Ken Knight over at www.starbandusers.com confirms that it's likely an alignment issue causing my woes and not a transmitter issue. For others also using Starband, both Ken Knight and his website are a great resource! (He's already helped me more than my installer has)

-----Original Message----- From: Ken Knight [mailto:kenknight@starband.net] Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2003 1:36 PM To: Foreman, Ken Subject: Re: Thanks for Starbanduser account and a question

Hi Ken,

Depending upon your location in the US, it may be difficult to get above a 6.0 without a larger diameter dish which is what those in Alaska have to do because of their location.

However, it's been my experience that in MOST cases in the continental US you should be able to obtain at least a 6.5. All the ones that I have either installed or worked on that were installed by others throughout the US have seen better than 7.0 and sadly I have to attribute anything less than 6.5 pure alignment or Line of Site issues.

While a transmitter can have an effect on signal it is rarely a cause in LOW signal and normally causes sporadic outages regardless of weather conditions.

As for Sigsampler, I'm currently working on a version that is compatible with Starband's latest 3 and 4.x versions, however, if you're running the 2.1 version of Mission Control it'll work fine.

Cheers! Ken

Yesterday, it was 87'F and I had a topless Jeep. Today it's 57'F and I have my soft-top up. Another change... At least I can count on my Starband situation to remain the same? It never fails to disappoint. =)

Like my new dish? ... Yeah, me too. It's a 10-foot pole stuck in concrete. "Where's the dish?" you might ask. An excellent question!

Hazy skies, puffy clouds, or a light breeze is enough to cause my poor roof-mounted satellite dish to drop from 5.3dB to 3.9dB in signal quality. 5.0dB is the threshold for the minimum serviceable satellite internet connection. Most people get 7-13dB of signal strength in clear skies, I'm lucky to get 5.3

When a satellite dish isn't perfectly aligned with the satellite, the signal quality drops. My dish has never been in alignment. Signal quality drops further when there are haze, clouds, drizzle, rain, or snow between dish and satellite. Mine never had a chance...

Ask anyone on #Sidekick or #Ascension (on EFnet) about my connection. Read my blogs for just the four months I've had my sidekick. Severe problems are weekly, minor problems are daily.

I wrote a letter and fax to Starband, Alliance Satellite, and All Wireless last Sunday. It got me a pole in the ground yesterday and a call today. The tech's wife blew out her van's engine while picking up their son, he ruined the transmission in his van, and he needs a van to haul the 40-foot ladder to get my former Starband dish mount off the roof.

"As bad as your problems are, Ken, I assure you, mine are worse," he told me.

I've spent $499 on the satellite gear, $199 for the "professional installation", $80 additional labor for the extension ladder, $240 on three additional visits, and I continue to pay $70/month. For something that doesn't even work in haze or disconnects when a puffy cloud passes.

Should you know a family member, friend, or acquaintance who expresses interest in satellite internet, please heed my lesson. Beat them senseless, take their wallet and credit cards, and leave them for dead... It's kinder than what Starband will so to them.

It's 80' in the house with the windows open and the ceiling fan going.

It was a long but semi-productive day at work, and the Starband guy *still* isn't here after pouring the concrete for the new mount yesterday... Time for a cole one? :D

Salut!

'nuff said.

All of the flowers in our front yard have opened up. Should make for some colorful pics?

Supposed to be 82'F and mostly sunny today, 54' tonight, and 84'/sunny tomorrow. I love weather like this... makes the Jeep all worthwhile. :)

My letter and faxes to Starband, All Wireless Communication, and Alliance Satellite seem to have gotten the attention I wanted.

Marc Bass called to tell me that Starband ought to work as well as satellite TV. If your television loses the signal, then the weather is bad enough to drop internet. Internet should NOT however get dropped by passing clouds, heavy clouds, drizzle, or rain. He told me that we was surprised I've allowed this to go on for this long, and apologized profusely.

Rob Maclaren, who did my original installation, was not so amused or apologetic. He tells me Starband is misdirecting us on the cause of our problems, but it's moot at this point. We're to get new equipment, new cabling, and the roof mount replaced by a ground-level pole mount.

I plan on running the signal meters myself before he leaves. We ought to be getting a signal quality of 7 to 13 (or higher), and it should never drop to the levels it's at now (3.7 to 5.3).

So, *hopefully*, the end to my internet troubles is in sight? SigSampler ([url]http://www.starbandusers.com/sigsampler.htm[/url]) will be the new constant companion to my system tray.

There are three times when it's awesome to own a Jeep: when you're 4-wheelin', when you're going topless, or when you're going 4-wheelin' topless.

("topless" for Jeep owners is "top down")

More pics of the blossoms in the back yard. (Wanted to snap pics of them before they dissappear)