Michael Bradford also offered this timely tip for spring. As the plants and animals come back to life after the winter, it's time to be pre-emptive about keeping wasps, mud-daubers, tiny birds and other critters out of the LNB enclosures on satellite dishes.

Bradford's Mylar LNB cover that he installed at WHMI.

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Bradford has installed several Patriot 4M dish antennas that utilize a one-size-fits-all, C-Band LNB assembly. These housings come with a small plastic insert that fits up into the throat of the LNB housing to keep insects out of the LNB probe assembly. Unfortunately, the plug has a shallow tunnel where the bugs like to settle.

Patriot does not offer a true full outside cover, so Bradford went to his the local hardware store for a piece of Mylar screen material and a large diameter, stainless-steel hose clamp. With a little cutting and trimming, he fit the Mylar over the entire opening and secured it with the hose clamp.

This keeps moisture out because the material allows some breathing, and, most importantly, it keeps the unwanted residents out. The whole assembly costs less than $6 and took about 15 minutes to install.

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