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THROWBACK THURSDAY: 875 North Michigan Avenue

Ask anyone to name a few tall buildings in the USA, and you’ll probably get a lot of the same answers. Despite being nowhere near the tallest, New York’s Empire State Building seems to be the most memorable. Some might mention One World Trade Center, sitting at the site where the twin towers were from about 1973-2001. Another common one to think about is the Willis Tower, known by most people by it’s previous name, the Sears Tower. And yet, just a few miles away from the Willis Tower sits another building nearly as tall and nowhere near as iconic for whatever reason. Chicago’s John Hancock Center This two-pointed obelisk was originally known as the John Hancock Center. It was, for a very short time, the second tallest building in the...
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Can you use a cell phone signal booster to improve signal outside?

All in all, the cellular network in the US is pretty strong. Major carriers like to say that 99% of the populated areas of the country have cell signal from at least one of AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile. And, that’s probably true. But that doesn’t take into account two things. The first, as people who read this blog a lot know, is that energy-efficient building materials can block 80% or more of the cell signal that’s outside. The other is that there are still pockets here and there that have poor signal or no signal at all. For folks with decent signal outside and practically no signal inside, there’s a great solution: a cell phone signal booster. This system takes signals from outside, massively amplifies them, and blankets your entire...
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New apartment- should you get satellite TV or just stream?

If you read a lot of random web pages (including this one) you’ll get the overall impression that homes are less affordable for the average person than in any time since the early 1980s. In other words, if you’re the average age for a new homeowner, homes are less affordable than any time in your life. But then, you probably didn’t need me to tell you that. You don’t even need a chart to tell you that. You’ve lived it. That’s why you’re probably in an apartment, or thinking about going to an apartment. Rents are no thrill either, but they do carry the benefit of not needing a down payment in the high five figures. Apartment life has its benefits. You don’t have to worry about doing your own repairs, and lots of times there’s...
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Ken Reid and Jordan Morris II

July 16-22, 1994 He was one of the very last in person guests pre-COVID, and this time he’s back via satellite, please welcome writer of his second graphic novel, Youth Group (out 7/16/24 from First Second Books! Available for pre-order NOW!) , comic, and podcaster Jordan Morris back to the show. Ken and Jordan discuss NASA, Dave Thomas (Wendy’s), Popeyes, KFC, In and Out Burger, when all cartoons became babies, Yo Yogi!, Jellystone, the most obscure Hanna Barbara characters, Ken’s love of Frankenstein Jr., the impossible Impossibles, Sex with Cindy Crawford, the moon landing, Summer Shows, Sex in the 90s, House of Style, Steven Banks Show, paddy whacks, what Alec Baldwin watches, PBS Sitcoms, Yank Yucks, the “YouTube Thumbnail...
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Are they telling you that you have to give up traditional live TV? Seniors, here’s how you revolt!

There’s a funny thing that happens as we get older. The younger generation starts to tell us that things we’ve counted on our whole lives are obsolete or downright wrong. Sometimes, the younger generation is right. If you’re old enough to remember when “everybody” smoked in their cars, you’re probably just as glad as I am that no one does that anymore. On the other hand, the younger folks sometimes like to tell us things are obsolete when they’re just out of fashion. Part your hair on the side? Someone will tell you that’s old-school. Land Line Phones? Out, supposedly. And if you listen to a lot of people, they’ll tell you that it’s time to give up live television from a cable or satellite provider. I’ll give up the side part if I...
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Podcast #570: Our First Guest

For the first ever guest on the Solid Signal Podcast, we welcome Dr. Nilay Shah, noted early adopter and tech enthusiast. Watch, listen, and remember to shop at https://www.solidsignal.com and call 888-233-7563 for the best in customer service. Listen to the podcast your way! Just choose one of the following: Option 1: Click on the image above to stream the podcast in your browser. If you use the YouTube player above, be sure to subscribe to get future videos delivered to you! Option 2: The Solid Signal Podcast is available on several podcast aggregators. Search for us, or tap on the links below on your mobile device. If you want us to add another aggregator leave a comment below. Amazon iTunes Overcast TuneIn Spreaker Player.fm...
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Where can you get a VHF-only antenna?

Way back in the early days of TV, there were 13 channels. They were, in fact, channels 1 through 13. Channel 1 left the picture early on, and that’s an interesting story. While you’d think 12 channels of live TV would have been enough for those folks back then, the truth was a little more complex. Broadcasting was pretty rough back then, so the rule was you couldn’t have adjacent channels in adjacent cities. In other words, if New York City had channel 2, Hartford couldn’t have channel 2 or channel 3. This meant a confusing jigsaw puzzle of channel allocations. In densely populated areas like the Northeast, it meant there was only room for about 5 channels of live TV per city. This is the reason that channels 14-83, collectively known...
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What is an EDID?

