Somewhere, I ran across an entry that gave me directions on how to
possibly get to a rational NG set up. I'm about to try it. I already
had T'bird downloaded, just no time until now.

I do NOT know whether or not Wild Blue doesn't allow standard NG
usage, but...they had better. I've got a ****load full of contract
breakers already, and DSL is on its way. My satellite was down for
more than 24 hours starting yesterday morning. Reason? Rain. And when
the rain was over, there was fairly moderate fog, which also puts it
in the toilet. In fact, any light mist does. Just before 2 p.m. today,
some five hours AFTER the rain stopped completely, the satellite came
back up. Three hours later, it went down for another hour. Wny? I
dunno. Maybe it didn't like the sunshine.

This is chronic: I've been bumped off line for more than three days at
a time, and I've been down for 10-12 hours a mess of times. Any light
rain or moderate fog does it.

I was told only heavy snow did that, which is the case with our TV
(DirecTV) satellite.

Call to see if a repair type can come out and you're notified that
you're past your 90 day warranty period, thus there's a charge of 99
bucks just for the repair turkey to show up. I had to tell them three
times not to send him/her/it. The third time I said I'd have a deputy
here waiting to arrest him for trespassing. He didn't come.

The only other time I bothered calling, it was raining lightly, the
satellite was down, and I was told they were not responsible for "acts
of God." I guess not. Usually, it's damp when the thing goes down.
Often, though, it's a clear evening or a sunny afternoon, such as this
one. Those are "acts of God," too, one would imagine.

Oh, yeah. Speed. It definitely is faster than our dial-up connection,
maybe even three times as fast. And about 2% as stable. I've never had
dial-up go down as long as we had power.

I bought an alignment kit, and was going to get my stepson to check
the thing out, but one of my friends informed me that is not legal. If
I were able to get up to the satellite, I'd say F..K the illegality,
but I don't want to get the youngster in trouble, just in case.

Maybe VA will actually do something with my knees this year, and I can
straighten up the satellite.

And, now, onward and upward and try to get a decent NG set up.

On Mar 8, 5:57 pm, Charlie Self wrote:

Yeah, well...I seemed to recall trying T'Bird again once I got
started. Same old, same old. It does everything just fine, but when I
try to get a lsit of NGs for subscription, it starts the search
rolling before I can enter a qualifier, and then fiddlefarts around
until it times out. I don't know whether that's the satellite or
gmail, but I'm going to change to another email account and see if
that helps.

On Mar 8, 6:10 pm, Charlie Self wrote:
On Mar 8, 5:57 pm, Charlie Self wrote:

Yeah, well...I seemed to recall trying T'Bird again once I got
started. Same old, same old. It does everything just fine, but when I
try to get a lsit of NGs for subscription, it starts the search
rolling before I can enter a qualifier, and then fiddlefarts around
until it times out. I don't know whether that's the satellite or
gmail, but I'm going to change to another email account and see if
that helps.

That just says it can't connect to NNTP server.

WTF? I need to take this in to get the last of the AOL horse****
cleared, and I guess I'll have the guy set it up there. Enough is too
much when it is time #150. I removed ever speck of AOL with the
uninstall and then deleted the goddamned folder it was in, and the SOB
popped up as my lead mail program after that. Unreal. I have to shift
from that to gmail or any of the others.

I have a similar problem at times Charlie, where did you get your satellite
alignment kit? I installed 3 satellite systems when I was with Dish Network
but like you I am now with DirecTV. DishNetwork used a compass and
protractor. The HD seems to be a problem with them and as they add more HD
channels the reception is terrible as they switch transponders.
I would not be afraid to realign the dish, the wind seems to do it all the
time. I would like to get my hands on the kit and meter.



"Charlie Self" wrote in message
...
Somewhere, I ran across an entry that gave me directions on how to
possibly get to a rational NG set up. I'm about to try it. I already
had T'bird downloaded, just no time until now.

I do NOT know whether or not Wild Blue doesn't allow standard NG
usage, but...they had better. I've got a ****load full of contract
breakers already, and DSL is on its way. My satellite was down for
more than 24 hours starting yesterday morning. Reason? Rain. And when
the rain was over, there was fairly moderate fog, which also puts it
in the toilet. In fact, any light mist does. Just before 2 p.m. today,
some five hours AFTER the rain stopped completely, the satellite came
back up. Three hours later, it went down for another hour. Wny? I
dunno. Maybe it didn't like the sunshine.

This is chronic: I've been bumped off line for more than three days at
a time, and I've been down for 10-12 hours a mess of times. Any light
rain or moderate fog does it.

I was told only heavy snow did that, which is the case with our TV
(DirecTV) satellite.

