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At Winterfest on February 27th, I found someone selling a 30" circular FTA satellite dish for $10, with LNB. I usually agonize over decisions to purchase even the cheapest things, so I'm sure it came as a shock to many when my hand found $10 in my wallet faster than you can say "Galaxy 19." But $10 was really a great price for that whole setup, considering I'd spent $35 to prepare my setup at school. (Not counting the box, which I've brought home.)

I also swiped a spare mast/board/thing that Tom had left at the radio club when he graduated. I'd say it was collecting dust, but it was outside under a pile of leaves, so to say it was rotting would be a more accurate way of putting it. I have saved it from that fate.

So when I got home on Saturday, before I did anything else I went and set up the satellite dish. It took me a while to realize that I was looking the wrong way, and so in all I tried five or six different locations, before settling on one that worked.

I also realized, unfortunately, that I'm looking through trees.

Amusingly enough, after agonizingly trying to aim the dish, I found that perfect position by randomly dropping the dish there and getting 65% on my receiver. Go figure.

On Sunday, I found that rain fade was a pretty significant enemy, as my 65-66% plummeted down to 10% during the worst rain events, and never got higher than 63% even when it was merely cloudy. I went outside and managed to peak it at 66% during a period without rain, but even then it would drop to 63% when rain returned. But the fine-tuning paid off during the clear skies this morning, when I was seeing Al Jazeera at 68-69%. It fell back to 66-67% by the afternoon, but it's still working fine for watching the news programs I desire.

So here are the rest of my pictures. You can tell it's not a terribly permanent setup, as I need a longer coax cable, but it works for the time being.