about TV cables

[Rifleman1776]

Not a pen subject but worth sharing. This morning a technician from our local TV and internet cable company rang the doorbell. It seemed my house was sending out a signal that their equipment could detect blocks away and was interferring with service in a wide area. After an hour of walking around the house checking cables and connections, he found the TV set in our kitchen had a loose connection. He tightened it and all was well. Simple as that. He said to make sure all connections are tight. Better service and saves problems. Waddaya know? [:0]

 

[Ron Mc]

So, I guess if my neighbor complains about the saw noise coming from my garage then I merely go loosen up some TV cables![] Thanks for the info.

 

[Tangboy5000]

There was a guy in Oregon whose TV was sending out SOS signals on the federal emergency radio frequency. The FBI and US Marshal service knocked on his door. He still got a fine, and is suing, Toshiba I believe, to recover the costs.

 

[JimGo]

Frank,
That sounds a little suspicious to me. Are you SURE he was a technician and not casing your house? I don't mean to alarm you, but I don't think there's enough energy in a coax cable to be able to broacast blocks away. Electrical energy dies as 1/radius^2 (the inverse of the raidus to the second power) - so it dies off pretty quickly. It would take a lot more power than I think exists in that cable to broacast the several blocks. PLUS, the whole point of cable TV (and especially coaxial cable like they use for cable TV) is that it doesn't broadcast over the air, and thus is (relatively) impervious to environmental problems like this kind of interference.

Again, I don't mean to alarm, but something seems fishy.

 

[jeff]

While I can't guarantee that it's not a scam, a loose connection causing signal problems is entirely reasonable. Cable system connections are intended to either be disconnected or properly terminated into an impedance controlled device (such as a TV). A loose connection can cause a variety of signal quality problems for you and close neighbors. Saying that it was "sending out a signal" is not a very accurate description of the problem, though.

 

[Dario]

I will take Jim's advise...try confirming that a technician was sent to your area around that time with your cable company.

Better to take proper precautions than be sorry.

 

[wdcav1952]

Frank,

Just curious, did the "technician" have a large number of drill bits of different sizes? []

 

[Rifleman1776]

Originally posted by Dario
<br />I will take Jim's advise...try confirming that a technician was sent to your area around that time with your cable company.

Better to take proper precautions than be sorry.

He was driving a truck belonging to the local cable company, wearing the proper uniform. He checked the pole and outside lines before coming to the house. Went about his work in a professional manner, had his high-tech detector with him. I'm borderline paranoid/suspicious and security conscious. I'm confident this guy was O.K. Just like I often don't understand Boone's explanations, this guys tech-talk largely went over my head. But, I do know, his gadget stopped making noises when he tightened the connection.

 

[penhead]

Curious if he had to plug the co-ax cable into his device or if he was merely picking RF out of the air..??

Originally posted by Rifleman
<br />

Originally posted by Dario
<br />I will take Jim's advise...try confirming that a technician was sent to your area around that time with your cable company.

Better to take proper precautions than be sorry.

He was driving a truck belonging to the local cable company, wearing the proper uniform. He checked the pole and outside lines before coming to the house. Went about his work in a professional manner, had his high-tech detector with him. I'm borderline paranoid/suspicious and security conscious. I'm confident this guy was O.K. Just like I often don't understand Boone's explanations, this guys tech-talk largely went over my head. But, I do know, his gadget stopped making noises when he tightened the connection.

 

[JimGo]

That was my thought too John. I can see a loss of signal strength for Frank and his neighbors, as Jeff described, if the cable wasn't properly terminated (e.g., a "short" or intermittent shorting due to a reduced air gap between the ground and the conductor). That's different, though, than the way I interpreted Frank's original message.

Frank, if you're comfortable, then that's all that really matters! Again, sorry to ring the alarm bells, but I wanted to make sure you were OK.

 

[Rifleman1776]

"but I wanted to make sure you were OK." Thanks, Jim for the concern. Actually, I'm not OK. Got this sore shoulder, then there's my back, my bank account, and let me tell you about my wife........[][][]

 

[alamocdc]

ROTFL!

 

[JimGo]

LOL.

It's funny you should mention those ailments Frank; when I'm not at work, I have been moving heavy furniture and boxes since last Friday night in an effort to straigten up our house, and my shoulder and back are really bothering me today. All the moving was necessitated by my wife and I getting some new furniture, so my bank account is pretty well drained too. Then there's my wife, who is almost 8 months pregnant...

[]

 

[Dario]

Originally posted by JimGo
<br />Then there's my wife, who is almost 8 months pregnant... []

LOL...I am almost scared where this may lead but can't resist...

I bet yout shoulder (and wallet) are not the only thing that's aching right now LOL... [}][]

 

[TheHoneymooners]

Bad ....bad .... bad , Dario....lmaooooo!!!!