Batten Down The Hatches: Winter 2013/14 Chat

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2cvbloke

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Finally, the thread's title has meaning, cos it literally is a case of battening down the hatches... :-lol

I did get hit by a gust of wind today though, I was opening my shed to retrieve an old cordless phone of mine and the door whipped round and hit me, I may have to claim compensation from myself for not adequately anchoring the door in time... :-rofl2
 

Analoguesat

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We now await a tyre report from Scotland :-bighappy


All dishes (including the 36E dish on the tyre) survived & are pointing in approximately the right direction - it wasnt much more than a bit blowy up here - at 7pm when I went outside it was completely calm, it did pick up a bit about 10.

All the dishes will need some attention when the garden dries out - a couple of the fence posts are now a bit loose in the sodden ground, a nd there are some more black inverto lnbs on order to replace some of the old scaffy 0.6dB units :D
 

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The best bit of news I've had recently..
Christina has suffered NO physical damage that I can see ..but definately something had changed after the 95mph gusts the other night.
I have much to do and the rain is persistant ..
I think I'll wait till tomorrow ..my hands are cold and keep slipping making adjustments.
Such are the advantages of having both AZ and EL jacks ..
I relocated The pentagon channel at 1W ..eventually.
NO reduction in signal but many clicks out on both Jacks.
Put marks on the current deaf locations on both jacks with a pen ..then relocated TPC..

A good 1cm out on the AZjack ..and over 3cms out on the EL jack.
The jacks dont appear damaged ..simply moved under the vice like grips of the rose joint clamps.
That was some wind..
Anyway I'll fix this tomorrow if it's dry ...then on to the recently erected Carl..who is at least 1 degree out of true..
All my dishes once sorted will have permanent marks at strategic points in future ..so I can see at a glance how much shift has occurred..and in which direction.
rgds
VS
 

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Glad to hear Carl's erection is fairly robust.
 

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I was expecting something would have moved but all was well, I do have my dishes marked up just in case something moves, its something I have done since my first install,

Its been a nice day here today a little breezy but could not complain:).
 

Vipersan

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I was expecting something would have moved but all was well, I do have my dishes marked up just in case something moves, its something I have done since my first install,

Its been a nice day here today a little breezy but could not complain:).
..and very wise too Martin ..
I just assumed Christina was ressurected so sturdily that nothing would shift her ..but then who would have anticipated 100mph winds in blighty ??
certainly not me..
lol
 

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..and very wise too Martin ..
I just assumed Christina was ressurected so sturdily that nothing would shift her ..but then who would have anticipated 100mph winds in blighty ??
certainly not me..
lol
It took me that long to set my first dish up VS so I marked it all up just in case and have continued to do so, my railway sleeper has stood the test of time but I must admit I had my eye on the tv most of the time:eek: I might use four of them for the 1.8:)
DSssN5599.jpg
 

Piltdownpaul

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I noticed yesterday that every sat i focused on, tuned in and then went, i'm guessing that the dish had been pushed around the pole slightly. Luckily it's a beautiful morning, not a cloud in the sky, a slight air frost. So we wait for the sun to warm my receding hairline and then i'll tackle those u-clamps.
 
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Lazarus

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Yes, my TD110 slab seems to have sunk into the soggy earth a bit, affecting elevation.

But the storms seem to be over and today is a lovely day, so if things dry out a bit over the course of the week, I'll pop out and tinker myself.

Sandbags here are used for dish mount ballast, not for property protection!
 

Piltdownpaul

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Got to get your priorites right Tivu, my next door neighbour hassled the the council for sandbags. Maybe i should tell her we are 200 feet above sea level! Not even a sniff of flooding here although in the village bottom we have localised flooding from an overflowing brook.
 
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Archived-1

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A lovely sun rise nice to watch and a mild morning:)
 

Piltdownpaul

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Compared to yesterday with the still strong gusts we certainly are getting all seasons in a week. Not even a sniff of wind today. (and my wife will tell you thats a godsend)
 

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Here's something you don't see every day: As the weather is vastly improved today, we went up on the Moors for our periodic attempt to gaze in awe at Bilsdale TV Mast (Wot we can't get no signal from).

