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Gfretwell

Last reply Mar 27, 2016 · posted in DISH Network Support Forum

Why is the OTA module tuner so weak?

I have had 2 of them and I still have a lot of pixelation and drop outs on a couple channels. This also causes the signal loss screen on the satellite channels according to this forum.
Dish has been out, the 722 was replaced, the LNB was replaced on a signal loss call but it still fails and it does track the OTA being last on a bad OTA channel.

I have a deep fringe antenna, an amp and the stations are only 30 miles away. Performance is the same as using lesser antennas and no amp. The TV picture directly is perfect when the OTA is failing.
It does seem to pick on the PBS station the worst but it also fails on the CBS station occasionally.

Is there anything I can do or am I just stuck

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ClarkGable

Mar 20, 2016

I understand that software issues might cause problems with an OTA module installed in a 722K. I don't know if recent software updates have corrected this, but my wife is afraid to set DVR events on an OTA channel because it tended to screw up the recordings other timers set on satellite channels. One of the reasons we bought the OTA module was so we could record two sat channels as well as at least one OTA channel simultaneously. Of course, that was years ago.

MikeD-C05

Mar 20, 2016

ClarkGable said:
I understand that software issues might cause problems with an OTA module installed in a 722K. I don't know if recent software updates have corrected this, but my wife is afraid to set DVR events on an OTA channel because it tended to screw up the recordings other timers set on satellite channels. One of the reasons we bought the OTA module was so we could record two sat channels as well as at least one OTA channel simultaneously. Of course, that was years ago.

My parents are on my 2nd DISH account and they have the 722k and they are at a "moved" service address. Now we use a diplexer to turn the clip on antenna to do both sat and ota. It has worked well for me for years I have the same set up at my house on a 2nd sat dish running to my turned off 211k to power it for just ota .

But my parents have a two story home on either side of them and a huge tree in the back yard of the house directly across from the sat dish. I ended up going with eastern arc lnb and repointed and reaimed the dish so they get great signals on their satellite channels, with no reception problems that were caused using western arc and that damn tree in the neighbors yard. But here is the rub. They get comparable strengths as mine on their ota signal on ABC, NBC, and FOX. But of course they want to watch their local CBS station for their news. That channel comes in at 70 - 75 strength and often crashes and causes break ups and no channel. I get it around 100 strength at my house down the road.

I think that one channel is being blocked due to the 2 story houses and the huge tree. Except that the same signal is split to their tv as well. The hd Phillips tv is doing just fine with no break ups on any channel. My dad has often watched it instead of the sat receiver due to the break ups. I even replaced the ota module in the 722k and it made no difference. I repointed the Terk 44 omni directional clip on antenna and it can get better signal on CBS ,but they lose the Fox station and the strengths on the ABC and NBC station will go way down to around 75 - 80 strength. Mean while the tv never loses signal on the ota tuner built in . So I have to imagine that the older 722k ota module is not as good as it should be. It might be just older technology that doesn't work as well as the tuner in the newer tv.

I have a new antenna coming Tuesday that is an real stand alone antenna and a dedicated line run so we can do ota on its own with out the diplexer thing. I hope this will fix the problem. I also have a 4 tuner Tivo coming for just ota- got it from Best Buy using my reward credits . If it works with the Tivo and doesn't lose the CBS station ,they can just use the Tivo for their own local stations and keep the Houston stations for the news they like to hear from the big city. I used to live in Houston for a year back in the early 90s and I hated watching their news; due to the murders/robberies that were so prevalent. I tried to get them to upgrade to the Hopper and get their own locals and my dad say NO WAY for the $15.00 dvr fee. So if this doesn't work they are just out of luck.

gpflepsen

Mar 21, 2016

MikeD-C05 said:
My parents are on my 2nd DISH account and they have the 722k and they are at a "moved" service address. Now we use a diplexer to turn the clip on antenna to do both sat and ota. It has worked well for me for years I have the same set up at my house on a 2nd sat dish running to my turned off 211k to power it for just ota .

But my parents have a two story home on either side of them and a huge tree in the back yard of the house directly across from the sat dish. I ended up going with eastern arc lnb and repointed and reaimed the dish so they get great signals on their satellite channels, with no reception problems that were caused using western arc and that damn tree in the neighbors yard. But here is the rub. They get comparable strengths as mine on their ota signal on ABC, NBC, and FOX. But of course they want to watch their local CBS station for their news. That channel comes in at 70 - 75 strength and often crashes and causes break ups and no channel. I get it around 100 strength at my house down the road.

