Learning to Live with Datastorm

Sorry for the recent delay in posts, but we've been learning to live with our new Datastorm. Back at Land O' Pines campground we had received an error message "-48" which we had blamed on all of the trees. Then we moved to another campground in St Francisville, LA and received the error message again. Again, there was a possibility of it being the trees or the small valley we were camping in. I had tried several tricks to try and get the dish to work, but to no avail. So it wasn't until our last move to Marksville, LA that we got into a RV Park with no obstructions, no excuses for the dish not to latch onto a signal. After two attempts we were in business. I spent some time researching this error message and have a better understanding of how to tackle it in the future when it appears.

Here's more irony. After getting a few good hours of work and internet time in on Friday, the severe weather started coming our way. High winds and thunderstorms. Eventhough we could've probably left the dish up (Motosat says it's able to withstand winds up to 60mph; DatastormUsers says up to 40mph), we decided to stow it for peace of mind. Then, to add insult to injury, I go to log on last night only to have a degraded satellite signal. Our storm was now over Maryland, which is where our Satellite Operations Center is located. Poop.

A quick review of how this system works. We send a signal to a satellite, it bounces down to the NOC in Maryland, they confirm and send it back up to the satellite, then down to its destination. All happens within milliseconds. Amazing. But we need good weather where we are, and in Maryland, in order for it to work. So without internet, we only had one choice - play...well, and chores,...and drive,...ok, we had more than one choice. But I'll soon be posting on some of the fun stuff we did.