STAR CHOICE SUCCESS & A TWILIGHT SUNSET

SUNDAY DEC. 9/07
It sounded like a lot of little feet running around on our roof but as I sleepily woke up I knew it wasn't December 24th & it couldn't be reindeer. It was raining!! That was a surprise because when I went to bed I could see lots of stars out the window & upcoming weather reports in this little corner of the planet are about as scarce as hen's teeth.

No soggy doggy walk this morning so after a bite to eat we slowly & a bit reluctantly began to have another go at getting our satellite Star Choice television system up & running. We went through all the same steps again plus a few new ones but the results were the same. It just would not work!! I had resigned myself to the fact that it was never ever going to work. I had moved the LNB thingy up & down the arm, checked & re-checked all the settings & hardware set up. We used walkie talkies & while I ever so slowly moved the LNB (the thing that picks up the satellite signal bouncing out of the dish) Kelly was inside watching the metering system on the television screen. We were trying for a number over 50 as I moved the LNB back & forth, back & forth. Numbers varied from 11 to 47. In total frustration I again gave up & came back inside & plunked myself down on the couch while Kelly went out & tried it. Nothing!!

A few days ago Kelly had posted an article on the Datastorm forum about the problems we were having & fellow RV'ers with similar systems & problems were writing back trying to help. Another RV fellow by the name of Don out in Brandon, Manitoba had sent about half a dozen emails with suggestions, diagrams, & explanations. He said he was even losing sleep over our dilemma trying to think of a solution. Well, guess what!! I was able to send Don an email this afternoon with the word....SUCCESS:))

And here's how it happened.....................Kelly was out at the dish & just dejectedly packing it in when a fellow Canadian RV'er (from British Columbia) drove in & stopped. We had been talking to this fellow a couple of days about our problem & he wondered how we were making out. I said we still hadn't got it working to which he replied, "how long was your receiver turned off." Odd question I thought but once we determined that we had not used the receiver since mid October until we tried to set it up last week, he said, "call Star Choice & have them zap it." Apparently in an effort to stop scammers from hacking into the Star Choice satellite signal it is periodically changed much like changing the combination on a lock. If you don't have your receiver on line to receive these changes then they are missed & the receiver will not pick up the new signal co-ordinates & therefore not work. At least that's how it was explained to us. Well, as soon as Kelly phoned Star Choice & explained the receiver not being on for over a month the lady at the other end just pressed a button or something which sent an electronic signal to the satellite which in turn sent a signal to our receiver & "WALLA" our problem was solved & our Star Choice was FINALLY up & running. And, once again it was a huge feeling of relief to know that I had done everything right afterall......again. (hmmmm, most unusual for me) Why the Star Choice tech people hadn't thought of that before we'll never know but I really think it all depends on the caliber of expertise the person on the other end of the phone actually has. Anyway, it's not time for pointing fingers..............it's just time for kicking back & enjoying some good old clear screen multi-channeled television thanks to that good neighbor. And, who was that masked man??........Hi-O Silver!! And you know what....I didn't even get his name.


To make matters even better, the day ended on another nice note as the cloud cover & periods of rain gave way to a pastel sunset complete with a rainbow & moody dark clouds backgrounding the beautiful mountains bathed in the setting sun. Grabbed my camera & managed to get some photos within a few hundred feet of the motorhome. http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy

Yup, I'm a gonna sleep well to-night. And you too Don, up there in snowy cold Brandon, Manitoba:))