I think that one channel is being blocked due to the 2 story houses and the huge tree. Except that the same signal is split to their tv as well. The hd Phillips tv is doing just fine with no break ups on any channel. My dad has often watched it instead of the sat receiver due to the break ups. I even replaced the ota module in the 722k and it made no difference. I repointed the Terk 44 omni directional clip on antenna and it can get better signal on CBS ,but they lose the Fox station and the strengths on the ABC and NBC station will go way down to around 75 - 80 strength. Mean while the tv never loses signal on the ota tuner built in . So I have to imagine that the older 722k ota module is not as good as it should be. It might be just older technology that doesn't work as well as the tuner in the newer tv.

I have a new antenna coming Tuesday that is an real stand alone antenna and a dedicated line run so we can do ota on its own with out the diplexer thing. I hope this will fix the problem. I also have a 4 tuner Tivo coming for just ota- got it from Best Buy using my reward credits . If it works with the Tivo and doesn't lose the CBS station ,they can just use the Tivo for their own local stations and keep the Houston stations for the news they like to hear from the big city. I used to live in Houston for a year back in the early 90s and I hated watching their news; due to the murders/robberies that were so prevalent. I tried to get them to upgrade to the Hopper and get their own locals and my dad say NO WAY for the $15.00 dvr fee. So if this doesn't work they are just out of luck.

Are you on WA? EA tends to put the clip-on at a sharp angle to your broadcasters. I would get the antenna pointing in the right direction first.

MikeD-C05

Mar 21, 2016

gpflepsen said:
Are you on WA? EA tends to put the clip-on at a sharp angle to your broadcasters. I would get the antenna pointing in the right direction first.

We were on the western arc for years till the neighbor's oak tree started covering the reception of the satellites. So I moved them to eastern arc the sat problems went away. The ota reception has always been iffy on channel 6 CBS.

Just to add to this, I did a recent email to a contact I have at Echostar, that deals with our locals in this area and he confirmed something for me. The sub channel of this main CBS channel is the CW. We had had numerous audio/video problems with the Satellite version of the CW for our local area. I wrote him an email to ask him to research the station and see what was up. He wrote back that our CBS channel 6 had been transmitting at a lower power signal for the Cw , which was causing problems for the satellite version of the Cw as well. So I wonder if this would explain why the CBS channel can come in at 75 to 100 strength -depending on what tuner you use. On the Vip receiver I get 75 at the most. On my hopper ota usb tuner, I get 100 strength. Either way I have a new antenna coming tomorrow and I hope that this weekend I can try it out and see if I can get a better strength on this channel.

sam_gordon

Mar 22, 2016

MikeD-C05 said:
He wrote back that our CBS channel 6 had been transmitting at a lower power signal for the Cw , which was causing problems for the satellite version of the Cw as well.

If it's a subchannel, the broadcaster can't dedicate less power to it. It should be the same power as the primary. What they CAN do is change how much bandwidth is available for each subchannel. Maybe that's what he's referring to?

charlesrshell

Mar 22, 2016

sam_gordon said:
If it's a subchannel, the broadcaster can't dedicate less power to it. It should be the same power as the primary. What they CAN do is change how much bandwidth is available for each subchannel. Maybe that's what he's referring to?

How can you tell if the broadcaster is changing the bandwidth between their channels?

navychop

Mar 22, 2016

Let us hope the brand of the new antenna does not begin with "T."

RONZ

Mar 22, 2016

The OTA that Dish has does not have a AGC circuit. It also has no multi path rejection. This tuner works good on weaker signals but does not perform well on strong signals. A new antenna might not solve the issue

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MikeD-C05

Mar 22, 2016

navychop said:
Let us hope the brand of the new antenna does not begin with "T."

IT doesn't. It is a 1byone digital amplified out door/attic hdtv 70 miles range with supply box for uhf and vhf band. I got it from Amazon and I hope this extra range will fix the problems. The terk 44 clip on works for about 25 miles out , which is within the range for all our broadcasting towers in this area. But for some reason not at my dad's house about 3 miles from where I live.

the mack

Mar 27, 2016

charlesrshell said:
How can you tell if the broadcaster is changing the bandwidth between their channels?

