How to stream the Super Bowl for free
Great news for people who love sports but hate couches, I guess. NBC has announced that they will be live streaming the Super Bowl this Sunday at nbc.com, nbcsports.com, and using the NBC Sports app…
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Compression connectors: Your solution for heat problems?
Stuff gets hot. that’s just a simple fact. And here’s another simple fact: heat kills electronics. That’s why the devices we own have big fans and big heat sinks. There’s another solution, though: improve airflow. One…
Podcast #257: Rescan Anxiety
It’s time to face facts: if you watch TV with an antenna, you’re going to have to take some extra steps to make things work smoothly. As part of their plans to give people faster…
Hot Deals for the Week of January 22, 2018
Take a look… these deals can’t be beat!
Balun Use and Antenna Updates
To Balun or Not to Balun That TV antenna? When should it be done? In an article of mine published in Popular Communications, January 2013, “An Omnidirectional DTV Antenna – With Gain,” I included a little…
Podcast #256: Antennas Rising
One of the biggest surprises from the recent CES show in Las Vegas was how many people were talking about TV antennas. It’s an old solution to a new problem — how to save money…
WRONG TOOL/RIGHT TOOL: Tighten (or loosen) a coax cable
WRONG TOOL: Your hand. Finger tight is not tight enough for most coax connections. The only (possible) exception is the connection between the receiver and the final leg of coax. For connecting to splitters and…
Our Predictions for 2018
Who knows what the future will bring? In 2017 we saw the growing dominance of DIRECTV NOW, the coming of DIRECTV’s Genie 2 and Hopper 3, and we finally saw Apple try to take back some…
2017: The year in antennas
As the year winds to a close, we’re looking back at the events that really shaped our product selection at SolidSignal.com. There were two big events this year in the world of over-the-air antennas and although…
CABLES 101 – How to choose the best cable: Part 5: Putting it all together
If you’ve been reading our series, you probably learned a lot about cables. You’ve learned how a well-built cable with a firm connector can keep your signal nice and strong while a poorly built cable can…
How to Estimate your Signals
I said I wasn’t going to give you equations for calculating gain, loss, and Noise Figure/margin but I will explain how I estimate the Noise margin (NM) of the antenna system. I’ve worked in a…
CABLES 101 – How to choose the best cable: Part 4, Signal Loss
It’s just a fact of life… signal loss happens. Of course, the image above would result in complete, 100% signal loss. However, there is a lot more to the idea of loss than just broken cables….
CABLES 101 – How to choose the best cable: Part 3, connectors
When you think about it, a cable isn’t just the wire. The ends are important too. They’re the point of contact between the wire and everything else, and if that connection isn’t very good, then you’ll…
CABLES 101 – How to choose the best cable: Part 2, technical specs and terms
There’s a lot to learn about cables. Before we go too far, we need to look at the parts of a cable and why they’re important. Center Conductor The center conductor, marked “D” in the…
CABLES 101: How to Choose The Best Cable
Are you using the best cable for the job? You may have heard terms like RG59, RG6, RG11, and Slim RG59 but you didn’t know what they meant. There is actually a real difference between these…