The Solid Signal Blog

Hey, have you been watching Love and Death on HBO Max? Does it sound like a familiar story? It should, because you probably watched Candy on Hulu last year. It’s the same story. I mean, the SAME story. Not like, the plots are similar, more like these are both an adaptation of the exact same true events. What about White House Plumbers? It’s streaming on HBO Max too. Does it seem a bit familiar as well? Maybe that’s because you watched Gaslit last year on STARZ. Both series look at the Watergate breakins from two different points of view, but a lot of the content is the same. Sometimes it seems like the entertainment industry is a snake eating its own tail, incapable of producing really unique programming. That’s a pretty harsh thing...

There’s a good chance that if you have DIRECTV, somewhere in your house is something like the picture above. It may be grey or black, it may have a sticker on it telling you never to unplug it. Either way, it’s the same. It supplies power to your satellite dish and (if you have one) your external multiswitch. And really, when they say “never unplug it,” they mean it. If you unplug it you lose satellite service. Period. Service comes back in a minute or two after you plug it back in, but for those few minutes, you’ll be in the doghouse. What if you don’t think you have one of these? If you are panicking right now because you have never seen one of these before, don’t worry. As long as your satellite TV works, that’s all that’s...

DIRECTV’s Gemini is the biggest thing to happen to the satellite provider in half a decade! It takes the 4K Genie client idea and turbocharges it. You get a box that’s both smaller and faster than the previous generation client, plus a new remote that’s even easier to use than the Genie remote. And then, there are the apps. Run pretty much any app from the Google Play store without changing inputs on your TV. Switch back and forth as easily and as quickly as you switch satellite TV channels. There’s an awful lot to like here, and I know you’re as excited as I am. I’ve put all of our Gemini articles together in one place, so you can quickly and easily learn about this device. I’ll keep it updated as I continue to add new articles...

Let’s face it. People love having satellite TV on their boats. Why wouldn’t they? It’s less expensive and more reliable than satellite internet. You can get US satellite TV 50-100 miles off shore, where cell service and over-the-air antennas don’t work. And, of course, it’s a way to get hundreds of channels of entertainment. It’s perfect for evenings spent in the cabin or rainy days spent indoors. If you spend a lot of time on your boat, you want satellite TV. But what about traveling internationally? This one goes out to those people who get on their boats for months at a time. Or, maybe, for the people who run those boats for the people who can afford to be on them. For this crowd, it’s very possible that you might venture far...

If you’re about my age, you remember when there were nothing but local channels out there. You put up an antenna or paid some mom-and-pop cable company, and you got five or six of them. Back in those days, you could put an antenna on the top of your RV and get those local channels, even when you were driving. Times have changed. You know it and I know it. Not only are there hundreds of national TV channels, but there’s the whole internet. It’s sometimes easier to find out what’s going on locally by looking at social media than it is to get the local news. And of course, since 2009 it’s been impossible to get over-the-air television if you’re going more than 15mph. That may change soon, but these are the facts today. The benefits of...

If you’re like me, you’re sitting back just waiting for the next season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The first season blew by faster than a warp 9 trip to Jupiter, because of all the necessary backstory and introduction. Things finally began to gel and then… boom they’re on a two-month hiatus. I guess they really can disappear and reappear somewhere else, while the rest of us have to wait two months for a resolution. Even an old-school starship can get from one end of explored space to the other in that time. To help you count the hours until you find out what happens to the crew of the sweariest, nakediest, discoiest ship ever to be part of the Trek universe, here’s a little video that shows just what warp speeds mean, at least...

It’s almost a cliche at this point to say that we’re seeing a long rash of unexpected weather. It’s not just this year, either. If you really go back and look at news stories, you’ll realize that these “once in a lifetime weather events” have been coming with increasing regularity for about fifteen years. Sadly, there’s a predictable pattern. A storm is forecast. Some people listen to the warnings. Some evacuate. And then, there are those who stay behind to protect their homes. When the clouds part, those folks are without power. More importantly… Perhaps more noteworthy in today’s smartphone-obsessed world, they may be without internet or cell service. Most cell towers have battery backups that can keep them up for several hours in...