I always use a Tweaker 6972 bandwidth analyzer to make sure bandwidth is consistent on the subchannels I watch... :biggrin

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charlesrshell

Mar 27, 2016

the mack said:
I always use a Tweaker 6972 bandwidth analyzer to make sure bandwidth is consistent on the subchannels I watch...

Do you have a link where to your tweaker!

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sam_gordon

Mar 27, 2016

charlesrshell said:
Do you have a link where to your tweaker!

Try this one: http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr1150.html ($70 on Newegg).
Software: http://www.coolstf.com/tsreader/#download ($99 for full version, a "light" version is available also)

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dfergie

Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU!

Last reply 12 minutes ago · posted in Movie Talk

Godzilla Minus Zero

View: https://youtu.be/n-NDYWPXpKg?si=hcI4ueMkFCreZ8Qq

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primestar31

Apr 15, 2026

dfergie said:
View: https://youtu.be/n-NDYWPXpKg?si=hcI4ueMkFCreZ8Qq

Wait, didn't this one come out a few years ago? It was all in Japanese. It was also VERY good!

OK, looked it up, that was Godzilla Minus One

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Bruce

Apr 16, 2026

primestar31 said:
Wait, didn't this one come out a few years ago? It was all in Japanese. It was also VERY good!

OK, looked it up, that was Godzilla Minus One

At theaters, only in Japanese, on Disc and Netflix, available in English.

Foxbat

Today at 10:15 PM

New trailer has dropped:

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dishstaller

12 minutes ago

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

meStevo

Lifetime Supporter

Last reply Today at 10:04 PM · posted in The Chit Chat Club

Volcanic Eruptions

Continuing the Kilauea thread in the Pub here. Perhaps the Iceland one too next time there's remarkable activity.

Currently there is precursory lava flowing into the crater, leading to the next episode that'll probably start within the next day.

You can see the pace of inflation / deflation here. It serves as the primary predictor for when the expect the eruptions, which coincide w/ inflation turning into significant deflation and last for several hours on average with significant fountaining.

Monitoring Data for Kīlauea

For more information on how electronic tiltmeters and GPS receivers help monitor the deformation of Kīlauea volcano, see the HVO Deformation page.

www.usgs.gov

View: https://youtu.be/Uecu2seh4b4

Wife and I like the AfarTV feeds, for the discussion along w/ them, though they're otherwise just mirrors of the official USGS feeds.

View: https://youtu.be/iws3rh5vLAQ

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Foxbat

Oct 17, 2026

Looks like Episode 55 is over at 09:00 HST, just under six hours. The USGS said the fountains reached 720' or 220 meters.

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Foxbat

Tuesday at 10:25 AM

The USGS Kīlaeua Webcam #1 has been showing overflows and doming from the North vent overnight. Maybe the volcanic plumbing has settled back into its two-three week cycle of fountaining?

But I do miss the little cinder cone that broke up in the last episode.

Foxbat

Yesterday at 5:43 PM

Sorry, I should have posted these earlier:

We're still waiting on the start of Episode 56.

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Foxbat

Today at 6:11 PM

At 08:01 HST 11/05/2026, the North Vent produced what I would call a "wet burp" after the precursory "pistoning" events, small amounts of lava pouring out of the vent for a few seconds to minutes and then everything recedes. There must have been a gas bubble holding thing back because two minutes later the lava started flowing out of the vent in all directions. Then, at 08:25, it stopped. What a tease! I thought this was how Episode 56 started.

About 12 minutes later at 08:38, the North vent once again started overflowing and picked up steam at 08:42. By 09:00, slight doming could be seen in the pool of lava in the vent. Surely this is it!

But, 09:50 and things wind down again. By 09:57 HST there's just fumes coming out of the vent. Phooey.

But then 10:00 comes and the heavy lava flows kick in again. This time seems like the real deal. At 10:30 HST there's little spurts of lava flying up in the air over the vent, but more from gas than a steady fountain of lava. This looks promising!

11:30 HST and the color of the lava is definitely hotter, and the intensity has picked up to a definite dome and precursor to fountaining. The USGS calls Episode 56 as officially starting at 12:10 HST:

Alert Level: WATCH, Color Code: ORANGE 2026-11-05 22:29:12 UTC
HVO/USGS Volcanic Activity Notice

Volcano: Kilauea (VNUM #332010)

Current Volcano Alert Level: WATCH
Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE

Issued: Thursday, November 5, 2026, 12:29 PM HST
Source: Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
Notice Number: 2026/H514
Location: N 19 deg 25 min W 155 deg 17 min
Elevation: 4091 ft (1247 m)
Area: Hawaii

Summary: Episode 56 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption began at 12:10 PM HST on November 5, 2026.

