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Best of the Blog 2023, Volume 4

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 April, 2023: Why are circuit boards green? Standard definition locals on DIRECTV are going away quickly now. Don’t get left behind. RV Dealers… partner with Signal Connect and give your customers something extra! NICE AND EASY: Can you use DIRECTV’s H44 receiver in an RV? What are your options for extending a DIRECTV SWM signal past 150 feet? NICE AND EASY: When is “finger tight”...
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DIRECTV to change user interface on internet devices, not satellite

Several outlets, including Cord Cutters News, are reporting that DIRECTV plans to roll out a new user interface for its internet products including the DIRECTV Stream app and the Gemini for Internet/Gemini Air devices. The branded devices will get the interface first and eventually it will roll out to all the supported apps. For now, this is the only image we have: Courtesy of Cord Cutters News Analysis That’s not a lot to go by but it’s enough to tell you that DIRECTV is not immune to peer pressure. Pretty much every streaming app has gone to some variant of this interface, where the background is black and there are icons along the left side. It’s not that it’s a bad choice, but at this point, let’s just say it lacks creativity...
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Seven Ways to Avoid Fast Food Franchise Failure

Are fast food franchisees aware of the fast food franchise failure rate? From 1991-2010, 17 percent of franchise loans made through the Small Business Administration ended in failure. This is according to a report by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The SEIU also said that the franchise failure rate rose to 19.3 percent between 2006-2010. Franchisors will do their best to convince you that investing in their system is a “sure thing.” The SEIU’s numbers show that fast food franchises are a risk like any other business. Reasons Fast Food Franchises Fail There are plenty of fast food restaurant franchise opportunities. There also are plenty of reasons why some of these businesses fail. Some of these include funds, poor...
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150+ mile antenna? It’s a myth!

No matter what you do, no matter how big your antenna is, you won’t get reliable TV reception at 150 miles. In fact, after 60 miles it becomes more and more difficult. There are three reasons, and we’ll tell you all about them. Attenuation is a property of all electromagnetic radiation. Simply put, a transmission gets weaker as you get farther away. We’ve all seen this, when distant lights seem very dim and get brighter as we get closer. Radio and television signals have the same property. However, attenuation is far worse than you’d think, because it’s not as simple as you think. The rule of squares Common sense would tell you that if you double the distance betweeen you and a transmission source, the power of the signal will be...
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STREAMING SATURDAY: Back and forth about Peacock

Frequent readers of this blog know that I’ve been pretty unkind to “Max” since the days when Warner Bros. was spun off and became part of Discovery. But, you might also notice that I’ve talked about Peacock several times over the years. Funny thing, though, I keep waffling back and forth. Are they good? Are they bad? Is their content overpriced, or just right? Truth is I still am not completely sure. I’ll tell you this, though, right now I’m thinking of dumping them again. Peacock… your home for things you can get for free on Prime if you wait Yep, that’s my biggest complaint about Peacock right now. Most of the shows and movies that are “exclusive” to the streamer end up on Prime Video just a few months later. Did I really need to...
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What power cord do you need for a DIRECTV H24?

DIRECTV’s H24 receiver is the last of its breed. Originally built in 2009 and 2010, it’s a standalone receiver that doesn’t need to be hooked up to a Genie DVR. It’s the last DIRECTV product to work with non-SWM systems. As a result, it’s still in demand even though it’s been out of manufacture for 12 years and counting. H24s are workhorses, to be sure. Barely a day goes by that we don’t activate one at Solid Signal. They work for years and years with no problems whatsoever. A lot of their long life is due to superior cooling. Heat is the enemy of electronics and DIRECTV’s product team understood that when they built the H24. When we do hear of an H24 that’s having problems, it’s usually something unexpected. Perhaps the front panel...
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Keep your phone on all the time? It’s called “nomophobia”

You know that dread that keeps you reaching into your pocket ten times an hour? That subtle pat-down you give yourself as you leave the house? The little twitch you do when you hear someone else is getting a text message? It’s called “nomophobia.” Yes it is a real thing. Nomophobia is a word coined about a decade ago for people who get extremely anxious when they have poor cell coverage, when their battery is running low, or when they leave their phones at home. In case you’re curious, it’s not a Greek word like most phobias, it’s just short for “no mobile phone phobia.” It affects an increasing number of us and while it’s not recognized as an official ailment — yet — its effects have been described as on par with the fear of going to...
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Who can you call if your satellite TV breaks while you’re on the road?

