Starlink Repair - Digi-key refused my order.

I did love Alex’s statement “all items are in stock unless the item is not in stock”

I find it bizarre how they flagged someone who created an account - provided full name, business name, address and phone number - something they could quickly look up and see that you're an established repair shop (with a popular YouTube channel) and still gave you a hard time. Yet, they happily sent the same items to a "guest customer"? I would think the person checking out as a guest would have something more to hide than the person making the effort to create a business account and passing on their full details. Very silly of Digi-key.

That device is a Starlink dish that's been modified to fit into a flat mount for placement on top of a vehicle. It's not really a prototype, but an end user modified device. That connector is the Ethernet interface with Power over Ethernet. The other similar pinned connector is the motor control connection for rotation and tilt of the dish (before it was modified).

I’m middle eastern too, I take it as a compliment when everyone assumes you’re an explosives engineer

"All items are in stock unless the item is not in stock". Now that's what I call accurate, helpful customer information! 🤣

I had a similar issue with DigiKey where they were claiming I was on a "US Denied List" simply based off my name. I provided them ID and eventually got the chip I ordered but they need to do better than blindly assume based off a name.

I remember making those types of repairs when I had a summer job during my years in university while earning my EE degree. The worst ones were where some yahoo with a Weller soldering 'gun' tried to remove DIP packages from PCB's without the use of solder-wick. I would find a half-dozen traces torn off the board and quite a few through-holes that were torn out. I used wire-wrap wire and a DS100 soldering station to clean up the mess, tack down to what was left of the traces and glue that in place while installing a replacement DIP package. The PCB's cost thousands of dollars (1980's dollars) so four or five hours of labor and it was still worth it. I think our cut-off point for repairs was more than 8 hours of labor on any board.

Excellent work again Alex , many many years ago mid 90s I did a lot of very close SMT work , using a stereoscopic microscope , and the issue was " tremble" , so I made a few reverse pantograph manipulators to reduce the movements I made to allow very accurate positioning and close work , then you just have surface tension to deal with, the most useful thing was a spring biased holder to make a component or pad stay put , we didn't have the UV setting glues or solder paste , just liquid flux and determination , I even made a IR heater with barn doors to allow selective heating and removal of components

That one, for some reason, is my favourite repair video so far! The micro-craftsmanship is excellent - and I'm not even an electronics engineer!

Haha. No bombs for Alex

Thank you so much for your videos and your time brother. I’ve been watching religiously for a few years now and you’ve helped me up my soldering game by a metric ton. I’m an electrician by trade and I also love fixing electronics around the house and for family. You’re an inspiration and I wish you and your whole family nothing but success and happiness. You work so hard and that’s a dying trait with some of the new generation. Again, thank you and selam from Australia. Big fan Ali, you’re a legend.

"all items are in stock. Unless the item is not in stock." Best statement ever.

Thanks Alli, You are an amazing technician, thanks for sharing your skills and wisdom.

Alex…you are the man! Don’t change a thing on your channel. You are realistic! You make mistakes just like me when or anybody else, but your success rate is incredibly high! Keep it up my friend

You did an excellent job on those wires and putting them on the parts the pcb board and you use the color so it won't do short circuit if moved or anything. Truly outstanding work

Love the work you have done Alex. I have learned alot from your videos. It is sad a company had this view on a name ordering parts. Keep on Keepin on Brother!

I also had a negative experience with them recently-- when I placed an order it didn't empty my cart, it was like it never completed, and it didn't appear in my order history so I placed the order again. However, within a few minutes the original order went through, so I had a double order. I immediately contacted their customer service to cancel the order and was told it had been processed, and so that wasn't possible. Seriously, within 15 minutes?! Mind you, it took several days to ship, so I don't know what they did that couldn’t be canceled. Next time I'll use another distributor, completely ridiculous!

Great to see that you are keeping the differential pairs coupled by following the path of the original traces. This should keep the signal integrity and thus the device working reliably.

i honestly would have thought if the pad was gone, that was basically it - this was the work of a pure surgeon. bloody good work!

I once tried to order a component manufactured in Europe, where I live. I've been told that this component could not be exported outside the US...