Call to see if a repair type can come out and you're notified that
you're past your 90 day warranty period, thus there's a charge of 99
bucks just for the repair turkey to show up. I had to tell them three
times not to send him/her/it. The third time I said I'd have a deputy
here waiting to arrest him for trespassing. He didn't come.

The only other time I bothered calling, it was raining lightly, the
satellite was down, and I was told they were not responsible for "acts
of God." I guess not. Usually, it's damp when the thing goes down.
Often, though, it's a clear evening or a sunny afternoon, such as this
one. Those are "acts of God," too, one would imagine.

Oh, yeah. Speed. It definitely is faster than our dial-up connection,
maybe even three times as fast. And about 2% as stable. I've never had
dial-up go down as long as we had power.

I bought an alignment kit, and was going to get my stepson to check
the thing out, but one of my friends informed me that is not legal. If
I were able to get up to the satellite, I'd say F..K the illegality,
but I don't want to get the youngster in trouble, just in case.

Maybe VA will actually do something with my knees this year, and I can
straighten up the satellite.

And, now, onward and upward and try to get a decent NG set up.

On Sat, 8 Mar 2008 14:57:46 -0800 (PST), Charlie Self
wrote:


I bought an alignment kit, and was going to get my stepson to check
the thing out, but one of my friends informed me that is not legal. If
I were able to get up to the satellite, I'd say F..K the illegality,
but I don't want to get the youngster in trouble, just in case.


That doesn't sound right at all, you're aiming YOUR receive only
antenna!

I've installed my own Sat. service at several locations. We got
BRUTAL rain today, and our service never skipped a beat.

One thing I've noticed about satellite TV is that the quality of the
install is everything, since the receivers actually power the outdoor
parts. My in-laws kept losing their service. When I looked at it I
found stuff like finger-tight connections open to the weather, a
non-waterproof splice on the roof, they had re-used poorly installed
and corroded cable TV wiring in one part of the house, etc...

On my own installs, I've sealed the connectors and used brand-new
home-runs of quality wire, etc...

On Mar 8, 6:56 pm, "Bonehenge (B A R R Y)"
wrote:
On Sat, 8 Mar 2008 14:57:46 -0800 (PST), Charlie Self

wrote:
I bought an alignment kit, and was going to get my stepson to check
the thing out, but one of my friends informed me that is not legal. If
I were able to get up to the satellite, I'd say F..K the illegality,
but I don't want to get the youngster in trouble, just in case.

That doesn't sound right at all, you're aiming YOUR receive only
antenna!

I've installed my own Sat. service at several locations. We got
BRUTAL rain today, and our service never skipped a beat.

One thing I've noticed about satellite TV is that the quality of the
install is everything, since the receivers actually power the outdoor
parts. My in-laws kept losing their service. When I looked at it I
found stuff like finger-tight connections open to the weather, a
non-waterproof splice on the roof, they had re-used poorly installed
and corroded cable TV wiring in one part of the house, etc...

On my own installs, I've sealed the connectors and used brand-new
home-runs of quality wire, etc...

I do NOT have problems with the TV satellite. The guy who installed
that did a wonderful job...still nothing to watch, no matter how many
channels, but what the hell. That's not his fault.

Come spring maybe I'll get my fat ass up on the roof and realign the
antenna. I'm not sure how the transmit on this thing works, but...

And it does look as if I'll have to get a real pro to pull in my
newsgroups, all two of 'em.

Charlie Self wrote:

Somewhere, I ran across an entry that gave me directions on how to
possibly get to a rational NG set up. I'm about to try it. I already
had T'bird downloaded, just no time until now.

I do NOT know whether or not Wild Blue doesn't allow standard NG
usage, but...they had better. I've got a ****load full of contract
breakers already, and DSL is on its way. My satellite was down for
more than 24 hours starting yesterday morning. Reason? Rain. And when
the rain was over, there was fairly moderate fog, which also puts it
in the toilet. In fact, any light mist does. Just before 2 p.m. today,
some five hours AFTER the rain stopped completely, the satellite came
back up. Three hours later, it went down for another hour. Wny? I
dunno. Maybe it didn't like the sunshine.

This is chronic: I've been bumped off line for more than three days at
a time, and I've been down for 10-12 hours a mess of times. Any light
rain or moderate fog does it.


That doesn't sound right. Light rains shouldn't cause that kind of
problem.

I was told only heavy snow did that, which is the case with our TV
(DirecTV) satellite.


You will get more dropouts with satellite internet because you are dealing
with higher bandwidth and a more finicky signal, but the problem you are
describing seems to be excessive even for satellite.

