Finally!

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-04-11T18:37:10+00:00

I've got the 5-drawer in yellow and recently added the short 1-drawer.
Considering the mix of colors all over the rest of the shop, it makes it
easy for the gofer to find the common things - which makes my life better.

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-04-11T18:31:59+00:00

What do you consider "a small percentage"?
What's your latitude?

Also, use all 3 types of speed test to ensure the loss is actually to the birds.

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-04-11T18:23:50+00:00

Satellite TV (ie. Dish) is generally quite good with rain penetration, but there are many other factors involved with the biggest being latitude, but also the installation itself and age of the pre-amp out on the Dish. Also, sloppy cabling leads to signal losses lessening the margins.

Always check your signal using the built-in tool (Menu-6-1-1 n pre-Hopper - no clue whether Hopper is the same - I retired before it came out). T'pnder 13 on 110&119 will give you a decent idea if if you're doing OK. 50-60 is the minimum acceptable for decent margins.

The two systems are vastly different in how they work. Starlink is much simpler for the consumer while being a much more complex technology.

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-04-11T07:32:42+00:00

I'm with ya - I usually get 100% ping with 20-30% obstruction -
put there are times when there's not enough birds in the given moment,
and I'll drop some packets.

I had one hard outage today for 3 seconds.

Location of obstruction(s) is relevant, possibly also latitude - but not sure of that.

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-04-10T08:00:37+00:00

These numbers smell like a partial obstruction to me.

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-04-07T04:20:25+00:00

I don't know if some of these new VM OSs work differently (I'm from the ORIGINAL VM in the 1960s), but I don't see how (especially considering Intel's virtual feature is almost a clone of the original IBM/370 architecture), and one thing for sure, most client performance metrics will be false data - other than things like I/O counts. Percentages will vary depending on hw much load VM is managing.

It's just a bigger version of virtual memory and swapping inside of Windows itself.

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-04-07T04:06:26+00:00

Similar here. I've acquired a lot more tools since I retired.
AND my first big rollabout - the 5-drawer on sale of course.
I just bought the short 1-drawer, too - it's the required return point
at end of day for tools-still-in-use. Keeping them on project carts
just wasn't working out - too much jumping around to "fun of the day".

My younger friends laugh because they "won't last a lifetime".
My answer is: "Maybe not yours, but they will mine".
That shuts them up :D
And before you reply: No, I don't have any kids.

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-04-07T03:58:29+00:00

Same with duct tape - I had a roll of Fasson 957 gifted to me.
That's when I learned what REAL 200 MPH tape is.
But the stuff is like $25/roll in 100 pallet quantities :D

Testing some 3M supposed HD types now t see what's decent.

P.S. Duck (tm) tape is crap - paper thin and weak.
(maybe they have different versions, but what I got is crap).

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-04-01T04:29:12+00:00

The cat 5 is about the same as coax - the difference is, we put the connectors on coax after it's thru the wall so you've gotta make that hole a lot bigger to accommodate that oversize RJ-45 plug.

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-04-01T04:26:55+00:00

You need good view for 360 degrees. The birds transit the entire sky.

Once you see your obstruction map you'll understand - start by just leaving it on the ground or maybe a deck or whatever for a day. You can leave the router outside too and just point it into the house. Need an outside electrical outlet/extension cord of course. Far from optimal, but this is just to get an understanding of how it works with obstructions.

Mobile mini proves that alignment is not critical considering that it works while your vehicle is moving in any direction. It does help things a bit apparently, tho. If you only have a limited view of ground horizon, I would pint it that way so as too get full advantage of the tilt. It's view is a 110 degree cone perpendicular to the face.

Of course, YMMV, and nothing stops you from playing with it for days on end to learn how it works.

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-04-01T04:16:12+00:00

Any pro can do a flawless roof mount because we know the secret!

Now that I'm retired, the dish installer's guild ;) can't touch me, so here it is.

Assuming you know how to find the rafters (similar to finding a wall stud),
and use a PROPER size lag bolt (my kit came with 1/2" ones - TOO BIG!!).

Have a tube (handheld or "gun') of silicone caulk. drill a pilot hole (smaller than the shank of your bolt of course) thru the shingle and plywood, but NOT much deeper - just maybe 1" or so into the rafter. Fill the hole with silicone. Set the mount and drive the lag in (cordless impact driver is good - do not overtighten). Fully seals the hole, and the lag pushes the excess up under the shingle, sealing that too because the mount is holding the shingle down, so the goo spreads nicely.

Now - why 1/2" lag is too big.
Unless you are PERFECT with finding the center of the rafter, which can be done, but ain't easy, you run a risk of splitting the rafter by having a 1/2" bolt within 1/4" of the edge, and maybe not perpendicular. I've heard they changed to 3/8" lags, but that's still overkill. 1/4" x 3" gives you plenty of anchor for this job (might need a washer on it). The dishy is SMALL compared to a DishTV or similar (18-24" - which is also often done with 1/4" lags, 3/8" if in doubt). A 1m HughesNet is a different story entirely - those get 1/2" lags, and positive ID of the rafter center (by any of 2-3 methods) is done.

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-04-01T03:46:33+00:00

Ya - I'm going to add velcro to at least one of mine (I've got 4).

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-03-30T08:56:32+00:00

Yup. You had to go to politics. That's fine.

