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mdoverstreet

Last reply Jun 28, 2009 · posted in Over the Air Television By RabbitEars.Info

OTA Questions

Hey ya'll! I have a few questions about OTA reception. My hermit uncle (LOL!) lives just to the west of Leslie, AR, which is, give or take, 100 miles NNW of Little Rock. Cable is unheard of where he is and he don't watch enough TV to justify getting Dish or Direct. Before NBC channel 4 in Little Rock and NBC channel 3 in Springfield, MO went digital, he could get them both very well with an 20+ yr old antenna just barely above the roof line. He has a RCA DTV converter box, which I have since learned is nothing but crap. What kind of antenna should I get for him that would pull in signals from 100+ miles away (Little Rock, Springfield and possibly Fayetteville/Fort Smith)? He lives on top of a hill, which I think is going to help him a little. I did a scan on the RCA converter box back in November and it tried to pick up KOLR in Springfield. The only thing he's got to watch right now is PBS 6-1 through 6-4 from Mtn. View, AR, which is about 30 +/- miles east of Leslie. I've got a chance to pick up a 40 ft. tv tower. Would that be tall enough? I've also thought about a utility pole. What kind of amplifier would he need? I've got a DigitalStream DSP7700P converter box, a Winegard Model AP-8275 preamp, and a ChannelMaster Model 4221HD Ultratenna. Would this be a good setup for him? I've heard from others that he needs an omni-directional antenna. Is the one I've got an omni-directional antenna? Thanks ya'll!

Oh yeah, not sure if this post is in the right place. If it's not, feel free to move. Thanks again!

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mserrano

Jun 8, 2009

Unless you are well above average terrain, I would not count on getting reliable reception at 100 miles, without spending big bucks. But I agree with Peano that the XG91 antenna with a Channel Master 7777 preamp is an excellent combination.

Dish Network offers a "local only" option (my brother-in-law has this). I think he pays $7-8$ a month for it.

Tower Guy

Jun 8, 2009

mserrano said:
But I agree with Peano that the XG91 antenna with a Channel Master 7777 preamp is an excellent combination.

I don't agree. His strongest station is a marginal VHF. The 91XG doesn't cut it on VHF.

TV Fool

peano

Jun 9, 2009

Tower Guy said:
I don't agree. His strongest station is a marginal VHF. The 91XG doesn't cut it on VHF.

TV Fool

True enough. The XG91 is not good for VHF. My experience is with the UHF channels. I would add a VHF antenna to the XG91.

ziggy29

Jun 9, 2009

peano said:
True enough. The XG91 is not good for VHF. My experience is with the UHF channels. I would add a VHF antenna to the XG91.

Looking at the TV Fool info, I'm not sure OTA is really all that feasible at all. According to this, the strongest UHF has a noise margin of -20! Other than the one PBS station, I wouldn't expect to get anything consistently based on this table, and spending money trying to pull in UHF might be wasted.

Having said that, if this is a hilly area, an exact address plot could change the game for better or worse -- and possibly by a considerable margin.

delta_charlie

Jun 13, 2009

Hi all, if OTA will not work what about a simple fixed FTA setup on G18 (123w) there is at least one Litle Rock station on that bird (KATV) and lots of other stations all over the US. A 80 cm Ku dish, cheap LNB and a receiver off of fleabay would do it. Hope this helps, DC

Mr Tony

Jun 13, 2009

KATV left a while ago because the tower is back up and most of the Equity channels are being sold off so may not be a good thing

Jim5506

Jun 13, 2009

Go to TV Fool and click on "Start Maps" in the right hand column.

Input the zip code for Leslie and it will show you a map for the area which you can change to a Google Satellite image in the upper right of the map.

Find your uncles house, center on it and set the appropriate antenna height.

In the lower right you'll see a list of stations possible from that height at that place.

PBS is about 45 miles east of him, Little Rock stations are about 72 miles almost due south.

CBS and NBC are your best bets, CBS is on rf ch 12, NBC is on rf ch 32.

