me vs. satellite dish

[astcell]

I see another contest coming on.

[bigpuffer]

I see another contest coming on.

That's the spirit.

I know i should just ignore it and i'm trying to talk to him, but it occurs to me that there are more "interesting" ways to handle it as a backup. i definitely don't want to go the legal route (ie sue) b/c i won't win and i despise frivolous lawsuits.

i just find it annoying because there are many places on his roofline he could put the dish, yet he chose one which was in our line-of-sight ONLY. he should have to bear the "ugly burden", not us.

i was just hoping for some insight into how to make these devices less than fully operational.

[TheCotMan]

That's the spirit.

A contest to decorate the dish? If you can get your neighbor to agree, and that works for you, try it out.

I know i should just ignore it and i'm trying to talk to him

Yep. Talking or communication are things that allows us to be more advanced than other animals. Of course, if they are jerks about it, then you don't have many choices.

it occurs to me that there are more "interesting" ways to handle it as a backup.

Yep. There are many methods that you can use to interfere with his reception of the signal from low tech to high tech, but they all amount to Denial of Service.

The most obvious low-tech DoS attacks include destruction of private property, trespassing and misaligning the device, and other things which are illegal, and put you in the hotseat. And how many people have been known to place video cameras around their house to observe reasons for problems? Or other neighbors who might witness you whacking the dish with a stick? (Understand your risk for exposure and cost of being caught as you decide what to do when you solve this problem and take appropriate countermeasures.)

Other laws may apply if they get Dish-based Internet or phone service through VoIP and you create a DoS against these services too.

i definitely don't want to go the legal route (ie sue) b/c i won't win and i despise frivolous lawsuits.

I respect that. But if you read the legal snippet I provided above (the long quote) it shows that a city with extra laws to govern placement of a dish can still apply in addition to laws from FCC unless the local laws would *prevent* dish service to the resident.

City sued individual, but individual defended on FCC law pre-emption, local court dismissed the case.

Federal appeal court overturned the local court decision-- meaning the local court should not have dismissed the city's ordinance because of FCC law preemption under the cited case law..

If a local ordinance disallowed placement of dishes in front yards, and placement of a dish in the back yard cannot be shown to cause loss of service or significant problems, then it is still possible for the local ordinance to apply in addition to the FCC laws for the city in that case.
(Really, all it says is that the city had a right to have the case heard and not dismissed because of FCC pre-emption under the cited case law.)

i was just hoping for some insight into how to make these devices less than fully operational.

If talking does not work, how about astcell's suggestions to disguise the device? Paint it the color of the roof? How about taller fences, or fence extensions to remove it from your sight? Maybe you can get a dish for your house too?

[dYn4mic]

low tech is easy and effective...

I say you just bump it off alignment every once a while... (like if you know he's a super duper football fan.. bump it off right before the start of the SuperBowl)...
After a few days of having trouble with it... and calling the sat. company.. Hopefully he'll switch to digitial cable, move the dish someplace else or just call up and cancel service....

The only problem I see with this is that he'll prob. be able to figure out it was you, esp if he knows the location bug's you.. or if you've voiced your thoughts on the dish to him before...
So if you value having a 'friendly neighbor' then try an attack that sabotages the dish without any way to prove you did it, or that it was intentional.

If you've got plenty of time on your hands... or lack vegitation... You could plant a tree to grow and block his dish...

Plenty of ideas.. hope something works...

[k3ym4st3r]

Also if you know something that would really bother your neighbor, you can do that and wait until he/she complaints, then you can make some sort of deal.

[astcell]

If your neighbor's dish is your biggest problem you have quite a great neighborhood there. Don't knock it.

[erehwon]

Just do what I did with my pain in the ass neighbor, get a dish too, and wack it out of alignment every so often, and then ask them if the service is shitty.

Then complain about how shitty the service is with your dish, mind you I still had cable at the time and got the dish off of eBay. After a few weeks/months, recommend cable TV and the dish will come down from the roof, especially after your neighbor gets pissed with the reception problems with the dish being out of alignment all the time, or when it rains or snows.

[d3ad1ysp0rk]

Just do what I did with my pain in the ass neighbor, get a dish too, and wack it out of alignment every so often, and then ask them if the service is shitty.

Then complain about how shitty the service is with your dish, mind you I still had cable at the time and got the dish off of eBay. After a few weeks/months, recommend cable TV and the dish will come down from the roof, especially after your neighbor gets pissed with the reception problems with the dish being out of alignment all the time, or when it rains or snows.

Or even, after asking if their service is crapping out as well, move your dish to the other side of your roof and tell them it did wonders for reception.

[Adrenaline]

One bit of advice is you could stop looking at his house. heh. honestly, it's an 18" dish. that's like saying you want to file something against him because he painted his house pink or puke green or something, and you dont like the color when you look that direction. Honestly, like someone said earlier, if that's your only complaint about the neighbor, sounds like you've got a pretty neighborhood there.