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waltinvt
Supporting Founder
Last reply · posted in DIRECTV General Forum
I emailed my 3 congress people 12 days ago about not qualifying for digital distants and just got a phone call from Senator Jeffords's office (Vermont) in Washington.

It seems that some in Congress ARE interested in the problem with people in areas that can't get digital networks OTA being denied the digital distant feeds from satellite.

He had me on the phone for about 15 minutes and by the way he was repeating things back to me, he was obviously taking notes. He said my email was the first his office had heard anything about this and that they intend to try and do something to resolve the problem. Whether it would be putting pressure on the FCC to define the digital white area sooner or issuing some clarifications on the new legislation, I don't know.

My sense is that he and many in congress intended this bill to help the viewers that have no digital OTA options and he seemed quite interested that this wasn't what was happening.

I think that if every one that has been denied the HD distants called or emailed their congressman, we might see some FCC action rather quickly.

WaltinVt
11 Replies · 2574 views
slacker9876
I sent these a couple of years ago and was told by my rep at the time (via mail) that this was not an issue they would be supporting ... I am glad they are out of office!

Even if Congress approves all these new and great measures, no one will be able to get service anyway because DirecTV will tie up everything in the FCC's bureaucratic waiver process, and/or your local affiliate will stake a claim to your address as they do now.

I do think it is GREAT that your rep both supports the bill and contacted you! Here in Colorado we have a group of idiots tying out high power facilities in court. They say they are worried about RF exposure levels. I guess no one told them the only was to hide is to wrap themselves in foil and hide in Cheyenne Mountain (NORAD). I mean really ... is it legitimate for people to fear radio waves?
Barney
colofan said:
So Barneypoo69 did you go out and see what the FCC thinks the coverage area is for the station? So yes I think the FCC needs to grant waivers acroos the board until a station has proved that they are out of the "construction" phase of the DTV.

Personally they (the broadcaster) are trying to delay the equipment cost to upgrade to DTV as long as possible.... I say then allow D* to provide that service until the construction phase is over.

The FCC could pull the temp license and pull them off the air if they wanted to on the lack of implementing DTV mandated by congress. Guess how fast stations would move then.

My local FOX station is using the "hardship", FCC granted them.
waltinvt
Its this simple

Barneypoo69 said:
My local FOX station is using the "hardship", FCC granted them.
The "hardship" grant may extend their alloted time without being fined or shut down but it shouldn't change the fact that in the mean time you are still "unserved" and would be entitled to distant HD nets if the white area were in play.

The FCC knows full well that many affiliates are using any tactic they can to stall on full power digital. They also know the absolute only way to get this digital transition moving is competition. The NAB knows this too, which is why they used "campaign air time" last Summer / Fall as a backdoor negotiating tool to get Congress to stall as long as possible on passing this legislation and now the FCC as long as they can in implementing.

They all see the writing on the wall but the plan right now is to give the independent network affiliates (collectively called the NAB) a protective shield against any competition from satellite (both DNS & Sig Viewed) for as long as possible in hopes of keeping the viewer loss at a minimum until satellite has the ability of carrying all the locals in digital.

Why do you think "D" was so quiet during the legislation hearings. They knew Dish was not going to be allowed to put up the HD nets until a white area was defined and the FCC was going to stall the white area until "D" was ready to start providing LILs in HD up (where they knew they had the edge of "E" ). They were given the edge from day one and to insure Dish couldn't catch up too soon, they added the "locals all on one dish" wording.