Call to see if a repair type can come out and you're notified that
you're past your 90 day warranty period, thus there's a charge of 99
bucks just for the repair turkey to show up. I had to tell them three
times not to send him/her/it. The third time I said I'd have a deputy
here waiting to arrest him for trespassing. He didn't come.


Ouch. Maybe there is a satellite provider out there worse than Direcway
(the one I had BD (before DSL))

.... snip

Oh, yeah. Speed. It definitely is faster than our dial-up connection,
maybe even three times as fast. And about 2% as stable. I've never had
dial-up go down as long as we had power.


The speed was what kept me with Direcway until DSL showed up. It wasn't
100% reliable, but it was much more reliable than what you are describing;
it sounds like either something got knocked out of alignment or wasn't set
up properly. My first Direcway setup was setup with the wrong coax and I
had problems very similar to what you are describing. Finally got them to
re-install and move the dish closer to the room with the computer when I
bought the upgraded modem; things got much better after that.


I bought an alignment kit, and was going to get my stepson to check
the thing out, but one of my friends informed me that is not legal. If
I were able to get up to the satellite, I'd say F..K the illegality,
but I don't want to get the youngster in trouble, just in case.


What does the alignment kit consist of?

Maybe VA will actually do something with my knees this year, and I can
straighten up the satellite.

And, now, onward and upward and try to get a decent NG set up.

Good luck.

--
If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough

Charlie Self wrote in

ups.com:

On Mar 8, 6:10 pm, Charlie Self
wrote:
On Mar 8, 5:57 pm, Charlie Self
wrote:

Yeah, well...I seemed to recall trying T'Bird again once I
got started. Same old, same old. It does everything just
fine, but when I try to get a lsit of NGs for
subscription, it starts the search rolling before I can
enter a qualifier, and then fiddlefarts around until it
times out. I don't know whether that's the satellite or
gmail, but I'm going to change to another email account
and see if that helps.

That just says it can't connect to NNTP server.

WTF? I need to take this in to get the last of the AOL
horse**** cleared, and I guess I'll have the guy set it up
there. Enough is too much when it is time #150. I removed
ever speck of AOL with the uninstall and then deleted the
goddamned folder it was in, and the SOB popped up as my
lead mail program after that. Unreal. I have to shift from
that to gmail or any of the others.

You change your default email program from within IE of all
places. Click on Tools--Internet Options and then click on
the Programs tab. You can pick whichever mail client you would
like to use from there.

Larry

"Charlie Self" wrote in message
...
snip
Come spring maybe I'll get my fat ass up on the roof and realign the
antenna. I'm not sure how the transmit on this thing works, but...

And it does look as if I'll have to get a real pro to pull in my
newsgroups, all two of 'em.

I'm not exactly sure about it, but I think that the alignment kits rely on
receiving a carrier "tone" for lack of a better term from the sat and you
tune on that, going for the strongest signal...sorta like the Luftwaffe used
to find London during WWII.

Or I could be way off on this...never done it, just a memory of a memory
that I read somewhere.

I'm hoping that someone will prove or disprove this, but I'll wait.

Mike

Charlie Self wrote in news:004257bb-687c-44be-bf3d-
:

*snip: list of problems*

Charlie,

On February 29th, Wildblue switched everyone over to Google's services.
This means no NNTP access. Their newsgroup domains now point to Google
Groups. If all you do is text groups (and not a lot of binary groups),
Astraweb will provide you with 90GB (promotional) of Usenet downloads for
$25.

This also means Wildblue's not running email servers, NNTP servers, and
maybe not even web servers anymore. The price, of course, will stay the
same.

You purchased your equipment (that's what the $400 install fee was), so I
don't see any reason it should be illegal to adjust your dish. Check your
service contract first, though.

Internet via satellite is much more sensitive than TV by satellite, so you
need it secured well. The dish got misaligned the next day and the
installer came back out and added a second brace. It's been good and
fairly steady ever since. (It still goes out for storms and things, but so
does the TV satellite.)

Turn off the proxy optimiser thing and see if that helps you out any on
speed. (In IE, look under Internet Options Connection Local Area
Network, and uncheck the "use a proxy server" box.) Sometimes that gets
overloaded and slows your connection down.

Satellite's biggest problem is latency. Some pages don't load any faster
than on dialup because the signal has to travel up and down several times
to grab all the information. On a download, satellite is usually quite a
bit faster than dialup. For regular surfing, it feels about the same.
(It's usually a little faster.)

FWIW, I'm a Wildblue customer. I'm not affiliated with Wildblue other than
that. We don't exactly have an option other than maybe Hughesnet... AT&T
says DSL is available here, AT&T says DSL is not available here. Oh yeah,
one more note: Dish Network's Internet is Wildblue resold. The difference
is you lease the equipment for $300 rather than buying it for $400.