An EDID is supposed to be the way that component makers control you. And yet, it’s pretty easy to fake with the right equipment. So what’s this all about? Read on to find out. A little bit about HDMI A few years back, I spent some time explaining why it is that HDMI cables came to be so popular. The real reason has a lot more to do with paranoia from major media companies than it does with your convenience. You see, there are a few large companies that still honestly believe that you’ll make digital copies of their stuff and sell it on streetcorners. That’s why they put a little bit of technology into the HDMI spec that’s supposed to stop you from doing that. It’s called HDCP and it’s been with us for close to 20 years at this point...
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What’s the smallest size boat that can handle a satellite dish?

It may still seem gray and cold today, but warm weather’s right around the corner! It won’t be long before you’ll be taking those trips on the water again, and while it’s great to enjoy the fresh air, I know you won’t really want to leave your tech behind on land. The simple fact of life in the 2020s is that “getting away from it all” doesn’t mean “getting disconnected.” That’s why a lot of people choose to get some sort of satellite system for their boats. In past years, that almost always meant satellite television, but these days it can also mean satellite internet. Today’s satellite internet systems are generations ahead of where they used to be. They offer speeds similar to what you get on land, and that means you can shop and...
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Introducing WolfPad TV Control Systems!

Not that long ago, I had the opportunity to review the WolfPack line of matrix switches. This is a new line of switches that compete with established names like Crestron. You can watch my review here: I’ll cut out the suspense: I was very impressed by these new switches. They offer everything you need without a lot of complex setup. If you want basic functionality, you can use the front panel. But, if you want more, you can set up scenes and saved setups, and you can even control the switch using any device without even having to install an app. Overall it’s one of the most interesting pieces of commercial equipment I’ve seen here at Solid Signal. That’s why I was even more excited when I heard that there’s a companion device that...
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How do you fix a broken reflector on an antenna?

Well that’s unfortunate. Recently I was visiting with a friend and he showed me a brand new antenna with a broken reflector. It didn’t look as bad as the picture above, but I had to wince as he tried to bend one of the reflector elements back into place. It… kinda worked. If a single metal rod on your antenna breaks or bends, it’s probably not too big a deal, honestly. The antenna will always work better if it’s completely intact but in most cases the antenna will still work as designed if one bit of it gets bent. Real quick: what a reflector does and why you need one You’ll find that on a lot of modern antennas, there are two vertical panels, angled inward toward the center. These are the reflectors. They take the signals coming at...
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Can you add a 25dB amplifier right after a 25dB amplifier? What would happen?

Friends, this is another question that came through our award-winning tech support lines and I thought it would be perfect for an article. There’s a lot to talk about when we talk about amplifiers, and if you want to read some of the many articles I’ve written about them, use the search box at the top of this blog to search for “amplifier.” How amplifiers work with digital signals An amplifier is really a pretty simple device. Amplifiers today are very much like the first ones created in the 19th century. The principle is very basic. If you apply a lot of electricity to a signal, that electricity takes on the characteristics of that signal. Amplification is a basic part of not only broadcasting but every single electronic device we...
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Can you combine cable TV, satellite, and antenna on one wire? What about an “AB switch?”

Recently, a customer came to us with a question. They have their RV pre-wired with coaxial cable and so they wanted to be able to use that wire. When they’re at one of their homes they get cable TV. At the other, and while they’re on the road, they get satellite TV. And, because they travel outside their home area, they also use a TV antenna to get local channels wherever they go. So, the question was simple, or so they thought: Unfortunately the answer isn’t so simple, and it’s also not really what the customer wanted to hear. There’s a lot to explain, so I thought it would make for a great article on this blog. First of all: don’t run satellite TV through “pre-wired” RVs unless you know for sure it works If your RV is pre-wired...
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STREAMING SATURDAY: Using live TV streaming when you’re away from home

Well friends, usually if you read this column you’ll see me railing on one of my favorite love-to-hate streaming services. This column’s a little different and I hope that it gets some traction out there because it’s a story that needs to be told. Here’s the real question Let’s say you use one of those live TV streaming services. I mean like DIRECTV Stream, Sling, YouTube TV, that sort of thing. When you’re at home you’ll get local channels. But what happens when you travel outside your local area? Can you still get local channels from home if you are away from your home city? Most of the time, the answer is no. The major streaming services will either give you local channels from where you are, or if you’re away from your home city...
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