I'd go with a 91-XG for UHF and a YA-1713 or similar for VHF high coupled with a CM777 pre-amp and the higher up in the air the better.

mdoverstreet

Jun 28, 2009

Hey ya'll. Thanks for all the replies. I found my uncle's exact spot on TV Fool's map and it looks like everything would be from Springfield. Looks like I'm going to have to get up pretty high before anything is watchable. I was thinking about starting out about 40 ft. According to TV Fool, I'd have to get well above 200 ft before anything from Little Rock would be watchable. Why is that? What ya'll think?

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dfergie

Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU!

Last reply 8 minutes ago · posted in What's Cooking?

What's For Lunch?

We have a Breakfast and Dinner thread so...

Continuing from the Breakfast thread, found Cornbread mix so ...
Yellow Cornbread Mix
2 Hatch Green Chiles -diced
1 Egg
2/3 cup of milk
add to greased pan
Bake for 400f 20-25 minutes(From instructions)
now to put together and try... this to go with pinto beans...

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TRG

Oct 19, 2026

Club sandwich and corn chowder. Iced tea.

Reactions: Bobby, Mr Tony and dfergie

dfergie

Oct 19, 2026

Chili dog bowl, water… (homemade chili)

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TRG

Monday at 2:53 PM

Leftover wanton soup and pork fried rice. Water.

dfergie

32 minutes ago

Sweet tea…

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TRG

8 minutes ago

Tuna salad sandwich on toasted honey whole wheat bread with a handful of kettle chips. Water.

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iJustine

37 minutes ago · posted in iJustine

iPhone Duo's First Concert! Revis!

Time for another AWESOME video from iJustine!

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yj3f7ab5pBI

Direct YouTube Link - iPhone Duo's First Concert! Revis!
The official iJustine Website's Website
Buy her book!

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TWiT Tech Podcast Network

37 minutes ago · posted in TWiT Tech Podcast Network

New iPad mini Announced... at $699?

Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7NJXMnbT1Mk

Direct YouTube Link - New iPad mini Announced... at $699?
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed

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Scott Greczkowski

Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge

Last reply Today at 12:33 PM · posted in The Chit Chat Club

Song Name Game Part 3!

Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!

So let the game continue!

The last song was added by Bobby who posted...

One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters

CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!

Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game

Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.

Example:

Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow

Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio

Another example:

Ride the Lightning -- Metallica

Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne

Get it?

An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....

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dishstaller

Today at 10:32 AM

I Wanna Talk About Me - Toby Keith

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Bobby

Today at 10:51 AM

98.6 - Keith

harshness

Today at 11:25 AM

I'm Easy - Keith Carridine

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gms49ers

Today at 11:41 AM

It's Easy - Boston

RaiderPower

Today at 12:33 PM

Take It Easy On Me - Little River Band

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reubenray

Last reply Today at 10:36 AM · posted in Computers and Gadgets

Laptop Shutting Off When On Battery?

Lately my eight year old Dell laptop has been shutting off even when I have a full battery. I have had to keep it plugged up all the time to keep this from happening. Any idea what is causing this? I replaced the battery about three years ago.

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arlo

Today at 10:09 AM

A recalibration might be needed. Even if it shows full, the individual cells may have become unbalaced. And the BMS chip in the battery reports false information to the pc.
Try this. Start it up in the bios/uefi and leave it there until the battery dies and it shuts off.
It might just keep running longer than in Windows. Or run for a short while and shut off.
If it's the first case. Probably just needs a balancing. If the latter, the pack might just be dead.
Not throwing stones but perhaps just a cheaply constructed battery with substandard cells. Could be.

Patience. Keep restarting it in bios/uefi until it won't fire up anymore.
Then plug the charger in and let it complete a full charge. And see what happens. If it's better.
Do the same thing one more time. Run it until it dies dead-dead. Then just let it charge, pc shut off.
When charged, it might be better. It might not be.

There are bench jigs that read the actual BMS and override it to let a tech manually monitor and charge the separate packs. They can also reset any "time bombs" in it that cause an otherwise good pack to show bad.
Maybe Santa will be good to me some year.

You might just need a new battery. Maybe the PC power management chip is going. A Dell common thing.
Leaving a laptop plugged in with a full battery is known to reduce the life. Asus for one recommends that you don't leave the charger plugged in all of the time even when shut down. And setting Windows to charge the battery to 85% instead of 100% increases life.
That's all I got.

dishstaller

Today at 10:36 AM

arlo said:
That's all I got.

