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Base Station antennas? We have them

Not everyone is going to need a fancy antenna like the one in the picture above. However, if you are a facilities manager for a hospital, police station, or other first responder facility, you probably have antennas like this already. When it’s time to expand or change your setup, look to Solid Signal to provide the municipal base station antennas you need! What do these antennas do? Base station antennas provide transmit and reception ability, just like most antennas. Base station antennas receive and transmit frequencies used by first responders and cities. These frequencies exist between the FM and TV bands, and just below the cellular bands. Every frequency range requires a specialized antenna. That’s because every frequency range...
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DISH Network is now a subsidiary of Echostar — again

As of today, Echostar is now the parent company of DISH Network. The companies had been separate, despite having a lot of common ownership, since 2008. Echostar itself was founded all the way back in 1980, and was the parent company of DISH Network throughout most of its history. And, it is once again. Closely tied together The two companies have remained closely tied together during the last 17 years despite being two separate entities. Both have been largely owned and partially controlled by satellite titan Charlie Ergen. In the early days of the two being separate, Echostar continued to manufacture satellite receivers and operated the Sling streaming service. However, in 2017 all of that was transferred over to DISH Network. This...
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Best of the Blog 2023, Volume 7

The Solid Signal Blog is your resource for thousands of articles and reviews, with new content coming every day. 2023 marks our seventeeth year since our humble beginnings, and today over 250,000 people read the blog every month. Every month, the staff gets together and gathers articles that really seem like they have long-term appeal. Here’s the list for July, 2023: Here’s how to find the right antenna for you! If you have a 5th wheel, do you need two cell boosters or just one? TIP: Always, always, turn off the breaker How much can you amplify an antenna signal? NICE AND EASY: What does that light on my DIRECTV box (Genie or Gemini) mean? NICE AND EASY: What does A3 mean in the DIRECTV guide? NICE AND EASY: Should you put tinfoil on...
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Happy New Year 2024!

Start of a day, start of a week, start of a month, start of a year! Every 6 or 7 years, the New Year comes on a Monday and that means it’s an excellent opportunity to “reboot” and start everything off fresh. We’ve taken a few last looks back at 2023, and now it’s time to look forward at the year to come. This year promises to be an exciting one for Signal Group, the parent company of SolidSignal.com and of this blog. We have a number of exciting new partnerships on the horizon and that means even more opportunities to give you great customer service! This begins our 22nd year serving our customers. You can’t say that about a lot of online operations, right? We’ve survived longer than Pets.com and Ask Jeeves, which were both really big...
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All the best DISH Error Codes… all in one place!

Solid Signal is a DISH Premier Local Retailer! We can take care of all your DISH needs in one place. We’ll give you the best customer service. We don’t believe in overseas call centers. We believe in real, old-fashioned, personal care. Our 100% US-based team is ready to answer your calls during East Coast business hours at 888-233-7563. If you have an error code on your DISH receiver, check out our comprehensive list of DISH error codes. Click the button below. Click here for the best DISH error codes! Not seeing the code you need? Our list was compiled from publicly available sources. If there’s an error code on your DISH receiver and it’s not on our list, leave a comment. We’ll research it and add it to our list promptly! The...
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Why don’t more TVs and devices support HDMI Cable Power?

Stay with me for a second here. Let’s say that you were good this year. So, in the last week you got a brand new Gemini Air, Roku Streaming Stick, Chromecast, or Fire Stick. These devices are pretty cool, but in the first five minutes you’ll come up with a way they could all be cooler. Every device that connects to an HDMI port needs power. Either it needs to be plugged into the wall, like a streaming box or satellite TV box, or it needs to connect to a USB port. Yes, most TVs have a USB port now but it might not work to power your device. What if your TV could power a streaming stick or dongle, right through the HDMI port? The dirty little secret The technology to put power over HDMI has been around for a while. It’s now part of...
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NICE AND EASY: What is a “donor antenna?”

There is a virtually never-ending supply of obscure terms when you’re working with antennas and radio frequencies! Today we’re talking about “donor antennas,” which is a term you’ll hear in commercial cellular booster designs. Before I explain the concept of the “donor antenna,” let’s talk about what a commercial cellular booster is and how it differs from other forms of cellular signal boosters. Let’s start with the big picture: DAS DAS stands for “Distributed Antenna System” and it’s the term that experts use for commercial cellular signal booster systems. Put simply, a DAS takes the signal from one or more outdoor antennas and redistributes it throughout a building using multiple indoor antennas. It’s more than just a consumer...
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STREAMING SATURDAY: Will 2024 be the year Stuart actually enjoys streaming?

