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Your Antenna Tower Installation Experts

Does the thought of buying an antenna tower make you nervous? If so, it’s perfectly normal. This is a HUGE purchase, and there’s a lot you need to know beforehand. Like how high should your tower be? And is it going to need guy wires? (What are guy wires, anyway?) Then there’s the question of which brand to buy. All of this doesn’t have to be overwhelming when you call Solid Signal. We carry a wide range of these structures from the top suppliers, and we offer expert customer support to make your antenna tower installation a success. Your Antenna Tower Source An antenna tower is used to secure an antenna or satellite dish high in the sky. Choosing the right antenna tower is a process. Fortunately, we have in-house product experts to...
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Someone INVENTED It: Light Switch

The modern, everyday light switch is barely even 100 years old. Not surprising if you think about the fact that electric lights haven’t even been in homes for much longer than that. Yet, we hardly think about the humble light switch, which gives a lifetime of use for barely any cost, and which functions perfectly day after day. The only time we think about a light switch is when the power goes out and they suddenly stop working. Understanding the problem of a light switch A light switch shouldn’t be tough to understand. It’s just a way to allow electricity to flow or not flow. And it should be as simple as that. But, early light switches were unsafe and unreliable. Without enough shielding, they had a tendency to shock people. What’s...
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Can you use a DIRECTV HR44 with a Gemini?

What you see above you is a DIRECTV HR44 Genie DVR. It’s a pretty rare bird these days. It’s been out of production since about 2015, replaced first with the HR54 Genie DVR and then with the Genie 2. But, it’s a reliable DVR, and so there are still some out in the field. Technically, the HR44 belongs to the same Genie family as the HR54 and Genie 2. It has a slower processor than either, and because of that it’s not capable of 4K programming. But, it can still be used with a Gemini, if you know the secret. Here’s the secret DIRECTV’s call centers will not activate a Gemini if you have an HR44. The official company line is that it doesn’t work. However, that’s not really true. You’ll get a little slower performance from a Gemini...
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Podcast #551: Standard definition TV? Really?

There’s a reason that DIRECTV and DISH still offer standard definition service. Even more important, there’s a reason you might actually want it. Listen to this week’s podcast then call 888-233-7563 to get a free consultation. 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 Spotify Option 3...
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What’s the difference between Winegard’s HD8200U and Xtreme Signal’s HD8200XL?

What’s the antenna you see at the top of this article? I won’t keep you in suspense. It’s Xtreme Signal’s HD8200XL antenna. But, you’d be forgiven if you said it was Winegard’s HD8200U antenna. Both antennas look pretty darn similar. The biggest difference you’ll notice is that our Xtreme Signal antenna is quite a bit less expensive. So, what does that really mean for you? The technical difference The Winegard antenna is rated at 65 miles, while the Xtreme Signal antenna is rated at 70+ miles. Either way, these are rough numbers. A lot of factors contribute to the real-world range you get from any antenna. But it’s fair to say that in a comparison, the Xtreme Signal antenna will pick up more distant signals. The Xtreme Signal antenna...
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SOUND OFF: Are you planning on changing how you watch TV in 2024?

There’s only about two months left in the year, and they’re going to be busy ones. They always are. As 2023 gives way to 2024, it’s time to think about how you’ll spend your time. It’s also time to think about how you’ll spend your money, because it seems like everything costs more now than it did last year at this time. You’ll have to be smarter before letting go of those dollars if you want to be able to enjoy life. In 2024, you’ll have more choice than ever when it comes to watching TV. And let me be clear, I’m calling it “watching TV” even if you’re using a phone, PC, or tablet. Watching video is watching video. There’s no real difference anymore. You can get the same great content anywhere, if you plan ahead. So, let’s take a look...
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Bar Staff: Earn Bigger Tips

Bar owners, does your staff want to earn bigger tips? This is something you can help them with. We’re going to assume you’ve hired your bar staff for their customer service skills, and you’ve offered additional training in this area. With that as your foundation, Signal Connect shares these bar management tips that help increase tips. By doing this, you’re also helping improve your bar customers’ experience. This encourages patrons to come back and spend even more money. When you look at it that way, it’s a win-win for you, your customers, and your bar employees! When Bar Patrons First Come In The foundation for the tips your bar staff earns begins the moment they greet your customers. Tell your staff to remember the “golden...
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STREAMING SATURDAY: Why are $20 rentals still a thing?