Puckdropper
--
Marching to the beat of a different drum is great... unless you're in
marching band.

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

I bought an alignment kit, and was going to get my stepson to check
the thing out, but one of my friends informed me that is not legal. If
I were able to get up to the satellite, I'd say F..K the illegality,
but I don't want to get the youngster in trouble, just in case.

Go ahead and use your alignment kit. You have paid for the receiver
and you can bloody well point where you want. Think about sending
the service provider a bill for splattering your land with a crapped
up signal. You might cite a few antipollution laws.

Enjoy
Pete

Bonehenge (B A R R Y) wrote:
On Sat, 8 Mar 2008 14:57:46 -0800 (PST), Charlie Self
wrote:


I bought an alignment kit, and was going to get my stepson to check
the thing out, but one of my friends informed me that is not legal.
If I were able to get up to the satellite, I'd say F..K the
illegality, but I don't want to get the youngster in trouble, just
in case.


That doesn't sound right at all, you're aiming YOUR receive only
antenna!

If you check the Wildblue site you'll find that it's bidirectional via
satellite, so it's not "receive-only". That being the case one is
required to have an FCC license to mess with the antenna.

I've installed my own Sat. service at several locations. We got
BRUTAL rain today, and our service never skipped a beat.

One thing I've noticed about satellite TV is that the quality of the
install is everything, since the receivers actually power the
outdoor
parts. My in-laws kept losing their service. When I looked at it
I
found stuff like finger-tight connections open to the weather, a
non-waterproof splice on the roof, they had re-used poorly installed
and corroded cable TV wiring in one part of the house, etc...

On my own installs, I've sealed the connectors and used brand-new
home-runs of quality wire, etc...

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

"Leon" wrote in message
. net...
I have a similar problem at times Charlie, where did you get your satellite alignment kit? I
installed 3 satellite systems when I was with Dish Network but like you I am now with DirecTV.
DishNetwork used a compass and protractor. The HD seems to be a problem with them and as they add
more HD channels the reception is terrible as they switch transponders.
I would not be afraid to realign the dish, the wind seems to do it all the time. I would like to
get my hands on the kit and meter.

Dish Network, and I assume that the other satellite providers, have a signal
strength indicator in the setup menus. I used this to tweak my first dish
installation.

There is also a signal strength indicator for the over the air local channels.
I have used this for pointing the local antenna. Fortunately the RF remote
has enough signal strength that I can control the box in my living room while
I am on the roof. (I did have to haul an old TV to the roof so that I could
see the signal strength while I was on the roof.)

On Mar 9, 12:04 am, "J. Clarke" wrote:
Bonehenge (B A R R Y) wrote:

On Sat, 8 Mar 2008 14:57:46 -0800 (PST), Charlie Self
wrote:

I bought an alignment kit, and was going to get my stepson to check
the thing out, but one of my friends informed me that is not legal.
If I were able to get up to the satellite, I'd say F..K the
illegality, but I don't want to get the youngster in trouble, just
in case.

That doesn't sound right at all, you're aiming YOUR receive only
antenna!

If you check the Wildblue site you'll find that it's bidirectional via
satellite, so it's not "receive-only". That being the case one is
required to have an FCC license to mess with the antenna.

I've installed my own Sat. service at several locations. We got
BRUTAL rain today, and our service never skipped a beat.

One thing I've noticed about satellite TV is that the quality of the
install is everything, since the receivers actually power the
outdoor
parts. My in-laws kept losing their service. When I looked at it
I
found stuff like finger-tight connections open to the weather, a
non-waterproof splice on the roof, they had re-used poorly installed
and corroded cable TV wiring in one part of the house, etc...

On my own installs, I've sealed the connectors and used brand-new
home-runs of quality wire, etc...


Well, right now, it's irrelevant. I can't climb a ladder.

I do love the way companies change things and don't lower their
prices...the changes are almost always ones that save them money, cut
services to the customer and do not result in price drops.

According to the latest Verizon BS (they've been saying it will be
here in six months since we moved back here nearly four years ago), it
should be here shortly. The fact that my actual service is
intermittent, regardless of Wildblue's customer service idiot saying
it's an act of God when rain interferes, is a contract breaker, I
think. Yesterday evening, it went down for no reason I could
determine. I know it was snowing like crazy--200 miles west of here.
Maybe that affected it.

The extra speed is a help. I can't upload or download much on these
country phone lines, and I can't view about 70% of the sites I'd like
to use for research when I'm running 26.6K or 19K whatever. The
latency is enough to drive you crazy, and for some reason it loves to
eat the mouse indicator, so you're never sure where your changes will
be made.

