electronic anything's.

Grew up around police scanners and CB's with dad being a cop and trucker at several points in life, which in turn made me end up getting my ham licence in 2011 after hearing the local hams but then kind of just went back to monitoring after some net gatekeeping love.

Had an interest in true FTA ever since I couldn't touch my friends parents remote to their "FTA" box. 2007.....

Finally in 2018 or 19 I got my Geosatpro 90cm dish after a buddy gave me a Koqit receiver after picking up CGTN @ 95w on a OLD DirecTV pizza dish. Talk about being a kid on Christmas day levels of excited. I filled out a notebook with everything I needed for setup between 53w to 113w.

I am glad to have got in while 103w and 91w still had their full-time feeds.

I had a motor that I had setup but it died and that really put a limit to my posting here. I used to be very active and now I'm at a house with a view of the sky again and once I get a motor, I plan to blow the WUT posts up again. I think I have the sky open from 87w to 129+?

I've also had interest in test cards or other info screen barker channels since we got DirecTV in 2003, I still remember the blackout info channels and other pricing info. Also when channel 101 was the help channel. I can still hear the jingle.

It is definitely the instant on nature of phones stopping this newer generation from bothering.