Yep. And the whole system cost 50 bucks, but just to buy a replacement antenna costs 50 bucks. Really!!! One store could order an antenna, for 50 bucks. On the internet, a couple weeks ago, I found that Best Buy had the antenna for 50 bucks. But they also had the complete system for.....50 bucks. I called to make sure the system for 50 bucks included the antenna, and it did. So I bought it and put that system in my car to replace the other system, which was identical.
Anyway, I know the radio part works fine, but I don't know anything about satellite antennas, at least an antenna such as this. However, if I can fix that antenna, I can hook it to my home stereo. So, before doing destructive testing, does anyone know how to fix a Sirius satellite antenna? It must be the cable part, but don't know how to test it. And I checked to make sure it was the antenna, not the radio receiver. Anyway, any suggestions?
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Jim - Yes it came with a guarantee, and I'm sure I put it with all the other guarantees for coffee makers, everything else, etc. Finding one of those guarantees? Worth 50 bucks? It's easier to buy a new one. However, they did not make me purchase a new subscription, I wouldn't have anyway, and they (Sirius) gave me one month free service, since I couldn't use the radio over that time, and because they are not yet as big as Microsoft and can't afford to be bossy. Although I am buying their stock every chance I get. It's been going down since I started buying it, but that just makes it a better deal. It's like buying stock in Ted Turner and cable TV 30 years ago. The whole time my satellite radio was dead, I never even bothered to once turn on the regular radio and have people barking commercials at me for the same thing every 15 minutes.
I haven't seen a recent one, but they used to have a ~20 db amplifier in the base of the antenna. Easy way to find out is to see if there is DC on the coax. Something like 3 Volts. The price of the receiver is subsidized. The price of replacement parts is not.
Amazing how some people think that what everybody in America needs is yet ANOTHER monthly bill. Ten years from now, satellite radio basic service will have just as many commercials as basic cable. Ad-free channels will be $50 per month.
I only listen to my iPod. I control the programming entirely, no commercials, and I have material I actually want to listen to - radio plays from the '50s and '60s, audiobooks, music from computer games, and a small amount of "mainstream" music. And no ongoing service charges. I would MUCH rather pay $400 or even $1000 once than $50 once plus $10 a month.
In a major victory for common sense, I persuaded my wife to disconnect our satellite TV service last month, so there is no more of that irritation being piped in at my expense. I don't think I've turned on a TV set in more than a year. I watch DVDs and various downloaded programming (mostly movies from the 1930s and 40s; Will Hay, for example) on a spare computer. Again - no commercials, and I have 100% control. I'd only subscribe to a cable service if:
a) it had no restriction on my ability to record programming, b) it had no commercials, and c) it was an on-demand system where I could request whatever I want out of a library.
cnn.com, mostly; I visit it a few times a day - not that much of the news is relevant to me. With Firefox, I can make CNN and the other few sites I visit regularly entirely advertising-free. Online news sites are unreadable without ad-blocking software - too much distraction.
It doesn't really matter which of the mainstream sites you go to for news, because it all comes out of a few franchised sources anyway and goes through the same censors.
I'm sure there's a wealth of valuable products I'm missing out on by keeping myself away from advertising - but that's just too bad. All my spare money goes into my truck restoration and electronics projects, anyway - I have no discretionary income :)
Perhaps, but I've had XM Radio for about 18 months and love it. It's great for cross-country trips (just did 3Kmi last month); no searching for stations every ten minutes. No commercials either, not even on some programs that have commercials on normal OTA stations. It's well worth the $13/mo.
So? Be happy. I don't want to bother loading up an iPOD, though I have a bunch of cheap MP3 players I use for talks shows I get off the Internet (one I subscribe to). I like to listen to TR when I'm working around the house.
Mine doesn't. I even have their DVR. I then take the stuff I want to keep and move it to mine and burn DVDs.
Premium channels don't.
That's available here. I've never used it because it's just as easy to set the DVR up.
It does, usually.
e) Doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
Our cable does, unfortunately. ...make that two legs.
If it came free in my car, and the programming was all free, and commercial-free, I might _very rarely_ turn it on if I got bored with my iPod playlists. Doubt it though.
My issue is control over what I want to hear. When I start my car, the radio takes a couple of seconds to lock onto my iPod FM transmitter. During that time I occasionally get [fuzzily] a distant station in Connecticut. My hackles rise instantly at the sound of the DJ's voice or an advertisement that may be playing. Same thing when I sit down at home and my wife turns on the TV - I have to leave the room. Can't stand the canned culture and fake people. I can think of no time worse spent than watching television.
