JCTex

Sorry to kick this thread but just saw it. I have all the stuff Mac has, so my sympathy is profound. Has anyone started a business selling particular fire extinguishers Mac sold? One of the above posts said Mac sold his business. To whom?

**BUMP**BUMP** I read the excellent guide and wish I'd had it when I go my Class B non-commercial in 2014. It does contain an error, however, and one that you must know. The guide says the written test covers rules in Section 14 of the Handbook. That's what I thought, too, and flunked my first test. It ALSO COVERS facts and rules from the Appendix which I had not read This is a bunch of stuff about lighting, signage, trailers, and oddball vehicles--very little of which has to do with RV's. HOWEVER, the test does pull 5-6 questions of its 20 from the Appendix. I studied it well and made 100 the 2nd time around. Aside: I took my driving test in Lewisville in my 38' MH. Things were going along swimmingly until my tester put me on the service road for I-35 W at 2 pm. This is one of the busiest highways in Texas, plus she picked an on-ramp in Denton where the highway was curving away from me back to my right. Semi's were whizzing by like cattle in a stampede. The ramp was short and required me to get up to 60+ "right now"! This would be a very hard move for a veterans driver in the best of times, but during a driving test for a motorhome rookie, it was [*#?@]. I made it but looked like an idiot trying to see all the oncoming monsters in my mirror. I aced the test, including going through a multi-lane construction zone with a slalom course of orange cones. However, she did zing me for being unconfident about the interstate merge. I told her, "Ma'am, with what you had me do, we're both lucky to be here!" To this she stated calmly, "Sir, if you're going to play with th' Big Dogs, you have to be able to run with 'em." Pebbledropper

Just an FYI: I read all the posts, guides, and tips above before calling out my installer to do my Hopper 3 + wired Joey (front OHTV) + Dish wireless bridge + wireless Joey (bedroom & outside patio). When he began, I told him about the Dish glitch regarding the Hopper 3 and Trav'ler's crashing into each other when the RG6 cable was left connected between the two while the Trav'ler was scanning for satellites. I supplied an A-B switch which we connected properly. At the time, my Trav'ler was already up and aimed. He unplugged everything and attached the hybrid head. Everything was moving so fast, I forgot to punch the B button when he plugged everything back together and powered the Hopper 3. So, I prepared for the blue screen of death but didn't execute correctly. Nothing bad happened; and the install went on without a hitch. I do believe the danger does exists (because you say it does). Somehow, I dodged the bullet, or Dish has fixed the problem in their latest Hopper 3 boxes, or . . . . I still intend to use the A-B in the recommended way; but I thought you ought to know my good luck. Now, if I can just absorb all the instructions and complexities of coordinating the Hopper remote, my Sony Bravia and its remote, my Pioneer A/V remote, my front OH Sony Bravia and its remote, I might be able to learn to use all this stuff by football season! Pebbledropper

Mark, I'm curious why you are sucking the hot air down and out . It may depend on the cabinet; but not air rises. My OHC had a plastic insert in the door. I replaced it with a nice looking black metal stamped grill with lots of holes; so, it's totally open to outside air. The factory a Ready cut a hole in the back bottom of the cabinet that gets passive air up from the window valance below. I intend to put my 6" fan about 2/3's of the way up vertically and centered behind the components and blow air across them and out the grill. If the temps get more than I like, I can install another small fan in the bottom hole and suck forced air up and in. Am I doing this backwards? Pebledropper

Sorry. I read more of the Guide and found the answer to be an A-B switch. Where can those be bought? I can't find them on Solid Signal's site. Next: the Guide says to disconnect the Joeys from the Solo before re-connecting to the Trav'ler AND to re-connect the Joeysto the Solo one at a time. I really can't do that every time I stop and set up. The RG-6's and hub will be behind the covering board that you see when the OHC is opened. HOWEVER, I can put as many A-B switches on that board as I want. So, am I correct that if I don't want to unscrew connections at the hub, I need to run RG-6 from the Solo hub to an A-B switch and back to the Hopper 3 and Joeys for each place I want a temporary disconnect? Modification of above question: I'm not using wired Joeys but rather 2 wireless Joeys. So, my RG-6 from the bottom of the Solo will go to the Dish (or equivalent) wireless bridge. How, then, can I re-connect each wireless Joey one at a time? I can put an A-B switch breaking the connection between the Hopper 3 and bridge. Is that sufficient to isolate the Hopper 3 during it's re-connection. While I'm at this: When Hoppers started being installed in our portable earthquake MH's, Dish Network and many installers said "don't" and even threatened warranty violations for people who got their equipment via a contract. Many RV'ers blazed a trail, anyway. However, I remember reading posts that said that damage to,Hoppers WAS occurring. Posted helps included being sure the Hopper was secured very well, putting some closed cell foam under the feet for shock absorbers, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, turning it off and then its 120VAC power. The latter, I believe, was to settle the hard drive and keep it from bouncing around during transit. I intend to do all of that with my new Hopper 3 (just to keep the urban legend alive if nothing else); but are there other safeguards I should do? Pebbledropper

When you say "disconnect" the Hopper 3, do you mean put a break in the RG-6 path, turn off the 120VAC power, or both? If the answer is break the RG-6, do you do that w an A-B selector or some other accessory? Pebbledropper 2008 Country Coach Allure 470 37'