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dodge
Last reply · posted in Over the Air Television By RabbitEars.Info
Watching the Bears lose on NBC 5.1 WMAQ and Pictures has been choppy. nyone else seeing this . SIgnal on antenna is 100% according to my 622 OTA tuner.
13 Replies · 3863 views
B
WMAQ is on digital channel 29 and is a line of sight signal that is somewhere in the neighborhood of about 48 miles and is transmitted at about a power level of 167 Kw - which is not a lot of power, especiallly at 48 miles.

I heard some DTV stations cut their power by over 90%, making reception nearly impossible.
Many stations that have reverted to VHF assignments have dramatically cut their transmitter power, in some cases by over 90%! Some stations mistakenly thought they could save money by cutting their power while reaching the same number of viewers.
Getting VHF stations
Splicer
Thats an advertisement. I'm not aware of any stations that reduced their output by 90% and expected the same coverage. Now stations have seen a reduction in the amount of power required to run the transmitters, but that is completely different.

Most reception problems with VHF is the wrong antenna. And that is what the linked article is trying to sell.
M
Well there are some here in Minneapolis that cut their power 90% and the FCC expected the same coverage according to the maps

KARE 11 was at 316Kw on analog...digital 27.1kw...same height
KMSP 9 was at 316kw on analog...digital 21k watts

in the case of Minnesota, all stations on VHF dropped way down (more than 90%)...all were 316kw analog signals
KAWE 9 PBS...14.5kw
KCCO 7 CBS...15.6kw
KCCW 12 CBS 14.3kw

and the FCC thought they would GAIN folks
http://www.fcc.gov/dtv/markets/maps_current/Minneapolis-St_Paul_MN.pdf
Splicer
Damn. Now I'm no rocket scientist or even a mathmatician, but even I realize just how utterly ridiculous that is. The frequencies themselves have not changed, only the encoding has.

If I'm wrong, I would appreciate someone in the know edumacating me.
M
forgot to add other channels in MN on VHF Hi

WDIO Duluth (ABC) 34.6kw
WDSE Duluth (PBS) 17.8kw...they have a construction permit to add a "fill in" translator at 38 (their old DT spot)
KTTC Rochester, MN (NBC) 16kw


but I liked when Mpls was a UHF land for digital. Much easier :)

Mike Kohl at global-cm.net had a great editorial about this whole "changeover"

We have been attempting to cover the fallout from the June 12th shutoff of full power analog television signals across the United States. It turns out that most of the public WAS ready for the transition, and that television stations were equally ready for that plug to be pulled, forcing everyone into permanent digital mode. But it turns out that flawed engineering data at the FCC has caused a major fiasco with stations that are now using VHF channels 2 to 13 for digital. Most visible examples include channel 13 in Baltimore, which was doing fine with its analog VHF channel, and equally well if not even better with their temporary UHF digital frequency. Once they shut off analog on VHF, turned off the temporary UHF digital signal, and then turned on VHF digital, a nasty surprise was found. As an outsider, all I can see is that highly visible engineering people must have been sleeping through much of their elementary school mathematics classes, and missed the parts on multiplication and division. Let's see if the rest of you can pass this test: If a UHF TV station was allowed to transmit 5 million watts video power in analog, and then given permission to use 1 million watts for digital, that would mean that the digital signal is using 20% of the power of previous analog signal. Suppose that a VHF station on channel 13 was previously transmitting at the maximum 316 Kw allowed for analog (just as UHF channels were allowed 5000 Kw on analog), would it not make a little bit of sense that the digital allotment should be somewhere near 20% of the previous analog power output? That number would be just over 60 Kw in most circumstances. Why were VHF channels given power outputs typically between 10 and 30 Kw? Did nobody realize that you would get extremely reduced coverage at a fraction of the power? And there was no real-world testing situation in many cases to see if digital VHF performance was adequate at proposed power levels?? Somewhere in the explanation should include the word "idiot", in my humble opinion. At least the FCC is now acting at previously unheard of speed to respond to broadcasters that are struggling with the power levels authorized, and giving them permission to crank up the power. It's still sort of an experimental process, with those complaining the loudest getting the attention (and permission) to increase power levels. Let's hope that things work out for the best sooner than later. Next is the plan to allow fill-in translators and other rebroadcasters to go on the air in areas that digital is now not working---after being satisfactory for analog signals for many years. Another debacle that will take a long time to straighten our!
dishstaller
Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
1 Replies · 69 views
Foxbat
Meta Clickbait, clicking and watching the Video on Clickbait.
dishstaller
Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
RIP dude. Always liked his music. He was 83


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH5Arbm47IQ
4 Replies · 88 views
FTA4PA
R.I.P.
M
R.I.P.
Foxbat
Rest in Peace…
osu1991
Pub Member / Supporter
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
7 Replies · 94 views
FTA4PA
R.I.P.
dishstaller
My Mom was a huge McMillan & Wife fan.