Astonishingly imperfect technology for something as expensive and
widely available as it is. There are good and obvious reasons why
satellite Internet is the last possible choice for broadband.

On Mar 9, 1:49 am, "Dan Coby" wrote:
"Leon" wrote in message

. net...

I have a similar problem at times Charlie, where did you get your satellite alignment kit? I
installed 3 satellite systems when I was with Dish Network but like you I am now with DirecTV.
DishNetwork used a compass and protractor. The HD seems to be a problem with them and as they add
more HD channels the reception is terrible as they switch transponders.
I would not be afraid to realign the dish, the wind seems to do it all the time. I would like to
get my hands on the kit and meter.

Dish Network, and I assume that the other satellite providers, have a signal
strength indicator in the setup menus. I used this to tweak my first dish
installation.

There is also a signal strength indicator for the over the air local channels.
I have used this for pointing the local antenna. Fortunately the RF remote
has enough signal strength that I can control the box in my living room while
I am on the roof. (I did have to haul an old TV to the roof so that I could
see the signal strength while I was on the roof.)

I thought I'd check on signal strength indicators, so tried
gotsky.com. No problem. Got there. Can't remember my password, used my
generic, no go, and NO WAY TO REQUEST A PASSWORD CHANGE. Which means
I'll have to call customer service, talk to a dolt, and get it re-set.
Except that there is one thing about CS with Wildblue/gotsky: the
customer service is out of Wildblue, which means I get to talk to
someone 8:30 to 5 weekdays only. PST. Which is a whole lot of fun for
someone on eastern time. Thus, I can't get hold of anyone there until
about 11:30 a.m. in tomorrow morning. Supposedly, their "24/7
technical support" can help, but that would be a first. Usually, they
bounce you over to customer service or tell you to call customer
service when it opens.

As an incidental point, I did change IE to Mozilla for newsgroups.
Same old ****.

I guess I stick with google, because I am NOT paying 25 bucks extra
for a NG reader when I'm already paying a premium price for a lump of
****.

"Bonehenge (B A R R Y)" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 8 Mar 2008 14:57:46 -0800 (PST), Charlie Self
wrote:


I bought an alignment kit, and was going to get my stepson to check
the thing out, but one of my friends informed me that is not legal. If
I were able to get up to the satellite, I'd say F..K the illegality,
but I don't want to get the youngster in trouble, just in case.


That doesn't sound right at all, you're aiming YOUR receive only
antenna!

I've installed my own Sat. service at several locations. We got
BRUTAL rain today, and our service never skipped a beat.

One thing I've noticed about satellite TV is that the quality of the
install is everything, since the receivers actually power the outdoor
parts. My in-laws kept losing their service. When I looked at it I
found stuff like finger-tight connections open to the weather, a
non-waterproof splice on the roof, they had re-used poorly installed
and corroded cable TV wiring in one part of the house, etc...

On my own installs, I've sealed the connectors and used brand-new
home-runs of quality wire, etc...

That's the money play. I've actually seen installations of receive-only
dishes where there were no drip loops. Mind the impedance and harmonics on
the coax, as well. That can give you some funny digital signals that a
simple matching x-former won't clean up. If the installation has moisture
complaint, and it would seem it does, I'd look to connectors and insulation.

As far as the FCC and such, you can't alter the _output_ of your
transmitter, but pointing the antenna is free game. License wasn't required
for the installer, either.

RF guy wants solder versus crimp on his connectors to keep the current
flowing in spite of corrosion. Old habits die hard.

Charlie Self wrote in news:043e94be-7fae-48a5-
:

I guess I stick with google, because I am NOT paying 25 bucks extra
for a NG reader when I'm already paying a premium price for a lump of
****.

Charlie, your headers say Windows NT 5.1. That is XP I believe. Should
come with OE, and their NG reader. Problem is what service provider you
are going to use.

As mentioned, I like Xnews. Many do. It's free, a big plus. After you
get used to it, it works just fine. I switched to it after the old
Netscape newsreader went belly up. Didn't like the then new variety from
NT, nor OE, or Agent, or one or two others, and settled on Xnews.

Your problem, though, is service. There are some free newsservers, but
generally only text. I once tried the trial of Giganews. That was VERY
Fast and comprehensive. I did it because I was visiting out of of town,
away from my Verizon service, and you can only access the Verizon
newsservers if your connection is through Verizon. So before the 4 week
free trial was up I canceled the subscription. If Verizon were ever to
start charging, or gave up usenet access, I would take a Giganews
subscription at $5/mo, or one of their competitors. Luckily, erizon is
still going strong, and I am very satisfied with their triple play FiOS
package here in North Jersey.