Since taking over the authorship of this column from Jake Buckler, I’ve noticed that its tone has changed… a lot. Buckler was incredibly optimistic about streaming, often finding something to love and talking about it. I’m a lot less bullish about streaming the last several years, because it’s gone from being something of a miracle to… well… a big disappointment. Streaming has become the default way that people get their live video. When you take a look at all the normal subscription streaming services, and then add in the amount of time people spend on video sharing sites like YouTube and TikTok, it’s not even close. Streaming dominates. So why is it that I’ve been so negative about it? Meet the new boss, same as the old boss My...
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2023 Predictions: How did I do?

When it comes to predictions, I’ll admit that I’m sometimes way off base. That’s probably why I wrote such a tame set of predictions back at the end of 2022. Looking at this article, there’s not a lot to take issue with. Still, at the end of every year I look back at the predictions I made the year before and let you know how I did. You can find year end articles by going to the “Archives” menu on this site, clicking on a year and on December. It’s usually one of the last articles of the year. That said, here I go. 1. Pay TV roars back (grade: B+) I predicted that it would be a great year for the pay TV industry as a whole in 2023. I will say I got that… about half right. It’s true that there were some pretty steep subscriber losses...
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Predictions for 2024

Here we are at the end of 2023 and that can only mean one thing: it’s time for my parade of predictions for the coming year. My predictions for 2023 were pretty tame, after my past predictions made me look like an idiot in 2022 and before. But it’s been a year, and I think I’m willing to make some big swings. This is what I expect to happen in 2024: 1. Internet speeds don’t increase Ten years ago, you were lucky if you got 50Mbps at home. Today you can get service advertised as 500Mbps for about the same price. Of course, nothing on the internet actually moves that fast and the chances are pretty great that your local network switch is oversold. You’re probably only reliably getting 50Mbps anyway. That’s why I think that you won’t...
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NICE AND EASY: What model of DIRECTV box do I have?

A lot of times it does actually matter what model receiver or client box you have. If you are looking for specific accessories, there are some that only work with some models. When you’re shopping, it’s best to know what you have at home. Luckily, it’s easy. Using the DIRECTV remote supplied with your box (or a similar model) press and hold the INFO button. It takes a moment but you’ll see a screen similar to this: If you have a non-Genie receiver, it looks a little different but the information is the same. The most important part is where it says “Client,” “Model,” or “Receiver.” That would be the very first line on the left. If for some reason holding down INFO doesn’t work, then press MENU (or HOME for a Gemini) then go to...
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Should you run RG11 cable straight to the receiver?

Quick answer: probably not. RG11 cable is a special kind of coaxial cable. It’s built for longer runs, and in general you’ll find that you can run 50-100 feet longer with RG11 and still keep an acceptable signal level. However, it’s not perfect for every use. Let’s take a look at RG11 cable and why it’s great for long runs but not for short ones. Built to be tough Everything about RG11 cable is built to be stronger. The inner dielectric (the white part) is almost twice as thick as the same part in RG6 cable. All told, a typical RG11 cable is about 33% thicker than a typical RG6 cable, although every manufacturer is different. Often times, RG11 cables use heavy-duty connectors, thicker jackets on the outside, and higher-quality...
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FUN FRIDAY: Casio SK-1

If you were a nerd in 1985, you had to have this. I fondly remember the Casio SK-1. Back in the 1980s there were a lot of cheap electronic keyboards. If you wanted to play piano but couldn’t afford a real one, it was suddenly possible to get something passable for under $250 (about an average car payment at the time.) Combined with the trend at the time toward synth-heavy pop music, these became popular with wanna-be musicians all over the country. Burp in up to 32 pitches The SK-1 wasn’t a terribly competent keyboard. It was not full-size and only had 32 keys. However, it had something most keyboards didn’t have: you could record a short sound and play it back over and over in different pitches. Record yourself saying “I’m a rock...
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Dipping my toes into the “grain reduction” controversy

OK, dear readers, let me lay some truth on you. In the 20th century, most moving images were stored on film. Video tape was pretty common but it was used mostly for live events and low-budget sitcoms. The prevailing feeling at the time was that using film imparted a look that said “quality.” It’s a good thing that a lot of TV shows and movies were shot on film, though. It means the film can be scanned into high definition or 4K, giving new life to old content. There’s a reason that you can find Friends and The Office at the top of streaming lists while similarly popular fare like Will & Grace never make the top 10. Friends and The Office, despite being 21st-century productions, were shot on film, then edited on video tape. Will & Grace...
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