That was quite enough....I definitely learned something from your post. Thanks

TRG

Pub Member / Supporter

Last reply Today at 10:27 AM · posted in Computers and Gadgets

Starlink Router question

I set up a music server for my brother a few years ago. It's basically a small headless computer but it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.

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b4pjoe

Saturday at 2:12 PM

TRG said:
I set up a music server for my brother a few years ago. It's basically a small headless computer but it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.

If you can't get into the router to reserve an IP address just don't use DHCP on the device that needs connected and assign it to a specific IP address in the network settings.

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HipKat

Saturday at 11:07 PM

TRG said:
I set up a music server for my brother a few years ago. It's basically a small headless computer but it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.

They are not. Your best bet is to set up a third-party router, attached to the Starlink for your server, that you can get into, like a Linksys, etc

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Foxbat

Sunday at 12:44 AM

TRG said:
…it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.

The Starlink V5 Install Kit I just got comes with the Mini Router. It is pretty limited in what it can do. For example, it can provide only one IP subnet at a time, no Guest Network, but it does support the pass-thru to a third-party Router. You can also split the Wi-Fi into separate 5 GHz & 2.4 GHz SSIDs to help some IoT devices that don't support 5 GHz bands to work.

The larger Starlink Router that still comes with the V4 Kit does support a Guest Network with separate IPv4 Subnet, but it's $120 from Starlink. And it still won't do DHCP Reservations.

harshness

Sunday at 11:46 AM

If you can restrict the DHCP address space to assign addresses to one end of the subnet (i.e. x.x.x.50+), you can manually assign the IP address on pretty much any operating system. This is a default behavior on several popular routers. As the Router Mini only supports 235 devices, I expect that's already done.

Another option is to use a router that supports PoE to power the antenna. This article discusses that option (under PoE Power heading):

Starlink V5 Is Here: What RVers Need to Know

Overview of the new Starlink V5 model along with comparison to the previous V4 model along with a recommended setup for mobile internet users.

mobilemusthave.com

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Foxbat

Today at 10:27 AM

Now that I've had the v5 kit with the Mini Router, it's not as bad as I first thought. Yes, no DHCP reservations, but you can set up multiple SSIDs that have separate IPv4 subnets, and like the big brother, you can select from 192.168.x.0/24 or 10.x.0.0/16 (where "x" is 1-4).

You can also split a subnet and have different SSIDs for the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz channels to handle some IoT devices. I haven't discovered what subnet the 2nd NIC on the router assigns, I'm guessing it's the first subnet.

dishstaller

Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Last reply Today at 10:27 AM · posted in The Chit Chat Club

I think we could all use a laugh - Rodney Dangerfield on Carson

Good...simple humor. Enjoy

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E92AtfTLge4

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJy0WnejlF4

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Jimbo

Today at 12:37 AM

Not Rodney, but a laugh ...

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WHEcmortfK0?feature=share

dishstaller

Today at 10:27 AM

Sorry for posting the wrong link. Just corrected it.

dishstaller

Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Last reply Today at 10:17 AM · posted in The Chit Chat Club

At least 64 dead in Spanish passenger train collision

Terrible tragedy. You would think that they would have safe guards in place that would prevent something like this from happening. I guess if you are going to ride in a passenger train it might be best to get a car near the rear.

At Least 64 Dead After Two High-Speed Trains Collide In Spain | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

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Jimbo

Yesterday at 11:24 AM

dishstaller said:
Terrible tragedy. You would think that they would have safe guards in place that would prevent something like this from happening. I guess if you are going to ride in a passenger train it might be best to get a car near the rear.

At Least 64 Dead After Two High-Speed Trains Collide In Spain | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

They will have to look at the switching sections to determine WHY 2 trains were on the same track ... at the same time.

dishstaller

Today at 10:17 AM

Thought this article might be of interest to some of you who might travel via train.

The safest seat to sit on in a train

Safety experts have shared top tips on train safety after a fatal railway crash in Spain killed 69 people, including where the safest place is in an emergency.

www.dailymail.com