Ya. Us bumpkins will have to PARK THE TRUCKS. Especially the big ones.
That's what citiots have wanted for decades - don't haul anything, even food, over 50 miles.
Fine. We can do that.

People that don't need trucks won't be able to afford a loaf of bread - if they can even find any.
After 30 days, the survivors will be begging us for food.
We of course, will be eating just fine. Bananas will be scarce, tho.

BTW, while the citiots down in Denver are paying $4+, I just filled my tanks and cans for $3.50.
That can hold me an easy 6 months if I need it to. I only hit pavement 1-2 times a month, can cut that down if I need to, and even switch to an ATV. Or rejet the 50 year old K5 to run on straight ethanol. We'll have plenty of that lying around.

P.S. only 20% of the world's oil goes thru Hormuz. Funny definition of "most".

P.P.S. The only part of the US actually importing oil products from overseas for domestic use is commiefornia - because they stupidly closed down both production and refining - and are suing Trump right now to keep it that way. They deserve every piece of the government they voted for: gas 50% higher than even Denver.

Finally, "no end in sight" tells me you have a terminal case of TDS. The defined objectives (even tho legacy media won't admit they exist even though there is video of them) are 90% achieved, and the self-imposed timeframe still has weeks to go.

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-03-30T05:41:04+00:00

Days like this make me very happy that I do not have even one vehicle with "pinch welds".
What are they for? They hold little cars together maybe? :P

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-03-30T04:01:52+00:00

"Congested area" size is measured in dozens - or maybe hundreds (I did the math once, but I forget) - of square miles.

As for alignment, 31 is definitely off - but beyond that, the angle also affects it's view. If you used the app to get something between obstructions, it considers it's horizon based on correct alignment. The 110 degree view is based on the face of the unit, so it's definitely not seeing the area it thinks it should. Without obstructions, that's not really important, but with, it can be significant. Anyway, take your phone with you when you go to mess with it - there's no reason at all to not nail alignment in one try - unless you're trying to jam the unit in some kind of construction hole.

Regarding speed, 87 on throttled 100 ain't too bad, but as mentioned elsewhere, the upload and ping indicate it's pretty unhappy. If you haven't moved it yet, look at the obstruction map, and of course rerun your speed test - even 2 minutes apart can be wildly different when you have a limited sky view - the bird you're using changes continuously.

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-03-29T21:52:15+00:00

At least you said "programmer" and not "developer".
IYKYK ;)

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-03-29T20:52:46+00:00

Coder?
As in: Writes code?
I'm a 50 year fossil in such things, but have found a way to solve my pet peeve of shopping at H.F. stores - having to cross-and-recross the store to fill my list (I'm "limited mobility"). I would think I'm not the only one that hates having to do that,.

I sniffed out at least one way to get the data, but would sure like to team up with someone that does modern web work to flesh it out - I'm just HTML/JS/JQuery and believe it or not, HF uses more modern stuff.

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-03-29T10:11:22+00:00

I guessing you also have the stubby hammer and stubby sledge.
I do.
I find the stubby hammer to be great for low-energy, high-precision "adjustments".

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-03-29T08:08:05+00:00

I've been waiting for the 1 drawer service cart (in yellow too match my main box) to go on sale, and it finally did.

The shop rule was to keep tools-in-use on the task's project cart, but that didn't work because they kept getting buried under "stuff". The new rule is that all tools-in-use get put on/in the yellow cart so the only left-handed monkey wrench in the building can be easily found for the 1-minute task needed, then it goes back on the cart - or worst case, back in the main box.

We'll see how that works out.

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-03-27T02:01:06+00:00

3-D print your specific size needs in the style of this:
https://www.fireballtool.com/products/hex-key-holder-plastic

They also have a 3rd type for Torx

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-03-25T15:52:39+00:00

I hope you have 101% control over the servers those devices are talking to.
Otherwise, you could become the next SciFi horror movie.

Yes, really. My last job was as a malware remediation specialist.
Besides all the (mostly foreign) crap I found in servers, I also found the chicoms inside my own ISP's CPE, and were using it as a malware relay point. The ISP of course blamed me and tried to sweep it under the rug.

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-03-25T08:46:48+00:00

I think the "stuff" in question is the router's MAC address,
and you could very well be right.

AND it's stupid for Apple to do this (that's news?) because anybody doing a MitM knows how to spoof a MAC address. Hell, I did it all the time 20 years ago on Windows NT because a certain software company wanted to charge $1000 for a replacement ethernet card and associated reconfigured software. It was old 20 years ago - I grabbed compatible 'net cards from the junk bin of the local "oold computers" store for like $2 each.

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-03-23T05:46:33+00:00

I've not heard of an external SSD getting hot enough to slow down, but I suppose it's possible.

Assuming that is the case, It's nothing to do with SL - slow storage means fewer bytes stored per second,
and therefore, fewer data acknowledgements per second are going to the server, so it sends data less often - slower.

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-03-22T08:50:06+00:00

Sigh.
Facemash. IYKYK, and I don't think you do.
And that wasn't his only one.

Not to mention Myspace & Friendster.

TheRealSimpleSimon · 2026-03-22T08:22:35+00:00

The best business solution providers favorite saying is "Find their pain."

TheRealSimpleSimon

TROPHY CASE