Aiming a Dish

Some people have a knack for this and are able to do it faster/better than me. I am usually successful after several to many minutes and sometimes I actually do it without swearing. Sometimes.

I start by setting the skew and elevation with the dish in my lap. These settings I get either from a neighbor with a working dish (best method), off a chart from either StarChoice or off the Internet or from a neat website if I have a connection.

I then set the dish on whichever tripod or base I am using. These include a standard Winegard tripod, a homemade ground mount that I made out of PVC tubing and is windproof or a mast mount that my son welded to the car dolly. The latter is untested but will be the best choice if I have an unobstructed view south from the dolly and it is or can be made fairly level. This is my way of thumbing my nose at the Wind Gods who have blown my tripod over too many times. I now connect the cable from the motorhome to the dish. I usually place my satellite finder in the line except when I am feeling really lucky and have a good set of readings from a neighbor. In this case I have Norma watch the setup screen on the TV and tell her to yell when the signal is good. I also have a small B&W TV that I can bring out to the dish and watch this screen myself. If I am having lots of trouble, I do it this way.

Now I check to see what the azimuth (compass direction) where the satellite is suposed to be based on where we are. This recommended setting is never correct. I think the variation in azimuth settings is due to the difference between "magnetic" and "corrected" compass readings. The earth's magnetic field pulls compasses off in relation to a very complicated formula that varies depending on the density of the ground under you and the azimuth given on any chart is the "corrected" reading. It is very difficult to figure this out on the spot so I simply ignore it and after making sure the mast is as perpendicular as I can get it, I point the dish to the left of where it says to point it by maybe 10 degrees. I then swing it very slowly towards the west. In theory, this will bring it across the propagated satellite signal and we will see (or hear) a peak. When I get there, I lock down the horizontal adjustment. You have to be careful with this setting because if you go past the StarChoice satellite, there is another one very close by and it is very easy to think this is the one you want. It gives a very strong signal but no TV.

I then move the dish up and down a tiny amount by putting pressure on the top of the dish, without actually loosening the elevation bolt. If moving it up or down slightly gives me a good signal then I then either dig a small hole under the back leg or shove some extra material under the leg.

I find I usually have to move the dish "up" to get a better signal. I suspect this is because the dish is heavier towards the front and tends to pull itself "down" when it is set on the tripod. I have experimented with "correcting" this by always setting my elevation a couple of degrees higher than what is given. Sometimes it works and sometimes not.

If at this point I have a signal of about 28 or better, I leave it alone. If I have less than this, I will try a slight horizontal adjustment again followed by another try of pulling or pushing on the top of the dish. If I release the bolt holding the elevation, the dish will usually swing down and I will have to start over.

The best method was shown to me in Mazatlan by a guy from Manitoba. You find a neighbor with a dish of the same size and a good signal, get a sheet of paper and lay it on his dish. You place it so it lays under the shadow of the LNR and after making some marks so you can put it in the same place on your own dish, you trace out the shadow of his LNR. Now you rush back to your dish, place and tape the paper onto the dish and move it around until the shadow of your LNR lands on top of the tracing. You have to do this quickly as the sun (and shadow) is moving like clockwork.

You should let the neighbor know what you are doing because you will be interrupting his signal while you are doing this and, unless his dish is locked down well, you might inadvertently move his dish. Not very neighborly.

I have used this method a couple of times and it works well. It doesn't work at night or on a cloudy day.....

The absolute best method is to park beside someone with a dish already set up and ask to share it. This method is common in Mexico. I have used a series of cables totaling well over 100 feet and have gotten a good signal from three or four spaces away. In Villa Corona, four of us were using one dish (mine). O the other hand, in San Miguel de Allende I asked a guy from Quebec parked behind me if I could share his dish and he said "No". I thought about it for a while and decided he must not have understood me so I asked again in a different way. Again, he said "No, I would rather not". Seething a little, I set my own dish up a couple of feet from his. They ended up being a very friendly couple of gay guys from Montreal. I never did find out why they said no. Maybe he thought I would be reducing his signal by tapping into it or somehow using his StarChoice account, I don't know. If you ever park beside me, you know you can hook in without even asking.

The (Undamaged) Dish

When the StarChoice dish blew over in Corpus Christi I set it back up and tried to find the signal. I was unsuccessful and since we were leaving for dinner soon and leaving the next morning, we stopped trying. We did not know if the fall damaged the LNR or not. I had repaired the damage from the Satillo, MX blow-over with some two part epoxy and that repair held and there was no sign of any additional damage. I don't know why I could not reacquire the signal. We never had occasion to use the dish after that as we either stayed in parks with cable or were able to get off air digital channels the rest of the way home.

Testing the dish once we got home was on my to-do list and I finally got around to it yesterday. I brought the dish over to the patio outside the TV room and wired it into the big screen. I determined the settings using a new website I found that incorporates Google Maps. You simply tell it what system you are using, point to where you are on the map, hit "calculate" and Voila! Your settings appear!

