I ordered a cell phone today (yes, this was a hurdle--but the hurdle seemed lower after I found out I was going to get 1 year's service and
1200 minutes with it for $99).I'm looking forward to calling Comcast soon and cancelling 2/3 of my "Triple Play". That should help get that monthly bill in check!
I'm not sure how we'll get by without the cable, but we will adapt, somehow! Maybe some of you were hoping I might cancel my Internet access while I was at it, but I'm sticking around! : )
Bill
Ever since they converted the cable to digital transmission we have not had cable TV. Do we miss it? Sometimes, but a couple of weeks ago we spent three days in a motel in the mountains. In those three days there was nothing on the cable.
If you get a antenna and connect it to your TV, you will get TV. They all broadcast digitally over the air. Most major network stations have
2 to 4 side channels.Keith Nuttle wrote in news:k35mch$e0b$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:
It depends on what area you're in as to just how good of TV you'll get. My antenna right now is a piece of 300-ohm cable cut to length and wedged between the suspended ceiling panel and track. Works great if you're close enough to the transmitters.
The only way I could watch Norm, Roy, Tommy, and Scott (The American Woodshop) is by putting up the antenna and watching it on the PBS sub-channel. I seriously doubt the dish companies will add local sub-channels any time soon. (I don't know about cable... haven't had it for almost 5 years.)
Puckdropper
With Digital you either get it or you don't, there is no in between. If you get it there is a good picture. However this can be a problem, with analog, you could follow bad stations by watching the fuzzy picture, with digital the picture cuts out and you can not follow the story
The biggest drawback to digital is that sometimes the video and the voice get out of sync
It aall depneds on how close you live to the transmitter, how big of an antenna you have and whether or not you are using a signal booster (20+DB range). We used to regularly watch stations 90 miles away, now we can barely get stations that are 30 miles away, and that is with the same setup (ie. big antenna and signal booster. Though the antenna is about to get an upgrade, and then we will see if things improve. As it is, as usual, Congress did us no favors.)
Deb
..... , but a couple of weeks ago we
---------------------------------------- Watching TV in a motel during a three day stay in the mountains?
Interesting.
Lew
That's what I pay for my Tracfone annually. I still have 2,197 minutes (they roll over with uninterrupted contracts) left with 43 days to go on the annual connection contract.
You'll find time to actually read some good -books-, and you'll have time to get all your projects done, that's how. DAMHIKT. I'm reading _The Apocalypse Troll_ by David Weber right now and one of the new words a lady from the future had to share with the protagonist was "noises". It is their nickname for "reporters, newscasters, etc." I LOVE that word for them. It's so precisely fitting, oui?
Rats. ;)
-- The most decisive actions of our life - I mean those that are most likely to decide the whole course of our future - are, more often than not, unconsidered. -- Andre Gide
It aall depneds on how close you live to the transmitter, how big of an antenna you have and whether or not you are using a signal booster (20+DB range). We used to regularly watch stations 90 miles away, now we can barely get stations that are 30 miles away, and that is with the same setup (ie. big antenna and signal booster. Though the antenna is about to get an upgrade, and then we will see if things improve. As it is, as usual, Congress did us no favors.) ========================================================================== If you are using the same antenna, there's your problem.
That is not true! With some stations I get just as bad reception with HD as analog, often with lots of pixilization.
If
That is a 50/50 chance in being correct.
However this can be a problem, with
That tends to be a DVR problem when watching live TV. MY cure was to change channels and switch back. No that the software and equipment is better I seldom have this problem any more. I have not yet witnessed this when watching HD coming straight in from an antenna, over the air.
Make no mistake in thinking that you can't use the same antenna. My sister used their same "new" analog antenna for years with great reception. The condition of the antenna tends to have an effect on reception. Their now old antenna deteriorated in the weather and reception suffered. Replacing with new again solved the problem.
I read both fiction (sci-fi primarily) and non-fiction, mostly science related but occasionally outside the (carved) box. ;-)
I love carving, especially chip carving. I tried Moor's knives, along with a few others, and finally found a set of Barton's knives on eBay, cheap. Glad I did because they are the best. More comfortable in my hand and they help me to keep that angle in a natural way.
Met Barton a few times at the Artistry in Wood show. Real nice guy. Always making something up for the kids and always willing to shed some light on what I'm doing wrong.
Ha! I've got too many projects lined up, so I know the feeling. Glad you have income to feed your hobbies. :-)
It seems like Moor made an effort to shape his in a way that would help provide *consistency*--he say's after an hour's use. How do Barton's measure-up in that regard?
I'm going to a woodcarving show in November and hope to be able to get my hands on both for a comparison--especially since reading your comments, since I was leaning towards Moor's.
Bill
Read (and re-read) every book I could find by Asimov and Heinlein among others. I love the weapon maker stories of A.E. van Vogt. One of my all time favorites is "The Stars My Destination" by Alfred Bester. Current faves include Robert Asprin and David Weber.
"A Canticle for Leibowitz" is often mentioned as the best SF novel ever. I'm not qualified to say if that's right or wrong, but it's certainly a contender.
Note that it's definitely written from a Catholic viewpoint which I don't share, but it's so good I don't mind. Besides, I can always counter it with a reread of "The Sayings of Lazarus Long" :-).
Heinlein is great, but I prefer Harry Harrison's stuff to the others you mention. I also like Poul Anderson.
But if you include fantasy with SF, Terry Pratchett is by far the best IMNSHO.
I don't include fantasy (or horror) with Science Fiction. But that's just me.
Leibowitz is good, a classical piece of epoch proportions.
But I wouldn't call it "best". Best is a hard call.
For me that would be Niven/Pournelle - The Mote in God's Eye Lucifer's Hammer would top my list.
Inferno is great.
Yup. And all the Man-Kizn Wars stories too.
But the subject was "best" (a four letter word if ever there was!)
Make no mistake in thinking that you can't use the same antenna. My sister used their same "new" analog antenna for years with great reception. The condition of the antenna tends to have an effect on reception. Their now old antenna deteriorated in the weather and reception suffered. Replacing with new again solved the problem. ===================================================================== Turns out, a lot of places use the same VHF channels as they did on analog for their digital transmissions. Around here (Seattle area), the digital channels are on UHF requiring a different antenna.
+1 for Niven, and add Andre Norton, David Weber, David Drake, William C. Deitz, and John Ringo to the list of absolute greats.
I simply could NOT read books by Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Neal Stephenson, or William Gibson. We have entirely and incompatibly different mind warps, evidently.
-- The most decisive actions of our life - I mean those that are most likely to decide the whole course of our future - are, more often than not, unconsidered. -- Andre Gide
Dan Simmons is one author you might look at then.
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