Just my devalued 2 pennies.

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

On Sat, 8 Mar 2008 23:04:11 -0500, "J. Clarke"
wrote:


If you check the Wildblue site you'll find that it's bidirectional via
satellite, so it's not "receive-only". That being the case one is
required to have an FCC license to mess with the antenna.

A-ha! With a transmitter, that would make sense.

On Sun, 09 Mar 2008 11:10:26 GMT, "George" wrote:



That's the money play. I've actually seen installations of receive-only
dishes where there were no drip loops.

That's only the start...

I've seen dish installs done by run & gun contractors that fanned coax
diagonally across the roof, strung & stretched to tension, mid-air
through attics (in case you get birds in the attic? G), run across
lawns, drilled straight through the roofing, etc... Some of those
guys had to provide sundries & cable, so they used as little as they
could, and even reused scrap wire.

A neighbor of mine had a guy who joined coax with WIRE NUTS & TAPE, so
he could use a 6' cut-off! The splice hung down the side of the
house, unattached to the wall, so it slapped the siding during storms.
It all reminded me of the early CATV installers, the guys who would
put stepladders on the roof of the van to reach high locations!

At least in my area, Dish and DirecTV have now turned to larger
installation companies. The installers actually get some training
and are able to use enough employer-provided supplies to do a halfway
decent job.

Personally, I'm looking forward to trying out at&t U-Verse, once it's
offered to my neighborhood.

On Mar 8, 9:44 pm, "The Davenport's" wrote:
"Charlie Self" wrote in message

...
snip

Come spring maybe I'll get my fat ass up on the roof and realign the
antenna. I'm not sure how the transmit on this thing works, but...

And it does look as if I'll have to get a real pro to pull in my
newsgroups, all two of 'em.

I'm not exactly sure about it, but I think that the alignment kits rely on
receiving a carrier "tone" for lack of a better term from the sat and you
tune on that, going for the strongest signal...sorta like the Luftwaffe used
to find London during WWII.

Or I could be way off on this...never done it, just a memory of a memory
that I read somewhere.

I'm hoping that someone will prove or disprove this, but I'll wait.

Mike

I think you're right, but can't find the kit in all this clutter. As I
recall, it's a fairly simple directional deal, with the aid of a
gauge, and a downloaded list of angles.

Now, to download Xnews.

Charlie Self wrote in news:15fb5398-2bde-4bd8-9c6e-
:

Now, to download Xnews.

If I can help in any way, post or email me at opahan at yahoooo you know
what.

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

On Mar 9, 11:24 am, Han wrote:
Charlie Self wrote in news:15fb5398-2bde-4bd8-9c6e-
:

Now, to download Xnews.

If I can help in any way, post or email me at opahan at yahoooo you know
what.

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

Downloaded xnews, it can't find the server. I don't have time to play
with it further right now. Family lunch coming up, so I need to change
into clothing less like something plucked from my shop rags.

Charlie Self wrote in
:

On Mar 9, 11:24 am, Han wrote:
Charlie Self wrote in
news:15fb5398-2bde-4bd8-9c6e-
:

Now, to download Xnews.

If I can help in any way, post or email me at opahan at yahoooo you
know what.

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

Downloaded xnews, it can't find the server. I don't have time to play
with it further right now. Family lunch coming up, so I need to change
into clothing less like something plucked from my shop rags.

In Xnews:
Special|Setup Xnews

I think that this link should answer all questions, but feel free.
(I googled "Xnews setup")

http://www.slyck.com/xnews.php

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

don't see any reason it should be illegal to adjust your dish.

Of course not. Its your "dish" / antenna mounted to your home and your
equipment

Adjust the thing.

And, while your son is at it, check to see that your connections are
weather tight and that you are running true HOME RUNS from the Dish to
the equipment with out any splices for any reason in that/those
line(s).

Might as well check the mounting bolts and braces, too.

Years ago I recall seeing a system that incorporated an alignment
feature into the hardware. As I recall, one selected "Alignment" from
a menu and then got a reading (if you were close) as to how far off
the dish was and where to turn it to get a better signal. Don't see
why they don't include this sort of software now - maybe the teh has a
"back door" to access it. Check some other (than Woodworking) groups
and you may find the answers from the geeks who live and breathe this
stuff.

BTW Signup for a Google o Netzero account and use Edura or Outlook
Express for your e-mailing. Much better than using web-based e-mail
clients and much cheaper than AOL..