None of this can be proven of course and the only way it can be countered is by a grassroots effort to pressure the FCC (via Congress) into acting sooner rather than later. Some effort on Dish's part would help. They need to solidify their customer base right now and start defining where they are heading. Believe me, as attractive as "D" may seen right now (and I'm even tempted into switching), if Dish falls, we all loose.
WaltinVt
colofan
So are you saying that a station can use the "hardship" definition to keep me from getting the distant nets? It seems that as a customer if I can't get the HD signal then I am in a white are by definition. That is why I am getting the testing done. I think that if enough sat customers were to hand a bill to the local affilate to prove that they can't get the signal that tier no policy on waivers would quickly change.
D
I was under the impression that they won't test for digital at this point, only analog.
SuperDish_Fan23
Last reply · posted in DISH Network Support Forum
Why are ViP922s So rare? like its crazy how ebay has none, i checked everywhere, also, i got a ViP222k now, which is actually activated!
20 Replies · 478 views
S
That's not really unusual. Cable companies like to the provide the box too. The phone company provided the phones in until the government forced them to allow third-party phones.
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Almighty1
That's not really unusual. Cable companies like to the provide the box too. The phone company provided the phones in until the government forced them to allow third-party phones.
Yes, the Western Electric phones that says "Bell System Property, NOT FOR SALE, Western Electric".
AZ.
AZ.
Yes, the Western Electric phones that says "Bell System Property, NOT FOR SALE, Western Electric".
someone is showing their age
Almighty1
someone is showing their age
LOL. It depends if the person saw it during the years when they were actually still available which is 1968 to 1983 meaning the person could be 43-58 years old or they can even be a few years old if they learned to read and write at a young age and actually saw a telephone with that label somewhere recently just like even here in San Francisco, payphone still exist physically in public places but whether they can be used or not is a different issue. It still looks like this even today:
1792633296785.webp
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dishstaller
I opened my Radio Shack in Sept 1984 and right about that time they did the whole deregulation thing with the phone companies. I bought TONS of those phones that had been refurbished with a new outer shell. You could throw one of those out of a 3 story high window and it would still work.
That was an interesting time in history. I would have older customers come in and ask about phones.....they were terrified that they were going to get into trouble hooking up a second phone without the phone company knowing about it. One of the funniest episodes of WKRP was the one where Johnny thought the cops were showing up because they had an unregistered phone. I guess younger folks can't conceive of a time when you were limited to the number of phones you could have in your house....and limited to the length of the cord 🤣
navychop
someone is showing their age

You should hear his stories about when rocks were soft and pterodactyls were the new kid on the block!
dishstaller
One of the funniest episodes of WKRP was the one where Johnny thought the cops were showing up because they had an unregistered phone.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA0yZ1nrm6M&pp=ygUPd2tycCBwaG9uZSBjb3Bz
dishstaller
Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
He was 71 yrs old. One of my favorite songs is Seminole Wind....the violin is killer.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8sh9P3X33w
5 Replies · 40 views
FTA4PA
Rest In Peace
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M
I Wish I Could Have Been There is an amazing song. Rest in peace Mr Anderson.
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Bobby
Rest in peace.
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comfortably_numb
Hope you're out there Swingin', John.
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dishstaller
I Wish I Could Have Been There is an amazing song.
That's one of those songs that hits a little too close to home for me. I like the song but just can't listen to it. It's kinda like that song "Daddy never was the Cadillac kind".....reminds me too much of my Grandfather who died Feb 18, 1995.
N
Last reply · posted in DISH Network Support Forum
My OTA is not working anymore. This started after the latest update. I have the OTA dongle with a OTA antenna that I've been using for years. My hopper does not recognize the dongle anymore and when I go to the OTA setting, it has a screen that says to plug a dongle into the USB. I tried unplugging and plugging back, in the same usb port and other ports. The Hopper does not recognize it. Anyone have same issue?
201 Replies · 5097 views
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Scott Greczkowski
Did you people having this issue contact Brittany yet? Shes trying to keep track of things and it would be good for you to contact her as maybe she can get this somewhere and get fixed.

Now while unofficial, I am hearing this issue wasn't caused by DISH's software team, but was caused by a chipset driver update that seemes to have hosed some older USB devices. If this is indeed the case I can see why DISH didn't know and why they are slow in fixing it as they need the chipset company to fix its drivers and release them to DISH so they can be pushed out to all.

DISH does not hate you guys nor do they want you to buy new USB dongles. I am rather sure they didn't even know this was an issue until they saw it posted.

Again contact Brittany if you are having this issue, so she has your info and hopefully she can do something for you to keep you happy. :)
bookworm370
Did you people having this issue contact Brittany yet? Shes trying to keep track of things and it would be good for you to contact her as maybe she can get this somewhere and get fixed.

