Batten Down The Hatches 2010/11

[Analoguesat]

Umm badly worded - if locally cast ones are cheap enough then it doesnt matter if they only last a couple of winters.

 

[sonnetpete]

Umm badly worded - if locally cast ones are cheap enough then it doesnt matter if they only last a couple of winters.

No, I think I understood. But the actual Rayburn supplied ones have only lasted a winter and a half at best (well two of them anyway). It boils down to what price a French foundry could cast them for and what their minimum quantity would be. I'd happily pay for a dozen of each which would give me three sets of top bars and four sets of bottom bars. (There's seven in the grate)

I'll see what the quality of the replacements is like. I have a feeling that knowing how much French artisans charge (due to the high social payments to the French government) for their services it may end up being cheaper to keep ordering from the UK. Unless I can ask them to cast replacements with a higher tungsten content or whatever would make them more heat resistant and increase their working life.

 

[Analoguesat]

Back to the weather - its piddling it down here this morning. Not much fun swapping my lnb's around to fit the 2 new Inverto Blacks quads into the system!

Im hoping for better performance on the feeds on 10E from the 1m dish and from 5E on the Penta.

However the final tweaking will have to wait for a dry day - its HORRIBLE here atm! (Although Id rather have heavy rain than the cold and snow)

 

[Analoguesat]

Well after a bit of lnb swapping and a bit of recabling, Ive now got a dual feed on the 19E dish, so Ive stuck an A/B switch on the feed to the generic HD box and Ive got all my analogue channels back having set the old Echostar IP3000VA up again. Its still got an old dragon cam in it The channel lists were a bit out of date.... I rather sadly deleted at least half a dozen defunct analogue labels and renamed another half a dozen.

Ive now got 4 operational receivers in the living room:

Pace Sky+
Dreambox 7020
GDS7000 generic HD box (*)
Echostar IP3000VA (*)

(*) = can only use one at a time as they are on an A/B switch

The new Black Inverto quad on the 5E penta seems to be performing quite well despite a hurried setup because of the heavy rain. The DR1 / DR2 channels on the weak Astra 4A Nordic beam are holding up a little better in drizzle although the NRK channels are still hopeless.

 

[wod]

just been out to the local shop and found the bin up the garden the wind is getting up now blowing from the south west. since putting the black ultra on my dish never really tested it out just noticed a few little things like now getting mbc channels better in rainy weather.

you might be better with larger dish on 5e if you want those channels but as your further north I'm surprised your not getting them nrk ones, got them down here on a cm 1.2

metoffice has forecast 45mph gusts here.

 

[Analoguesat]

Ive been thinking of getting a 1m for 5E but Im starting to run out of space in the corner of the garden Im allowed to put my dishes The Penta is badly mounted 85cm type so its quite possible its sagging slightly after all the rain last year - its very heavy for its size and the mounts do tend to move a little in the gales......

When the Spring comes I think I shall be doing some renovations to the mounts

 

[wod]

you could if you can weld or know someone to do it for you get some metal and make something like them non penetrating ground mounts with a few pole to mount dishes on maybe. making something nice if your getting it off the other half about them being in the garden.

 

[Analoguesat]

Carol doesnt care in the slightest as long as I keep the dishes reasonably tidy and I dont shade her plastic greenhouse when its got her plants in it

 

[sonnetpete]

We've had pretty good weather here over the past few days, though not very mild. The daffodills are starting to peep through and the French farmers obviously feel that Spring is nearly upon us as they've begun muckspreading (see attached photo taken from my front door)

Enough to put one off the pizza one had just stuck in the oven!!

 

[Channel Hopper]

Round here it's certainly colder than it has been for the past few days.

Breaking up the pallets for the burner tonight shows the two on the top are already subzero, which helps with a regular burn through the night (once they are alight of course)

 

[Lazarus]

Very cold with hard overnight frosts for the past few days - but that did not deter our own muckspreaders, who have not only managed to deposit tons and tons of muck and mud all over the lane but failed to clean it up thus allowing it to freeze solid.

 

[2cvbloke]

Could be worse, could be warm & wet manure on a hot day...

It's been below freezing the past few of nights (minimum of about -4, finally got a proper thermometer!!), with freezing fog for the first two nights, so it looks like there was a light dusting of powdery snow, except it was just the fog leaving nice ice particles everywhere...

 

[sonnetpete]

Could be worse, could be warm & wet manure on a hot day...

I don't think I've ever seen a farmer here spreading 'out of season', so to speak. Unless we had a rare very mild day. Some of what he was spreading yesterday had been 'maturing' in that field for about three years, so long past being 'wet and warm'.

Yes, we suffer with the same mixture on the roads locally. It may be even worse than around Tivù's domain, as on the road between our village and the next, we average less than 50 vehicles a day and that includes the farmers shedding the aforesaid road covering!

 

[Lazarus]

Went that way again today and he has now cleared it up, so my faith is restored, to a degree.

 

[sonnetpete]

Went that way again today and he has now cleared it up, so my faith is restored, to a degree.

Well, on occasion I've driven up to T junction at the end of our 'lane' and found a local farmer herding cattle from one field to another. I've yet to see him following his herd with a brush and shovel though! (Pretty difficult as he's usually on a bike with a length of hosepipe in hand to 'help' them along)

 

[Topper]

Well, on occasion I've driven up to T junction at the end of our 'lane' and found a local farmer herding cattle from one field to another. I've yet to see him following his herd with a brush and shovel though! (Pretty difficult as he's usually on a bike with a length of hosepipe in hand to 'help' them along)

Rawhide style?

 

[sonnetpete]

Rawhide style?

Yes, I believe the term is riding "drag". I often wondered why he wore a short skirt and assumed it was because his trousers kept getting caught in the bike chain.

 

[Lazarus]

Winter has returned: Very cold night and there is a light dusting of snow on the ground this morning.

The prolonged mild(ish!) spell earlier this month has, I suspect, lulled us into a state of false hope. Winter still has a while to go!

 

[Topper]

Same on this side of the Penines

 

[Channel Hopper]

Apparently a large amount of snow on its way to Scotland by Saturday.