RIP
dfergie
Mcmillan and wife was where I remember her from, R.I.P. ...
M
R.I.P.
Foxbat
Rest in Peace… I had forgotten she was Kate in "Kate and Allie", teamed with Jane Curtin.
Scott Greczkowski
Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
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....
68648 Replies · 2679675 views
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Bobby
If Love Must Go - Dobie Gray
FTA4PA
Drift Away - Dobie Gray
long_time_Dish
Throwing It All Away - Genesis
dishstaller
All I Need is a Miracle - Mike + The Mechanics
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gms49ers
Sweet Miracle - Rush
TheForce
Supporting Founder Pub Member / Supporter
Last reply · posted in The Phone & Tablet Zone
Apple Fall Hardware Event takes place today, September 9, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET. It marks the debut of new CEO John Ternus and the expected reveal of Apple's first foldable phone.
136 Replies · 1731 views
Foxbat
IFixIt has published their Teardown and they had some positive things to say about the iPhone Duo. It still showed some dust ingress into the hinge assembly but seemed otherwise well-sealed.
​

But with a considerable number of reports of the main screen dying with similar failures, AppleCare+ should be a no-brainer for this phone.
S
IFixIt has published their Teardown and they had some positive things to say about the iPhone Duo. It still showed some dust ingress into the hinge assembly but seemed otherwise well-sealed.
​

But with a considerable number of reports of the main screen dying with similar failures, AppleCare+ should be a no-brainer for this phone.

hope you have apple care a screen job is 1000.00 :oops:. can we say over priced garbage!!!
harshness
Gone are the days when Apple "perfects" what debuted years earlier on an Android phone.
comfortably_numb
Gone are the days when Apple "perfects" what debuted years earlier on an Android phone.

Or better yet, innovate something "completely revolutionary!"
TWiT Tech Podcast Network
· posted in TWiT Tech Podcast Network
0 Replies · 6 views
T
Last reply · posted in DISH Network Support Forum
I was bewildered with all the new DISH TV "Bonus View" channels, so I put together a web page table with all the info I could find. It's at:

https://anythingpeaceful.org/dishtv/DISH_TV_Bonus_View_Channels.html

Here's a partial screenshot of the table, as sorted by Channel Name. (You can click on a column header to sort.)

screenshot.jpg


If you have any corrections or suggestions, please post here.
44 Replies · 5940 views
T
Paranormal Files back in business:

1788455787917.webp
T
Two new Bonus View channels Added today:

pic.webp


And two Removed:

pic2.webp


My full list is at: DISH TV "Bonus View" Channels

Thanks to Pat for the heads up.
T
One Bonus View channel added today. And one correction (on my part):

added and corrected.webp


One Removed:

removed.webp


My full list is at: DISH TV "Bonus View" Channels

BTW, not a Bonus View item, but there was a temporary channel 304 Spooktacular added, I imagine just for the Halloween season.

Thanks again to Pat for the many tips.
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T
Three new Bonus View channels today:

pic.webp


My full list is at: DISH TV "Bonus View" Channels

As always, thanks to Pat for the tips.
T
Four Bonus View channels removed today:

pic1.webp
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Van
Van
Last reply · posted in What's Cooking?
Who says dinner or lunch has to be the only good meals of the day?

Honey butter grits with scrambled eggs and grilled boneless pork ribs on flakey biscuits washed down with cranberry juice.
6635 Replies · 380134 views
TRG
TRG
2 egg burrito with bacon and a side of hashbrowns. Coffee.

1645.webp
TRG
TRG
Breakfast Quesadillas. Grilled flour tortilla filled with scrambled eggs, hash browns, chopped green chile, cheddar & Jack cheese and bacon. Coffee.

q.webp
Bobby
Taco omelette. 3 eggs, taco meat from yesterday, diced green chilis, cheddar cheese, chopped red onion, avocado, black olives, chopped tomato, La Victoria Salsa Brava.

This one was really, really good!
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dfergie
Thought I was getting a Chorizo and egg burrito (marker had rubbed off)but was a roast beef/potato I made up before hunting this morning.
Btw every morning at camp I cooked my homemade Chorizo and scrambled eggs plus sausage side while my brother brought bacon. (they liked both the beef and pork versions)
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TRG
TRG
Thought I was getting a Chorizo and egg burrito (marker had rubbed off)but was a roast beef/potato I made up before hunting this morning.
Btw every morning at camp I cooked my homemade Chorizo and scrambled eggs plus sausage side while my brother brought bacon. (they liked both the beef and pork versions)
I had a chorizo and egg burrito for you. With lots of green chile and cheese of course.
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Peter Parker
Supporting Founder Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in DISH Network Support Forum
No idea what improvements might be involved.
29 Replies · 1610 views
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Almighty1
So after some heavy research, it looks like the issue I mentioned with the DISH 50.0/52.0/54.x remotes where on the 50.0/52.0 remotes, the dedicated TV Power button or on the 54.x remotes where it is using the TV button on the side followed by Power works correctly on a Hopper 3 which runs Linux but not on a Hopper 3 with Hopper Plus, Joey 4 and Wireless Joey 4 which are Android TV (ATV) has to do with the Android TV software itself. In all instances, the remotes had always sent out a dual RF and Infrared signal when the TV Power signal is sent from the remote. The Hopper 3 without the Plus would ignore the incoming RF power packet signal which is identified as a TV-specific toggle event, and does not trigger a system-wide standby state. The Hopper 3 with Hopper Plus, Joey 4 and Wireless Joey 4 as Android TV devices initially worked the same way as well up to sometime in 2025 as there was the legacy pass-through mode in the original software versions used since the Hopper Plus/Joey 4/Wireless Joey 4 launch, the receiver's underlying software essentially ignored the secondary RF payload that the 50.0/52.0/54.x remotes blasted out whenever the TV Power signal was sent. The Hopper 3 with Hopper Plus, Joey 4 and Wireless Joey 4 recognized it was a TV-specific command and discarded the RF packet, letting the standalone IR signal do its job on the tv.

