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What’s the right cellular antenna for your boat?

“Getting away from it all doesn’t mean being disconnected.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said that. Why? Because it’s true. Maybe a generation ago, getting on your boat meant being out of touch for days or weeks at a time. None of us can afford to stay away from the office or even from family for that long anymore. It’s just not a part of who we are these days. A lot of folks assume that once they get out on the water, they will lose cell service. After all, service on land tends to only work for about 1.5 miles from the tower before it starts to fade. But while you’re on the water, there’s nothing but calm air between you and the shore. That means that with the right equipment, you can get cell service — even within the cabin...
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What is a “colocated” DIRECTV Gemini?

Hi again, it’s time for another episode of “what’s that bizarre and confusing industry term?” It’s the game show where we talk about all the weird terms and acronyms that you’ll find as a home theater hobbyist. OK, that’s kind of a flip way to start a tutorial like this one. But it’s true. There is a never-ending supply of technobabble surrounding home theater, with new terms popping up on enthusiast sites and subreddits all the time. Occasionally, you get a term like “colocated” that actually comes from the manufacturer. That doesn’t necessarily make it easier to understand, but perhaps it means that the term is a little more important because you as a professional might be asked about it. This is the case with “colocated,” a term...
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Why is the cell service so bad in my RV?

Now that spring is here, more people are looking at road trips. As the days get warmer, it becomes more and more fun to find new corners of the country to explore. And let’s face it, an RV is a great way to do that. Rather than worry about sketchy hotel rooms or weird, off-the-wall restaurants, you can bring all the comforts of home with you. At least, that’s the theory. One thing you might notice is that the comfort of having great cell service probably doesn’t follow you into your RV. It’s not just the road that’s to blame, either. Maybe you’ve noticed that you have pretty decent service once you step out of the RV but as soon as you go back in, the service gets weak again. It’s not your imagination and you’re not alone. It’s a real...
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Understanding Electronic Circuit Design: A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners

Our daily lives are filled with interactions with electronics. From our mobile phones and our computers to our electric toothbrushes and coffee machines — there are devices all around us that are designed using electronic circuits. As such, it can be helpful to have an understanding of how these products work. Whether you are looking to start a career in electronic engineering, you want to know how to fix your own devices, or you are simply a hobbyist who likes to tinker, this guide can help you learn the basics of electronic circuit design. What are electronic circuits? Electronic devices are named as such because they are designed with semiconductors that allow for the flow of electric charges. There are many different kinds of...
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What is the Easiest Way to Boost Cell Signal?

Reprinted with permission from the weBoost blog. The modern world is more connected than ever before, so it’s critical to improve weak cell phone signal whether you’re in a building, on a road trip, or in your RV. If this is a problem for you. After all, cellular networks have firmly established mobile phones as the primary access point for communication and a whole range of everyday business, news, and entertainment needs. More than 80% of Americans own a smartphone, and 47% of those users say they couldn’t live without their devices. In fact, 35% of American smartphone users check their phones more than 50 times a day. In this environment, consistent cellular service is critical to daily life. The last thing a smartphone user wants...
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What’s the right multiswitch for a DISH Wally receiver?

DISH is fairly unique in still offering a standalone receiver for its TV service. More and more providers are either switching to a client/server model or introducing internet-enabled boxes to offer more functions. But sometimes you just want a simple satellite receiver that just works. If you take your life out on the road in an RV, for example, you’ll want a receiver that can work without internet access. DISH does, of course, offer client boxes as well as internet-connected boxes. But that’s an article for another day. This article is about DISH’s standalone receiver, the Wally. With a Wally you can watch live TV, and if you connect an external hard drive to it, you can even use it as a DVR. (A separate monthly charge applies for...
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What internet speed do you need for live streaming TV?

You’re thinking of moving from cable or satellite to a live streaming TV service. That’s a great move for casual TV watchers and those folks looking to watch the budget. Before you make the move though, you’ll have to decide if your internet will be up to snuff. Personally, I think DIRECTV for Internet and Sling are the best options out there, but this article will also apply to other services like YouTube TV and Hulu. Services like Tubi and Pluto are often lower quality and generally will work with slower internet services, so I won’t really be addressing them here. The difference between broadcasting and streaming When you watch TV, you don’t usually think about how that TV signal gets to you. That’s because pretty much every TV...
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STREAMING SATURDAY: Will Apple TV+ be able to survive?