Listening to Hancock's Half Hour or the Goon Show, what you hear is what you get - Spike Milligan sounds certifiable, and definitely was! Intellectual radio programming like My Word or My Music has simply ceased to exist; it has been replaced with hip-hop and other modern consumer-grade "[... insert word here - 'culture' doesn't fit ...]".
I'd replace the car radio with one that has line-in so I'd never be offended with even a few seconds of radio programming, but it's costly in both our modern vehicles; you have to replace the entire console with one that has a standard DIN hole in it.
My '65 truck arrived pre-fitted by the previous owner with an MP3 CD player radio that has line-in. Unfortunately due to exhaust leaks, it's too noisy to hear the radio while driving, so I only listen to it when I'm working on the truck ;)
Video-on-demand has Macrovision here, I believe.
How big is the library? VoD here gives you access to say six movies per VoD channel, and the last ten episodes (say) of certain series. In other words, I am still living with someone else's decision of what programming I should want to watch.
It's like a prison menu. Besides, I prefer radio to TV - the pictures are better.
As far as TV goes, I want to be able to take the remote and say "Give me the following ten Twilight Zone episodes that I am specifying, then series 1 episode 3 of Leave it to Beaver, then two hours of British newsreel footage from April 1942, then the entire series 1 of Bewitched, in air-date order", and so forth.
Right now I can get the same effect - with a day's delay - by downloading what I want, particularly the older out-of-copyright stuff.
Not me, I guess my tastes must be unusual.
I'd consider paying $100 per month for the service I just described. Of course, no guarantees as to how long I would keep the service -
You say you like '50s and '60s music. There is a 'channel dedicated to each decade (Ch 4 thru 9). I listen a lot to the '60s channel. It's sorta neat, every couple of hours they have an hour countdown of the top 16 or 17 songs from that week for some year in the '60s. There are also some quite good specials, like the 3- hour "Booker T. and the MG's"; no commercials.
If you haven't tried it...
Control freak, eh? Your wife must be pleased.
Dunno, I've never used it, but their DVR will record it. My DVDR will record from that.
I looked the other day. There were perhaps 40 movies available on the free side. I didn't look at the PPV options.
Yep, control freak.
It might not have it when I want to watch it, but that's why they invented the DVR. You load up your iPOD, I load up DVDs.
You're close. Mine is over $160/mo but that includes cable Internet. I wouldn't have more than the basic service but my wife watches a lot of TV. She gets the TV, I camp on the computer. ;-) She did ask how to bring the laptop downstairs to the family room, so I may be losing both. :-/
I said I like '50s and '60s radio plays - certain BBC comedy programming from that era, to be specific. I have several weeks' continuous listening on my iPod - they compress very nicely.
I do have some 60s music, but very little. Most of my music is either computer music (C64 and Amiga in-game and demo tracks), or certain operas, military music and so forth. Also some bagpipes, although I guess that sort of falls under the heading of military music as well.
I don't tell her what to do. I simply can't sit down and endure the attack of the tube; it's like being hassled by a thousand annoying children in a restaurant.
Rubbish. I simply want what I like, as far as TV and radio programming goes, and I don't want to be pestered with things I don't want to see. This is precisely why there is a market for prerecorded CDs, phonograph records, DVDs and videocassettes; clearly lots of other people want to watch what they want when they want it.
When you want a quality meal out, do you go to McDonalds? No? Well, for exactly the same reason I like to choose carefully where I get my entertainment, and the quality of the product I'm receiving. Mass-media sources are the McDonalds of entertainment; insipid pap with no discernible value except to their advertisers and shareholders. Merely being reminded of their existence is irritating to me.
My wife _used_ to watch a lot of TV, but she's in teacher training now and has no time for anything at all. TV service is hence a total waste of money, since the dogs don't watch it.
Actually, I had the same problem. But I have a really simple cure. I simply made a file folder called "Warranties". Golleee ;-)
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Be like a Europeon, live in the dark, and just make up stories about how bad the US is ;-)
...Jim Thompson
-- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | |
formatting link
| 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
In message , dated Thu, 17 Aug 2006, Jim Thompson writes
But can you FIND it? Making a folder may mean you lose ALL of its contents rather than just one bit of paper.
When you've made your folders, you must make a shelf or box to keep them safe. Here's one I made earlier, out of a wine box.
First, drink the wine.
Then try to remember where you put the folder while you were making the place to keep it safe....
--
OOO - Own Opinions Only. Try www.jmwa.demon.co.uk and www.isce.org.uk
2006 is YMMVI- Your mileage may vary immensely.
John Woodgate, J M Woodgate and Associates, Rayleigh, Essex UK
We put them in the folder with the manuals for all of our household appliances. We appreciated the former owner's of our house keeping the folder, so continued the plan.
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