I set the skew and elevation and then swung the dish a few degrees and there it was. I was getting a signal strength of 83 without much tweaking and the picture was good. Success! The dish was not damaged!

Forty Million Gallons

The motorhome uses one gallon of gas for every nine or ten miles it travels. That's a lot of gas and I used to feel guilty about this but the amount of oil British Petroleum has thrown into the Gulf of Mexico over the last month or so would take the motorhome almost four hundred million miles (actually far more than that because a gallon of crude makes much more than a gallon of gas, but lets keep the math simple). That is a long way, in fact it is 1,600 times around the world! I would never want to drive around the world 1,600 times as I suspect it would probably become very boring after the first hundred times or so. But with this amount of gas in the tank, I could.

If there was a highway to the moon. I could take the motorhome there and back with this amount of gas as well. I would rather do that than drive around the earth 1,600 times. I would feel guilty about burning up this amount of resources but I will have to get over that. The BP "man on the ground" who was "here for the duration" sneaked back to England for a birthday party and he didn't feel guilty. I suspect he used a private plane to make the trip.

It seems they may have slowed or stemmed the flow today, at least we are all hoping they have. Now comes the cleanup. The only thing that comes close to this disaster in the past is the Exon Valdez spill in Alaska. That mess never did get totally cleaned up as evidenced by the fact that salmon no longer pass by our house. They take the long way around the Island now because the water smells better over there. Who can blame them?

Will BP clean up the mess? Will they repay the seafood industry workers who will lose their jobs over it? Will they buy the seafood restaurants that go broke? Will they make changes to ensure it never happens again? Will they repay the Federal and State Governments for everything it spent on the spill and investigations?

Does anybody care if they do? Will the government force them to pay? They will plead poverty and complain about the costs of course. They will say they have to protect their profits to pay off the shareholders.

I Am Officially "Old"

I am now officially "Old"! My first Old Age Pension cheque was deposited last night. It will be $517 and is the second half of my Canadian Government Pension. The first half, Canada Pension Plan, started when I turned 60 and is $635 for a total of $1152 a month! This, combined with my Union Pension and Norma's pensions brings in a comfortable income. We can keep traveling!

This reminded me that I have now been retired for ten years. I "pulled the pin" the day before my 55th birthday back in April of 2000. Except for the one winter we stayed home to look after Norma's dad we have spent every winter in the "South". The first six winters in the USA and the last three in Mexico. It is hard to separate them in my my mind as they all blend together into one good time.

To celebrate the occasion I treated myself to a new lens for the camera. It is a Tamron 18 - 250 mm zoom. It will give me far more zoom range than the old Sigma 18 - 50 (which is for sale attached to a Nikon D70s). If Claudia takes me out on a "birding walk" in Mexico again I will be able to take bird photos without changing lenses. As Joe Biden would say, "This is a big f'ing deal". And it is! Watch out birdies!

Three Readers Join Kiva!

Three readers of this Blog have told me they have been inspired to join Kiva! This is great news and many lives will be changed because of this. I am humbled.

Thanks Deanna, Nancy and Joan! You have made my week!

Chiapas Coffee and News From Mexico

It is a cool, rainy morning here in Campbell River. I have a list of things to do but they all involve dry weather so I decided to instead bring out some of the Mexican coffee we brought back with us. It is a perfect day for it!

We brought back about five Kilos of coffee in all and the one I dug out of the freezer this morning is an organic coffee from the highest mountains of Chiapas. We bought it at a WalMart in Mexico on our way home but we actually did visit the Coffee Museum in San Christobal de Las Casas in the heart of the Chiapas mountains in early 2009 and remember passing the endless coffee farms near there.

We heard some disconcerting news from our Mexican friends Chris and Juan this morning. Chris is on the west coast giving a presentation and got several calls from Juan. Juan had been driving on the highway near Monterrey when he was cut off by another car and was involved in a crash. Both vehicles were totaled and all the people in the other car were taken to the hospital. There was some concern that Juan would have to go to jail (a common practice in Mexico when there are injuries and blame is not easily determined) but the injured people were quickly released and came to the police station. Juan is shaken up by the experience but is now safe at home. They will now be shopping for a new car as well as a new trailer to replace the one they recently sold. We wish them all the best and wish they were here to relax and enjoy a cup of this great coffee!

Juan, Norma, Croft and Chris in San Miguel de Allende

Harvey Milk Day

This weekend is the celebration of Harvey Milk Day throughout the State of California. Harvey Milk, a gay activist and San Francisco City Supervisor was murdered 32 years ago. May 22 is his birthday. There have been parades and celebrations in Harvey's hometown of San Francisco and throughout the state. It is a celebration of inclusiveness and tolerance and is a reminder to all of us to extend a smile and a helping hand out to any and all minority groups in our society.