Netzero charges $9,95 or a year and includes 30 hours/month of dial-up
access with this account - great when on the road or, in your case,
when the Dish goes down but your local phone line works.





..

"bidirectional via satellite,"

Wow, did not know that. I thought one had to be connected to the phone
line and to the dish with the uplink going via phone line and the
downlink coming via the dish.

Not that it changes my opinion on adjusting - let the Feds swarm over
my "complex" when NSA tells them I've adjusted my satellite dish after
reading this posting an tracking us down.

We don't need no stinking badges!

On Mar 9, 5:44 am, Charlie Self wrote:

I guess I stick with google, because I am NOT paying 25 bucks extra
for a NG reader when I'm already paying a premium price for a lump of
****.

I don't know how those satellite guys do it, but the cable companies
hate to lose an account.

So far, every time I canceled, they came back with someone from
"retention" to try and talk me out of quitting and, in the process,
agreeing to my demands. I did this in FL with COMCAST and in NC with
Charter.

Key is being prepare to actually walk away. Netscape will sign you up
for $6.95/month for twelve month contract. I used that over local
phone lines in NC until I got Charter TV/Phone/Internet for NET $54/
month! (after several complaints). And, when that deal runs out, I
tell 'em "Sorry, too much, and switch back if they on't extend the
deal.

These companies NEED subscribers - all the expense is sunk in setting
up the cable/DSL/Satellite and they need us to recoup the original
investments and show a profit to keep their stock afloat.

With the economy tanking, consumers are in a stronger position as foks
begin to drop their cable for free TV we may see a softening in prices
(for those who threaten to leave) . Unlike Food and Shelter, most of
us can do w/o the TV and HS Net.

THe phone lines and central switches are all being upgraded to support
DSL and that will improve POTS as a consequence.

Go ahead, hang up on them and see if they don't start calling you back
and offering to send a guy out there to ix your problem "no charge."

Hoosierpopi wrote:
don't see any reason it should be illegal to adjust your dish.

Of course not. Its your "dish" / antenna mounted to your home and your
equipment

Adjust the thing.

And, while your son is at it, check to see that your connections are
weather tight and that you are running true HOME RUNS from the Dish to
the equipment with out any splices for any reason in that/those
line(s).

Might as well check the mounting bolts and braces, too.

Years ago I recall seeing a system that incorporated an alignment
feature into the hardware. As I recall, one selected "Alignment" from
a menu and then got a reading (if you were close) as to how far off
the dish was and where to turn it to get a better signal. Don't see
why they don't include this sort of software now - maybe the teh has a
"back door" to access it. Check some other (than Woodworking) groups
and you may find the answers from the geeks who live and breathe this
stuff.

BTW Signup for a Google o Netzero account and use Edura or Outlook
Express for your e-mailing. Much better than using web-based e-mail
clients and much cheaper than AOL..

Netzero charges $9,95 or a year and includes 30 hours/month of dial-up
access with this account - great when on the road or, in your case,
when the Dish goes down but your local phone line works.

Another option for occasional dialup use is prepaid. I use bamnet when
on the road in the 5th wheel and no wireless is available. You buy it
in $20 increments and it uses $0.01/minute. No monthly bill!

http://www.bamnet.com/

I have no affiliation other than as a satisfied user.

"Dan Coby" wrote in message
...
"Leon" wrote in message
. net...
I have a similar problem at times Charlie, where did you get your
satellite alignment kit? I installed 3 satellite systems when I was with
Dish Network but like you I am now with DirecTV. DishNetwork used a
compass and protractor. The HD seems to be a problem with them and as
they add more HD channels the reception is terrible as they switch
transponders.
I would not be afraid to realign the dish, the wind seems to do it all
the time. I would like to get my hands on the kit and meter.

Dish Network, and I assume that the other satellite providers, have a
signal
strength indicator in the setup menus. I used this to tweak my first dish
installation.

Yeah that works but with HD there are several satelites to tweek to and
signal strength is more important on HD than SD.



There is also a signal strength indicator for the over the air local
channels.
I have used this for pointing the local antenna. Fortunately the RF remote
has enough signal strength that I can control the box in my living room
while
I am on the roof. (I did have to haul an old TV to the roof so that I
could
see the signal strength while I was on the roof.)

The 3rd Dish Network satellite system I installed for my father 12 or so
years ago had a bad co-axial cable and the strength would go from great to
terrible if I touched the cable. Of course moving the dish the slightest
bit moved the cable. A new cable solved that but it tool me a couple of
hours to isolate the problem.

On Mar 9, 2:18 pm, Doug Winterburn wrote:
Hoosierpopi wrote:
don't see any reason it should be illegal to adjust your dish.