Hey folks, it’s rare but it happens. You may be far from your homewhen there’s a problem with your satellite TV system. It’s the last thing you really want to have to deal with. If only there were a way to make it easier. Tech support is available… for free! You probably don’t know much about the way your RV’s satellite TV system works. Chances are you’ve never had to think about it. In fact, it may have come with the RV when you bought it. So if it stops working, you’re probably not even sure where to start. That’s where the experts at Signal Connect come in. We can diagnose problems remotely and give you the steps to take. A lot of times, there are simple things you can do that will let you watch TV quickly. You don’t need to know...
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FUN FRIDAY: Young People try Windows 98

If you’re just settling into adulthood today in your late-20s, chances are that the first computer you touched ran Windows 98. The Windows 98 operating system, as the name would imply, was released in the summer of 1998. It was marketed as a tweak to the hugely popular Windows95, baking in advanced graphics and internet features that previously required a lot of extra work to use. It was the first Microsoft operating system to support USB at all, and one of the last operating systems from Microsoft to be exclusively marketed to consumers. Windows 98 officially lived its life as Microsoft’s flagship for two years. It was replaced by Windows Me, or (Windows Millennium Edition, because everyone loved using the word “Millennium” at the...
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OBSOLETE TECHNOLOGY: Smoke signals

Long distance communication didn’t start until the 19th century, right? Actually there has been effective, instantaneous long distance communication for thousands of years. It wasn’t as complex as it was today, but smoke signals have been an effective way of instantly communicating for cultures all around the world. Smoke signals are rarely used today. The only time that comes to mind for me is when we have a new Pope. But, it wasn’t always that way. How smoke signals generally worked The technology was simple. By burning wet grass, a column of smoke formed. The smoke could be seen for dozens of miles, giving news far faster than it could travel by horse or person. Needless to say there was some danger to this, as an improperly tended...
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Metal roof? No cell service? There’s something you can do

Metal roofs aren’t as common today as they once were, but they’re still out there. Metal is a durable, lightweight building material that lasts decades if properly installed. In areas without extreme heat, it’s an excellent choice. Metal roofs have gone out of fashion somewhat. I’m not quite sure why but I would guess it’s due to them being… well… loud. But just because they’re uncommon doesn’t mean they’re gone forever. The problem with metal roofs All building materials block cell signals to some degree or other. There are two factors that tend to make a difference in how much something will block cell signals. The first is energy-efficient design. Something that is specifically designed to keep the weather from getting in will also...
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The problem with everything — yes everything — is the battery.

Editor’s note: This article originally ran in 2013 believe it or not. It’s kind of depressing how little I had to change it and how little progress has been made in battery technology. Well, you’ve recently seen the demos of the new iPhone 15. You probably want one. The thing, though, is you wish it were half the weight. You also wish it would last four times as long on a charge. You want your next laptop to be feather-light and super-thin. You’d love an electric car that got the equivalent of 200 miles to the gallon, and let’s face facts, it would be super-cool to get solar and stop paying the electric company. There’s only one problem with this utopian vision: batteries. This is definitely not a new problem It’s not like we didn’t...
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Ken Reid and RJ City (II)

July 7-13, 1973 EPISODE 600! By popular demand! He’s BACK! This week Ken welcomes wrestler and fellow TV weirdo, RJ City. Ken and RJ discuss RJ being disappointed with Ken’s year end review endorsement of his last appearance, neurosis, people giving RJ TV Guides, RJ getting the wrong date for the recording and being excited, pop culture dog whistles, Dick Cavett, Mason Reese, “The Beige Age”, the Caldor Brown Rainbow, Orson Wells, made up stories, when SCTV gets mean, Spielberg, local TV Guide variation, Children’s cigarettes, great moments in television, how weird it is to have a glass of anything beside your bed, where did dentures go?, Dom DeLuise, sheet music, singing your own favorite songs, the mystery of the Ginger Bread...
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Article 9,000

Friends, it is absolutely inconceivable that I have found 9,000 things to talk about here on The Solid Signal Blog. It’s even more inconceivable when you consider that about an additional 3,500 articles were deleted as part of our move in early 2018. In case you were curious, it breaks out this way (rough numbers): 2,500 news articles 600 editorials 600 podcasts 500 reviews 4,000 tutorials To be fair, I personally have only authored about 7,700 of those articles. Others have been thanks to the hard work of guest bloggers. Some of those folks come for an article or two. Some of them stay for years, contributing some of the best and most read articles on this site. The most read articles It’s probably no surprise that some of the...
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Why does rebooting actually fix so much stuff?

At some point, you’ve had a tech problem. Maybe you’ve asked a friend, or maybe you’ve called or chatted with someone. What’s their first suggestion? It’s always to reboot the equipment. Turn it off, unplug it, leave it for 30 seconds, and start over. The thing is, you may grumble about taking this step, but it works more often than you’d think. But why? There are several reasons why a reboot makes sense. You may not ever know which reason solved your problem, and that’s probably ok as long as one of them does. Sometimes something has frozen up Even the simplest device generally has dozens of programs running at the same time. Decades ago, every device was designed with its own custom-written computer code. Since processors are so...
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