Here we are, folks, in 2023 almost in 2024. The most important thing to think about is that it’s now coming on 4 years since the world shut down. In some ways it seems longer, but in other ways it seems like it was just yesterday. One thing’s for sure: we can pretend it didn’t happen, but it did. And, we’re still dealing with the social implications as much as the medical ones. One of those implications is the way we relate to streaming content. I’ve tried to evolve this column over the years to reflect that. The first Streaming Saturday article was in the summer of 2016. Back then, streaming still had quite the halo. Most folks were discovering that streaming was an inexpensive way to get a lot of great content. Since then, our...
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COMMUNICATIONS PIONEERS: David Sarnoff

He’s not a well-known name today, but he’s the pioneer behind one of the largest media empires in history. If it weren’t for him and one cold night in 1912, the world of entertainment could have been a very different place. David Sarnoff was born in what was then the Russian Empire in 1891. He came to America when he was nine years old and began working immediately, since labor laws essentially hadn’t been invented yet. He happened to find his way to a telegraph company, and worked his way up the ranks. By April 1912, young Sarnoff was a manager in the telegraph division.When Titanic started to sink, his company along with others received the news. Although Sarnoff himself was part of a team of three people who probably just...
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New TV without a coax input? Old satellite receiver? What can you do?

I am constantly amazed by the build quality of satellite TV receivers. Every day at Solid Signal, we hear from folks who are still using receivers that are 15-20 years old. These old boxes soldier on day after day and still provide great service. Most receivers made for DIRECTV or DISH before 2003 won’t work with current satellite programming, but chances are if they did, they’d probably still be out in the field today. In fact, these receivers are SO reliable that it brings up another whole problem: what to do when they won’t connect to a new TV. The problem When you talk about standard-definition satellite TV receivers from 2003-2010, most connected to the TV using a coax cable. You’d then turn the TV to channel 3 and watch...
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3 reasons your antenna isn’t picking up that channel you want (and what to do about it)

It seems like the prices of just about everything have gone through the roof. I paid $199 for my first smartphone and yeah, there was a 2-year contract but I owned it after that. Today if you want to own a phone you need to buy it outright and it’s going to cost you nearly $1,000 in most cases. Gas in my neighborhood briefly popped over $6 a gallon, and lately I’m paying $200 for four or five bags of groceries. Netflix and Hulu streaming used to be free, and now you’ll pay over $40 a month for the two if you want the top packages. Why am I bringing all this up? Because there’s a way you can pay once for your entertainment and have it forever. That’s right, even today it can be done. Buy a TV antenna from Solid Signal and you’ll receive...
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FUN FRIDAY: Sears in 1982

It’s practically Halloween, and here in 2023 that means that the holiday season is about to start. Back in the 1980s, the shopping frenzy didn’t generally kick off until after Thanksgiving, and it was often the busiest in the two weeks leading up to the holiday itself. Of course, there was no online ordering back then, and catalog shopping meant a 6-8 week delay between ordering and getting what you wanted. So, of course, most folks back then went to the shopping mall. If you know, you know That’s a saying the younger folks have, by the way, if you’ve never heard it. At its core it means that you either have a true, deep understanding of something, or you do not. As Google tells me that most of the readers of this blog are a little...
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Someone INVENTED it: LCD display

LCD displays are literally everywhere. Once the province of expensive watches, the liquid crystal display now adorns everything from cheap calculators to massive televisions. They’re in color and black, and they fill our cars, our cameras, our phones, and even our kitchen appliances. Yet the LCD is only about 50 years old. Quick history of LCD LCD stands for “liquid crystal display” and those three words say roughly all you need to know. It’s a way of displaying something using liquid crystals. Liquid crystals were first discovered in 1888 but there was no use for them. They were just a curiosity, crystals in a solution that could be made to line up if you gave them an electrical current. It took almost 75 years for anyone to really...
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What’s the difference between the DIRECTV H44 Genie Lite and the DIRECTV H44 Commercial Receiver?

Folks, let’s put our cards on the table. DIRECTV has never been really really good at naming things, and it sometimes gets confusing. Residential DIRECTV customers have the Gemini for satellite TV, and there was also an identical-looking device, also called Gemini, which was for internet-only customers. Those boxes weren’t interchangeable. So what to make of the H44 and H44-COM? In 2015, DIRECTV released a new device which they called the H44 Genie Lite. You can read my initial review here. It was supposed to be a satellite TV receiver that could be turned into a full-featured DVR just by adding an external hard drive. This is something that DISH has had for years with some success, so DIRECTV tried it as well. There were some issues...
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