Volcanic Activity:
Episode 56 of lava fountaining in Halemaʻumaʻu began at the summit of Kīlauea began at 12:10 PM HST on November 5, 2026.

Lava fountain heights are relatively low at about 100 ft (30 meters), but will likely increase. Ground-level sensors near the eruptive vents indicate that winds are blowing from the northeast direction, which suggests that volcanic gas emissions and volcanic material may be distributed to the southwest direction from Halemaʻumaʻu.

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Foxbat

Today at 10:04 PM

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BlackHitachi

Supporting Founder

Last reply Today at 9:21 PM · posted in Movie Talk

Last & Next Movie Watched

Since the Reds have there thread we should too!

Last watched Nine inch Nails
Next 3:10 to Yuma

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View: https://youtu.be/0-p9SIKs1K8?is=CXuDXVPi5oT6t_b0

Barbara Hershey :heartbeat

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dfergie

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osu1991 said:
View: https://youtu.be/0-p9SIKs1K8?is=CXuDXVPi5oT6t_b0

Barbara Hershey

Last of the Dogmen is my favorite of hers.

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Star Wars Despecialized Edition

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osu1991

Today at 8:06 PM

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Small Soldiers (1998)

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dishstaller

Today at 9:21 PM

Just watched Napoleon. Good night.....all of those young men dying for the egos of their leaders. Now we can kill at a distance, back then you saw the man you were killing eye to eye.

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comfortably_numb

Pub Member / Supporter

Last reply Today at 7:18 PM · posted in Internet Television (IPTV) Discussion Forum

Philo now offers discounted annual plan

Not sure saving $24/year is worth it unless you're a hardcore Philo user. I'll stick with monthly.

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Jimbo

Yesterday at 9:41 AM

comfortably_numb said:
Not sure saving $24/year is worth it unless you're a hardcore Philo user. I'll stick with monthly.

View attachment 195247

$24 for the Year, would be more useful.

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Howard Simmons

Yesterday at 11:16 AM

Jimbo said:
$24 for the Year, would be more useful.

But when you cancel you still have to watch until the plan runs out. With monthly you're done at the end of the month.

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Jimbo

Yesterday at 2:30 PM

Howard Simmons said:
But when you cancel you still have to watch until the plan runs out. With monthly you're done at the end of the month.

Sorry, my point was the expense.

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comfortably_numb

Yesterday at 2:33 PM

Jimbo said:
$24 for the Year, would be more useful.

Philo's monthly price is reasonable, IMO, because it's still the cheapest way I'm aware of to get all the linear Discovery networks AND access to the Discovery Go apps.

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Jimbo

Yesterday at 2:34 PM

comfortably_numb said:
Philo's monthly price is reasonable, IMO, because it's still the cheapest way I'm aware of to get all the linear Discovery networks AND access to the Discovery Go apps.

I guess if it was something I used on a regular basis, I suppose.

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comfortably_numb

Today at 7:14 PM

In other Philo news..

Bobby

Today at 7:18 PM

comfortably_numb said:
In other Philo news..

View attachment 195293

Oh boy, I can't wait!

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klang

Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Last reply Today at 6:32 PM · posted in TV Shows

Rockford Files Reboot - NBC, Peacock

'Rockford Files' Reboot Gets NBC Pilot Order

I grow tired of all the reboots. Most I don't bother with but will depend on the actor chosen.

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long_time_Dish

May 12, 2026

Yeah, I'll check it out as well, but shan't be holding my breath...It'll be tough to equal James Garner in that role...

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harshness

May 12, 2026

long_time_DNC said:
...It'll be tough to equal James Garner in that role...

I can think of a few actors (including some females) who might fit the bill.

This will all depend on the storyline. I'm not sure how well it will translate. Modern TV hasn't been all that kind to PIs and even less kind to CIs (confidential informants).

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klang

Today at 5:30 PM

Premier is Saturday, Jan 2nd. Moving to Thursday on the 7th.