Now while unofficial, I am hearing this issue wasn't caused by DISH's software team, but was caused by a chipset driver update that seemes to have hosed some older USB devices. If this is indeed the case I can see why DISH didn't know and why they are slow in fixing it as they need the chipset company to fix its drivers and release them to DISH so they can be pushed out to all.

DISH does not hate you guys nor do they want you to buy new USB dongles. I am rather sure they didn't even know this was an issue until they saw it posted.

Again contact Brittany if you are having this issue, so she has your info and hopefully she can do something for you to keep you happy. :)
Thanks, but until they do, can't Dish just revert to the old driver that worked? Then test the new driver when delivered,d before pushing it again.

But then what does an old CIO know! I've only reamed quite a few buttholes from my people that didn't do that! ;)
S
Thanks, but until they do, can't Dish just revert to the old driver that worked? Then test the new driver when delivered,d before pushing it again.

But then what does an old CIO know! I've only reamed quite a few buttholes from my people that didn't do that! ;)
dish can't revert back to older drivers or updates. although just one reason not to buy the ota dongle!!!
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ppappas
dish can't revert back to older drivers or updates. although just one reason not to buy the ota dongle!!!
They can absolutely put the old driver back if they wanted. This is an embedded software environment in which they have total control. All they have to do if build a new version of firmware with the old OTA driver and test it of course. They just don't want to spend the resources doing so. If they are not going to continue supporting the single tuner adapter, then they have to say so.
Almighty1
They can absolutely put the old driver back if they wanted. This is an embedded software environment in which they have total control. All they have to do if build a new version of firmware with the old OTA driver and test it of course. They just don't want to spend the resources doing so. If they are not going to continue supporting the single tuner adapter, then they have to say so.
Unless of course they didn't keep a copy of the old drivers and can no longer get it. Then there is always the their support for the product is EOL after a x amount of time so it will make the consumer have to buy the current product offering.
B
Anyone heard any updates on this, I'm still having the issue so thought I'd check in.
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Almighty1
Anyone heard any updates on this, I'm still having the issue so thought I'd check in.
No updates but if you can get DISH Technical Operations to roll you back to H710 or earlier even though H708 would be best because it also eliminates another problem like in this comment, you will also no longer have the problem as long as you don't update manually or forced to any new version until the problem is fixed as the problem started in H711 and still exist in H712 and H713.
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dishstaller
Installed an off-air antenna a couple days ago for a customer who had just cancelled his Dish service. He had a dual off-air adapter and gave it to me. Cool. I'll keep it on the truck....might come in handy. Got to admit I don't watch anything as far as live tv goes anymore. Even if we have severe weather, our local channels will have a live feed on Youtube.
navychop
In other news, it was announced that the software fix for the two tin cans and a string will not be forthcoming. A hardware fix is required. However, that fix will let you receive stations from a gazillion miles away.

Truck roll charges may apply. Two year commitment required.
M
Last reply · posted in Over the Air Television By RabbitEars.Info
Interesting article about the work being done to develope an ATSC 3 converter box. Yes it does mention affordable.
6 Replies · 201 views
navychop
DEATH TO NEXGEN!
TRG
TRG
17 years ago the US turned off analog OTA signals in favor of digital broadcasting. Now the push is ATSC 3 "Nextgen TV". But nobody seems to be able to agree on DRM implementation protocols. People don't want to hook their TV up to the internet in order to watch over the air TV. At least I don't. With all the data they collect about your viewing habits the box should be given away at no cost.
navychop
Comb your hair.
primestar31
DEATH TO NEXGEN!
star trek GIF


It's dead, they just don't know it yet. They killed it by forcing DRM on it, and that TOTALLY botched implementing it.

There is absolutely NO compelling reason for anybody to switch to ATSC3.0. They only want it as a total and complete money grab.
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navychop
I truly hope you are right.
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TWiT Tech Podcast Network
· posted in TWiT Tech Podcast Network
0 Replies · 6 views