When the software for the Hopper Plus, Joey 4 and Wireless Joey 4 were updated in 2025 and newer versions of the software for those Android TV (ATV) devices, it overhauled how the receiver handles remote commands to tighter integrate the Android TV environment which resulted in the software starting to treat any RF power toggle payload as a global command. As the newer software verion(s) no longer filters out the concurrent RF blast from the 50.0/52.0/54.0 remotes, the moment one sends a TV Power signal from the remote, the Hopper 3 with Hopper Plus, Joey 4 and Wireless Joey 4 catches that unintended RF payloadand interpets it as a command to drop the system into standby.

The fix is really simple since the Android TV (ATV) software for the Hopper Plus, Joey 4 and Wireless Joey 4 just needs to be programmed to drop or ignore the specific RF power packets associated with the TV Power signal sequence.

The problem could also be at the remotes firmware as the remote's firmware has an engineering defect. When you try to turn off the TV, the remote's internal code mistakenly triggers its RF transmitter alongside its IR transmitter. It should only be firing the IR light blast. Because it forces a simultaneous broadcast, the remote's firmware is the original source of the problem.

The Hopper Plus, Joey 4 and Wireless Joey firmware has a filtering defect. Good software design dictating peripheral inputs should include "error handling"—rules that tell the system what to do with messy or unintended commands.
• The legacy Hopper 3 firmware has proper error handling; it sees the remote's rogue RF packet and safely ignores it.
• The Android TV firmware in the Hopper Plu, Joey 4 and Wireless lacks this filtering logic. It blindly accepts the rogue RF packet and misinterprets it as a legitimate signal to force the entire system into standby.

If the remote didn't have a firmware bug, it wouldn't send the phantom RF signal. If the Android TV (ATV) device being the Hopper 3 with Hopper Plus, Joey 4 and Wireless Joey 4 didn't have a firmware bug, it would cleanly ignore the signal just like the Hopper 3 does.

brittanygarden and Rick Durham
rvvaquero
That's a lot of information to ingest. However, I don't have the Hopper Plus and my 54 remote is doing crazy things to the Hopper 3. Several times each evening when I press the skip forward button several times to advance through a commercial, it switches the receiver either onto live TV or into suspension. Other buttons will also cause this randomly, I haven't established any patterns I can describe. I use "recall" to go back to my recorded program in progress.

Needless to say, something in the newer Hopper 3 softwares has caused the remote functioning to ......................malfunction. Evidently, it applies to third party remotes as well as DISH's own remotes.
GRB1959
That's a lot of information to ingest. However, I don't have the Hopper Plus and my 54 remote is doing crazy things to the Hopper 3. Several times each evening when I press the skip forward button several times to advance through a commercial, it switches the receiver either onto live TV or into suspension. Other buttons will also cause this randomly, I haven't established any patterns I can describe. I use "recall" to go back to my recorded program in progress.

Needless to say, something in the newer Hopper 3 softwares has caused the remote functioning to ......................malfunction. Evidently, it applies to third party remotes as well as DISH's own remotes.

This is exactly the same issue I was having as I had the Hopper 3 and 54 remote without the Hopper Plus and the symptoms were virtually identical to yours.
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ERSanders
We have had a corolary problem in this and the prior s/w. Using several different 40.0 remotes (yeah, we're old), when one pauses a live or recorded show it becomes a crap shoot whether it will step foreward the 30" as requested, jump to the end, or restart the episode. Tried the famous 60" reboot to no avail and have decided to live with it vs. a receiver swap risk.
T
I think there's a change to the "skip forward 30 seconds". With CBS that does not have auto-skip, if you stack up a bunch of 30 second forwards it seems to stop when the kangaroo signaling the end of the commercial break appears.
dishstaller
Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter
· posted in The Phone & Tablet Zone
We were up in Pigeon Forge, TN a month ago and we couldn't get anything on our phones to work on mobile data...the Ookla speed test app couldn't even do a speed test. I have an older 13 and went into my settings and turned off the 5G, making it use LTE exclusively....did a speed test of over 300mbps so obviously the 5G bands were overwhelmed. Anyway, tried to do the same thing on my Wife's 15 and the cellular data options tab simply wasn't there. Any of you run into this? We've on Verizon
0 Replies · 19 views