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dfergie

Today at 6:24 PM

Teaser

View: https://youtu.be/g7R669yokr4?is=wv_qN0B-YOBxRt24

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long_time_Dish

Today at 6:32 PM

dfergie said:
Teaser

View: https://youtu.be/g7R669yokr4?is=wv_qN0B-YOBxRt24

I wonder how they're/if they're going to do something like the answering machine message opening? It was always funny...

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osu1991

Pub Member / Supporter

Today at 5:23 PM · posted in Movie Talk

The Man With The Bag (2026) Prime

View: https://youtu.be/PEVkJHLq4rQ?si=Cs2pQAy8FFngT9d1

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osu1991

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Today at 5:20 PM · posted in Movie Talk

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View: https://youtu.be/zHSYXDLH4io?si=ii_fgehv2a3rOBkA

Dec 11, 2026 Netflix

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MorCowbell

Last reply Today at 4:49 PM · posted in DISH Network Support Forum

Saved OTA list on Dish can't be appended

I have Dish with Hopper3. I choose to get local channels OTA and had a "guide list" established at my previous home. Having moved a few miles away, I wanted to update the list by appending a couple new stations via a rescan. As many would know, some stations come in with the UHF/VHF antenna aimed in one direction, while others come in better with a different direction.

Unfortunately, when a scan is done (bringing in 25-30 stations for that particular antenna aim), the dialog screen does not present the established guide list; it presents an empty field to the right that the scanned stations may be selected one by one and added to the empty guide. But because of antenna aim, some stations originally saved are missing, and would have to be retrieved with a different antenna aim. But as I explain, if a 2nd scan is done with a different antenna aim, the stations saved from the first scan are lost.

It troubles me that Dish didn't develop software that would allow a user to simply append only 1 or 2 channels to the established list.

Any thought on this? Has anyone experienced this or heard of this from others?

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dishstaller

Tuesday at 9:42 PM

I could very well be wrong....it has been a LOT of years but back when I had a 722K it seemed like when you went back to the scan screen that you could just scan again and it would ADD those channels to the previous list or you could delete the previous results and only add the channels from the new scan.

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n0qcu

Yesterday at 10:41 AM

dishstaller said:
I could very well be wrong....it has been a LOT of years but back when I had a 722K it seemed like when you went back to the scan screen that you could just scan again and it would ADD those channels to the previous list or you could delete the previous results and only add the channels from the new scan.

I am not sure about that but I do know that you could manually add additional channels just by entering the actual RF channel number and the older receivers would add the virtual channels to your list

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dishstaller

Yesterday at 11:11 AM

n0qcu said:
I am not sure about that but I do know that you could manually add additional channels just by entering the actual RF channel number and the older receivers would add the virtual channels to your list

Like I said.....that has been many years ago. Swapped my 722K for a Hopper in 2012.

It does seem like I remember having to delete the existing channels when we did a rescan. Back then our local stations KEPT monkeying around with things and it was non-stop complaints from customers about their channels not coming in. Got so bad that I stopped selling OR installing OTAs....something I had been doing since 1984 so you know it HAD to be pretty bad.

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MorCowbell

Today at 10:06 AM

You made one of my points for me with this comment, Dishstaller:

"... local stations KEPT monkeying around with things and it was non-stop complaints from customers about their channels not coming in ..."

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dennispap

Today at 4:08 PM

dishstaller said:
I could very well be wrong....it has been a LOT of years but back when I had a 722K it seemed like when you went back to the scan screen that you could just scan again and it would ADD those channels to the previous list or you could delete the previous results and only add the channels from the new scan.

I remember that also on my 722.

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dishstaller

Today at 4:48 PM

dennispap said:
I remember that also on my 722.

Thanks.....has been too many years to remember clearly.

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Bobby

Today at 4:49 PM

Keep in mind that the 722 had a built in OTA tuner and the 722K had a plug in module for OTA. The Hoppers and Wallys use an add on USB OTA dongle. I believe they are entirely different.

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Linus Tech Tips

Today at 4:42 PM · posted in Linus Tech Tips

My F-You To Sam Altman

Time for another AWESOME video from Linus Tech Tips!

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Direct YouTube Link - My F-You To Sam Altman
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TWiT Tech Podcast Network

Today at 4:42 PM · posted in TWiT Tech Podcast Network

watchOS 27.3 Beta - Siri Recap and Live Rewind Coming!

Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!

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Direct YouTube Link - watchOS 27.3 Beta - Siri Recap and Live Rewind Coming!
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Why is the OTA module tuner so weak?

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Volcanic Eruptions

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