We were coming back from Open Access Land towards the old Drove Road (Now part of the Cleveland Way), which is merely a track for walkers and cyclists and we saw this >>>>>

P1030419_resized.JPG P1030418_resized.JPG


I wonder if he was using Satnav to get from Osmotherly to Hawnby??

The Game Shooting season has finished so he certainly wasn't delivering Laphroaig and Smoked Salmon to the Stands!
 

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Very common obviously round here tivu, I would love to live out in the sticks now I am a little older, what village do you live in please tivu.
 

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Had a good productive day ..but I ache so bad atm..
Christina tracking the arc correctly ..but will need a few Vbox clicks to peak her..
Carl tracking the arc to within half a degree ..so a tiny bit more to do yet..
Tom tracking the arc but is 0.3 degrees out ..good enough for the moment.
Dick tracking the arc bang on..
Harry still needs attention and is now approx 1 degree more Easterly than he should be ..motor wise that is.
Not checked the sly mini dish yet ..so no idea if it has moved


Trimmed some high privits and growth points on a sycamore to the west ..
This one only comes into play in Cband around 50 West
So ..getting back to pre-storm status I think.
Still bits to do ..but heading the right way.

Also found time to upgrade one of the 1TB hard drives in my server to a 2TB ..
was running out of space on that one..
Now my server has 12 Terrabytes of luverly capacity ..
rgds
A very stiff necked VS
;)
 

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Had a good productive day ..but I ache so bad atm..
Christina tracking the arc correctly ..but will need a few Vbox clicks to peak her..
Carl tracking the arc to within half a degree ..so a tiny bit more to do yet..
Tom tracking the arc but is 0.3 degrees out ..good enough for the moment.
Dick tracking the arc bang on..
Harry still needs attention and is now approx 1 degree more Easterly than he should be ..motor wise that is.
Not checked the sly mini dish yet ..so no idea if it has moved


Trimmed some high privits and growth points on a sycamore to the west ..
This one only comes into play in Cband around 50 West
So ..getting back to pre-storm status I think.
Still bits to do ..but heading the right way.

Also found time to upgrade one of the 1TB hard drives in my server to a 2TB ..
was running out of space on that one..
Now my server has 12 Terrabytes of luverly capacity ..
rgds
A very stiff necked VS
;)
Sounds like a very busy day VS, well done some good progress:), after reading hours of your post over time and you naming your dishes, me and the wife have decided on our dish names.

Do we have a thread with dish names with pictures ?/ maybe why we have chosen the names, it would be good if not and something to relate to ?.
 

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Very common obviously round here tivu, I would love to live out in the sticks now I am a little older, what village do you live in please tivu.


I'll PM you.
 

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Hitya folks - back home after a weekend away down in Bishop Auckland.

A horrible drive down the A68 with heavy snow at Carter Bar, then drizzle, rain, torrential rain, thick fog, sleet, and rivers running across the roads to contend with.

Not fun at all.

Saturday - at Shildon Rail Museum to see A4 Pacific Mallard & her 5 surviving sister locos all in one place for the last time for the foreseeable future. Cold and drizzly, but great fun, and it was lovely to see so many happy faces - even if some of the females of the assembled throng did look a bit bored after a couple of hours!

And today its been a glorious day as we pootled back through the lanes
 

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My 1m Gibby has moved on the pole by a couple of degrees. I've just altered the USALS Co-ordinates for the moment until i get chance to re-align it. Its been the first time since the winds in 2005 that i have had to re-align any of my main dish.

Nano
 

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Hitya folks - back home after a weekend away down in Bishop Auckland.

Saturday - at Shildon Rail Museum to see A4 Pacific Mallard & her 5 surviving sister locos all in one place for the last time for the foreseeable future. Cold and drizzly, but great fun, and it was lovely to see so many happy faces - even if some of the females of the assembled throng did look a bit bored after a couple of hours!

Had relatives in Shildon (now long gone) and in 1975, when I was a TV engineer in the area, I was stopped at a level crossing while they shunted some engines around ready for the anniversary of the Stockton - Darlington railway. Mallard, Flying Scotsman, Locomotion...and others I can't remember....
 
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