Yesterday afternoon the weather turned nasty. Extremely windy, among other things, and in the midst of it my internet connection got v-e-r-r-y s-l-o-o-o-w.
Regular readers will recall that the same thing happened last Monsoon, and that I spent months – months! – passively waiting for a repair guy to come do the mysterious stuff that would get this mysterious stuff working again. And at the end of all that he tightened three screws and went away.
Well, I could’ve done that. I have a wrench. But I had a bad feeling this time that if the problem was dish positioning, a simple turn of a wrench wouldn’t solve my problem.
I hate it when I’m right.
I really do have to get this poor cabin sided. The bolts have indeed pulled out of the wall as I feared, but that’s not the real problem. This OSB sheet has badly deteriorated. It seems to be the worst of the bunch – which figures, doesn’t it? Since it’s the one tasked to hold up that weight? – and I can replace it easily enough but this stuff just wasn’t meant to take weather as long as it has taken it.
Clearly, I also need to come up with a better dish mount than this. I’ll be canvassing the neighborhood for suggestions in the next couple of days; I’m far from the only person out here who can only see the world through a little satellite dish.
So anyway, I applied the Beverly Hillbillies approach to satellite communications problems and it has proven a genuine, though no doubt temporary, solution. But if I drop out entirely, the subject of that picture is the most likely reason. Working on it.
And this picture wasn’t prefaced with a comment about going all redneck? I’m just glad you figured it out without having to wait weeks for a tech. Can’t speak for anyone else, but I actually get a bit cranky when you’re not around on a regular basis. 😉
I guess it’s a little late now, but what grade of OSB did you use? For exterior/humid applications, you want OSB/3 or 4. The other stuff just comes apart in weather. ‘Course, either way, a little paint would help. [grin]
When my landlord tried satellite Internet a few years ago, the installer brought a pole, set it in concrete, and put the dish on that. Apparently putting it on the side of the house wasn’t even seriously considered (SAT TV installers normally do it, though). I was a bit surprised, since one of the front porch poles would have been ideal, and given a better line of sight to the sky.
I’ll have to go with Bear’s landlord’s installation – I’ve had satellite internet dishes installed in the same manner for some fairly remote construction sites in the past that held up very well to the weather.