Of course not. Its your "dish" / antenna mounted to your home and your
equipment

Adjust the thing.

And, while your son is at it, check to see that your connections are
weather tight and that you are running true HOME RUNS from the Dish to
the equipment with out any splices for any reason in that/those
line(s).

Might as well check the mounting bolts and braces, too.

Years ago I recall seeing a system that incorporated an alignment
feature into the hardware. As I recall, one selected "Alignment" from
a menu and then got a reading (if you were close) as to how far off
the dish was and where to turn it to get a better signal. Don't see
why they don't include this sort of software now - maybe the teh has a
"back door" to access it. Check some other (than Woodworking) groups
and you may find the answers from the geeks who live and breathe this
stuff.

BTW Signup for a Google o Netzero account and use Edura or Outlook
Express for your e-mailing. Much better than using web-based e-mail
clients and much cheaper than AOL..

Netzero charges $9,95 or a year and includes 30 hours/month of dial-up
access with this account - great when on the road or, in your case,
when the Dish goes down but your local phone line works.

Another option for occasional dialup use is prepaid. I use bamnet when
on the road in the 5th wheel and no wireless is available. You buy it
in $20 increments and it uses $0.01/minute. No monthly bill!

http://www.bamnet.com/

I have no affiliation other than as a satisfied user.

I've got dial-up (AOL) on my wife's computer. $9.95 a month,unlimited,
now. At least I think so. It is still a PITA, but she doesn't want to
learn another, so...Wildblue's program, according to my installer,
won't work with AOL as a dial-up on the same computer, so, no dial-up
here.

Right now, I'm just waiting. I've got 10 months, maybe less, on an 18
month contract that started last July 5. The long contract got the
satellite and install for $233...$198 advertised cost, plus $35
shipping they don't tell you about, which should have been an
indicator of what was to come. I am also hoping. The local cable set
up is terrible. DSL should be better, if it ever gets here. If
WIldblue can't accept amonth to month contract AND fix my problems, or
most of them, within the next 10 months, I'll revert to dial up at 10
bucks a month. A third the speed, but 10% of the aggravation for 20%
of the cost. That deal looks better each month...as long as it isn't
AOL!

Charlie Self wrote:

.... snip

Right now, I'm just waiting. I've got 10 months, maybe less, on an 18
month contract that started last July 5. The long contract got the
satellite and install for $233...$198 advertised cost, plus $35
shipping they don't tell you about, which should have been an
indicator of what was to come. I am also hoping. The local cable set
up is terrible. DSL should be better, if it ever gets here. If
WIldblue can't accept amonth to month contract AND fix my problems, or
most of them, within the next 10 months, I'll revert to dial up at 10
bucks a month. A third the speed, but 10% of the aggravation for 20%
of the cost. That deal looks better each month...as long as it isn't
AOL!

You shouldn't have any problem going month to month after the initial
contract is up (at least that was the case with Direcway), they do the
initial lock-in to supposedly recoup their investment in the "great deal"
they give you on the hardware when you sign up.

Just as an aside, I've been using concentric (www.concentric.net) as my
backup and travelling dial-up ISP; it is also the host for my web page.
I've had them for years and have had both good service. When you pay for 6
months, it's about $18/month,


--
If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough

On Mar 9, 10:07 pm, Mark & Juanita wrote:
Charlie Self wrote:

... snip

Right now, I'm just waiting. I've got 10 months, maybe less, on an 18
month contract that started last July 5. The long contract got the
satellite and install for $233...$198 advertised cost, plus $35
shipping they don't tell you about, which should have been an
indicator of what was to come. I am also hoping. The local cable set
up is terrible. DSL should be better, if it ever gets here. If
WIldblue can't accept amonth to month contract AND fix my problems, or
most of them, within the next 10 months, I'll revert to dial up at 10
bucks a month. A third the speed, but 10% of the aggravation for 20%
of the cost. That deal looks better each month...as long as it isn't
AOL!

You shouldn't have any problem going month to month after the initial
contract is up (at least that was the case with Direcway), they do the
initial lock-in to supposedly recoup their investment in the "great deal"
they give you on the hardware when you sign up.

Just as an aside, I've been using concentric (www.concentric.net) as my
backup and travelling dial-up ISP; it is also the host for my web page.
I've had them for years and have had both good service. When you pay for 6
months, it's about $18/month,

--

Thanks, Mark. I'll check into it. Right now, I'm in the final two
months of a book, with three or four magazine articles to do in the
same period, while also finishing my taxes. I hope to have the latter
done today or tomorrow, one article out Friday, and maybe another
5,000 words of the book rolled through the keyboard by next Monday,
but that means I won't be researching much else.