Intolerance is one of the main causes of bullying in schools and in workplaces and many people are doing something about this. One such person is Rina Sundahl. Rina is a senior at Southridge High School in Beaverton, OR and co-president of the school's Gay-Straight Alliance. Rina has been active in her school and community by organizing a march to spread awareness of Uganda's gay genocide bill among other things. As a school art project she designed this poster to foster respect for gays:


It shows the faces of popular people in the entertainment industry who have "come out" in the hopes that it will spark discussion and thinking among young people.

It falls on all of us to spread this message of acceptance and tolerance. I also believe that it is even more important for those of us who are "straight" to do this because if people look at us and say "Well, if he/she can accept homosexuality, then maybe I should take a closer look at my beliefs". This is a basic Human Rights issue and we fight for justice simply because it is the right thing to do. I have always said and believe that an injury to one is an injury to all but this was put into far better words by Martin Luther King in his Letter From A Birmingham Jail:

"I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

Martin Luther King

Kiva Loans

I just checked my Kiva account and see I have a credit from some payments on previous loans. This money does no good just sitting there so I went to the Kiva website and found three people and groups I feel worthy. There are many to choose from!

First is Francisco, a hard working man in Santa Cruz, Bolivia who needs a small loan to buy parts for his taxi which is having mechanical problems. He will repay the loan with monthly payments over a year:

"Francisco is married and has three children. He has been a taxi driver for 30 years and currently works as part of a fleet of vehicles that provides taxi services between Santa Cruz and Paurito. Francisco also works for the Mennonite colonies by delivering medicines, of which he earns a percentage. During the planting season, he helps his brother-in-law grow watermelons and cassava to earn additional income to maintain his household. His wife is in charge of feeding and acquiring an education for their three children. One child helps out by working half-days at the Ramada Market selling CDs." (Translated from Spanish)



Christina In Guatemala

Christina (far left in the photo) in Santa Rita Salcajá, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala makes traditional clothing which she sells in her village. She is a member of the “Cuatro de Mayo Sector 4” (May 4th, Sector 4) Group. When someone makes a Kiva loan as part of a group, each member of that group is responsible for each others loans so each loan is a group decision and has the backing of the whole group.

"Cristina is divorced and has a sixth grade education. She has ten children, five of whom are married and she continues to support the other five. She weaves traditional clothing and has been doing this for ten years. With great enthusiasm, she and some of her neighbors have formed a group in order to be able to obtain this loan."

" [Cristina] will use the money from this loan to buy [weaving] supplies to be able to increase her production. One of her biggest challenges has been the lack of working capital, but she has come out ahead with the help of her children. She hopes to expand her business and increase production."



My share of all these loans is $25 USA. She still needs a little more to buy her supplies so why not join me in giving her a hand. All my loans have been repaid in full so there is very little risk. Click here to see how you can help Christina or another deserving person.

After you sign up, why not join Felipe, Steve, Paul and a bunch more of us on the Ian Lee Dickson Kiva Group? You still get credit for all your individual loans but the group also gets credit. Join the Mexico Bloggers and friends crowd! Here is a link to our group.

Last Loan For Now

This loan will empty my Kiva account. I am loaning $25 USA to Bertha, Alicia, and Eulalia from Huancavelica, Peru. They are in the group below.

"Bertha, Alicia, and Eulalia are three of the twenty-two members of the Primavera de Cachi Baja Community Bank which is located in Huancavelica department.

Bertha is married and has five children. Her job is selling salt and grains in bulk which she takes to the capital city to sell. Bertha needs a loan to buy more grains to sell. She wants to begin saving money so she can start a small business raising guinea pigs.

Alicia is married and has two small children. She sells herbs which she gathers at dawn, dries them, and sells them by the kilo. Alicia needs a loan to buy more herbs and expand her business. She wants to begin saving for a machine that dries herbs.

Eulalia is married and has five children. She sells salt, grains, and herbs. She gathers the herbs in her community and takes them to the capital to sell. Eulalia needs a loan so she can increase the number of products she sells and thus earn more money. Her primary goal is to save enough money to buy a vehicle to use for transporting her merchandise to the capital."



Now I sit back and wait for the payments to come in so I can loan it out again. I earn no interest from these loans but receive the satisfaction that I have helped out some hard working people somewhere in the world. These are the best investments I have ever made.

If you want to investigate helping out yourself, click here.

A Stormy Night

It blew up a storm last night! The winds were expected to hit 70 Km/hr and I suspect they just about did. I was awake on and off all night and finally got up quite early (for me) and walked down to the end of our driveway to take this photo. It is the ocean just in front of our house and the waves are seldom this big.

It Happens Every Time!

Every time I do a major sell the Market is low. This morning I had a look and the TSX is down 270 and the Dow is down 80. Why? CHINA! China for God's sake! China enters a bear market and Canada drops 270 points just as I am selling!

Well, at close the TSX recovered to down 200 and the Dow is actually up 5. I don't know if my sale went through today or not. I have a stomach ache. I should get out of the market. Are bonds paying 20% yet?