A couple weeks ago, I watched Apple’s Killers of the Flower Moon was pretty much shut out of the Oscars. This article isn’t about that, really. I mean, it’s old news. It’s about the real question of whether or not Apple will keep throwing money at its streaming service. I hope they do but I can’t imagine they will. Killers brought in $157 million at the box office on a budget of $200 million. I’m not quite sure how one spends $200 million on a film that doesn’t rely on special effects, but I’m guessing a lot of it went into the stars’ and director’s pockets. Good for them. But the point is most people waited to see the film on streaming. I know I did. And there is where the problem comes in. Calculating streaming profits is obviously...
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Get ESPN+ for Business from Signal Connect!

Bar and restaurant owners, let me lay some truth on you. Sports programming isn’t an expense– it’s a profit generator. Over and over again, it’s been proven that when you have a strong sports package on multiple TVs, patrons stay longer. When they stay longer, they drink more. They eat more. They bring friends over. They even spend more on bar trivia and playing than antique “class of 1981” tabletop video game you still have in the corner. That’s why DIRECTV fought so hard on behalf of business owners to keep NFL Sunday Ticket available on satellite, and that’s why they’ve partnered with Amazon to bring Thursday Night Football to bars. Your bar probably doesn’t have the bandwidth to stream all that stuff, and it’s not legal to stream...
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NICE AND EASY: A TV without a tuner?

Maybe you’ve seen one of these in the club stores under the Vizio brand. There are other companies as well, that sell what they call “tunerless tv’s.” It would seem to be part of a trend to keep prices low. But really, what’s the deal? A TV without a tuner… As I explained in an earlier article, technically there’s no such thing as a tunerless TV. In order to be called a television, it must have a tuner. That’s the FCC rule. Then again the FCC rules have been… a little flexible lately. A while back I reported that since 2017, broadcasters now have the right to broadcast signals that today’s TVs can’t receive. (It’s true that during the digital transition older TVs couldn’t receive newer broadcasts, but you could get a $50 coupon for a...
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Why can’t you run a DIRECTV box off a phone charger?

Pretty much every DIRECTV satellite box made in the last 15 years runs off the power supply you see above you, the DIRECTV EPS10. That one power supply runs everything from network adapters to the latest Gemini client for satellite. The only exception is the Genie DVRs themselves which need a meatier power supply. Knowing all this, there’s an interesting question that came across my desk the other day. It was pointed out that the DECA adapter will run off an EPS10 or a MicroUSB cable connected to pretty much any phone charger. If that’s true, I was asked, can you run any other devices off a phone charger? Simple answer: you can’t. Even if you frankenstein a USB cable so it has the right plug end on it, you can’t do it. It doesn’t...
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FUN FRIDAY: Weirdest of the Wiki

This week for FUN FRIDAY, I give you a simple link. Wikipedia has a shortcut which takes you to a list of weird and unusual pages. I will warn you now that some of the content is slightly “not safe for work.” On the other hand, some of the content is harmless and simply strange. Here’s an example from that page: Keep in mind, someone had to do something like this on purpose. It’s not like at some point a statue of a cow collided with some antlers on the way up to sitting on a telephone pole. No, someone spent a decent amount of time planning and executing that. That’s only one of the many pages you’ll find that will make you wonder what people were thinking. M-185… the highway that isn’t Of course, my favorite link on that page...
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What’s on your spring “to do list?”

In a couple of weeks, spring will be here. Sure, the first day of spring is here today, but the real “spring” we expect might take a little longer. It’s been a mild winter for much of the country. No matter, though — there is still work to once the remaining snows thaw and it’s safe to be up on a ladder again. Here are some things you should be thinking about as you move into the spring season: Antenna maintenance If you have an over-the-air antenna, make sure all the connections are tight and that the antenna itself hasn’t suffered from the winter storms. If it’s starting to look bent and beat up, you might want to consider a new one from the great selection at Solid Signal. Even indoor antennas deserve a little love! Dusty and dry...
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Will we see you at the Palm Beach International Boat Show?

It’s boat show season! If you’re looking for an amazing experience and you’re already in South Florida, you’re definitely going to want to head over to the Palm Beach International Boat Show. This year’s show, the 42nd, starts today, March 21, along Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach, directly across the Intracoastal from Palm Beach itself. It continues on through March 24. The world’s most luxurious yachts You can see the world’s best yachts at the Superyacht show this year. It’s located at Safe Harbor Rybovich. Whether you’re in the market for something amazing or just want to see how the other half lives, you’ll want to see this display. There’s just nowhere else that you can experience this level of luxury on the water. It’s worth...
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