Monthly Archives: June 2009

The Digital Transition..No Picture in Most of NJ!

Posted on June 18, 2009 by JMarsden| Leave a comment

I am a private contractor that has been doing the installations of the Digital Converter boxes.  I am also licensed, and insured to do what I do, unlike half of the wanna be techs of this world.  I am finding more, and more that the people getting the digital converter boxes are not as educated about the situation as I would have thought they would have been.  Those commercials really didn’t educate anyone, and in the same manner the government really didn’t know what was going to happen when they flipped that switch.

I get to a lot of houses, and people are using the old style rabbit ears.  They may work in some areas, but here in NJ I have found ONLY 2 that have worked to date.  Most people need to get an outside antenna in this area.

The people at Radio Shack really don’t know what they are selling to the people.  The bad part of that is most of the people getting the boxes, and looking for service via the antenna are on fixed incomes, and can’t afford the miscellanous things that they are being sold.

I had one customer call me tonight stating their signal is great, but the salesman at Radio Shack told them that they needed an amplifier for the signal.  I explained to the customer that if the signal is good, then don’t touch it.  The amplifiers are really meant for the customers that have a lot of tvs, or large distance runs to get to the tvs.

For some strange reason NJ needs rooftop antennas.  I can’t explain it, but I am not the only tech that has seen this issue.  We have tried the @$70 antennas, and they don’t even work.  The easiest way for me to visualize the answer is this…

While this may not be proper tech terms I am putting it in small words so everyone can follow it.

NJ must be lower than the signal itself is that is coming out.  The signal isn’t going to make U-Turns, and K-Turns, or even Parallel Park.  The signal moves in a straight direction.  If you have an antenna that is on your first floor, then it isn’t going to reach the signal that is skimming your roof.

If you are in need of a rooftop antenna, then please consult with someone that knows what they are doing, and not some “JOE” that is out making a fast buck plugging in boxes.

What amazes me is that the government is paying techs like me to go out and hook up these boxes.  The money that got blown doing this could have been things like PROPERTY REBATES, and such that our fearless leader squashed.

Letter to the President

Posted on June 18, 2009 by JMarsden| Leave a comment

I just got an email that I thought was rather interesting, and I wanted to share it with everyone.  I cannot convey my sentiments in this forum, but I do want to say that I understand, and do have feelings about some of these topics.  While I do not know if this email is actually valid I do feel that it brings up some interesting issues.

While I am not one to voice my opinion about government in a personal article I would voice them in the right place, and at the right time.

April 17, 2009

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington ,   DC    20500

Mr. Obama:

I have had it with you and your administration, sir.  Your conduct on your recent trip overseas has convinced me that you are not an adequate representative of the   United States of America collectively or of me personally.

You are so obsessed with appeasing the Europeans and the Muslim world that you have abdicated the responsibilities of the President of the United States of America .  You are responsible to the citizens of the United States ..  You are not responsible to the people of any other country on Earth.

I personally resent that you go around the world apologizing for the United States telling Europeans that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world.  Sir, what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about if not the consideration of the people of   Europe ?  Are you brain dead?  What do you think the Marshall Plan was all about?  Do you not understand or know the history of the 20th century?

Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the   United States does not consider itself a Christian country?  Have you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the   United States ?  This country was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics and the principles governing this country, at least until you came along, come directly from this heritage.  Do you not understand this?

Your bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia is an affront to all Americans.  Our President does not bow down to anyone, let alone the king of Saudi Arabia .  You didn’t show Great Britain , our best and one of our oldest allies, the respect they deserve yet you bow down to the king of Saudi Arabia ..  How dare you, sir!  How dare you!

You can’t find the time to visit the graves of our greatest generation because you don’t want to offend the Germans but make time to visit a mosque in Turkey …  You offended our dead and every veteran when you give the Germans more respect than the people who saved the German people from themselves.  What’s the matter with you? I am convinced that you and the members of your administration have the historical and intellectual depth of a mud puddle and should be ashamed of yourselves, all of you.

You are so self-righteously offended by the big bankers and the American automobile manufacturers yet do nothing about the real thieves in this situation, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Frank, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelic, the Fannie Mae bonuses, and the Freddie Mac bonuses. What do you intend to do about them?  Anything?  I seriously doubt it.

What about the U.S. House members passing out $9.1 million in bonuses to their staff members – on top of the $2.5 million in automatic pay raises that lawmakers gave themselves?  I understand the average House aide got a 17% bonus.  I took a 5% cut in my pay to save jobs with my employer.  You haven’t said anything about that.  Who authorized that?  I surely didn’t!

Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be receiving $210 million in bonuses over an eighteen-month period, that’s $45 million more than the AIG bonuses.  In fact, Fannie and Freddie executives have already been awarded $51 million – not a bad take.   Who authorized that and why haven’t you expressed your outrage at this group who are largely responsible for the economic mess we have right now.

I resent that you take me and my fellow citizens as brain-dead and not caring about what you idiots do.  We are watching what you are doing and we are getting increasingly fed up with all of you.  

I also want you to know that I personally find just about everything you do and say to be offensive to every one of my sensibilities.  I promise you that I will work tirelessly to see that you do not get a chance to spend two terms destroying my beautiful country.

Sincerely,
Every real American

Ms Kathleen Lyday
Fourth Grade Teacher
Grandview Elementary School

Comcast Door to Door Sales…Worthless!

Posted on June 17, 2009 by JMarsden| 7 Comments

Yesterday there was a guy named Frank N. walking around our neighborhood.  We didn’t know what he was doing until he approached my wife and started asking about our tv/phone/internet services.  He said he was from Comcast.

My wife, and I would never leave DirecTV at this point in time.  Comcast tv service is the absolute worst service that I have ever seen.  He left, and went to my neighbors house.  While there he had my neighbor convinced into switching over to Triple Play.  What he didn’t know was that you cannot run a server on a residential plan.  You also cannot get static ip’s on a residential.  He claimed that he had called in and was advised that all this could be done.  My neighbor called me, and asked me to come over and straighten this all out.  Why me… Well, I used to do work for cable, and I happen to know a lot about the services that Comcast offers.

I told him bluntly that he knew nothing of what he was selling, and that I was calling his bluff about what he was selling.  I called in and spoke with senior tech support reps that advised me of the same things that I already knew.  You cannot run servers on residential accounts, and static ip’s are not available on residential accounts either.

He was also trying to convince him to switch his tv service.  I told the guy that DirecTV has a much more superior service, and that was that.  The salesman even went as far as making my neighbor believe that the Sunday Ticket was available.  He later changed his story to Comcast having access to the sports network.  BIG DIFFERENCE!

Neighbor came to me today, and said that the guy called, and tried to con him into something else.  He also said that I was very unprofessional.  Why was I unprofessional?  I advised my friend / neighbor that this man was selling a bridge that he couldn’t deliver.  This man doesn’t have the bowling spheres to say that to my face.  I did call to speak with management, but that is like winning the lottery…  It doesn’t happen often.

Moral of this story… Believe nothing the door to door salesman try to sell you.  If you are on DirecTV, and they offer to buy you out of your contract… Watch your rear end.  If they fail to pay any part of the early termination fee, then you will still be liable for payment.

This salesman knew nothing!