So, we’re all waiting to see what “Max,” the replacement for HBO Max, will look like. Count me as one of those who’s pretty worried. HBO’s streaming service, no matter what it’s called, has suffered blow after blow at the hands of its new corporate parent. The new app promises to deliver more reality-based content and, by eliminating the HBO name, seems to distance itself from quality TV. It wasn’t always like that HBO’s first venture into streaming only was called “HBO NOW.” It was essentially a clone of the company’s HBO GO service, which was aimed exclusively at cable and satellite subscribers. HBO NOW launched in the spring of 2015. Not that people were really surprised, since there had been rumors about it for some time. In fact...

Rain fade. If you listen to cable company commercials, you would think this is a massive problem. They’ll tell you that every time the skies turn grey, the satellite reception will stop. They’ll make you feel like a sap for even considering satellite TV. The problem is, they’re just flat out lying. Rain fade happens when the weather is so bad that the satellite signals can’t penetrate the clouds. It’s not a problem with ground-based broadcasting which uses lower frequencies that can bounce off clouds easily. However, with satellite’s high frequencies, rain fade can be a problem. I’ll completely admit it. But there’s a big jump between “can be a problem” and “is always a problem.” I did an informal survey to try to find out how much...

March 22-28, 1986 This week Ken welcomes legendary songwriter (she’s in the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame), author (her memoir I Am the Warrior: My Crazy Life Writing the Hits and Rocking the MTV Eighties, is a MUST read/listen), and all around incredibly cool human being Holly Knight to the show. Ken and Holly discuss her book, growing up a big TV watcher, streaming services, the reliability of TV, having things to look forward to, Dark Shadows, The Adams Family, a love of horror, Chiller Theater, Elvira, how great Cassandra Peterson is, The Munsters, Vic Mizzy, weird instruments, Green Acres, Tina Turner, Heart, Pat Benetar, Patty Smythe the Warrior, moving to LA in the early 80s from New York, forever being a New Yorker, running...

Reset your cell phone signal booster? What has the world come to? Don’t you have enough to do? OK, before I answer this simple question, I need to explain why it’s even a possibility. What a cell phone signal booster is, and what it does A cell phone signal booster takes weak signal from outside, amplifies it massively, and pumps it throughout a building. It also does the reverse: it takes the signal from your phone, amplifies it, and pushes it through a large antenna on your roof. It does this so fast and so well that the only thing you notice is better service, clearer calls, and faster browsing. The really amazing thing is how a cellular booster can do all these things. The answer is pretty simple really: It’s a purpose-built...

What’s the worst part of getting a new electronic toy? It’s activating it. You know it and I know it. Unwrap that sleek box that your phone came in, call the number, and prepare to wait on hold for an hour. Turn on a new satellite or internet service and a technician takes up your whole day. Even just signing up for a streaming service can take it out of you, as you set it up on multiple devices. Why does it have to be this way? It DOESN’T have to be this way What if you could call one number for practically all your activation needs? What if one caring, kind person in a US-based office was willing to sit on the phone with you and get it all done? That would be some kind of miracle, right? Nope, it’s reality. This service is...

Satellite dishes are incredibly reliable. When you think about how inexpensive they really are, it’s pretty amazing how long they last. I’ve known people to get 15 years out of a satellite LNB at this point. Consider how many cars you’ve had in 15 years, or how many TVs. And yet this sensitive antenna system that sits outside all day and all year is still soldiering on. Pretty cool, right? But eventually there’s going to come “a time.” You might have put the dish up by yourself, and you’d like to replace the LNB by yourself. Yet, you’re worried that you’ll have to spend hours re-aiming. Should you be worried? Most likely, no. If you are replacing the LNB on an oval dish like DIRECTV’s Slimline or DISH’s Western Arc/Eastern Arc...

Let’s be honest, no one wants to really talk about RV toilets. The bathroom is sort of a dirty little reality that everyone pretends isn’t there… until they need it. If RV owners don’t discuss the bathroom, they won’t know how to properly clean their RV toilet. Your RV toilet should be cleaned at least once a week or more, especially if your entire family is traveling. Since RV toilets aren’t as sturdy or durable as the toilets in your home, you can damage it if you don’t know what you’re doing. At the cost of most RV accessories, it’s best to avoid that as much as possible. When it’s time to clean your RV toilet, you want to disinfect without causing damage. Some RV experts say you should NOT using bleach or residential toilet...

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